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I love a patty melt, which is why this recipe for Mushroom Patty Melts was one of the first I developed for the Eat Voraciously newsletter, back in May 2021. I was inspired by my go-to diner order of a patty melt, fries — or coleslaw and pickles — and an Arnold Palmer, which I often had, on good days and bad, when I lived near Du-par’s in Los Angeles.
I’m revisiting the recipe this week in honor of the long-awaited relaunch of our Recipes site, which makes searching, saving, commenting and rating our more than 10,000 recipes easier than ever.
Get the recipe: Mushroom Patty Melts
After I published the recipe for the griddled sandwich, I got lots of emails thanking me, including one from Diane Smith Rigaux of New Orleans who wrote: “I made your patty melt made with mushrooms, and it was divine. Thank you!”
But I also got plenty of emails pointing out that a patty melt without a patty was a misnomer. Fair enough. As I wrote back in 2021: “This recipe is a bit of a cheat, because it sidesteps the traditional ‘patty’ for meaty, crispy mushrooms.” You could, of course, add a patty to it if you wanted! (I agree with the commenter who provided these instructions.)
One commenter complained that “onions don’t caramelize in 10-15 minutes.” That’s usually true, but in this case, if you cook onions and mushrooms, seasoned with salt, in melted butter in a cast-iron skillet over high heat, they will very quickly lose their moisture and begin to brown. If your pan has hot spots, and the onions or mushrooms start to burn, you can add a splash of water to even everything out. It’s another cheat, but I promise, it works! On the other hand, if you’re not comfortable cooking over high heat, lower the heat as much as you’d like and let the onions and mushrooms cook for 20 to 40 minutes.
I love when readers tweak my recipes to suit their tastes and the ingredients they have on hand. “I made this on Thursday, the day the recipe was emailed to me. My wife and I both thought that the sandwich was exceptionally good! A few deviations from the recipe: Used salted butter instead of unsalted butter. Used regular mushrooms. Used iodized table salt. I forgot to add Worcestershire (or Soy) sauce. I forgot to serve pickles. I’ll have this many more times, hopefully truer to the recipe,” a fan wrote.
As I noted when I first published the recipe, any mushrooms work here. But if you have access to wild mushrooms or a farmers market stand with plump specimens, use those. If I had unlimited resources, I would make this with chanterelles or porcinis. But even grocery store button mushrooms, spiked with Worcestershire, make a great sandwich alongside the caramelized onions, cheese and crispy, griddled bread. I think pickles on the side are necessary, to cut through the richness in each bite, but if you’d rather serve it with a salad or fries or coleslaw, do that!
Get the recipe: Mushroom Patty Melts