Easy to make, delicious Grilled Marinated Portobello Mushrooms with an easy, tasty marinade from pantry ingredients. Perfect as a vegetarian alternative to grilled burgers.

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A meaty-textured portobello mushroom can be a great alternative to a hamburger. They can cook along with your burgers in the same time and grill temperature. Serve them as a tasty portobello steak, grilled portobello mushroom burger, or side dish.
A portobello mushroom has about 20 calories, but that changes with the marinade—assuming 50% absorption of the marinade (which is high), they are still under 100 calories and fit that will fit a healthy diet like a low-calorie or low-fat diet or even a low-carb keto diet.
Serve with Grilled Mixed Vegetables, Grilled Asparagus, Grilled Baby Potatoes, and Grilled Pineapple. And works well with Grilled Burger, Low Fat Burgers, Juicy Lucy Burgers, Ground Chicken Burgers, and Grilled Pork Tenderloin.
This grilled portobello mushroom recipe is from my local cooking school. I have expanded the discussion and provided detailed instructions with photos. Please enjoy this excellent alternative to have in your grilling bag of tricks.
🍄Ingredients
- Portobello mushrooms
- Olive oil
- Soy sauce—use Tamari if you want gluten-free
- Lemon juice
- Balsamic vinegar—optional
- Seasoning—garlic powder, kosher salt, black pepper. Optional additions are cayenne pepper, rosemary, and fresh thyme.
👨🍳How to Make Grilled Portobello Mushrooms
- Wash and pat dry the mushroom caps. Break off the stem but leave the gills.
- Mix marinade.
- Brush the top and bottom of the mushrooms with a generous amount of the marinade. Flip and pour any remainder into the bottom of the mushrooms. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
- Grill over direct high heat. Start with the top side down. Grill for 4-5 minutes and flip for another 4-5 minutes.
- Serve as a portobello steak, grilled portobello mushroom burger, or side dish.
🥣Portobello Mushroom Marinade
The simple marinade is made with olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar (optional), and garlic, and it has a great taste with common pantry ingredients. Optional additions are cayenne pepper, rosemary, and fresh thyme.
🍄About Portobello Mushrooms
A portobello mushroom is a mature form of the common button mushroom but allowed to grow and mature. They are cultivated in many countries and are one of the most common mushrooms.
The spelling has common variations, including portobello, portabella, and portobella. They are all the same, and all the spellings are acceptable.
❓FAQs
Snap out the stem, but leave the gills. The gills are commonly removed when portabellos are used in other dishes since the dark color is not desired, but here they will absorb more marinade, which means more flavor. You may remove the gills if you want.
Rinse the mushrooms and pat dry with paper towels. Then, a light brush of the marinade on the crown—flip it oven and fill the bottom with the marinade and refrigerate for 1-2 hours before grilling.
Always start with the crown side down. They can go directly on well oiled grates or in a grill pan.
Storage of leftovers
Store leftover grilled portobello mushrooms in an airtight container refrigerated for 3 days. Reheat, in the oven or a microwave.
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Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Wash and pat dry the mushroom caps. Break off the stem, but leave the gills.
Mix marinade of 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Optional additions are cayenne pepper, rosemary, and fresh thyme.
Brush the top of the mushrooms with a generous amount of marinade. Flip over and brush the bottom. Pour any remainder into the bottom of the mushrooms. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
Grill over direct high heat directly on the grill grates or in a grill pan. Start with the bottom side up. Grill for 4-5 minutes and flip for another 4-5 minutes.
Serve as a portobello steak, grilled portobello mushroom burger, or side dish.
📖 Recipe
Grilled Marinated Portobello Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 2 large portobello mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar - Optional
Instructions
- Wash and pat dry the mushroom caps. Break off the stem, but leave the gills
- Mix marinade of 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Optional additions are cayenne pepper, rosemary, and fresh thyme.
- Brush the top of the mushrooms with a generous amount of marinade. Flip over and brush the bottom. Pour any remainder into the bottom of the mushrooms. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
- Grill over direct high heat directly on the grill grates or in a grill pan. Start with the bottom side up. Grill for 4-5 minutes and flip for another 4-5 minutes.
- Serve as a portobello steak, grilled portobello mushroom burger, or side dish.
Your Own Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- You need large relatively fresh portobello mushrooms for this recipe.
- I calculated the nutrition with one-half of the marinade staying in the final dish but it will vary by the dryness of the mushrooms. Commonly only one-tenth of a marinade is used to calculate this.
- The cooking timing matches grilled burgers perfectly and I use this for casual grill parties so the guests will have a choice.
- Cook to final color and not by time.
- Vary the marinade to your taste.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor's Note: Originally Published August 13, 2017. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
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