# Georgian All-in-One Baked Mushrooms with Mozzarella Cheese

The Georgian all-in-one baked mushrooms are the dinner of the set, built in one pan and served in the dish they bake in: an onion softened in 40 g of foaming butter, 700 g of sliced champignons salted right away — salt pulls their water out now, and ten minutes on the heat cooks it off until the pile halves and the pan runs dry — then 300 g of ham in strips for ten more. Everything tips into one dish under 150 g of mozzarella and bakes 15 minutes at 180 °C, purely for the top. In Georgia it would be a ketsi under sulguni; mozzarella stretches the same way, and the browned cheese edge runs the whole rim. Serves 3.

- **Prep:** 15 min · **Cook:** 40 min · **Total:** 55 min
- **Servings:** 3
- **Difficulty:** Easy
- **Cuisine:** Georgian
- **Category:** Main Courses, Oven Recipes
- **Video:** [5 Mushroom Recipes That Taste Like They Came From a Restaurant](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRqgdUZF99s&t=438s) (recipe starts at 7:18)
- **Recipe page:** https://webspoon.world/recipes/georgian-all-in-one-baked-mushrooms-with-mozzarella-cheese/

## Ingredients

### The pan

- 1 onion (diced small — it's here for sweetness, and the mushrooms get the credit)
- 700 g champignons (sliced — looks like a lot, but most of that is water)
- 300 g ham (any cooked ham, cut into strips so it gets into every forkful)
- 40 g butter
- ground black pepper (to taste)
- salt (to taste — added with the mushrooms, not at the end)

### The lid

- 150 g mozzarella (grated — in Georgia it would be sulguni; mozzarella stretches the same way)

## Instructions

1. Halve the onion first — the skin comes off in one piece — and dice it small.
2. Slice the mushrooms and cut the ham into strips.
3. Melt the butter in a hot pan; once it foams, it's hot enough. The onion goes in first, 5 minutes until soft and sweet. _(timer: 5 min)_
4. Add the mushrooms with the black pepper and salt right away, not at the end — salt pulls the water out now, and 10 minutes on the heat cooks it off. _(timer: 10 min)_
5. When the pile has halved and the pan is dry, add the ham and cook 10 minutes more. _(timer: 10 min)_
6. Tip everything into one baking dish — in Georgia, a ketsi — and cover it with the grated mozzarella.
7. Bake 15 minutes at 180 °C / 350 °F. Everything is cooked already; the oven is only for the top. Serve it in the dish. _(timer: 15 min)_

## Notes from our kitchen

Salting with the mushrooms instead of at the end is the whole architecture: the salt pulls their water out while the pan is hot enough to evaporate it, so there's no puddle hiding under the cheese later. Watch the pile — 700 g shrinks by half, and the dry pan is your cue for the ham. The bake is cosmetic by design: everything is already cooked, so pull it the moment the cheese edge browns at the rim.

## Variations

- **Closer to Georgia:** If you can find sulguni, use it — the brined Georgian cheese is the original lid, saltier and with the same dramatic stretch. A mix of mozzarella for pull and a little feta for salt lands surprisingly near it.
- **Meatless dinner:** Drop the ham and add a second onion plus a handful more mushrooms — the butter, the dry-pan discipline and the cheese lid carry the dish. A pinch of smoked paprika stands in for the ham's savor.

## Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

- Calories: 465
- Protein: 30g
- Fat: 33g
- Carbs: 9g
- Fiber: 2g
- Sugar: 5g
- Sodium: 1250mg

## FAQ

### Why does the salt go in with the mushrooms and not at the end?

Because here water is the enemy, and salt is the tool: added early, it pulls the mushrooms' moisture out while the pan is hot enough to evaporate it — ten minutes and the pile has halved, the pan is dry. Salt at the end and that water stays inside, ready to pool under the cheese in the oven.

### What makes it Georgian?

The format: in Georgia mushrooms are baked and served in a ketsi — a small clay pan — under a lid of sulguni, the stretchy brined cheese. This is that dish translated to a regular baking dish and mozzarella, which pulls the same way. The oven-to-table serving is part of the recipe.

### Why does it only bake 15 minutes?

Because nothing in the dish is raw — the onion, mushrooms and ham are fully cooked in the pan. The oven's only job is the top: melting the mozzarella into one lid and browning the cheese edge that runs the whole rim. Longer just dries out what's underneath.

### Can I assemble it ahead?

Perfectly — cook the filling, pack it into the dish, top with cheese and refrigerate up to 2 days. Bake straight from the fridge at 180 °C, adding about 5 minutes. Baked leftovers reheat best in the oven so the cheese re-melts instead of toughening.

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Source: [Georgian All-in-One Baked Mushrooms with Mozzarella Cheese — Webspoon World](https://webspoon.world/recipes/georgian-all-in-one-baked-mushrooms-with-mozzarella-cheese/)