Transform your mealtime with incredibly tender and flavorful Instant Pot mushrooms and onions! This fast and simple side dish comes together in just 10 minutes, making it a perfect addition to chicken, beef, or any main course. Cooked to perfection with butter and garlic, these sauteed and steamed mushrooms will become a staple in your kitchen.
We recently prepared these sensational Instant Pot mushrooms and onions alongside a chicken dinner, and the results were absolutely delightful! Their rich, savory taste was so impressive that we simply had to share this incredibly easy Instant Pot recipe with you. Get ready to elevate your side dish game!
Quick and Easy Pressure Cooker Mushrooms
Even if you’ve never considered yourself a mushroom enthusiast, this method might just convert you. Our goal is to achieve buttery, tender, and deeply savory mushrooms with every single bite. While you can use white button mushrooms or even canned varieties, we highly recommend opting for the firmer and more flavorful baby bella mushrooms. Their superior texture holds up beautifully under pressure, resulting in a more satisfying dish. Experiment and discover your personal preference!
This recipe isn’t exclusive to one brand of appliance. Whether you own an Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi (using its pressure cooking function), or a Crockpot Express, you can achieve these fantastic results. The key is the pressure cooking method, which locks in moisture and flavor while drastically cutting down on cooking time.
For those new to the world of pressure cooking, welcome! We offer a wealth of easy one-pot meal recipes designed to simplify your cooking experience. Before diving into this specific recipe, here are a few fundamental tips to get you started on your pressure cooking journey:
- Make sure to bookmark our Instant Pot recipes page. We’re constantly adding new and exciting recipes each week, ensuring you always have fresh ideas at your fingertips!
- Download and print our handy Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet. This invaluable guide will help you understand the precise cooking durations for various ingredients like meats, vegetables, and beans in your pressure cooker, eliminating guesswork.
- For optimal results and easier cleanup, we highly recommend investing in a non-stick inner pot for your pressure cooker. This small upgrade significantly enhances the cooking experience, especially when sautéing.
- While knowing how to deglaze a pressure cooker after sautéing is a useful skill, a non-stick liner will drastically reduce any issues, making the process smoother and more enjoyable.
For reference, the model we frequently use for developing all our recipes is a 6-quart Instant Pot, known for its versatility and consistent performance.
This particular recipe was born out of a moment of creative improvisation – a true “let’s see what happens if I combine these ingredients” experiment. Not all such culinary adventures succeed on the first try, but this one was an instant hit. It quickly earned its place as one of our favorite Instant Pot vegetable dishes to date, proving that simple ingredients can yield extraordinary flavor.
Essential Ingredient Notes for Perfect Mushrooms
For the absolute best results, we strongly advocate for using Baby Bella mushrooms (also known as cremini). Their slightly firmer texture and richer, earthy flavor surpass that of common white button mushrooms, especially when cooked under pressure. They maintain their integrity beautifully, preventing them from becoming overly soft or mushy. If you happen to have any leftover, they are also fantastic in dishes like our Instant Pot cream of mushroom rice casserole.
We love to enhance this dish by adding finely diced yellow Onions. The sweet and pungent notes of the onion perfectly complement the earthiness of the mushrooms, creating a truly harmonious flavor profile.
To achieve that signature rich flavor, we prefer to sauté and cook with salted Kerrygold Butter. While olive oil can be used as a substitute, butter undeniably delivers a superior depth of flavor. If you choose a dairy-free butter alternative, remember that it’s often unsalted, so you might need to add an extra pinch of salt to balance the seasoning.
You’ll need a small amount of broth (vegetable or chicken broth works well) to provide the necessary liquid for pressure cooking and to create a flavorful sauce. For seasoning, we add fresh minced garlic and a touch of garlic salt. This combination infuses the mushrooms with an irresistible aromatic depth.
Baby bella mushrooms, typically similar in price to the more common white button variety, are a fantastic choice for many dishes. Their robust nature means they don’t fall apart as easily during cooking, which is why we also love using them in recipes like our air fryer stuffed mushrooms and other air fryer vegetables. Their earthy flavor truly shines in a variety of preparations.
