This easy recipe for toasted mushroom breadcups is just what you need when you are looking for a different way to serve mushrooms with your meal. They complement a grilled steak beautifully or can even be served as a tasty side dish with a roast. What's more, they make a delicious appetiser and can even be shared at your next get-together as an easy snack.
Jump to:
Toasted breadcups
I just love making these little breadcups, not least because they are so easy to make!
There is no pastry involved. Instead, all you have to do is toast rounds of day-old bread in a muffin tin until they are crispy and golden and then fill them with your favourite filling.
They are ideal for making appetisers or party snacks, and if you fill them with the creamy mushroom filling in this recipe, they make a deliciously different side dish to serve with a roast. They are particularly good served alongside a grilled steak.
Apart from the creamy mushroom filling in this recipe, there is no end to what you can fill these little breadcups with. I've listed a few ideas below, but I'm sure you can think of plenty of your own.
The creamy mushroom filling uses only 3 main ingredients, plus flour for thickening, thyme for flavour and salt and pepper for seasoning. What's more, it only takes a few minutes to cook on the stove. You can have the mushroom filling assembled and ready to go by the time the breadcups come out of the oven, making this a really quick recipe.
Leftovers are also delicious. I store leftovers in the refrigerator on a plate covered with tinfoil. When I'm ready for lunch I pop a couple of the breadcups on a plate, warm them up in the microwave for 30 seconds and enjoy them. The breadcups are not as crispy as when fresh obviously, but I find that the chewier texture of the softer breadcups is just as tasty.
What you will need
Equipment
You won't need much by way of equipment - the main pieces of equipment are a 12-hole muffin pan for toasting the bread and a saucepan for making the filling.
Other items you will find useful are a rolling pin, a sharp knife, a chopping board and a scone cutter. If you don't have a scone cutter, don't worry you can cut out the bread rounds using a large mug.
Ingredients
**You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making these mushroom breadcups on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**
This recipe will make 12 breadcups.
- Sliced bread - I've used white bread here, but you could use any sliced bread of your choice. I think wholewheat would work really well. The seeds would add extra crunch. Day-old bread works better than fresh bread.
- Butter or spread to spread on each slice of bread.
- Mushrooms - you can use white mushrooms or chestnut mushrooms. They should be wiped clean and chopped into approximately 1-centimetre pieces.
- Onion - the onions should be peeled and cut into 1-centimetre chunks. I used a white onion but you could use red if you prefer. You could also use shallots instead of the onion.
- Cream and milk - I used half double cream (heavy cream or whipping cream) and half milk. If you are watching your calories you could substitute the double cream with single cream, or leave out the cream altogether and just use milk instead.
- Dried thyme - I love the flavour combination of thyme and mushrooms. You could use fresh thyme instead but you will need 3 times the amount of fresh thyme as dried.
- Salt and black pepper - this is for seasoning and is to your own taste.
- Flour - this is used to thicken the sauce.
- Olive oil (not pictured) - this is used for softening the onions and mushrooms.
What to do
Toasted breadcups
Switch on the oven to preheat it to 200C / 400F.
Breadcups - step 1
Use a rolling pin to flatten each slice of bread.
Breadcups - step 2
Using a 3.5-inch (8-cm) diameter scone cutter, cut out a round from each piece of bread.
Pro-tip - Don't throw the remains of the bread away. Turn them into breadcrumbs in a food processor and freeze them in a large plastic bag. Leave a bit of air in the freezer bag and the breadcrumbs won't stick together when they are frozen. You can use them to make meatballs or to coat meat before frying.
Breadcups - step 3
Spread butter or margarine on one side of each round.
Breadcups - step 4
Place the rounds buttered-side down into a 12-hole muffin pan and bake them in the preheated oven for 10 - 12 minutes until they are starting to turn brown and crispy.
Pro tip - For extra crispness, you could switch the oven off once the breadcups are baked, and leave them to cool in the switched-off oven with the door open.
Breadcups - step 5
The underside of the breadcup should be lightly browned.
Breadcups are best eaten fresh on the day. If you allow them to stand too long they will tend to lose their crispness so don't prepare them too far in advance.
Mushroom filling
Filling - step 1
Fry the chopped onions, thyme, salt and pepper in olive oil over moderate heat for about 5 minutes until they start to turn translucent.
Filling - step 2
Add the chopped mushrooms to the onions in the pan.
Filling - step 3
Cover the pan with a lid, turn the heat down to low and allow the mushrooms to sweat with the onions until the mushrooms have released their moisture. Stir occasionally so they don't burn.
