This month’s “Savor Cooks” recipe features mushrooms. Try this recipe for Mushroom Sloppy Joes.
Mushrooms cook quickly and add a nice, savory element to dishes like pasta, pizza, soup and curry. If you’ve already tried the more common white button and cremini or baby bella mushrooms, experiment with some other varieties. Maitake and shiitake are particularly good when roasted.
To prepare mushrooms, rinse with water or rub off any dirt spots with a damp paper towel.
Don’t forget to check out our Food of the Month post on mushrooms.
Recipe
Here’s a saucy, delicious way to get some plant-based ingredients into your meal. Instead of ground meat, these “sloppy joes” are made from umami-rich mushrooms and protein-rich pinto beans.
This recipe uses a food processor to quickly pulse the vegetables into small pieces. You can also chop everything by hand.
Serve with a chopped salad or roasted veggies.


- 1 medium onion
- 1 large green bell pepper
- 3 cloves garlic
- ¾ pound cremini mushrooms
- 1 15-oz can low sodium pinto beans
- 1 16-oz can no-salt-added tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 whole-wheat hamburger buns or English muffins
- Roughly chop the onion; seed and roughly chop the bell pepper. Place the onions and peppers in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped but a few larger pieces remain, 10 to 15 pulses. Heat the oil in a very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and peppers and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are golden and peppers are soft, about 7 minutes.
- While the peppers and onions cook, mince the garlic. Pulse the mushrooms in the food processor until finely minced, 10 to 15 pulses.
- When the peppers and onions are done, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more, then add the mushrooms and cook, stirring once or twice, until they release their water, about 5 minutes. Drain and rinse the beans and add them to the skillet along with the tomato sauce, tomato paste, molasses, chili powder, vinegar, mustard powder, salt and black pepper.
- Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and simmer until the sauce thickens and most of the liquid is evaporated, 10 to 12 minutes. To serve, pile about ¾ cup of the mixture onto each bun.