Ready to level up your dinner game? Say hello to our Caramelized Baked stuffed onions with Mushrooms! This dish is a flavor bomb about to explode in your mouth. Imagine tender onions caramelized to perfection, stuffed with a mouthwatering mix of mushrooms and herbs. The meal makes you go "Mmm" with every bite.
This recipe uses porcini mushrooms and firm tofu to make a sublime stuffing. They are a total game-changer and one of our favorite porcini mushroom recipes!
Porcini mushrooms are freshly available during the fall season, so it is easier to find dishes that rely on this delicious mushroom as part of the vegan fall recipes repertoire.
This recipe makes a perfect Holiday side dish, or you can even make the main dish if serving more than one.
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💚 Why you will love it
- Rich Umami Taste
- Hearty Comfort Food
- Elegant Presentation
- Wholesome Ingredients
🧾 Ingredients
- Large Yellow Onions: These beauties serve as the perfect edible bowls, and their natural sweetness elevates when caramelized, adding a rich depth to the dish.
- Porcini Mushrooms: Known for their earthy, nutty flavor, they add a gourmet touch and a meaty texture that's to die for.
- White Wine: A splash of this elevates the flavors and helps in adding flavor to the onions, making sure you get every bit of deliciousness.
- Garlic: It's the flavor backbone, offering a punch of aroma and taste that complements the mushrooms like a dream.
- Extra Firm Tofu: This plant-based powerhouse adds protein and soaks up flavors like a sponge, making it a perfect filler.
- Dried Tomatoes: These little gems add a concentrated burst of tangy sweetness, giving the dish a Mediterranean flair.
- Gluten-Free Bread Crumbs: They offer that much-needed crunch and help bind the stuffing, all while keeping the dish gluten-free.
- Mushrooms: A versatile veggie that adds umami and texture, making the stuffing irresistibly good.
- Canned Tomatoes: These provide moisture and a touch of acidity, balancing out the richness of the other ingredients.
- Nutritional Yeast: This is your go-to for cheesy flavor without the dairy; it also packs in essential B-vitamins.
- Fresh Parsley: A sprinkle of this green goodness adds color and a burst of freshness, making each bite even more delightful.
Optional: spring onions, vegan butter, olive oil.
See quantities and complete instructions in the recipe card.
🔪 Instructions
Ready? Let's get into it!
- Prepare the stock.. Simmer the porcini mushroom in boiling water for 5 minutes and set aside.
- Prepare the onions. Peel each whole onion carefully. With a sharp knife, cut the tops and bottoms of the onions.
- Then, cut top to bottom, placing the knife's tip at the center of the onion.
- Remove the onion's inner flesh and reserve it for the stuffing.
Carefully remove the inner layers (onion flesh), reserve the onion flash for another use, or chop centers and replace the spring onions for the stuffing.
- Remove the outer layers carefully.
- The smaller the holes, the better.
- Briefly cook the onion's outer layers. Take off the porcini mushrooms from the saucepan and add the white wine, 1 cup at a time. Simmer for a few minutes, and briefly cook the onion layer, a few at a time. They should not cook much. They only need to be a little tender, as the cooking process will finalize in the oven.
- Set aside and let them cool, as you will handle them later with your hands. Meanwhile, Preheat the oven to medium-high heat, 350 ºF (175ºC).
- Making the stuffing mixture. In a medium saucepan, stir the chopped stuffing ingredients, beginning with chopped onion and garlic, then the crumbled tofu and chopped dried tomatoes, until you add all the remaining ingredients. Mix everything, occasionally stirring, until you have a nice texture.
Hint: Don't use a food processor; you need stuffing textures! Add more liquid if needed.
- Remove from heat and add the bread crumbs and nutritional yeast to the saucepan or a large bowl. Then, season with a teaspoon of salt and ground black pepper.
- Prepare your table to start stuffing the onion shells, and line a baking dish with cooking spray or just a little olive oil. Assemble the boiled onion layers, stuffing them with a spoon and securing them with a toothpick. Then bake for 45-50 minutes.
💡 Expert tips
Select the right onions: Choose large, firm onions with a mild flavor to ensure they hold up well during the cooking process and provide a sweet, not overpowering, base for your stuffing.
