King Oyster Mushroom Pulled Pork
By shredding king oyster mushrooms, seasoning with spices, and baking, you can create a vegan mushroom pulled pork that rivals the real stuff! The perfect pulled pork alternative for sandwiches, tacos, nachos…or whenever you need vegan pulled pork.
Back in March I had a week break between finishing my master’s thesis and beginning my internship with Unilever. And in that week I cooked up a storm. A hurricane. A typhoon of all the recipes to be shared on the blog in the foreseeable future so I could focus on creating popsicles for the soon-to-be (next spring!) cookbook. But then I made this mushroom pulled pork and my plan nearly went out the window. Because I love the stuff so much that I wanted to share it ASAP!
But I couldn’t share it. Because mushroom week was so far away and my Type A personality was not about to break from our featured ingredient tradition. So I sat. And waited. And then suddenly summer came and as if it were Christmas…MUSHROOM WEEK is HERE! And so, friends, I can finally share one of my most favorite new recipes with you.
BBQ Pulled Mushrooms Video
We make this vegan pulled pork no less than once a week, sometimes with a different blend of spices or sauce, but always with the same core: king oysters shredded with a fork + baked til the edges are crispy. The pulled pork loving tulip-man happily gulfs them down on sandwiches, salads, nachos, and tacos. Ready to try out your new favorite vegetarian meat substitute?
Ingredients for vegan pulled pork
- King oyster mushrooms: The thick stem shreds into perfectly “pulled pork” pieces. Find them in a health food store or Asian supermarket. You can substitute regular oyster mushrooms if needed (about 3 heaping cups worth).
- Spices: The spices can be adapted to what you like, but we tend to use smoked paprika (for that roasted flavor), salt, and a bit of cayenne.
- BBQ sauce: It’s not a pulled pork alternative without the best BBQ sauce! We love Sweet Baby Ray’s (like…I bring it back to Europe in my suitcase every time I visit).
How to make vegan pulled pork
To make this finger-smacking tasty vegan alternative pulled pork, you’ll just toss the shredded mushroom in spices and bake until the edges are all crispy. Baking (rather than sautéing) gives the mushrooms a firmer texture that more closely resembles pulled pork. Then toss with your favorite BBQ sauce and serve!
Mushroom Pulled Pork
INGREDIENTS
- 4 king oyster mushrooms*
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 30 mL, divided
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ cup BBQ sauce 60 g
INSTRUCTIONS
- Shred Mushrooms: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (204 C). Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Using two forks, shred the stems and caps roughly into pieces. Set on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Bake: Drizzle with 1 Tbsp of the oil, paprika, salt, cayenne, and garlic. Toss around to evenly coat the mushrooms, then bake for 20 minutes, or until mushrooms are a bit crispy and brown on the edges.
- Sauté: Heat remaining 1 Tbsp oil in a large saute pan over medium high. Transfer cooked mushrooms to pan and add BBQ sauce. Stir and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until mixture is thick and fragrant. Serve warm on sandwiches, nachos, salads, tacos…or whenever you eat pulled pork!
NOTES
NUTRITION
Thanks so much for dropping by and for making easy vegetarian recipes like this vegan Mushroom Pulled Pork possible! Be sure to snap a photo and tag #liveeatlearn if you try it!
Hi, I’m Sarah!
Showing you how to make easy vegetarian recipes, one ingredient at a time. Read more
nutrition & health
cooking tips
Could you use large portabella?
Portobello isn’t going to shred into that classic “pulled pork” quite the same. I’ve found it makes for chunkier pieces, but tasty nonetheless! 😀
OMG, I want this now. Looks so mouthwatering.
Hahah, I wish I could send you some! But it’s quick to make, of course 😉
What do you suggest serving alongside to give the meal an extra dose of protein? Because while I definitely will try this, I’m worried it won’t leave me full for long because there is not much protein in it.
Hi Sarah, great question! I love the filling power of chickpeas. You could try slightly mashing chickpeas and putting them on a sandwich/buns along with the pulled mushroom for a pulled pork sandwich (or tacos!) I also have a recipe for vegan nachos using this pulled mushroom here. The cashew/nutrition yeast queso adds a healthy dose of protein (you could also turn this recipe into tacos!) (can you tell I’m craving tacos?)
Can you reheat this after its been cooked?
Yep! I’d recommend to reheat in a saute pan just until warm. Microwave may make for a chewier texture.
Thanks for this recipe, it sounds yummy. One question: where do you find king oyster mushrooms? I’ve only ever seen button or portabella mushrooms at any store I have shopped at.
Such a great question, Lala! It depends on what region you’re in if you’ll be able to find them in “normal” shops. If you can’t find them at your local grocery, try an asian super market. They almost always have them (or they’ll have regular oyster mushrooms, which will also work for this recipe).
Thanks, I thought of Asian markets after I hit send. Oops.
Can this receive be frozen?
Hi Jojo! I’ve tried this before and the texture isn’t quite as good as when fresh.
