Looking for a fun appetizer to serve at your next pool party or get together? Look no further! These spinach and artichoke stuffed mushrooms are an exciting (and healthy) way for you and your compadres to enjoy spinach and artichoke dip, which in my opinion is one of the most crowd pleasing appetizers out there! Did I mention that each mushroom only has 35 calories? if you didn’t have an excuse to throw a party, now you do!
Like many of my recipes, I used non-fat greek yogurt and weight watchers cream cheese instead of heavy whipping cream, sour cream, mayonnaise, and other high fat dairy products traditional spinach and artichoke recipes call for. I did use ONE tablespoon of olive oil mayonnaise for taste, but I didn’t think anyone would mind since all 45 calories of this mayo is divided between twenty servings, which brings me to my next point: portobello mushrooms.
This recipe calls for 20 baby portobello mushrooms (hence the “twenty servings” mentioned above). You’ll start by rinsing and hollowing out each of the mushrooms, and lining them hollow-side-up on a foil-covered baking sheet (pictured below). Be gentle when hollowing out your mushrooms. Portobellos tend to be more delicate than other mushrooms with thicker, more round, bulb-like caps.
Hold the mushroom stem side up and use a small pairing knife to cut the stem out of the mushroom. Cut off the entire stem, but be very careful not to cut into the bulb (walls) of the mushroom since the mushroom. It will be more difficult for the mushroom to take on the bowl-like shape needed to hold the spinach and artichoke dip if it has no walls! Next, with a small spoon, carefully scoop out as much of the “gills” or “insides” of the mushroom as possible. Once your mushrooms are nice and hollow, arrange them on a foil lined baking sheet. Make sure you spray the foil with plenty of PAM or non-stick spray before arranging your mushrooms.
Important note: your hollowed out mushrooms do not need to (and probably will not) be perfect. Mine, as you can tell from the picture above, most certainly were not perfect. If you come across a mushroom that just won’t seem to cooperate, don’t be alarmed! Simply try your best to hollow it out as much as possible. I promise the finished product will taste great…even if your mushroom still has some insides!
Now that the mushrooms are ready to go, you need to make the spinach and artichoke dip to stuff the mushroom caps with. To do this, fill a pot with water and place your fresh spinach and drained artichoke hearts in the pot on top of the stove and raise temperature until water starts to boil. Once water reaches a rolling boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes until spinach begins to wilt and artichoke hearts turn very soft. Remove pot from heat and drain the water.
Place the spinach and artichokes back in the same pot on low heat. Stir in the weight watchers (or fat-free) cream cheese, greek yogurt, all 45 calories of the olive oil mayo, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and continue stirring until all ingredients are well combined.
The spinach and artichoke mix should be thick and goopy. However, depending on the type of greek yogurt used, your mix could be fairly runny. If it is, do not worry! This is completely normal! To thicken up your mix, simply add flour in 1/2 teaspoon (teaspoon NOT tablespoon) increments until mix thickens. You should not exceed more than 2 teaspoons of flour during this process. Once your mix becomes thick and goopy fold in the parmesan cheese and you’re ready to fill the mushroom caps!
Using a large spoon, place a heaping spoonful of the spinach and artichoke mix into each mushroom cap, sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese on top and pop them in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes at 350 degrees. You’ll know they’re finished when the tops begin to turn a light golden brown color, but don’t take them out just yet! Turn the oven to broil and cook mushrooms for another 2 minutes, until cheese on top starts to melt.
Congratulations! You’re done! Remove your mushrooms from the oven to cool for about 3 minutes before serving. It might just be the longest 3 minutes of your life but I promise its worth the wait!
- • About 20 baby Portobello mushrooms
- • 1 cup canned artichoke hearts, drained
- • 2 cups fresh baby spinach
- • 1/4 cup (about 3 oz.) non-fat cream cheese
- • 1 Tbs Olive Oil Mayonnaise
- • 1/4 cup plain non-fat greek yogurt
- • 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- • 1 tsp salt
- • 1 tsp pepper
- • 2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- • 2 tsp flour, as needed
- • Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- • Remove stems and carve out insides of mushrooms so that they are hollow. Line a baking sheet with foil, spray with non-stick cooking spray, and line mushroom tops on top.
- • Place spinach and artichoke hearts in a pot with 1/2 cup of water and bring to a rolling boil. After reaching a rolling boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes until spinach wilts and remove from heat and drain.
- • Add spinach and artichokes back into same pot on low heat. Add cream cheese, greek yogurt, mayo, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Stir until well combined.
- • If mix is runny, stir in flour in 1/2 teaspoon increments to thicken it up. You should not use more than 2 tsp of flour.
- • Once mix is thick and goopy, fold in 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese.
- • Spoon mix into mushroom tops, sprinkle remaining parmesan cheese on top and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. When tops begin to turn golden brown, turn oven on broil. Leave tops in oven for 2 minutes, until cheese on top melts.
- • Remove from oven, let cool for 3 minutes, and enjoy!
- 35 calories per mushroom cap
- Add flour in 1/2 tsp increments if dip is too runny before filling mushroom caps.
- Store in refrigerator in airtight container for 3-4 days. Microwave to re-heat.