Cooking Portobello Mushrooms in the Instant Pot
To ensure our mushrooms retain a pleasant, slightly firm texture, we intentionally keep them whole or only roughly chop larger ones. The larger the mushroom pieces, the better they absorb the savory flavors during the pressure cooking process without becoming mushy. When it comes to seasoning, it’s always best to start conservatively. You can easily add more salt and pepper to taste after cooking, but it’s nearly impossible to correct an overly seasoned dish. Trust us, pressure cooking has truly revolutionized our kitchen, making flavorful meals more accessible than ever!
Can I Substitute White Mushrooms for Baby Bellas?
While you can generally substitute white button mushrooms for baby bellas in many recipes, there’s a key consideration for pressure cooking. Baby bellas, with their slightly denser texture, hold up much better under high pressure, maintaining a desirable chewiness. White button mushrooms, being softer, tend to become quite mushy when subjected to the same pressure cooking time. If you decide to use white button mushrooms, we highly recommend cutting the pressure cooking time in half to prevent them from becoming overcooked and losing their texture. For a more satisfying result, the deeper brown cremini (baby bella) variety is definitely the preferred choice for this recipe.
How Long to Cook Mushrooms in the Instant Pot
The beauty of cooking mushrooms in the Instant Pot lies in its speed! Under high pressure, they require very little cooking time – just 5 minutes. However, it’s important to factor in the time it takes for the Instant Pot to come up to pressure, which can add a few extra minutes to the total process. This method is significantly faster than traditional stovetop cooking with a lid, which would take much longer, or even oven roasting, which might be comparable but still requires more hands-on time.
How to Pressure Cook Mushrooms: A Simple Guide
Total Time: 9 minutes (excluding pressure build-up time)
Follow these steps for perfectly tender pressure cooker mushrooms.
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Sauté Aromatics
Set your Instant Pot to the “Saute” function. Add butter, minced garlic, and diced onions to the pot. Allow the butter to melt and cook the onions until they begin to soften and become translucent, typically for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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Clean Mushrooms Thoroughly
Gently clean any dirt or debris from your fresh mushrooms. You can do this by wiping them with a damp paper towel or by quickly rinsing them under a slow stream of cold water. After rinsing, place them on several layers of paper towels and gently roll them to absorb any excess moisture from their exterior.
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Add Mushrooms and Sauté Lightly
Once cleaned, add the mushrooms (whole or roughly chopped) into the pot with the sautéed onions and garlic. Sauté for another 3-4 minutes, stirring gently but frequently, just until the mushrooms begin to soften slightly and release some of their moisture. Turn the Instant Pot off after this step.
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Pressure Cook to Perfection
Pour in the broth. Close the lid of your Instant Pot and ensure the sealing valve is set to the “Sealing” position. Select the “Pressure Cook” or “Manual” setting and set the cooking time for 5 minutes on High Pressure. Once cooking is complete, perform a quick release of the pressure by carefully turning the valve to “Venting.”
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Serve and Enjoy
Carefully open the lid. Use a slotted spoon to lift the perfectly cooked mushrooms and onions out of the pot, allowing any excess liquid to drain. The remaining buttery sauce in the pot is full of flavor and can be drizzled over the mushrooms or other dishes. Serve immediately as a delightful side.
When working with your Instant Pot, we always recommend using wooden utensils to protect the non-stick surface. A wooden slotted spoon, in particular, is an invaluable tool for this recipe and countless others.
Canned Mushrooms in a Pressure Cooker: Is It Worth It?
While technically possible, we generally don’t recommend cooking canned mushrooms in a pressure cooker. Canned mushrooms are already pre-cooked and quite soft, requiring only a brief warming period, often just 30 seconds in a microwave. Subjecting them to high pressure can easily turn them into an undesirable mushy texture, losing their already delicate structure.
If you absolutely must use canned mushrooms in your Instant Pot, we suggest draining them well and simply using the “Saute” function. Add them along with your onions, garlic, and butter, and warm them gently until heated through. The goal here is to infuse flavor, not to cook them further. Fresh mushrooms, however, will always yield a superior flavor and texture in this recipe.
Ultimately, what you’ll achieve with this recipe are perfectly cooked sauteed mushrooms with the incredible convenience of a pressure cooker. Our preference for this method stems from its hands-off nature. Unlike stovetop cooking, where you’d need to constantly monitor and stir for 15 minutes to prevent them from becoming boiled mushrooms, the Instant Pot allows you to simply add your ingredients, set it, and walk away. The result is consistently tender, flavorful mushrooms without the constant fuss.
If you wish to double this recipe, the cooking time under high pressure remains the same. The volume of ingredients primarily affects the time it takes for the pot to come to pressure, not the actual cooking duration once pressure is reached. Adjusting the minutes dictates the final tenderness; for us, five minutes on high pressure creates a perfect balance – tender yet far from mushy.
Instant Pot Mushrooms and Onions Recipe
Justine
5 mins
10 mins
6
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Equipment
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1 pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 16 oz mushrooms, baby bellas are best
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 small onion, diced
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/4 tsp garlic salt
- 3/4 cup broth
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Instructions
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Set Instant Pot to “Saute” mode. Add butter, minced garlic, and diced onions. Cook until the onions soften, stirring occasionally.
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Gently rinse and dry your mushrooms with a paper towel. Add them to the pot with the sautéed aromatics. Gently stir and cook for 3-4 minutes until slightly softened. Turn the pot off.
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Pour in the broth. Close the lid and ensure the steam release valve is sealed.
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Set to High Pressure for 5 minutes, followed by a quick release of pressure once cooking is complete.
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Using a slotted spoon, serve the mushrooms and onions, allowing excess liquid to drain. Garnish with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese (optional) and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
Video
(Video tutorial for this recipe would be embedded here.)
Nutrition
Serving: 2oz | Calories: 90kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 286mg | Potassium: 254mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 299IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation and for general guidance.
Additional Info
Side Dish
American
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Frequently Asked Questions About Cooking Mushrooms
The primary difference lies in their maturity and resulting characteristics. White or button mushrooms are harvested at an earlier stage, making them lighter in color and generally softer, especially when cooked. Baby bellas (also known as cremini) are harvested when slightly more mature, giving them a deeper brown color, a richer, earthier flavor, and a firmer texture that holds up better during cooking.
There’s a common debate on this, but the consensus is to be gentle. Mushrooms act like sponges, so you want to avoid soaking them, which can lead to waterlogged results. The most effective methods are to either gently wipe them clean with a damp paper towel or, if they are quite dirty, quickly rinse them under a very slow stream of cold water. Pat them thoroughly dry immediately afterward with paper towels before cooking.
All mushrooms offer various health benefits, provided they aren’t loaded with excessive fats or sodium during preparation. Oyster and shiitake mushrooms are often highlighted for their high fiber content. Portobello mushrooms, on the other hand, are notable for being among the highest in vitamin D, especially if exposed to UV light during cultivation. A varied diet including different types of mushrooms is always a good approach for maximizing nutritional intake.
Absolutely! The stems of baby bella mushrooms are perfectly edible and delicious. Once you’ve cleaned off any dirt, you can cook them right along with the caps. Some recipes might call for removing stems for aesthetic reasons or if you’re stuffing the caps, but for this recipe, keeping them intact adds to the texture and reduces waste.
While it’s possible to steam mushrooms in the Instant Pot, our preferred method for this recipe involves a combination of sautéing and pressure cooking them in a flavorful sauce. We find that sautéing first builds a deeper flavor foundation, and then pressure cooking them in butter and broth yields a far more succulent and richly flavored result compared to simple steaming. It’s truly a game-changer!
Other Delightful Instant Pot Vegetable Recipes You’ll Love
Once you’ve mastered this recipe, don’t forget to print our comprehensive Instant Pot vegetable cook times sheet. It’s an indispensable guide that will help you confidently cook a wide array of vegetables to perfection. You absolutely must try our pressure cooker green beans – they are an absolute hit and my daughters’ ultimate favorite side dish. Although, our air fryer green beans come in as a very close second!
