Picked a lot of mushrooms?
Make a creamy mushroom soup with the rest – it works with chanterelles, funnel chanterelles and porcini.
To the mushroom soupCreamed chanterelles on toast – autumn's best sandwich
Dry-fried mushrooms, butter, cream and crispy bread
- 4 servings
- Time: 25 min
- Difficulty: Easy
- 11 ingredients
- 9 steps
Creamed chanterelles on toast is one of the simplest and tastiest ways to make the most of autumn's mushrooms. Everything hinges on a single step: dry-frying the mushrooms until the liquid has cooked off, before the butter and cream go in. Skip it and the creamed mushrooms turn watery and pale – do it and they become creamy, nutty and deep yellow.
The recipe works with ordinary chanterelles, funnel chanterelles or a mix, and with both fresh and frozen mushrooms. You can make it in the kitchen, on a camping stove or over an open fire – and it is the natural follow-up to a day in the forest. If you picked more mushrooms than you can eat, make a creamy mushroom soup with the rest.
Method
- Clean the mushrooms: brush off needles and soil and cut away the lowest, earthy part of the stem. Only rinse quickly if the mushrooms are very dirty – they soak up water.
- Cut large mushrooms so that all the pieces are roughly the same size. Finely chop the onion.
- Put the mushrooms in a hot, dry pan without fat. Fry them over medium heat until the liquid has come out and cooked off completely, 5–10 minutes.
- Lower the heat and add the butter and onion. Fry until the onion is soft and the mushrooms have taken on a little colour.
- Sprinkle over the flour (if you want a thicker sauce) and stir.
- Pour in the cream and let it simmer over low heat for 3–5 minutes until it has thickened.
- Add salt and pepper to taste, then stir in the parsley.
- Fry the slices of bread golden in butter in another pan, or toast them over the embers.
- Put the bread on plates, top with the creamed mushrooms and grate over a little aged cheese if you like.
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Using frozen chanterelles: put them frozen straight into the dry pan and let the liquid cook off just as with fresh mushrooms.
Tips for the best creamed chanterelles
- Always dry-fry first. It is water that makes the sauce thin – the mushrooms should almost "squeak" in the pan before the butter goes in.
- Not too many in the pan. With too many mushrooms at once they boil instead of fry. Fry in two batches if necessary.
- Butter at the end gives the most flavour. It burns easily if added at the start.
- Aged cheese and mushrooms are a classic combination – Västerbotten is perfect.
- Out in the forest: fry the mushrooms in a pan over a camping stove or embers and bring a small bottle of cream in the cool bag. Read more in the guide cooking in the wild and see what is good to pack in equipment for fire cooking.
Safety: only pick mushrooms you recognise
Under the Right of Public Access you may pick mushrooms in the forest, but only eat mushrooms you are completely sure of. The safest approach is to learn a few species really well, for example chanterelle and funnel chanterelle, and leave everything else. The chanterelle has no true gills under the cap, but low, forked ridges that run down the stem.
- Never taste raw mushrooms, and take extra care when children are with you. More advice about children in the forest and by the fire can be found in cooking with children over a fire.
- Let an adult who knows mushrooms go through the basket.
- Pick one mushroom at a time so that no unknown species slips in.
- If you suspect mushroom poisoning: call 112 for acute symptoms, otherwise the Swedish Poisons Information Centre on +46 10-456 67 00. Keep the mushroom so that the species can be identified.
Some of the most poisonous mushrooms in Sweden, such as the deadly webcap and the fool's webcap, only cause symptoms after a long time – so don't wait and see if you are unsure.
Vary the creamed chanterelles
- With bacon: fry 100 g diced bacon until crispy and stir it into the sauce.
- With white wine: add a splash of white wine before the cream and let it reduce.
- Without cream: swap the cream for crème fraîche, or make a dairy-free version with oat cream.
- As a starter: serve the creamed mushrooms in small portions on croutons.
- With meat: the creamed mushrooms go well with roasts, game patties and pork tenderloin – try them with our wild boar patties.
More recipes to try
All recipes →Frequently asked questions
Do chanterelles need to be fried in a dry pan first?
Yes, if you want a creamy result. Chanterelles contain a lot of water. Dry-frying lets the liquid cook off and gives the mushrooms more flavour before you add butter and cream.
Can you use frozen chanterelles?
Yes. Put them frozen into a hot, dry pan and fry until all the liquid has cooked off. Allow for a little less weight than fresh mushrooms, as frozen chanterelles are usually pre-fried.
How do you store fresh chanterelles?
In the fridge in a paper bag or in a bowl lined with kitchen paper, for a few days. A plastic bag makes them wet and they go mouldy faster. If you want to keep them longer, fry them first and then freeze.
Can you make creamed chanterelles with funnel chanterelles?
Yes, funnel chanterelles work just as well and give a slightly earthier, more foresty flavour. Dry-fry them the same way.
Want something more? The creamed chanterelles go well with lingonberry jam alongside meat, and a cup of hot chocolate after a cold day in the forest. More ideas for a day outdoors can be found in forest sandwich with chuck steak and chanterelles.
More guides and recipes to read
More autumn food from the forest