Almost everyone knows classic mushroom meatballs.
But what about pancakes with Japanese enoki mushrooms?
Or perhaps with shiitake, cheese and escalivada?
We bring you unique recipes for mushroom meatballs that you’ve definitely never heard of!
Preparing mushrooms for traditional mushroom meatballs
For mushroom meatballs, we can use all kinds of soft and healthy mushrooms, only toadstools, rosy mushrooms or gray mushrooms are better fried separately .
Sauté the mushrooms in the meatballs a little first. So we will prepare a semi-finished product from them, which will rid the mushrooms of excess water and then allow us to shorten the frying time of the meatballs themselves. Cut the cleaned mushrooms into slices and stew them in a little fat or completely without fat until they soften and the water evaporates.
We can already stew chopped onions , which will soften during stewing.
The mushroom mixture for the meatballs should be of a finer texture so that the meatballs do not fall apart during shaping and frying. For these reasons, after stewing, the mushrooms are ground in a meat grinder , mixing is not suitable, as the mushrooms will become too mushy. If we want to save the work of grinding, then we cut or chop the mushrooms very finely, which is a bit faster and you won’t recognize it in the meatballs.
Greek mushroom patties
Mushrooms are just as nutritious as red meat and much better for us and the planet. There are many recipes with mushrooms in Greece. This particular dish, tantalizingly seasoned with cumin, comes from the island of Rhodes. Try it too!
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil plus more for frying
- 4 cups chopped fresh mushrooms
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1 small teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- ½ cup of water
- 2 eggs
- 2/3 cup grated sheep cheese
- 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
Method
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and sauté the mushrooms, about 4-6 minutes.
- Set aside and let cool.
- Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl.
- Make a well in the center and add water and egg.
- Mix with a fork or wire whisk to form a thick batter.
- Mix in the mushrooms and their juice, cheese and cumin.
- Heat the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat.
- Fry the patties on both sides until golden brown.
- Transfer to a paper towel and serve.

Check out our recipes for vegetable pancakes in 7 different variations. Try, for example, cabbage, cauliflower or beetroot.
Meatballs with shiitake and corn
Mushroom meatballs with corn are a great idea for a quick lunch or dinner. Sweet corn kernels come in two different forms in these delicious meatballs. Half of the corn is mashed into the dough, the other half is fried with shiitake and onions to make the pancakes beautifully crispy.
Ingredients
- 3 ears of corn
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil plus 1 tbsp
- 3 large shiitake mushrooms without stems, cut the caps into cubes
- 1/4 cup chopped sweet onion
- 3/4 cup plain flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Method
- Remove the corn kernels from the cobs and put half of them in a blender.
- Scrape the pulp from the cobs with the blunt side of a knife and add to the blender.
- Add eggs and milk and mix until smooth.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large non-stick pan.
- Add the shiitake and onion and sauté over high heat, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
- Add the remaining corn and stir-fry for 1 minute.
- Scrape the mixture onto a plate and let cool.
- Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in a bowl.
- Mix with the corn puree and add the corn kernels, shiitake and onion.
- Add the remaining 1/2 cup of oil to the pan.
- When the oil is hot, add some of the batter and fry the patties until golden.
- Place the finished patties on paper napkins and serve warm.

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Enoki mushroom meatballs
Have you tried enoki mushrooms? Their texture is a bit chewy and absolutely perfect for crunchy dishes. Make delicious meatballs out of them!
Ingredients
- 200 g enoki mushrooms, washed, with the bottom part removed
- 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
- 1/2 yellow onion, sliced
- 1 spring onion
- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoons of tapioca starch
- 2 tablespoons of gluten-free flour
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 1/2 teaspoon dried garlic
For the sauce
- 2 spoons of soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon gochugaro (Korean chili flakes)
Method
- Slice the mushrooms, place them in a large bowl and add the remaining vegetables, sesame oil, salt and pepper.
- Mix everything together.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the tapioca starch, flour, water and dried garlic and add to the mushroom mixture.
- Mix well.
- Heat the oil in a pan and use your hands to form small patties, which you immediately place in the pan.
- Fry on both sides for a few minutes until golden brown and crispy. …
- Serve hot and crispy with the sauce you make by mixing all the sauce ingredients together.

