The Best Mushroom Based Meat Substitutes We Found in a Taste Test

I’m a real maniac for mushrooms. A freak for fungi. My husband? He simply can’t stomach the things, so my fridge and freezer tend to be mushroom-free zones (although I do keep some canned mushrooms in the pantry for frozen pizza purposes). When we set out to find the best mushroom meat—I’m talking mushroom based meat substitutes—I was like a sugar-deprived child taste-testing Fruity Pebbles. 

What we included in our mushroom meat taste test

Vegan-friendly brands like Meati specialize in meat substitutes made with mycelium (the root structure of mushrooms), while others, like Omni, make meat out of straight-up mushrooms. Lion’s mane mushrooms in particular are super meaty and rich tasting—soaked in a little beet juice, they even look like meat. We didn’t differentiate between mushroom and myceclium—if it’s a fungus and we could find it at a local grocery store, we included it in this taste test.

What we were looking for in the best mushroom based meat substitutes

• Pleasant texture: We love that mycelium meat products are better for the planet, but, woof, some of them really eat like wet cardboard. The texture didn’t have to remind us of meat, necessarily, but it shouldn’t make mushroom meat a slog to eat. 
• Savory flavor: No matter how much mushroom based meat looks like the real stuff (Omni really does a great job), it’s not going to taste like filet mignon. That’s fine. But it should be seasoned so that it scratches a certain itch for the meat it’s mimicking. 
• Accessibility: Listen. We live in L.A. We probably could have had a more robust taste test if we would have hit up our local Erewhon for niche mushroom meats, but we instead focused on brands that are pretty widely available. 

Here are four mushroom-based meat alternatives we recommend—as long as you’re a fungus freak, too.

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Best for Breakfast

Meati Mycelium Breakfast Patties

Sprouts

When you hear “breakfast patty” you probably think you’re getting vegetarian sausage, right? Well, these are not sausage-like. Nope, not at all. They’re more like little vegetarian ham steaks. Same dense texture, but the flavor is nice and mild. I’ll be totally honest: I wouldn’t rush out for these, but they’re a fun enough way to mix things up for your a.m. meatless meat feast if you’ve tired of faux sausage.

Credit: Liv Averett / Sprouts

Rating:

6.5/10

Sporks

Best Chicken Substitute

Meati Cutlets

Target

We tried a few products from Meati. Their steaks were a hard no for us—they’re tough and the texture is reminiscent of water-saturated cardboard. Meati Cutlets have that same texture, but get a pass because the breading tastes great and distracts from the strange consistency and slightly funky flavor of the mycelium meat. It tastes like the breading on Chicken McNuggets (positive). This mushroom meat would be PERFECT slathered in white gravy for a vegetarian country fried steak situation. The moisture of the gravy will help with the dense texture of the meat.

Credit: Liv Averett / Target

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

Best Mushroom Bacon

MyBacon Original Recipe

Whole Foods

We tried MyBacon the last time we updated our ranking of the best veggie bacon, and I’m happy to report it’s as good, if not better, than we remembered. This stuff is not for the mushroom averse. The texture is straight-up thinly-sliced mushroom (and in my experience, getting past the slick, soft texture is, like, 99 percent of the battle for people who hate mushrooms). But the flavor is unreal. It’s really just reformed oyster mushrooms coated in coconut oil, but the flavor is outrageous. The strips crisp up around the edges, and the overall texture is like bacon for people who like it with a little bit of chew. It’s smoky. It’s umami. It’s the best mushroom meat for BLTs and breakfast sammies, that’s for sure.

Credit: Liv Averett / Whole Foods

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Best Mushroom Steak

Omni Lion’s Mane Mushroom Steak

Instacart

This is another mushroom based meat substitute for people who really like mushrooms, but…you’re reading a ranking of mushroom meats, so I’ll assume you’re good with that. Omni marinates its presliced lion’s mane steaks in beet juice and, no lie, the slices look like rare steak. It’s wild. The flavor is fantastic and the “meat” is so, so juicy. It’s the best mushroom meat…so far!

Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Other mushroom meat we tried

Meati Classic Steaks, Meati Carne Asada Steaks