Made this pulled oyster mushroom sandwich the other night, absolutely loved it. I will definitely be making this again. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
So happy to hear, Sandra! It’s one of my new go-to’s for weeknight kind of dinners 😀
is there a concern when buying mushrooms if pesticides were used on them or not.. I buy mostly organic produce and I do know that some produce is ok to buy non-organic. what about mushrooms?
Great question, Bonnie! Mushrooms are actually pretty low in pesticide residue compared to other veggies, so they should be fine to buy non-organic. This article has some good info on it.
Just made this with a quick homemade bbq sauce with gochujang and stuffed into rolls. Delightful!
So happy to hear, Anita! 😀
I just finished making these! They were DELISH! I reduced the sodium and found a lower sodium BBQ sauce.
Also, my grocer did not have the king mushrooms so I had little ones. They shredded up perfectly! I wish I had MORE. They were $4.50 for about 1 1/2C pre-baking.
When you bake they sizzle and shrink down a lot. Oh, I also used a total of 1T of EVOO. The paprika and cayenne were awesome.
Thanks for this deeeelish dish. I will be making these again and refining to reduce oils and salts to help get/keep blood pressure in check.
I made vegan mashed potatoes 1:2 ratio of red and russet with skins on.
Chopped carrots and celery.
Overall this dinner ROCKED!! I will be posting and linking at my blog.
Yay, so happy to hear Sarita!! The king oysters will shrink down less than the smaller guys (you might have better luck finding them at an Asian supermarket), though it seems like yours turned out great anyways!
Also, you could try spraying on oil to evenly coat the mushrooms, which could reduce the total oil you need. Happy cooking!!
Wow, what a great recipe. I’ll tag you on Pinterest. I made it today and OMG. I added shitake shrooms to the oyster shrooms to give it that gristle crunch that pork has. Really, really good. Thanks a bunch for the inspo.
Thanks so much, Maxine!! Love the shitake mushroom idea, I’ll have to give it a try next time I make this! 😀
Love this. I kept the barbecue sauce off as I am not a big fan of it. But it was beyond delicious without it and I use it on my tostadas. Tomorrow, I am going to mix in chopped onions and make enchiladas with it.
It is also similar to shredded chicken. I love this recipe. It is a definite keeper.
I am sure it will taste awesome with chili verde sauce.
Yum, so great ideas Jennifer! I’ll have to try it in some Mexican food, that sounds amazing 😀
OMG wow! This is absolutely perfect. I’m very omnivore, love food in general. Made this but turned into mushroom pork carnitas for tacos. My wife is veggie and my son thinks he’s going vegan so as the cook for most of our dinners, I’m searching for new tastes and things to replace a lot of the premade veggie meats on the market.
This is very very near pulled pork. I’m in love! Thank you!
Yay, so happy you all liked it, Paul!! The carnitas sounds amazing 😀
I’m not even vegetarian – aspiring, perhaps. I got a king oyster mushroom kit off of Amazon, and was looking for recipes for them. So far the kit is awesome, like this recipe. The husband is away for the night and I was trying this out to see if it was tasty enough to cook for dinner for his decidedly non-vegetarian self. Yep! I really like it, although I was a little heavy handed with the cayenne, my fault, not the recipe’s. When I got it in the pan, I didn’t use any additional oil, just the bbq sauce, which will give some additional caramelization if you cook on a high heat. I really liked it, thank you a lot. I might raised that oven temp a little bit when I try it again.
Yay! So happy to hear Paula!! 😀 I’ve been dying to try out one of those mushroom kits (and probably should soon given how often we eat this recipe, lol).
Can these be cooked in a pan without an oven? As in, can I fry them instead?
Ooh good question! I somehow haven’t tried this yet, but I’ll give it a go next time. The oven dries them out a bit, which is important for the texture and might not be quite the same if using a pan on the stove. I would probably use very high heat if doing this on the stove to char them a bit. Would love to hear how it goes if you try it!
Had this tonight and it was fantastic. Will definitely make it again.
Yay, so happy to hear Connie!! 😀
Thank you for this recipe and especially the note about using regular oyster mushrooms. I made “pulled pork” for 2 friends today, and they both enjoyed the food!
So happy to hear, Dawn! 😀
Shredded, seasoned with a coffee rub i used to make back in the day, put on the grill. O. M. Gosh. The smokey flavor!!! I’d reconstituted some tvp and didn’t want to mix it and mess up the flavor. Still turned out great. I guess the smoke flavor overpowered the tvp mini flavor. LOL
YUM! I’ll have to try this with a coffee rub, sounds amazing! 😀
Thank you for sharing this! What sauce did you pair with the ‘pulled pork’ on the sandwich bun in your video?
I mixed a bit of mayonnaise in with the BBQ sauce (about 1:1 ratio) 😀 Enjoy!
I made this and it came out great. I had to use a toaster oven because I am oversease, but it still came out good. We used them in wraps.
So happy you liked it! 😀 This is one of our favorites (and so great in wraps like you did!)