Mushrooms can be found in many of the recipes on reluctantgourmet.com but they come in all measurements. In this post, I look at the many mushroom conversions, equivalents and substitutions you may come across when you are cooking with them.
How to Convert Mushrooms for Your Recipes
We love mushrooms in our house and cook with them all the time. They are great in salads raw but even better when sauteed and added to sauces, soups and stews.
What I enjoy most about mushrooms is their texture which will vary with the many types of mushrooms now available at most supermarkets. I remember when you would only find button mushrooms at the market but today you'll find portobello, cremini, oyster, shiitake, morel and plenty more.
Mushrooms in Recipes
I typically buy my mushrooms fresh & whole and then cut them according to the dish I'm preparing or the recipe I'm following. However, you may find a recipe that calls for fresh morels but you can only find dried morels at the market.
- Or what about converting whole to sliced or chopped or canned?
- Or what about cooked to uncooked mushrooms?
- Or you may have a jar of powered mushrooms in your pantry that you want to substitute for dried mushrooms.
Mushroom Conversions & Equivalents & Substitutions
Below are some important mushroom conversions I think you'll find handy and easy to use when preparing any meal where they are required.
Note: there are so many mushroom varieties and their conversions will differ depending on the individual mushroom. These conversions are looking at button mushrooms, the most common mushroom available, but will be approximately the same for other fresh mushrooms unless noted below.
Button Mushroom Conversions - what does 1 pound of fresh button mushrooms look like?
1 pound of fresh button mushrooms equals:
- approximately 22 medium sized fresh mushrooms
- 5 cups sliced mushrooms
- 6 cups chopped mushrooms
- 3 ounces dried mushrooms reconstituted
- 2 cups of cooked mushrooms
- 2 cups of sliced, cooked mushrooms
How to Convert Sliced Fresh Mushrooms to Canned Mushrooms
With all the fresh mushrooms now available at my local supermarkets, I don't typically cook with many canned mushrooms but that doesn't mean I don't always have them in my pantry. There may be that occasion I need mushrooms for a recipe and don't feel like running out to the store for them.
- 1 four ounce can of button mushrooms (sliced or whole) = ¾ cup of mushrooms
- 8 ounces of sliced fresh button mushrooms = 4 ounces of sliced can mushrooms drained.
- 8 ounces of sliced fresh button mushrooms = 1 ½ ounces dried mushrooms that have been reconstituted.
How to Convert Dried Button Mushrooms to Fresh Button Mushrooms
- 1.5 ounces of dried mushrooms = 8 ounces of fresh sliced mushrooms
- 1.5 ounces of dried mushrooms = 4 ounces of canned sliced mushrooms drained.
How to Covert Powdered Mushrooms to Fresh Button Mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon of powdered mushrooms = 4 ounces of fresh mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon of powdered mushrooms = 3 tablespoons whole dried mushrooms
- 1 tablespoon of powdered mushrooms = 2 ounces canned mushrooms drained
How to Convert Fresh Mushroom to Dried Mushrooms:
The conversion of fresh mushrooms to dried mushrooms for a recipe will depend on what measurement they give you in the recipe - pounds, ounces or cups. Here we go:
- If the recipe asks for pounds: Multiply the pounds by 16, then divide by 5.33 = ounces of dried you need.
For example, if the recipe requires 2 pounds of fresh mushrooms, the conversion would be 2 x 16 = 32 divided by 5.33 = 6 ounces of dried mushrooms. - If the recipe asks for ounces: Divide the ounces by 5.33 = ounces of dried you need.
For example, if the recipe requires 16 ounces of fresh mushrooms, the conversion would be 16 divided by 5.33 = 3 ounces of dried mushrooms.
How to Convert Dried Mushroom to Fresh Mushrooms:
The conversion of dried mushrooms to fresh mushrooms for a recipe will depend on what measurement they give you in the recipe - pounds, ounces or cups. Here we go:
- If the recipe asks for ounces: Multiply the ounces by 5.33 = ounces of fresh mushrooms you need.
