Best Spices for Mushrooms

Mushrooms are not a blank canvas. Laboratory studies find the same savory (umami) compounds in edible mushrooms that seasonings are often used to add, and a characteristic “mushroom” aroma of their own. So the best spices for mushrooms tend to support that savoriness rather than cover it: garlic and onion, black pepper, and herbs such as oregano and basil, with bay and allspice for long cooking and pickling. This page covers what each one does and the one tested recipe that puts several of them together. Quantities appear only where a named recipe gives them.

At a glance

Seasoning	Job	Where it appears
Garlic	Pungent, savory depth	Tested marinated-mushroom recipe¹
Onion, fresh or powder	Sweet-savory base	Tested marinated-mushroom recipe¹
Black pepper	Gentle heat	Tested marinated-mushroom recipe¹
Oregano	Warm, herbal note; the tomato-sauce herb	Tested marinated-mushroom recipe¹
Basil	Sweet herbal note	Tested marinated-mushroom recipe¹
Bay leaves	Background depth in braises	Common practice
Allspice	Warm, clove-like note for pickles and broths	Pickling liquids generally²

What mushrooms bring to the dish

A 2016 study of 17 edible mushrooms sold in Korea measured their umami compounds: the amino acids glutamic and aspartic acid, and several 5’-nucleotides including GMP.³ Common button mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) had the highest level of glutamate-like components of the 17, at 42.4 mg per gram in that study’s measurement.³ A 2019 study of six oyster-type (Pleurotus) mushrooms found 1-octen-3-ol and 1-octen-3-one to be the key odor compounds in most of them, part of a group of eight-carbon compounds that were the most abundant volatiles.⁴

In practice, that means mushrooms already taste savory once they are cooked and browned (our judgment), and seasoning works best when it builds on that: aromatics, pepper and herbs rather than heavy spice.

The core seasonings and what each does

Garlic: the default

Garlic is a perennial in the amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae), with what Britannica calls a powerful onionlike aroma and pungent taste.⁵ The National Center for Home Food Preservation’s (NCHFP) marinated mushroom recipe puts a quartered garlic clove in the jars.¹ Fresh garlic goes into sautés, sauces and marinades; garlic powder mixes evenly into dry breadings and seasoning rubs (our judgment). See garlic powder vs. garlic and, if it takes over, too much garlic.

Onion: the sweet-savory base

The NCHFP recipe uses ½ cup of finely chopped onions in the marinade.¹ Onions cooked down with mushrooms in butter or oil give the familiar base of soups, gravies and sautés (common practice). Onion powder is the dry form for breadings and rubs; see onion powder vs. onion.

Black pepper: gentle heat

The NCHFP recipe uses 25 black peppercorns for the batch, two or three per jar.¹ Pepper’s characteristic flavor comes principally from piperine.⁶ Freshly ground pepper at the end suits sautéed mushrooms (our judgment). See cracked vs. ground black pepper.

Oregano and basil: the herbs

The NCHFP marinade uses 1 tablespoon each of oregano leaves and dried basil leaves.¹ Britannica calls oregano essential in Italian pizza and pasta sauces,⁷ and mushrooms often share those dishes with tomato (common practice). Thyme is another common partner for sautéed and roasted mushrooms, though no source checked for this page tests it. See oregano vs. thyme and fresh vs. dried oregano.

Bay leaves: depth in long cooking

Bay belongs in braises, stews and soups where mushrooms simmer for a long time (common practice). J. Kenji López-Alt says bay leaves bring out the meaty flavors of beef and chicken, and that they are removed before serving because dried leaves stay tough, like a fish bone in the mouth.⁸ See cooking with bay leaves.

Allspice: for pickles and broths

Allspice is the dried berry of Pimenta dioica, native from southern Mexico through Central America and the Caribbean, according to Kew.⁹ PROSEA notes that the whole berries go into meat broths, gravies and pickling liquids.² Britannica says its name comes from a flavor that resembles a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves,¹⁰ and it is one of the four ingredients on McCormick’s pumpkin pie spice label.¹¹ A couple of whole berries in a mushroom pickle or broth add warmth (our suggestion); the NCHFP recipe does not use it.¹ See allspice substitutes and pickling spice.

Pickled and marinated mushrooms

For mushrooms meant to be canned and kept, use a tested recipe. The NCHFP’s marinated whole mushrooms combine most of the seasonings above in a marinade made with white vinegar of 5% acidity:¹

Ingredient (NCHFP, about 9 half-pints)¹	Amount
Small whole mushrooms	7 lb
White vinegar (5 percent)	2½ cups
Oregano leaves	1 tbsp
Dried basil leaves	1 tbsp
Finely chopped onions	½ cup
Garlic	2 cloves, quartered
Black peppercorns	25

For canned jars, follow the tested recipe as written. For a small batch kept in the refrigerator, the dried herbs and whole spices are the part to vary (our advice).

Marinated Whole Mushrooms, National Center for Home Food Preservation. nchfp.uga.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²
D. Sulistiarini, “Pimenta dioica”, PROSEA. uses.plantnet-project.org · Reference work ↩ ↩²
Phat, Moon and Lee, Food Chemistry, 2016 (abstract). scholarworks.bwise.kr · Peer-reviewed ↩ ↩²
Yin et al., Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 2019 (abstract). agris.fao.org · Peer-reviewed ↩
Garlic, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩
Black pepper, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩
Oregano, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩
David Leite with J. Kenji López-Alt, The Splendid Table, 2014. splendidtable.org · Publication ↩
Pimenta dioica (L.) Merr., Plants of the World Online, Kew. powo.science.kew.org · Reference work ↩
Allspice, Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com · Reference work ↩
McCormick Pumpkin Pie Spice, product page. mccormick.com · Merchant ↩

The Best Spices for Mushrooms: Garlic, Onion, Pepper, Herbs and Pickling Spices