Rehydrate porcini mushrooms properly: Soak them in warm water for at least 20 minutes to ensure they are fully rehydrated and tender. This maximizes their flavor and makes them easier to chop and incorporate into your stuffing.
Careful hollowing out When hollowing out the onions, leave a thick enough layer to ensure they maintain their structure and don't collapse during baking. A small spoon or melon baller is perfect for this task, allowing you to remove the center while keeping the outer layers intact.
Save the onion insides: Don't discard the scooped-out onion pieces. Chop them up and include them in your stuffing mix for an extra boost of flavor that complements the porcini mushrooms and other ingredients.
Monitor baking closely: Depending on their size and your oven, the onions may need more or less time to become perfectly tender. Check them at the lower end of the recommended baking time to ensure they don't overcook or become too soft.
📖 Variations
Tartness - If you like adding festive and tart notes to your stuffing, you can add a handful of dried cranberries while it cooks.
Stuffing volume - Add cooked rice to your stuffing to make it bigger. Adjust the seasoning accordingly.
Onions - Red onions also work well. After separating the onion shells, the spring onions can be replaced by the remaining ones.
Gluten-free - you can omit the bread crumbs or use gluten-free breadcrumbs. If you skip them, we suggest making a chia egg or flax egg with 1 tablespoon of chia seeds plus 3 warm water. This will help to thicken the stuffing. Also, you should add them while the filling is still being cooked.
🥡 Storage
It’s a great recipe for friends and family because it can be made ahead, refrigerated overnight, or frozen in advance.
Store leftover onions in the fridge for up to 3 days, covered in an airtight container.
Freeze the tofu stuffing and keep it for up to 2 months. To use it, let it thaw overnight and use it on your favorite stuffed vegetable recipes, such as vegan stuffed peppers, vegan pasta shells, or as a stuffing variation stuffed zucchini, or our Mediterranean baked stuffed eggplants.
You can also have the stuffing with Italian Artisan bread, Rosemary focaccia bread, vegan buttermilk gluten-free cornbread, or vegan bread buns.
🥢 How to serve
You may want to serve them alongside some roasted root vegetables like maple-glazed carrots, parsnips, turnips, and potatoes. If you have time before dinner prep starts on Thanksgiving Day, try to roast these ingredients in the oven while preparing other dishes from our blog post about what you need for Thanksgiving Dinner!
❓FAQ
First, you have to make sure you are buying an authentic product. Many products are available in markets with very few mushrooms, so you should be careful when buying them.
Porcini mushrooms have a fresh earthy smell; the younger they are, the more intense their flavor will be. You can use them for cooking different meals, like pasta, stuffing, and casseroles.
This mushroom's special flavor and fragrance make it one of Italy’s favorite pickings during autumn, but its price forces one to choose between fresh porcini mushrooms or dried ones.
Yes, you can prepare the stuffed onions ahead and either refrigerate them overnight or freeze them. They can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and frozen for up to 2 months.
When hollowing out the onions, it's crucial to leave enough layers to maintain their structure and prevent collapsing during baking. A small spoon or melon baller is perfect for scooping out the center while keeping the outer layers intact.
🍄 More porcini mushroom recipes
As for dried porcini, mushrooms are used in dishes including vegan mushroom risotto, a vegetarian roast, or vegan eggplant involtini.
Check out our suggested Christmas vegan recipes.
If you try this recipe, let us know! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag a photo #ourplantbasedworld on Instagram. Cheers!
👪 Scaling
The tofu stuffing can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge until ready to use. This recipe makes about six onions, perfect for feeding 2-4 people, depending on appetite size!
I recommend using a pretty baking dish for cooking this porcini recipe, you can even plate the onions using the same dish. If you do so, use a glass or ceramic one.
