Mushroom Wellington {Easy Veggie Recipe}

Name: Mushroom Wellington {Easy Veggie Recipe}
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 60 min
Total time: 70 min
Ingredients: 1 tbsp Olive oil; 1 Garlic bulb; 8 Portobello mushrooms (x2 per person); 2 Leeks (Halved and sliced into 0.5cm pieces ); 30 g Salted butter; 10 g Fresh thyme (Leaves removed from stalks); 200 g Garlic and herb soft cheese; 650 g Ready-rolled puff pastry (x2 325g packs); 1 Egg; Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

This is such a decadent vegetarian main course that’s ideal if you’re looking for something a little special to substitute meat on a roast dinner. After a lot of testing and perfecting, here is my delicious but easy Mushroom Wellington recipe.

A mushroom wellington parcel on a board, sliced down the middle to show the filling.

If you’re looking to make a special meal and are cooking for vegetarian guests, or you don’t eat meat yourself, this Mushroom Wellington recipe is perfect as the main event for your plates.

Light, flaky (and shop-bought, obviously) puff pastry is stuffed with delicious roasted portobello mushrooms and a creamy leek and garlic filling, making this vegetarian main course recipe a great option.

Why? Well it’s something a little indulgent AND you can make it in advance for convenience!

In fact, you can even do these delicious puff pastry parcels way ahead of time and freeze them, giving you precious time when the kitchen gets busy.

Why you’ll love this Mushroom Wellington recipe

⭐️ Perfect vegetarian showstopper for special meal

⭐️Can be made ahead to save time later

⭐️Delicious, decadent flavours make it a bit EXTRA

Mushroom wellingtons on a chopping board, one sliced down the middle to show the filling, with twinkly lights at the side and Christmas ribbon.

How we came up with this recipe

So many of you have asked for a vegetarian family meal main course that felt a bit special, and I also wanted to offer a vegetarian Christmas dinner option to add to our festive recipes.

I had this idea of making a wellington with mushrooms, but I wanted to use them whole inside so that there was something to slice through that felt like a centrepiece.

This turned out to be harder than expected! We tested this recipe TEN times before it came close to being perfect.

In case anyone is interested in alterations you could make, we tested various combinations of:

✅ Spinach and leek filling

✅ Just spinach filling

✅ Goats cheese/blue cheese fillings

✅ Fresh, fried garlic/garlic granules

✅ Dried thyme instead of fresh

✅ With walnuts/cashews in the filling

I think we got it in the end! The epiphany came with a roasted bulb of garlic – it’s SO good! Hope you’ll love it.

If you want to make any of the tweaks that we tested above, they are all good and maybe you’ll prefer, but this is the combo we think is best. You do you though.

NOTES ON Mushroom Wellington Ingredients

Ingredients for a mushroom wellington recipe laid out on a white table counter.

Garlic – You will need a whole bulb for this rather than pre-prepared
Portobello mushrooms – Use x 2 per person. We tested this with flat, regular, field mushrooms (not Portobello) and we felt it wasn’t as good. Please do try to use Portobello mushrooms as they have so much more flavour!

How to make Mushroom Wellingtons

Portobello mushrooms and a garlic bulb drizzled with oil on a baking tray, ready to make mushroom wellingtons.

1. Trim the garlic bulb and place in foil on a baking tray with the mushrooms. Drizzle over oil and season.

Leeks, butter and thyme in a dish, ready to go in the oven for the recipe for Mushroom Wellingtons.

2. Add the leeks, thyme and butter to an ovenproof dish and cover tightly. Put the mushrooms and the leek dish into the oven.

A leek mixture with cream cheese on top, for step 3 in the process for Mushroom Wellington recipe.

3. When partly cooked (see recipe below) drain the liquid from the mushrooms, turn over and put back in with the leeks for another 30 minutes. Allow to cool then add the garlic into the leek mixture, and the cream cheese. Season well and combine.

Strips of puff pastry with mushrooms and leeks on top, ready to be folded into mushroom wellingtons.

4. Cut your puff pastry sheet into strips of thirds, position a mushroom at one end, add 1/4 of the leek mixture, and then put another mushroom on the top (face down). Repeat for all 4 mushrooms.

Step 5 in the process of mushroom wellingtons - one covered with pastry, the other with just the filling on top of the pastry strip.

5. Brush beaten egg around each mushroom, then fold the pastry over the top of each and use a fork to press the two edges of pastry together.

Four uncooked mushroom wellington parcels with a pastry star on top to decorate, ready to go in the oven.

6. Brush the top of the pastry with the remaining egg. Bake (as per the recipe below) until the pastry is golden.

Substitutions

Alternative wellington fillings – See the list in the notes for tried-and-tested combinations that we know work really well too

How to make in advance & Storing

Follow the recipe up to step 5 of ‘making the wellingtons’, then cover the wellingtons and store in the fridge for up to 3 days before baking.

You may need to bake it for 5-10 minutes longer than the recipe says if it’s come straight out of the fridge and into the oven.

Freezing

You can also follow the recipe to step 5 of ‘making the wellingtons’ and freeze the wellingtons, uncooked, and keep frozen up to 3 months in advance.

When you want to cook them, defrost thoroughly in the fridge and bake as above.

Top tips

Pastry hack

We’re using my go-to hack of using ready-rolled puff pastry (if you want to make your own pastry, go ahead, but using this kind is more than OK).

Make sure you take it out of the fridge 15 minutes before working with it in the recipe.

Garlic

This recipe roasts a whole bulb of garlic. How strong this tastes will depend on how big the bulb is, the flavour of that particular bulb and also your personal taste.

You may want to add HALF of the roasted bulb to the mixture, taste the leek filling and then decide if you want to add the rest (I always do but I LOVE garlic).

If you don’t use the whole bulb, you can save the rest in the fridge for 3 days to use in another dish.

Pastry quantities

Really annoyingly, 1 sheet of puff pastry is enough for 3 mushrooms, so you will need 1 and 1/3 sheets for 4 mushrooms (if you want to make 4, that is).

You can freeze the leftover pastry for another time, or make some puff pastry mince pies with the rest!

FAQs

Do you have any other vegetarian main course options?

Yes, I have lots! You could for a more traditional main that would work as an alternative to a Sunday roast-style meal, such as Vegetarian Cottage Pie or Cheesy Vegetarian Pie.

Or you could go for Courgette Fritters, Cauliflower Cheese or Spinach & Ricotta Lasagne.

Can I eat the cooked leftovers?

Sure! They will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. For best results, reheat them covered in the oven, or in the microwave thoroughly.

Can I make this gluten free?

Yes, you’ll just need to use gluten free puff pastry as an alternative.

Can I make this vegan?

Yes! You’d need to use vegan pastry and vegan cream cheese. Substitute the butter for a dairy free spread. Substitute the egg wash for a dairy free milk.

What should I serve with Mushroom Wellington?

If you’re having this for a roast dinner, ALL the meat-free trimmings! If it’s a regular meal, you could go for something similar, with roast potatoes or parmentier potatoes, carrots and parsnips and red cabbage.

If you’d like this with gravy, make my Vegetarian Gravy to go with it.

Let me know how you got on and what you thought of these recipes. Please rate the recipe using the ⭐️ below.

Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).