Holiday Ham Stuffed Mushroom Caps

About

If you enjoy ham at your holiday meals, you may feel bummed you don’t get to eat as much at mealtime as you have in the past after starting your Keto diet. The universal rule is, however, that the holiday leftovers always taste better than the first meal anyway! Fill a tupperware with leftover holiday ham and bring it home to use in your Keto meal planning for the following week. In this recipe, you mix chopped leftover ham with seasoned and buttered cauliflower rice. The filling is stuffed into prepared portobello mushroom caps and topped with toasted pecans and pork rind breadcrumbs. The ham-stuffed mushrooms are then baked to perfection in your oven. Further in this recipe introduction are side dish suggestions, if you’d like a more filling meal. To cut down on even more time, you can follow the Carb Manager Ham Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms With Buttery Bacon Broccoli recipe, where a side dish has been added for you.

What Other Ham Can I Use?

If it’s not the holidays and you don’t have any leftover ham to use, that doesn’t mean you can’t still use this Keto recipe. This is still a simple lunch you can make for yourself while using store-bought ham. The best substitution is pre-cooked, thick-sliced ham. You can find this style of ham typically in the refrigerated breakfast meats section of your grocery store, where bacon and pork sausage are sold. You may also use pre-diced ham. If you don’t have these options available to you, deli-sliced ham is okay too. Watch out for anything with “honey” or “maple” in the name, and make sure you’re not glossing over added sugars you will want to avoid.

Side Dish Suggestions

If you don’t want to include the Buttery Bacon Broccoli with your stuffed mushroom caps, don’t worry. There are many other Carb Manager side dishes that will keep your carbohydrates low you can make. For a quick cold side dish, make the Keto Sweet and Spicy Cucumber Salad. All you have to do is let the prepared ingredients marinate in your refrigerator for minimal work. Try the Cacio E Pepe Zoodle recipe for a low carb pasta replacement. For a hot side you can prepare in large quantities for meal prepping, the BBQ Summer Squash Tex-Mex Casserole is for you. Let other users know in the comments some of your favorite Carb Manager side dish recipes.

Ingredients

3 ounce portabella mushrooms, raw
4 teaspoon olive oil
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
6 ounce cauliflower rice
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon italian seasoning
¼ teaspoon rosemary, dried
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 ½ ounce oscar mayer ham water added smoked cooked
4 leaf basil
½ ounce pecans, raw
½ ounce fried pork rinds

Instructions

Prepare portobello mushroom caps by removing any large stems and scooping out the insides with a spoon. The weight listed in the ingredients is the yield after removing the inside parts from the caps. Rub one teaspoon of olive oil into the outside flesh of each mushroom cap and one teaspoon of olive oil on the inside of each cap. Sprinkle the first amounts of salt and pepper on the inside of the caps. Arrange each mushroom cap open-faced on a well seasoned sheet tray or a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Set the tray aside for later.
Make the cauliflower rice filling by mixing the rice together with the second amount of salt and pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, italian seasoning, and rosemary. Place the seasoned rice in a pan set over medium-high heat. Cook the rice until it is lightly golden – about 4 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add in the butter and chopped or diced ham.
Once the butter has melted in the pan, return the stove heat to a medium. Toss the rice with the butter and ham in the pan until the rice is coated in butter and the ham gains a light caramelization. Take the pan off the stove heat and mix in chopped basil until the heat from the pan turns the basil leaves bright green. Turn on your oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
Scoop the cauliflower rice filling evenly into each mushroom cap on your sheet tray. Gently press the rice into the mushroom caps so it holds its form. Return your empty pan to the stove over low heat. Add chopped pecans to the pan and cook until they’re toasted – about 60-90 seconds. Scoop the toasted pecans onto the top of the filling of each mushroom cap. Top off each mushroom cap with about ¼ oz crushed pork rinds.
Bake the tray of stuffed mushroom caps in your oven for 15 minutes. At your discretion, you may set the caps under your broiler for additional time to toast the pork rinds even more. If your mushroom caps break open, simply use a spatula to transfer your finished stuffed mushrooms to your serving plate or meal prep container. Enjoy the mushroom caps on their own or follow some of the side dish suggestions in the recipe description.