Mains Turkish
Turkish mushroom sauté
A classic Turkish sauté of button mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes and tomato paste – perfect with rice and ready in 35 minutes.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 25 min
- Serves
- 4
- Difficulty
- Easy
Button mushroom
Known in Turkey as mantar sote, this is one of those everyday dishes you'll find both at home and in the no-frills lokanta canteens that serve working lunches. Mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes come together into something filling yet light, best eaten with a plate of buttery rice or a hunk of fresh bread.
The key is to brown the mushrooms on their own over a high heat first, so they turn golden and meaty rather than stewed, and only bring them back to the sauce at the very end.
Ingredients
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Sauté
To serve
Method
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-
Wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth, trim the dry ends of the stalks and cut into quarters. Chop the onion, garlic, peppers and tomatoes so everything is ready to go – a sauté moves fast.
~10 min -
Heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a wide, heavy frying pan over a high heat until shimmering. Add the mushrooms in a single layer – in two batches if needed – and leave them alone for the first 2 minutes. Once they've released their liquid and it has cooked off, keep going for 6–7 minutes until browned at the edges, then tip into a bowl.
~8 min -
Add the rest of the olive oil and the butter to the same pan and turn the heat down to medium. Cook the onion for 4 minutes until soft and just turning golden, then stir in the garlic for 30 seconds.
~5 min -
Add the green and red peppers and cook for 4 minutes until their colour brightens and they soften slightly – they should still have a little bite.
~4 min -
Stir in the tomato paste and fry for a minute until it smells sweet. Add the tomatoes, chilli flakes and thyme and cook for 4–5 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down and the sauce has thickened.
~5 min -
Return the mushrooms to the pan, stir and let them heat through in the sauce for 2–3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, scatter over the parsley and serve hot with rice or bread.
~3 min
Enjoy!
The mushroom in this recipe
Mushroom swaps
- Chestnut / cremini mushroom Agaricus bisporusReleases less water and gives a meatier, darker sauté.
Oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatusTear into large pieces by hand and cook for 2–3 minutes less.
Tips
- Don't crowd the pan: piled-up mushrooms steam in their own juices instead of browning.
- Season at the end – salting early draws out more water.
- For a meaty version, brown 250 g diced beef separately and add it with the mushrooms.
Storage
Once cool, keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat gently in a pan, adding a splash of water if needed. We don't recommend freezing – the mushrooms turn watery when thawed.
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Kitchen guides
Before you cook: clean, store, dry
How to clean mushroomsPractical ways to clean everything from button mushrooms to morels without waterlogging them or ruining their texture.
How to store mushroomsHow to keep fresh, cooked, frozen and dried mushrooms at their best — and how to tell when they’ve gone bad.
How to dry mushroomsA step-by-step guide to drying mushrooms at home in the oven, in a dehydrator or on a string — and how to store and rehydrate them.