These Lion’s Mane Mushroom Recipes will blow your mind, featuring a Vegan Mushroom Crab Cake so delicious you won’t believe it is meatless!
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If you have been hearing about a popular new ingredient called a lion’s mane mushroom (hericium erinaceus), you are not alone! Sometimes referred to as a lion’s head mushroom, this mushroom is popular in vegan and vegetarian recipes. It is absolutely delicious and provides an amazing hearty and firm texture, very similar to crab. It is mild in flavor and is an excellent vehicle to take on the different flavors that you are cooking with.
Cooking this mushroom is also surprisingly easy! It can be prepared in a number of ways including pan sauté, oven roasted and grilled! I want to share with you some of my favorite lion’s mane mushroom recipes, including my absolute favorite: vegan and vegetarian mushroom cake!
Why this recipe works
- If you have ever wondered how to cook lion’s mane mushroom, I will teach you how!
- This mushroom is super easy to work with, takes on the flavor you are cooking with and is super delicious even with basic preparations. If you are a vegetable lover, you will love my Roasted Asparagus and Roasted Beets.
- The mouth feel and texture is hearty and serves as an excellent meat or seafood substitute in many vegan and vegetarian recipes.
Ingredients in this recipe
- Fresh Lion’s Mane mushroom
- Egg or flax egg: To make a flax egg, mix one tablespoon of flaxseed meal with three tablespoons of water. Allow to sit refrigerated for about 10 minutes to thicken.
- Panko breadcrumbs: I love panko breadcrumbs in this recipe but you can also use regular breadcrumbs.
- Onion: Sweet onion recommended.
- Mayonnaise or Vegan Mayonnaise: If you are enjoying the vegan version of this recipe, I recommend this Vegan Mayonnaise.
- Worcestershire sauce
- Old Bay seasoning: If you don’t have old bay seasoning, you can use Cajun seasoning or Italian seasoning for a slightly different (but still delicious) flavor profile. You might also love my Tempero Baiano Brazilian Spice Blend.
- Dijon mustard: You can also use course ground mustard.
- Parsley
- Salt and pepper
- Oil (to fry cakes): Canola, vegetable or olive oil all work well.
- Optional Garnish: Lemon wedges.
How to make this lion’s mane mushroom crab cake
- Hand shred mushroom into small pieces resembling texture of flakey crab.
- In large bowl, combine egg, mayonnaise, onion, Worcestershire sauce, old bay seasoning, Dijon mustard, parsley (finely chopped), salt and pepper. Mix until fully incorporated.
- Mix in mushroom until fully incorporated.
- Mix in Panko breadcrumbs until fully incorporated.
- Form mixture into 3-4 equal size round flat patties (about ½ to ¾ inch thick).
- Heat oil in sauté pan on medium/high heat.
- Cook patties for approximately 2-3 minutes per side. Should be golden brown and cooked throughout.
- Add optional garnish, squeeze of lemon and enjoy!
Other lion’s mane mushroom recipes
This mushroom is super versatile and mild in flavor, making it an excellent choice for many lion’s mane mushroom recipes. Some of my favorite lion’s mane mushroom recipe preparations include:
- Pan Sautéed with butter
- Oven roasted with olive oil or butter and seasoning of choice
- Grilled
- Vegan crab cakes (my favorite!)
For some other more creative preparations, you can enjoy mushroom powder in a mushroom latte, lion’s mane tea or coffee or mushroom paste in a soup or pasta sauce.
Health benefits
An article published in the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health indicates that “Hericium erinaceus a culinary and medicinal mushroom is a well established candidate for brain and nerve health.” It cites that studies support “neurite outgrowth and neuronal health benefits” and could assist health problems and cognitive abilities in an aging population. To read the full article: Neuronal Health – Can Culinary and Medicinal Mushrooms Help?
Many companies sell lion’s mane in different forms such as supplement as capsules, pills, powder or extract.
Where to buy
You may be lucky enough to live in area where this mushroom is available in your grocery store or local farmer’s market. However, if you don’t live in area where lion’s mane is sold fresh, you have a few options.
Buying online is one option. There are a number of companies online that will sell and ship to you. I purchased my mushrooms on Etsy because of the additional Etsy protections should anything go wrong with your order. The price for this product can vary quite widely so if you are able to purchase fresh, you can avoid shipping costs.
Another option is growing them yourself. This is becoming very popular and you can purchase lion’s mane mushroom kits on Amazon and Etsy. You can also purchase the dried version on Amazon. The dried version is excellent in soups and rehydrated in pastas.
FAQ and expert tips
Store fresh lion’s mane mushrooms in a paper bag in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
Some Whole Foods locations sell fresh lion’s mane mushrooms, as well as other derivative products such as lion’s mane powder, capsules or coffee/tea. You can search by location on the Whole Foods website.
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Lion’s Mane Mushroom Recipes: Crab Cakes
Equipment
- Saute Pan
Ingredients
- 8 oz Lion's Mane mushroom
- 1 egg (or flax egg)
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup onion (finely diced)
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise or vegan mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¾ teaspoon old bay seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon parsley (finely chopped)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (to your taste)
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2-3 tablespoon oil (to fry cakes)
- 2 optimal garnish: lemon wedges
Quick Tartar Sauce
- ¼ cup mayonnaise or vegan mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon dill pickle relish
- ¼ teaspoon old bay seasoning
Instructions
- Hand shred Lion's Mane Mushroom into small pieces resembling texture of flakey crab.