🎥 Video
📋 Recipe
Baked Stuffed Onions
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 onions large
- 1 oz porcini mushrooms dried, hydrated ,and chopped (simmer in 2 cups of water to cook the onions)
- 10 oz cremini mushrooms chopped
- 2 cups white wine
- 1 tablespoon vegan butter or margarine, omit if following a WFPB diet
- 3 spring onions chopped
- 3 clove garlic chopped
- 10 oz firm tofu extra-firm, crumbled
- 1 oz tomatoes dried, in oil
- 4 oz breadcrumbs or 2 chia eggs to make it gluten-free
- 18 oz mushrooms cremini or portobello, quartered
- 14 oz tomatoes canned
- 1 ½ oz nutritional yeast
- 1 cup parsley finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon sea salt optional, avoid if following a WFPB diet
- 1 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
Directions
- Soak. Place the dry porcini mushrooms in a bowl with 3 cups of hot water for 5 minutes. Reserve the stock.
- Preheat the oven to 350 ºF (175ºC). Have ready a small oiled ovenproof dish.
- Boil. Place the mushrooms, stock, and white wine in a medium saucepan and bring to boil.
Prepare onions:
- Meanwhile, trim ¼ inch off the top and bottom of the onions.
- Cut them lengthways in half and remove the brown skin.
- Gently remove most of the insides (keep these for another use), retaining two or three of the outer layers.
- Carefully separate the outer layers from each other and place them in the simmering stock, a few at a time. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until just tender.
- Drain well and cool slightly. Keep the stock.
Prepare the stuffing:
- On a Medium Saucepan, melt the margarine or vegan butter and stir fry on medium heat the crumbled tofu, chopped drained porcini mushrooms, breadcrumbs, chopped spring onions, and garlic for 5 minutes.
- Add ½ cup of white wine, followed by half of the resulting porcini/wine stock.
- Add the chopped canned and dry tomatoes, quartered mushrooms, nutritional yeast, chopped parsley, salt, and pepper.
- Cook for 10 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed.
- Let it cool.
Assemble and bake:
- Fill each onion layer generously with stuffing. Pull the sides together, so you end up with a fat cigar shape and secure them with a toothpick.4 onions
- Place the onions, seam-side down, in the oiled dish and pour over about ½ cup of the reserved stock, just to cover the bottom of the dish.
- Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until de onions are soft and lightly colored, and the stuffing is bubbling; add more stock if they dry completely before the end of the cooking process. Serve warm.
Video
Nutrition Facts
Nutritional Disclaimer
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice. See our full Nutritional Disclosure here.
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Please note that some of the links here are affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links. I recommend all of the products listed because they are companies I have found helpful and trustworthy.
As the lead content writer and recipe developer at Our Plant-Based World, he combines his passion for health and sustainability with a Plant-Based Nutrition Certification to create accessible, delicious vegan recipes. His expertise in plant-based cooking supports the blog's mission of fostering a healthier, environmentally conscious lifestyle through simple and seasonal dishes. His commitment to making vegan cooking enjoyable and inclusive for everyone shines in each recipe and article.
Jacqui
This looks unreal! Totally making this ?
Sara Welch
I love a good stuffed veggie recipe and this was no exception! So hearty and flavorful; easily, a new favorite!
Nicole W
Yum, yum, yum! Love mushrooms, love onions, this recipe is a slam dunk.
Valerie
I have a friend that gave up meat almost a year ago that will love these. They'd make a nice surprise to bring over during the busy holiday season.
Chenée
What a fantastic dish! The flavors work so well and the stuffing is so satisfying.
Sandhya S
FANTASTIC Vegetarian Holiday recipe - This is just the thing I need!
Beth
This is absolutely delicious and so tasty! My husband and I enjoyed this the other night, and we just loved it. I’m so excited to make this again!
Aimee Mars
What a beautiful dish and it would be perfect for Thanksgiving! Is it too early to start planning?? I'll test it out a couple of times before the big day so I have the recipe down.
Katherine
What a way to make the humble onion extra special! Can't wait to try this.
Gus
Thank you for the feedback Katherine! We're glad to hear you enjoyed our recipe.
Anjali
This recipe looks so hearty and satisfying and perfect for the holidays! Love that it is vegan too - yum!!
Dannii
What a great vegetarian alternative for Christmas. I can't wait to try this.
Taly
Nunca se me hubiera ocurrido rellenar cebollas!
Me encantó la idea!