Never Put Raw Mushrooms On Pizza: The Soggy Truth

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Have you ever seen a recipe involving mushrooms that did not involve pre-cooking the mushrooms? This is usually done by sauteing the mushrooms over high heat with just a little oil and salt. Putting raw mushrooms on a pizza essentially ruins it. the mushrooms taste raw, because they mostly are, while the pizza is watery and soggy. While the high heat of professional pizza ovens can somewhat solve the water problem, they cannot fix the taste. And yet, even some pizza delivery places still put fresh sliced mushrooms on their pizza. Even canned mushrooms on a pizza are better than fresh sliced and uncooked.

The Mushroom Cooking Thinking Gap

There is a reason that mushrooms need to be well-cooked before being added to recipes. Perhaps the reason that some people do not realize this is that they think of mushrooms as if they are vegetables. There is nothing worse than an over-cooked vegetable. This is precisely the reason so many never ate their vegetables as children, because they were boiled to a bitter mush!

Someone once said you shouldn’t cook vegetables; you should only threaten them. But mushrooms are not vegetables; they are fungi. And they are chock-full of water. You may be thinking, well, vegetables have a lot of water as well. Sure. A fresh-picked vegetable may be up to 70% water. But mushrooms, my friend, contain 90% water! They are more water than anything else. If you store mushrooms in a plastic bag, moisture droplets will collect on the inside of the bag from the water vapor coming off the mushrooms. Incidentally, this is why you should never store mushrooms in a plastic bag but instead should store them in a paper or cloth bag.

Don’t Baby Your Mushrooms: If you’re putting mushrooms onto your pizza stop worrying about the “never wash them” rule. I’ve looked at the math, and the idea that a quick rinse turns a mushroom into a waterlogged sponge is a complete kitchen myth.

See the scientific info on why you should Stop Fearing the Faucet: The Truth About Washing Mushrooms.

Why Cooking Mushrooms for Pizza is Mandatory

When you place raw mushrooms on a pizza, in the dry heat of the oven they immediately begin shedding a lot of water. Yet, they have nowhere near enough time to completely cook before the pizza is ready, so you end up with a watery pizza and mushrooms that are barely cooked.

For mushrooms to have the most flavor and have the right texture, you have to cook out almost all of this water. If you place raw mushrooms in a concoction with lots of liquid, they will not ever lose all this moisture and they will be limp and bland inside the dish. At least so we’ve been taught. I’ll get to that, but although you can poach or “blanch” mushrooms, this is not the texture you want for pizza, where you want a little chew and a concentrated flavor.

Don’t Be Afraid of High Heat For Mushrooms

Now, I do recognize that some like to eat raw mushrooms. They show up on salad bars all the time. Some mushrooms do taste better raw than some others. But these others don’t tend to find their way into salads. Instead, it’s the common white button mushroom that people pile on their salad most often, and this is one mushroom that benefits from a heavy spanking with high direct heat.

Unlike vegetables, you should not be afraid of over-cooking a mushroom, for the most part. Some of the more delicate varieties must be handled a bit differently, but most of the commonly used mushrooms like White, Baby Bella, Portabella, Shitake, etc., you can cook until they are nice and browned and all the moisture has been removed.

General High-Heat Mushroom Cooking Method

To get a mushroom that actually belongs on a pizza (intense flavor, zero sogginess), you have to stop “sweating” them and start “attacking” them with heat.

Start With High Heat: Add a tablespoon or two of cooking oil to a large skillet and heat on medium-high to high.
The Salt Trigger: Add a layer of sliced mushrooms to the pan and a generous pinch of salt immediately. Salt helps draw out the the water while enhancing the taste. (The layer of mushrooms does not need to be a single layer, but don’t fill the pan to the brim!)
The “No-Stir” Rule: Ignore your instinct to move them. Let them sit until the water they shed boils off and the pan starts to sizzle again. Reduce the heat!
The Brown Factor: Once the water is gone, toss them until they are deeply browned.
Batches Matter: Trying to cook too many mushrooms at much makes it difficult to get an even cook. It’s OK if the mushrooms one top are “steaming” while the bottom mushrooms are cooking on dry heat. However, it’s best to cook in smaller batches to ensure every mushroom gets that “chewy” concentrated texture.

Before moving on, you may be interested in learning more about those “common” mushrooms I mentioned above. When I say common I mean the cultivated kind that we usually see at our grocery store.