Yes. A brief rinse under running water barely affects mushrooms. Soaking them for minutes at a time is the actual problem.
The advice to never wash mushrooms because they soak up water like a sponge traces back to old cooking wisdom that never held up under testing. Mushrooms are mostly water already, and a quick rinse adds very little.
What matters more is how you dry them afterward and whether you're planning to sauté or roast, since surface moisture changes how well they brown.
Tests on rinsed mushrooms typically show only about a 2-3% increase in weight from a quick rinse, not enough to noticeably change texture or cooking. The sponge reputation comes from mushrooms' porous cell structure, which is real, but contact time during a quick rinse is short enough that it barely matters in practice.
Run mushrooms under cool water for a few seconds, rubbing off visible dirt with your fingers, then pat them dry with a paper towel or clean kitchen towel. For mushrooms that are only lightly dusty, a damp cloth or a soft mushroom brush works without any running water at all, which is the traditional method chefs used before the soaking myth took hold.
Submerging mushrooms in a bowl of water for several minutes is different from a rinse. The extended contact time lets them absorb noticeably more liquid, which dilutes flavor, makes them soggy, and can make delicate varieties like enoki or oyster mushrooms fall apart. Skip soaking, even for very dirty foraged or farmers-market mushrooms; a rinse plus a scrub handles almost anything short of heavy soil.
Wet mushrooms release steam in a hot pan instead of browning, which is why recipes stress drying them first. Pat them dry, then let them sit uncovered for a few minutes so surface moisture evaporates before they hit the oil. Dry mushrooms sear rather than steam, giving you the golden edges most sautéed mushroom recipes are going for. A very hot, dry pan and not overcrowding it helps too, since a crowded pan traps steam regardless of how dry the mushrooms started out.
Button, cremini, and portobello mushrooms tolerate a quick rinse well. More delicate varieties, like chanterelles or morels, are often better wiped clean since their texture is more porous and they bruise or waterlog more easily. Dried mushrooms follow a totally different rule: they need a genuine soak, usually 20-30 minutes in warm water, to rehydrate before cooking, which is the opposite situation from fresh mushrooms.
Rinsing mushrooms is fine and doesn't ruin their texture. Just dry them well afterward if you want a good sear instead of a steamed, rubbery result.
Only a little. A quick rinse adds roughly 2-3% extra weight in water, not enough to change texture. The sponge effect is mostly a myth from older cooking advice.
Not necessary for most store-bought mushrooms like button or cremini. Peeling is mostly used for larger, more textured varieties like portobello if the skin seems tough.
You can rinse and dry them ahead, then store them in the fridge in a paper bag or loosely covered container. Avoid sealing them wet in plastic, which traps moisture and speeds spoilage.
Leftover surface moisture is almost always the cause. Pat them thoroughly dry and give them a few minutes of air-drying before they go into a hot, dry pan.