For example, if the recipe requires 1 ounce of dried mushrooms and you only have fresh, the conversion would be 1 x 5.33 = 5.33 ounces of fresh mushrooms.
Other Important Ingredient Conversions
| BEAN CONVERSIONS | INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS |
| HERB CONVERSIONS | MUSHROOM CONVERSIONS |
| GRAIN CONVERSIONS | PASTA/RICE CONVERSIONS |
| INGREDIENT CONVERSIONS | TOMATO CONVERSIONS |
sue
My recipe calls for 14g dried mushrooms. I see when you convert in the other direction that a small amount - example 3 oz - of fresh mushrooms = 8 oz dried. But that's not by weight. What you mean is one cup 8 oz = 1 cup. I am not expected to add 85 g dried mushrooms to the recipe.
I hope I said that right. But you will know what I mean if you tried to convert it in the other direction. Sure, I can lower the amount of liquid I need, but I still don't know how many fresh mushrooms to use to make up 14g dried, nor whether I should dry them first, in a recipe for baked herbed rice.
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Sue, I understand some of your question but not all of it. I'll try my best to give you an answer. If you recipe calls for 14 grams of dried mushrooms, that's equal to .5 ounce. Multiply .5 ounce x 9 = 4.5 ounces of fresh mushrooms. If I'm doing my conversion correctly, 4.5 ounces = around 127 grams fresh mushrooms.
Victori A Ribeiro
Hello!
Thank you for this educational piece! One question - in your conversion, for example the button mushroom section - don't you have chopped and sliced backwards? After all, when one chops, one can fit MORE into a cup, wouldn't you agree - so that the number of cups of sliced should be more than the number of cups chopped...? Please explain if I've got it wrong - truly wondering.
Thank you,
Vici
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Victori, no you don't have it wrong that more chopped mushrooms will fit into a cup than sliced and you can see that I say one pound of fresh cremini mushrooms is equivalent to about:
5 cups sliced mushrooms
6 cups chopped mushrooms
but if you cook them, 2 cups of sliced, cooked mushrooms
Jenny Hinton
Hi Stephen. Thank you for all this info. However, I agree with Vici that the sliced & chopped mushroom equivalents should be reversed. Ie 5 cups of chopped mushrooms would be equivalent to 6 cups of sliced mushrooms. Because more chopped mushrooms are crammed into each cup, not as many cups are required as for the sliced mushrooms.
Barbara A Van Dyke
my canning recipe calls for a peck of fresh mushrooms. How many pounds of mushrooms would I need for a peck?
G. Stephen Jones
I found a website that suggested 1 peck (US) = 5.43822 pound sliced mushrooms. Hope this helps.
Julie
I have a recipe that calls for five(5) shitake mushrooms, rehydrated in 3 three cups of water. (Bad recipe instruction, I know, no actual measurement). I am thinking that this might equal approximately 5 ounces of fresh mushroom. Am I anywhere close, you reckon?
G. Stephen Jones
Interesting question. Dried they run from 1-1/2 to 2 inches in diameter and weigh 7 to 10 to the ounce so depending on the size of the dried shiitake mushrooms, I would say 4 to 6 ounces is close. Depending on your recipe, I can't imagine it will make much difference if you are in that range.
Michael Elam
Hi! If a recipe calls for 4.5 cups of oyster mushrooms, how much would I need to purchase by weight? Thank you!
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Michael, 1 cup of raw oyster mushrooms sliced weighs about 3 ounces so multiply that by 4.5 cups and it should be about 13.5 ounces if I'm doing my math properly.
adam
In dry button to fresh you say 1.5 oz = 8 ounce sliced. Below that you say fresh to dry 16 ounces = 1.77. Is the only different is the sliced gives you less? Im confused about this.
G. Stephen Jones
Hi Adam, you are absolutely right. My math was off. It should be 16 ounces fresh divided by 5.33 to equal 3 ounces dried. Thanks for catching my mistake.
Leon Laporte
ounces, pounds, ever heard of the metric system, grammes, kilos? You confuse me. At least put theses side by side. Thank you