Dear friends, welcome back! Today I present to you my breaded pleurotus mushrooms in the air fryer, a recipe that was born almost by chance, or rather… born from an association of ideas. 😊

As you know, I often buy cultivated mushrooms, I like them a lot, and they often solve my lunch or dinner when I’m in a hurry or when I’m running out of ideas. Usually, I buy champignons, but this time I wanted to change things up a bit and got some pleurotus, intending, without much thought, to bake them.

Recently, I’ve dusted off the air fryer (as you may have noticed from previous recipes 😃) which I had set aside for a while, and I’m going through a period of experimentation that is giving me a lot of satisfaction. I’m having fun trying this little air-fryer-that-isn’t-actually-a-fryer with practically everything (and I’m putting in a lot of effort to write down all the recipes I’m testing!).

So, since today’s theme for the Light and Tasty column is ‘mushrooms’, the association of ideas between mushrooms and the air fryer was almost expected!, and I tried cooking my pleurotus like this. 😃

And then, if there’s one thing the air fryer is really good at, it’s cooking without fats, so… the recipe is light and definitely suitable for the column!

👇 Here, I remind you of some of my other recipes with the air fryer, and besides, I’ll also leave you the link to the complete collection:

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Inexpensive
Preparation time: 5 Minutes
Portions: 2
Cooking methods: Air Frying
Cuisine: Healthy
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

10 oz pleurotus mushrooms (cultivated)
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp chopped parsley
1/2 clove garlic
to taste fresh ginger (grated)

Tools

Air Fryer Ariete Airy Fryer Mini in black color
Parchment Paper

Procedure

First, clean the mushrooms using a damp cloth instead of washing them with water.

Line the air fryer’s basket with a parchment paper sheet, or use a paper basket specifically for air fryers.
👉 If using regular parchment paper, it’s best to trim the edges to avoid high points that might burn.
☝ Before placing the parchment paper, remember to insert the grill (which is removable in this model).

Place a first layer of mushrooms at the bottom of the basket.
👉 It’s better to remove the stems, as pleurotus have rather tough stems that take longer to cook than the caps. For this reason, I prefer to use the stems in other preparations (I usually chop them and add them to meat or vegetable ragù).

Close the basket and start the air fryer for 10 minutes at 356°F.
While this first layer of mushrooms is cooking, season the breadcrumbs: add a little oil, chopped garlic and parsley, and pepper if desired.

After 10 minutes, cover the mushrooms with half of the seasoned breadcrumbs.

Add, if you like (I do!), a touch of fresh ginger.
Place a second layer of mushrooms, run again for 8 minutes at 356°F.
Open the basket, cover the mushrooms with the remaining breadcrumbs and more ginger, then close the basket and let it brown for 3-4 minutes, just the time needed to brown the breadcrumbs.
Remove the mushroom pie from the basket by lifting the whole “package” with the parchment paper.
The top layer of this breaded pleurotus mushroom pie turns out nice and crunchy, well-breaded.
In the lower layer, the breadcrumbs are soft (as you surely noticed in the previous steps, I didn’t brown it, assuming it would soften anyway. I’ll try browning next time).
Nonetheless, the dish is enjoyable and I’m very satisfied with it.
Considering it takes 10 minutes of cooking for each layer, the choice to make a pie rather than two single layers was driven more by my spirit of experimentation than by any real practical necessity. Or rather, the practical necessity lies in the fact that this way I could serve the two portions simultaneously (and hot at the same time, otherwise during the cooking of the second step, the first would have cooled down).

My opinion on the air fryer: with this last explanation on cooking my two portions of breaded mushrooms, I think I’ve found another important pro and con of this nice and useful (and small) air fryer (2 liters): it’s perfect for one person, and even for two. Beyond this number of people – although everything is certainly doable – if you have a small oven, then, in my opinion, it’s better to use that. For obvious reasons of optimizing cooking times related to the amount of product to be cooked.

I can only praise the quality of the cooking, these breaded pleurotus mushrooms in the air fryer turned out great, I really liked them. So if you’re also a family of four but have the same issue as me, that for some foods it’s like you’re single… 😃 even a tiny little air fryer can have its reason!

Enjoy!
I confirm what I told you two recipes ago (in the roasted pumpkin in the air fryer): the air fryer is a good help for those who cook without salt, in fact, these breaded pleurotus mushrooms, cooked entirely without added salt, turned out with excellent flavor, in all their natural taste, and for the experience I’ve had so far, I can say that this cooking method does not disperse flavors, rather it enhances them, and I’m fully satisfied.

Then the browning did the rest, especially the addition of fresh ginger was really a great idea because its lemon taste pairs excellently with mushrooms, and its spiciness is, as also happens with chili, a valid aid for those approaching the gradual reduction of salt.

If you’re interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
● Decrease salt gradually, the palate needs to get used gradually and should not notice the progressive reduction.
● Use spices. Chili, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
● Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
● Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
● Use spicy vegetables or fruit. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
● Use my vegetable granulate without salt and gomasio.
● Prefer fresh foods.
● Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (griddle, foil, steam, microwave)
● Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
● Occasionally allow yourself to break the rule. It’s good for the mood and helps perseverance.

If you don’t want, or can’t, give up salt:
● You can still try my recipes, salting according to your habits. 😊
Finally, but not least, here are the mushroom recipes from my Light and Tasty colleagues, hurry and read them!
Carla: Sauté of mushrooms and artichokes
Daniela: Barley soup with mushrooms and chestnuts
Elena: Mushrooms and chestnuts with za’atar
Franca: Cream of porcini
Milena: Spelt tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms