This creamy Mushroom Sauce is a quick and easy way to elevate your next steak dinner. A versatile and flavorful recipe featuring wine, garlic, shallots, herbs, and heavy cream!
My Favorite Creamy Mushroom Sauce For Steak
Growing up, my mom always made steak with a side of buttery roasted mushrooms, and I lived for those mushrooms. So naturally, I had to recreate something similarโbut as a sauce! This mushroom sauce for steak is my take on that childhood favorite, with tender mushrooms, a splash of wine, and just the right amount of creaminess. If you like my uber popular steak sauceย recipe, this will be right up your alley.
- Quick & Easy: You can elevate your steak dinner with this simple sauce in just 20 minutes!
- Customizable: Feel free to add more or less wine, herbs, seasonings, etc.
- Make-Ahead Friendly: I like to toss this steak sauce together and keep it in the fridge. That way, I just have to reheat it once the steaks are cooked and I’m good to go.
Calling all mushroom lovers! Check out my other easy recipes for creamy roasted mushroom soup and ground beef stroganoff.
Key Ingredients
Creamy mushroom sauce made from scratch may sound a little fancy, but it’s really pretty simple. Scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and exact amounts!
- Mushrooms: I go for whole portobello mushrooms. Since the mushrooms have to cook twice (once to brown them, and again to simmer them in the sauce), cutting them thickly helps prevent overcooking.
- Butter: For sautรฉing the mushrooms – salted or unsalted both work just fine!
- Shallots: If you don’t have shallots, substitute about half a diced onion.
- Garlic: When it comes to garlic, I always recommend measuring with your heart.
- Rosemary: I like to use fresh rosemary! Just strip the leaves off of the stem and finely mince them. If you need to use dried rosemary, cut the amount in half. Dried herbs are more potent than fresh.
- Wine: The best wines for this sauce are port wine, merlot, or sherry.
- Chicken Broth: You can help control the salt by using low-sodium chicken broth, but really, any chicken broth is fine.
- Heavy Cream: Or whole milk, or half and half.
- Cornstarch and Cold Water: If you find that you want to thicken the sauce, you can use cornstarch and water to do that – see the “How to Make It” section for details.
Are you supposed to wash mushrooms?
I think we’ve all heard the advice to just wipe mushrooms instead of washing them. The idea is that mushrooms can absorb a lot of liquid if you wash them off, which can waterlog your dish. However, lately there’s been some pushback against that idea.
Many cooks and chefs agree that you can definitely give your mushrooms a quick wash in a bowl or sink of clean water, to loosen and remove stubborn dirt. If your mushrooms are in need of a little “bath,” don’t hesitate! Give them a quick, thorough wash, then dry them well with paper towels.
How to Make Mushroom Sauce for Steak
The key to a really flavorful mushroom sauce is browning the mushrooms. Similar to getting a good, crispy, browned exterior with meat, browning the mushrooms brings out the depths of their flavor! Below is a quick recipe overview, butย pleaseย scroll down to the recipe card for full instructions.
- Prep the Mushrooms: Be sure to clean and dry the mushrooms before cooking. Pull or cut away the stalks, then slice them thickly.
- Cook the Shallots: Sautรฉ the shallots in melted butter until softened.
- Cook Mushrooms in Batches: Add a third of the mushrooms to the pan and cook just until browned and softened. Set them aside, melt more butter, and cook another third of the mushrooms. Repeat until all mushrooms are sautรฉed.
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- Cook the Garlic, Rosemary, and Wine: Remove the last of the mushrooms from the pan. Stir in the garlic, rosemary, and wine, and bring to a simmer. Cook until reduced and be sure to scrape up any brown bits that gather in the pan – that’s where the real flavor is!
- Add the Mushrooms, Chicken Broth, and Cream: Drain any liquid from the mushrooms before stirring them back into the pan. Mix in the broth and heavy cream with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
- Adjust the Consistency: To thicken it, stir in a slurry (water and cornstarch). To thin it out, just stir in a little bit more broth.
Chef’s Tips & Variations
- Batch Cooking: While it might seem like a waste of time to cook the mushrooms in batches, you’ll find that if they’re crowded into the pan, they won’t brown. If you have a really big skillet, you could probably get away with doing two batches instead of three, but I definitely recommend doing three batches for the best browning.
- Mushroom Selection: Baby bellas, also known as crimini mushrooms, would also be good, as would shiitake, oyster, and plain old button mushrooms.
- Non-Alcoholic Version:ย Replace the wine with an equal amount of broth for an alcohol-free option.
- Umami Boost:ย Incorporate a teaspoon of soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce to deepen the savory notes.
Serving Suggestions
- Steak: Ribeye, New York Strip, T-bone… you really can’t go wrong! Creamy, fragrant mushroom sauce is a no-brainer with any kind of steak. If you’re feeding a family, try serving it over thin strips of juicy flank steak!
- Chicken: You could honestly serve mushroom sauce with all kinds of chicken dishes – grilled, broiled, chicken tenders (oh yes). It’s also nice to keep things simple, though, so why not whip up the sauce to go with classic baked chicken pieces?
- Meatless: Make this sauce the basis of a wonderful meatless entree, by drizzling it over a batch of warm, buttery pasta or some garlic mashed potatoes. Add a salad, and dinner is done!
Mushroom Sauce for Steak
Ingredients
- 1 pound 16 ounces whole portobello mushrooms
- 2 – 3 tablespoons butter, divided
- 3 large shallots, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 large sprig of fresh rosemary, finely minced
- ยฝ cup port wine or merlot, can also use sherry
- โ low-sodium chicken broth
- ยฝ cup heavy cream, or whole milk
- Kosher salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch, only if needed
- 2 teaspoons cold water, only if needed
- Parsley, for topping (optional)
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Instructions
- Thoroughly clean and dry the mushrooms. Remove the stalks. Slice the mushrooms into thick slices slices and set aside.
- In a large pan, heat 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until soft, approximately 3 minutes. Next, add โ of the mushrooms. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes until just soft. Remove from the pan, and place in a bowl. Repeat two more times, until all of the mushrooms have been cooked, adding one tablespoon of butter each time. Transfer all of the mushrooms to the bowl, and set aside.
- In the same large pan, increase the heat to medium. Add the garlic, rosemary, and wine to the pan. Bring to a simmer and scrape any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Allow to simmer until reduce by roughly 75%, stirring occasionally. Lightly drain any juices from the mushrooms and shallots, and add them back to the pan.
- Continuing over medium heat, add the chicken broth and cream to the pan. Next, season with salt and pepper to taste. Allow the liquid to reduce by about half, about 4 – 5 minutes. Stirring occasionally, being careful not to scorch the cream.
- If your sauce is too thin, mix cornstarch with cold water to make a slurry. Whisk the slurry into the sauce, a little at a time, to thicken the sauce. Continue until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. Chicken broth can be aded one tablespoon at a time to thin the sauce, if the mixture becomes too thick.
- Top with chopped parsley and serve over steak immediately.
Notes
- Store any leftover sauce in your fridge, in a jar or other airtight container. It will keep for up to 2 days.
- Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave, stirring now and then, until it's heated through. Don't overcook, or the mushrooms will shrink down and be tough.
- I do not recommend freezing this sauce. It is a cream based sauce, which tend to separate when frozen and thawed again.
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A very good and reasonably simple to make sauce, that our guests have enjoyed. I fry all the mushrooms together in one sauce pan, rather can cooking in thirds, and start the red wine/rosemary/garlic in a separate small sauce pan on the side. By the time the mushrooms are done, so is the red wine sauce, then it all gets added to the mushroom sauce, with the chicken broth and cream.