The best canned mushrooms have a meaty texture and actually taste earthy and delicious, not like briny can water. We rounded up all the canned mushrooms and jarred mushrooms we could find and tasted them back to back to find the best canned mushrooms for pizza, pasta, or eating room temp with your fingers like a monster (aka me).
I love canned mushrooms. I even outed myself as a freak for them on an episode of Good Mythical More. (In the comments on that ep, someone referred to me as “Mushroom Kardashian” because of my vocal fry, and it’s honestly the best thing anyone has ever called me.) I always have a can of mushrooms in my pantry. I love fresh mushrooms, but they go bad so fast. Plus, growing up in the suburbs of New York City, I swear canned mushrooms are what always came on pizza, and now I love my frozen cheese pizzas absolutely piled with canned mushrooms and sliced onions. Canned mushrooms are the best mushrooms for pizza—come at me!
For this ranking, I tasted both jarred mushrooms and canned mushrooms straight out of their respective containers and judged them on their texture and overall flavor. Too many canned and jarred mushrooms just taste like the salty water they come submerged in. But we found three brands you should keep an eye out for when you’re stocking up on shelf-stable mushrooms. These are the best canned mushrooms and the best mushrooms in a jar for fungi freaks like me.
- Giorgio Pieces & Stems
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These canned mushrooms are pretty salty, but I love how much earthy flavor they have. So many canned and jarred mushrooms taste like absolutely nothing. These actually taste like mushrooms—yes, canned mushrooms, but still. These would be the best canned mushrooms to put on a grilled cheese sandwich (a la Potbelly’s mushroom melt) or in a homemade tomato sauce (made with the best canned tomatoes, natch).
Credit: Olivia Averett / Target
- Polar Shiitake Mushrooms
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Most canned and jarred mushrooms are just regular ol’ button mushrooms, but these Polar shiitake mushrooms are a nice change. They’re packed in water and come in a jar. They aren’t as salty as a lot of canned and jarred button mushrooms, but that’s good because their woody flavor shines through. These would be AWESOME in some hot and sour soup or simply sauteed with garlic and some lemon juice. They’re the best jarred mushrooms for a stir fry, too.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Green Giant Sliced Mushrooms
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Okay, so it turns out the best canned mushrooms are actually jarred mushrooms, but I have to stress that not all jarred mushrooms are good. Green Giant jarred mushrooms are much better than Del Monte, Great Value, or Kroger. They are salty without tasting briny or tart, and they’re firm without being too woody. These taste exactly like what you want on a slice of thin-crust cheese pizza. I’ll be stocking these in my pantry from now on.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
Best Salty
Best Unique
Best of the Best
Other products we tried: Signature Select Sliced, Signature Select No Salt Added, O Organics Sliced, Delmonte Sliced, Great Value Sliced (Jar and Can), Sprouts Sliced Portobellos, First Street Pieces and Stems, Kroger Pieces and Stems (Can), Kroger Sliced (Jar)