- In large bowl, combine egg, mayonnaise, onion, Worcestershire sauce, old bay seasoning, Dijon mustard, parsley (finely chopped), salt and pepper. Mix until fully incorporated.
- Mix in Lion's Mane Mushroom until fully incorporated.
- Mix in Panko breadcrumbs until fully incorporated.
- Form mixture into 3-4 equal size round flat patties (about ½ to ¾ inch thick).
- Heat oil in sauté pan on medium/high heat.
- Cook patties for approximately 2-3 minutes per side. Should be golden brown and cooked throughout.
- Add optional garnish, squeeze of lemon and enjoy!
Notes
- Leftovers and Storage: Transfer to airtight container or dish. Refrigerate for up to 48 hours. Can reheat and serve.
- Vegan/Vegetarian Substitutions or Omission: You can use vegan mayonnaise and flax egg in place of regular mayonnaise and egg in this recipe.
Rich
Baked at 350 for 18 minutes- perfect results. As if real crab✨. Both amazing and impressive. Now a top 5 recipe for sharing. Gratitude.
Aubrey
Thanks Rich!
Kate
These lions mane crab cakes are so good I am in disbelief! I searched so many lions mane recipes and decided on this recipe based on so many good reviews and I am beyond impressed! SOOOOO GOOD!!!
Lisa E
I signed up for an organic mushroom CSA and this week we got lion’s mane. I made a half batch each with crab and lion’s mane. My husband really doesn’t like the idea of mushrooms but knows he should be eating them. This recipe worked beautifully! He could barely tell the difference. It makes me so happy because I am a mushroom fanatic. Thank you so much!
Aubrey
Thanks Lisa!
Ashley
Wow, these were so good! My husband and I were both in disbelief on how much they actually tasted like a crab cake! I cooked them in the air fryer instead of sautéing them in a pan and they were perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
Aubrey
Thanks Ashley! So happy you enjoyed!
Tracy
Loved this recipe. As an Alaskan crab cake lover… I found this to be amazing. I did follow your ingredients, but did incorporate my technique to saute the onion, parsley, 1/3 cup color peppers & celery while also adding those things also raw into the bowl. By combining both cooked and raw it offered me a great texture variety and deepens flavors. I increased the spice to be 2 teaspoons of blackened red fish or blackened old bay spice seasoning because I enjoy more of this favoring. It was shocking how delicious this is and authentic in texture and flavor. A HUGE WINNER. Thank you so much for introducing me to the Lion’s Mane mushroom. I’ve shared this recipe with many friends and can’t wait to serve it at a dinner party. My Daughter is shell fish intolerant now and she will LOVE this work around. So thank you so very much. I can’t believe how perfect this recipe turns out. Thanks so much.
Aubrey
Hello Tracy – thank you so much for your kind words and thoughtful feedback. It truly means the world! I am so happy you and you family enjoyed and thanks again!
Kim
Soooo good! I used dried Lion’s Mane even though it isn’t recommended. I squeezed all the liquid from them and they shredded nicely. I will definitely make these again.
Alyssa
If I didn’t know they were crab, I would have no idea. I added some diced green peppers for extra green addition and went perfectly. Thanks!
Meghan J
delicious! i made the vegan version (sub with flax egg, soy sauce, and vegan mayo) and it was a huge hit. we served these at the thanksgiving table and everyone thought they were real crab cakes. a couple changes i made based on preference: i sauteed the onions for 5 minutes before adding to the mixture to cook out the rawness. i was also a little more heavy handed on the seasonings and added more old bay plus paprika, onion powder, and our favorite cajun seasoning. would recommend and make again!!
Aubrey
Thanks Meghan!
Greg
Very good recipe! I only had 4oz of lion’s mane, but I otherwise followed the recipe. If I had had 8oz of lion’s mane, I don’t think one egg would have been enough. But effectively doubling the egg worked out perfectly. I had to really squeeze them to make the patties stay together, but they didn’t fall apart when fried.
Nikki
I was looking for Lion’s mane mushroom recipes and luckily found this recipe, as it turned out excellent. I did not measure how many ounces of mushroom I had and basically followed the recipe, only in how much mayonnaise, mustard, and old bay seasoning to put in there. I upped it to two eggs, which helped bind the mixture better, based on how much I had. I also used some extra spices to make it a little spicy. Great guideline!
Sherry
This was amazing!! We are definitely adding this to our list of recipes. So easy to make. Thank you for sharing!!
Nancy
OMG! I am in love with Lion’s Mane and this recipes is fantastic! I was so worried because my SO doesn’t love mushrooms like I do and I told him it was crab cakes! He loved it! I didn’t have quite enough LM for a full batch, so I added enough buttons to make a double batch. I hope my farmers market keeps stocking the LM.
Aubrey
Thanks Nancy! So happy you enjoyed!!!
Kiley
So good! The recipe was perfect and I wouldn’t change a thing. I served cakes over a bed of mixed greens with vinaigrette and avocado.
Bob
LOVE THIS RECIPE. The cakes fell apart a bit, so I might up the eggs to 1.5, but the flavor is spot on and the texture really feels like crab meat. Nice job!
Alexis
Great recipe! I found herecium for the first time this weekend and was thrilled when I found this recipe. I only found enough for a singular crab cake, so the recipe was quartered, but it still worked out very well and was absolutely delicious. One thing that I did differently was sauté the herecium in a pan with a tiny bit of oil first to dry them out a bit, and then after the water had dissipated, I sautéed them with a little bit of butter. OMG. Amazing. Definitely recommend this recipe for your first time herecium finds!!