We love a classic vegan BBQ, but we also love to try new dishes.
Over the last few years, BBQ offerings like vegan sausages and burgers have improved in quality whilst also becoming much more commonplace in supermarkets. This is fantastic news; more vegan options are always a good thing. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good vegan hotdog, but sometimes I want to change it up and try something new. This idea is what led us to create our Korean BBQ Mushroom Kebabs. They’re spicy, sticky, and sweet; everything a good BBQ dish should be.
How we came up with our Korean BBQ Mushroom Kebabs.
Credit where credit’s due, we first got the idea of doing this style of mushroom kebab from a delicious Jamie Oliver recipe in which he created a mushroom shwarma kebab. We enjoyed Jamie’s original recipe and decided to add our spin on it by changing up the flavours to give it a bit more punch, Korean BBQ style. Gochujang is an incredible ingredient; it’s a fermented red chilli paste from Korea that’s sweet, savoury, sticky and spicy. To make the marinade, we mixed the gochujang paste with a bit of agave for sweetness, soy sauce for salt and sesame oil for nuttiness. Then we added lots of BBQ sauce to bring down the spice a little and add some smokiness. We do like spicy food, so our Korean BBQ marinade is on the hotter side. If you prefer less heat, add some extra agave and BBQ sauce, and reduce the gochujang.
What are the best mushrooms for our Korean BBQ mushroom kebabs?
Our Korean BBQ Mushroom Kebabs use two different kinds of mushrooms; oyster mushrooms and portabello mushrooms. If you can’t get portabello mushrooms, you could use any other large flat mushrooms as an alternative. If you’re in a pinch and can’t get any oyster mushrooms, use what you can source locally, but oyster mushrooms have the most amazing meaty texture. We got the oyster mushrooms for this recipe from a larger Tesco store, but our good local greengrocers often stock them too.
Although this is a BBQ dish, which goes so well with the regular bbq sides, if the weather’s not on your side, you can also make this in a griddle pan and serve it with sticky rice.
These Korean-inspired mushroom kebabs aren’t just for BBQs.
Although these kebabs have been created to be cooked on the BBQ, they can also be grilled in an oven or cooked on a griddle pan. They are delicious with some sticky white rice and edamame beans. It makes for a simple veggie-focused, plant-based dinner that’s nutritious and super tasty.
This Korean BBQ Mushroom Kebab is:
- Spicy, sticky, and sweet
- perfect for alfresco dining, BBQs and picnics
- a great alternative to classic BBQ recipes
If you like the sound of this recipe, why not try one of these:
- Indian Inspired Vegan BBQ Vegetable Skewer
- Homemade Vegan BBQ Sauce recipe – Simple and Easy
- Healthy Vegan Chopped Asian Salad With Gochujang Tofu
Korean BBQ Mushroom Kebabs
Ingredients
- For the mushrooms
- 85 g BBQ Sauce
- 1 tbsp gochujang
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp agave syrup
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 lime juiced
- 800 g oyster mushrooms
- 240 g portobello mushrooms cut into large chunks
- For the toppings
- Coriander roughly chopped
- Sesame seeds
- Spring onion diced
- Lime wedges
Method
- Begin by making the marinade. Mix the BBQ sauce, gochujang paste, sesame oil, agave syrup, soy sauce and lime juice in a shallow bowl. Add in your mushrooms and gently coat with the sauce using your hands.
- Carefully add the mushrooms to your skewers. Starting and ending with the portabello mushrooms and changing between the types of mushrooms.
- Cook on the BBQ, rotating often until the mushrooms are soft and some of the marinade has started to caramelise. This takes roughly 5-7 minutes on a hot BBQ.
- Serve on the skewer topped with chopped coriander, sesame seeds, spring onion and a lime wedge.