Filling - step 4
Remove from the heat and stir in the flour. Make sure the flour is well stirred in, with no lumps.
Filling - step 5
Stir in the milk and cream and return to the heat. Turn the heat back to moderate.
Filling - step 6
Stir until the mixture thickens.
Filling - step 7
This is the consistency we are looking for. The spoon should leave a trail that closes after 1 or 2 seconds. If the mixture has become too thick, thin it down by stirring in a splash of extra milk.
Filling - step 8
Spoon the mixture into the cooled breadcups and optionally garnish with chopped parsley. Serve hot as a side dish.
If you'd like to be notified of new recipes, why not subscribe to my newsletter? To say thank you, you will receive a free recipe e-book containing some of my most popular cakes and desserts.
Additional filling ideas
For the fillings, you are limited only by your imagination - here are some ideas to get you started.
- Mix shredded cooked chicken with finely chopped spring onion and mayonnaise. Garnish with a little chopped parsley.
- Leftover cold coronation chicken or chicken a la king
- Chop avocado and tomato, and season with salt and pepper. Be careful with this filling - the breadcups will absorb any excess moisture from the filling and may not retain their crispness for very long.
- Fill the breadcups with scrambled eggs and top with a piece of smoked salmon for a quick and easy breakfast.
- Place a juicy meatball into each breadcup and top with homemade chilli tomato sauce.
Save for later
If you would like to try these toasted mushroom breadcups, why not save the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can find it easily? Just click the image below.
Alternatively, you can save the recipe by clicking on the floating heart icon on the right-hand side of the screen.
Related recipes
You can find many other ideas for cooking with mushrooms on my mushroom recipes page. Here are a few you may enjoy.
📋The recipe
Toasted mushroom breadcups
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- Saucepan
- Sharp Knife
- Chopping Board
- 12-hole muffin tin
- Scone cutter
Ingredients
- 12 slices bread white or wholewheat
- 2 tablespoon butter or margarine
For the creamy mushroom sauce
- 4 ounces / 125 grams white or chestnut mushrooms finely chopped
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon flour
- ½ cup / 120 ml milk semi-skimmed or full-fat
- ½ cup / 120 ml double cream
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil for frying the mushroom and onion
Instructions
To make the breadcups
- Preheat oven to 200°C / 400°F.
- Flatten slices of bread with a rolling pin and use a 3.5-inch scone cutter to cut out large rounds.12 slices bread
- Butter one side of each round lightly and press butter -side down into a muffin tray.2 tablespoon butter or margarine
- Bake in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Then remove from the oven and allow to cool.
- For extra crispness, you could switch the oven off once the breadcups are baked, and leave them to cool in the switched-off oven with the door open.
For the mushroom and onion filling
- Fry the chopped onions, thyme, salt and pepper in olive oil over a moderate heat for about 5 minutes until they start to turn translucent.1 medium onion, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, 1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Add the chopped mushrooms to the onions in the pan.4 ounces / 125 grams white or chestnut mushrooms
- Cover the pan with a lid, turn the heat down to low and allow the mushrooms to sweat with the onions until the mushrooms have released their moisture. Stir occasionally so they don't burn.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the flour. Make sure the flour is well stirred in, with no lumps.1 tablespoon flour
- Stir in the milk and cream and return to the heat. Turn the heat back to moderate.½ cup / 120 ml milk, ½ cup / 120 ml double cream
- Stir over a gentle heat until thick and creamy. If the mixture becomes too thick add a little more milk.
- Spoon the mixture into the breadcups and optionally garnish with chopped parsley. Serve hot as a side dish.
Notes
- Mix shredded cooked chicken with finely chopped spring onion and mayonnaise. Garnish with a little chopped parsley.
- Leftover cold coronation chicken or chicken a la king
- Chop avocado and tomato, and season with salt and pepper. Be careful with this filling - the breadcups will absorb any excess moisture from the filling and may not retain their crispness for very long.
- Fill the breadcups with scrambled eggs and top with a piece of smoked salmon for a quick and easy breakfast.
- Place a juicy meatball into each breadcup and top with homemade chilli tomato sauce.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
If you made this recipe and enjoyed it, I'd love it if you could give me a star rating in the comments below. And if you'd like to get in touch, you can email me at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you. And don't forget to subscribe to my mailing list so you can grab yourself a copy of my FREE COOKBOOK!
If you'd like to continue browsing, just click on this link to all my recipes.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!