Vegan Mushroom Pâté Recipe (2024)

Published: Oct 7, 2019 · Updated: Jan 14, 2021 · This post may contain affiliate links · We donate 10% of our profits to support good causes.

Full of the rich umami taste of mushrooms and toasted walnuts, this vegan mushroom pâté recipe is the perfect party appetizer. Your guests will love how delicious it is, and you’ll love how easy it is to make!

This mushroom pâté is full of meaty mushroom flavour without the meat. It’s such a great dish to share with your friends and family, especially for parties and your Christmas and Thanksgiving celebrations.

We first made this mushroom pate when we catered for a friend’s wedding in Austria – vegan style!

We made 4 different kinds of dips – hummus, baba ganoush, tzatziki, and mushroom pâté. At first the mushroom pate was the least popular (it’s not exactly the most attractive with it’s grey/brown colour) but word soon got out about how AMAZING it tasted. The massive bowl of it was empty in a flash!

Proof that this vegan mushroom pate is loved by omnivores and herbivores alike!

What kind of mushrooms work best in this pate?

You can simply use white button or chestnut mushrooms for this vegan mushroom pate recipe. The herbs, soy sauce, onions, garlic and walnuts ensure that it is fully flavoured even with everyday mushrooms.

Other varieties such as Portobellos or sh*take work well too. And a mixture of mushroom varieties adds a nice depth.

By using wild mushrooms you can vary or enhance the flavour even more. For the version that we photographed here, we used a mixture of Porcini, Chanterelles, Parasol, and Hedgehog Mushrooms.

It’s the perfect recipe for using up a variety of wild mushrooms after a foraging trip! Just make sure for any wild mushrooms you use you are 100% sure of the ID and they are safe to eat.

How to make

It’s pretty simple! You can make this pate in under 20 minutes. Watch the video if you want a visual guide, or read on for an overview of the steps.

• Clean and chop your mushrooms. We usually don’t wash our mushrooms, just gently brushing them to clean them.
• Then in a frying pan with some good olive oil, fry some diced onions for a bit, then add the garlic, salt, mushrooms and herbs. The mushrooms will shrink considerably and give off their juice. If your mushrooms are a bit dry, you might want to add a splash of water to start them off.
• Wait until the mushroom liquid has evaporated, remove from the heat and then add the soy sauce. The soy sauce really adds to the umami flavour of the pate. We recommend an organic soy sauce like this.
• In a dry pan, toast the walnuts until golden brown. You’ll want to move them around often so they don’t burn.
• When the mushroom mixture and nuts have cooled down enough, blend them in a blender or food processor with a small splash of water until you have a uniform texture. The amount of water you will need may vary depending on how much mushroom liquid you have leftover. Add just enough so it blends easily. If you’ve got a super high powered blender you may not even need to add any.

Substitutions and variations

Have fun and experiment with this recipe to suit your own tastes!

Instead of walnuts you can try using other nuts, such as almonds or hazelnuts.

And for a nut free mushroom pate, then toasted sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds work great too.

As an alternative to soy sauce, you can use tamari sauce for a gluten free version, or coconut aminos for a soy free pate.

If you fancy you can add a splash of vegan sherry to deglaze the mushrooms.

You can use fresh herbs instead of dried. You’ll want to use about 3 times as much. For example 3 tsp fresh chopped rosemary instead of 1 tsp dried rosemary.

Serving and storage

Here are some ideas for how to serve your mushroom pate (If you don’t wanna just dive into it with a spoon like we do!)

• Spread generously on sourdough bread or toast.
• Make into cute canapés by topping crostini or these yummy vegan crackers with this pate, a walnut half and a sage leaf.
• Use it as a savoury crepe filling.
• Make mushroom vol-au-vents by filling into puff pastry cases.
• Enjoy as a dip for vegetable crudités.
• Serve alongside hummus and other spreads to liven up a vegan party platter.

Traditional pate is served in a small dish with a layer of fat on the top. This was done historically to extend storage life. If you want to serve it this way then you can melt a couple of tablespoons of vegan butter to coat the top. This works best if you are serving the pate with toast, as the ‘butter’ melts.

Store your mushroom pate in a covered container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

It is possible to make the pate in advance and freeze it. The texture changes slightly, but it’s still flavoursome. Simply freeze in an airtight container and defrost in the fridge overnight and stir through before serving.

If you liked our vegan mushroom pate recipe, we think you’ll like these other tasty vegan mushroom recipes too:

These Japanese inspired Teriyaki Mushrooms

Our Wild Mushroom Goulash

And this super easy Vegan Mushroom Soup

📖 Recipe

With love from the woods!

Sophie and Paul