Healthy Thanksgiving Stuffed Mushrooms

Mouthwatering healthy stuffed mushrooms that are seriously Thanksgiving in a bite. Ground turkey, sage, thyme, dried cranberries, and apple all baked inside of a mushroom make for a heavenly bite every time.

You are sure to win “best dish” at your Thanksgiving (or Friendsgiving) with this Healthy Thanksgiving Stuffed Mushroom recipe! In just one bite, the iconic Thanksgiving flavors of turkey, cranberries, thyme, and sage will transport you to a Turkey Day wonderland.

Pack ‘em full

Since the baby bella/white button mushrooms are small, to fit everything inside and have a consistent flavor in each bite, the ingredients need to be finely chopped. I highly recommend using a food processor to chop the apple, cranberries, and mushroom stems. This will not only save tons of time, but ensure each mushroom has an even distribution of all ingredients. If you don’t have a food processor, no worries! I’ve made this recipe both ways and they both turned out great. If you are using a knife, just spend a little extra time dicing everything finely. When you brown the ground turkey, make sure you use your spatula to break the pieces of turkey up until they are very small.

Don’t waste the stems

You will probably have some leftover mushroom stems since the recipe only calls for 1 cup. Don’t waste them! They might look weird, but they’re still delicious and have lots of nutrients. I like chopping them and adding them to omelettes/eggs, stir fries, etc.

Can I use almond meal instead of almond flour?

I’ve tested these Healthy Thanksgiving Stuffed Mushrooms both ways, and I don’t recommend substituting almond meal for almond flour. Almond meal has a much more crumbly texture than almond flour, and the filling didn’t bind as well when I used almond meal.

Can I freeze these healthy stuffed mushrooms?

Yes! But make sure you freeze them BEFORE baking them, otherwise they won’t hold up well. Your best bet is to freeze the assembled (raw) stuffed mushrooms for a few hours on a cookie sheet to let them solidify enough so you can put them in a freezer bag for longer-term freezing.

How do I remove the leaves from a piece of fresh thyme?

Picking the leaves off one-by-one is super tedious and not ideal. To make things easier, pinch the stem near the top with one hand then use the thumb and index finger of your other hand and run them down the stem against the direction that the leaves are growing.

The low-down on dried fruit

Dried fruit is extremely concentrated with sugar. A little bit is okay, but try to look for no sugar added dried cranberries. The apple in these Healthy Thanksgiving Stuffed Mushrooms will provide enough sweetness!

Recipe

Prep Time: 22 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 42 mins
Yield: ~40 mushrooms

Ingredients

• 1 lb organic ground turkey
• 4 8oz containers of baby bella or white button mushrooms (about 42 mushrooms)
• 2 Tbsp avocado oil
• Pinch of salt and pepper (for mushroom caps)
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp salt (for ground turkey)
• ½ tsp pepper (for ground turkey)
• 1 small apple, finely chopped
• ¼c dried cranberries, finely chopped (try to get no sugar added)
• 1 heaping Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 2 large sage leaves, finely chopped (about 1 heaping tsp)
• ½ c avocado mayo (check out my recipe here)
• ¼ c blanched almond flour

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Brown the ground turkey.
3. While the turkey is cooking, gently wipe the mushrooms with a paper towel or a clean kitchen towel to remove any dirt. Remove (but keep!) all the stems. Use a food processor to finely chop some of the stems until you have 1 c.
4. Place mushroom caps in a large bowl and gently toss with a drizzle of avocado oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.
5. Once the turkey is fully cooked, drain off any liquid, and season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
6. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cooked turkey, apple, dried cranberries, thyme, sage, avocado mayo, almond flour, and mushroom stems. Stir until well combined. The mixture should be very thick.
7. Using a little spoon (or your hands), fill each mushroom with the turkey mixture. Don’t skimp out - I like to press as much filling as possible into each mushroom and form a dome.
8. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the stuffed mushrooms on the baking sheet.
9. Bake for 15 minutes. The top of each stuffed mushroom should look golden and there should be moisture on the pan under each mushroom cap.