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Mushroom pancakes with spinach and meat
The combination of spinach, mushrooms, minced meat and coconut cream is unique and definitely worth trying! You can also prepare this delicacy at home.
Ingredients
- 500 g frozen chopped spinach
- 1 tablespoon of butter
- ½ cup chopped yellow onion
- 250 g Cremini mushrooms, finely chopped
- ¼ cup coconut cream or coconut milk
- ½ cup celery stalks, cut into small cubes
- ½ cup parsley leaves
- 500 g of ground beef
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 1 medium crushed garlic clove
- 1 teaspoon salt and more as needed
- 1 and ½ teaspoons ground black pepper and more as needed
- ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 2 large eggs
- coconut oil
- tomato sauce to serve (optional)
Method
- Put the spinach in the fridge and let it thaw overnight.
- Place the thawed spinach in a colander and squeeze out all the liquid.
- In a large skillet, heat the butter over medium heat and toss in the chopped onion and mushrooms along with a little salt and pepper.
- Saute the vegetables until the liquid evaporates and the onion softens.
- Place the ground beef in a large bowl and set aside.
- Blend the coconut milk, parsley and celery stalks with a stick blender.
- Once pureed, mix it with ground beef and add chopped spinach, coconut flour, garlic, salt and pepper, nutmeg, beaten eggs and mushroom mixture.
- Gently combine all the ingredients and form small patties from the meat mixture.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a pan over medium heat and fry the patties for about 3 minutes on each side.
- Put the finished meatballs on a plate and serve with tomato sauce.

Shiitake meatballs with cheese and escalivada
The recipe for delicious mushroom meatballs with cheese can be made with most types of cheese and is an excellent main dish. Serve them with escalivada, a Catalan vegetable dish that is best eaten the day after it is prepared.
Ingredients
- 50 g of polenta
- 35 g plain flour
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 pinch of soda
- 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds, roasted
- 175 g thick yogurt
- 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of water
- 1 small egg
- 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 spring onion, thinly sliced
- a handful of chopped basil leaves
- 100 g diced halloumi, feta, cheddar, emmental or other hard cheese
- 75 g shiitake mushrooms without stems, cut the caps into thin slices
Escalivada
- 2 red peppers
- 2 large tomatoes
- 1 eggplant, pierced 10 times
- 2 red onions, cut into 5mm rings
- 6 spring onions, white parts only
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely grated
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest, finely grated
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 handful of chopped basil leaves
- 1 handful of chopped mint leaves
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
For decoration
- chives, finely chopped
- pea shoots
Method
- To make an escalivade, saute peppers, tomatoes and eggplant in a dry pan until the skin blackens and blisters and the flesh softens.
- Place in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave to cool
- In the same pan, sauté the onion and spring onion until the onion is charred and softened and the spring onion begins to blacken.
- Remove any blackened parts and leave to cool.
- Once the peppers, tomatoes and eggplant have cooled, remove the skins and stems and cut them in half.
- Remove the seeds from the pepper and cut into strips.
- Cut the tomatoes into pieces and mix them in a bowl with the peppers.
- Squeeze the aubergine to remove any excess moisture, then thinly slice and add to the peppers and tomatoes
- Mix the garlic with the lemon zest and juice and add to the vegetables.
- Cut the red onion and spring onion into smaller pieces and mix with the vegetables along with the olive oil and herbs.
- Season to taste and set aside.
- Now prepare the pancakes.
- Heat the oil in a deep pan to 180°C.
- Sift the polenta, flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and sugar together into a bowl, then stir in the ground coriander seeds
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt, olive oil, water, egg and garlic.
- Stir in the scallions, basil, mushrooms and cheese before mixing with the flour mixture.
- Let rest for 10 minutes.
- Add the mixture to the hot oil in batches.
- Fry for about 4 minutes, turning them regularly to make sure they fry evenly.
- Remove the pancakes from the pan and set aside on a paper towel.
- Serve with escalivada and garnish with chives and pea shoots.

A final tip
For shaping, it is better to let the mass solidify a little , then it is shaped better. Meatballs can be shaped in different ways. Most often it will probably be smaller round patties.
If we want larger cutlets , then it is better to make really solidified material, so we will be able to create larger flat cutlets. Instead of patties or cutlets, we can also shape rolls, balls, from a very stiff mass previously spread on a sheet, we can cut out squares or rectangles.
Do you still have a lot of mushrooms left in your basket? Try our tips for delicious baked mushrooms .
Did you enjoy it? Show off to other mushroom pickers in the comments.