What’s the one thing that makes this Mushroom Soup stand out from the rest? You’ll enjoy mushroom flavour in every mouthful. As strange and obvious as that sounds, most mushroom soups are actually nothing more than mushroom bits floating in a generically-flavoured creamy soup broth. But this one is 100% mushroom flavour – down to the last spoonful!
Mushroom Soup
It’s easy enough to sauté up some mushrooms in butter, then add some flour, broth followed by a good glug of cream, and call it a day. And while it will taste just fine, it won’t really taste that much like mushrooms, except for the bites you get with mushroom bits in it.
So in presenting you with a mushroom soup recipe I wanted to make sure it actually tasted like – gasp, shock, horror – mushrooms!
And how do we achieve that? Simple: Blitz the soup! Only this way can we release all the gorgeous, sweet and earthy flavours locked up in the mushrooms into every luscious, creamy mouthful!!
What goes in Mushroom Soup
1. Mushrooms!
Swiss Brown / cremini mushrooms have a stronger mushroom flavour than regular white / button mushrooms but make the soup browner. So I like to use a combination of both Swiss Brown and standard white mushrooms. This gives you the best of both worlds: an intense mushroom flavour with an elegant pale cream colour rather than a (very) brown one!
(Fun fact: White / button, Swiss Brown / cremini and portobello mushrooms are actually all the same mushroom – just in different stages of the mushroom’s life cycle. True story!)
2. Mushroom Soup – other ingredients
One really nice thing about this Mushroom Soup recipe is how few ingredients are actually called for. Why gild the lily with extra unnecessary flavourings when we already have a soup full of beautiful mushroom flavour!
Vegetable stock – Store-bought stock works fine here, but I really recommend trying this with Homemade Vegetable Stock one of these days! Vegetable stock is much easier and less messy to make than meat-based stocks like beef stock and chicken stock, calling for just basic vegetables and flavourings (carrot, celery, onion, garlic, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns, coriander seeds);
Cream, or creme fraiche – This adds a luxuriously velvety mouthfeel to the soup so I really recommend not skipping it. If you don’t have either, stir in a knob of butter at the end.
Cream or creme fraiche? Cream is the obvious option, but I’ve also suggested creme fraiche for something a bit different.
What exactly is creme fraiche, anyway? Creme fraiche is a lightly soured cream, and unsurprisingly tastes like a cross between sour cream and heavy/thickened cream. It has the same velvety richness of cream with a slight tanginess (but not as tangy as sour cream). It’s also thicker like sour cream and can be dolloped rather than poured. It lends a lovely faintly sharpened note to the soup.
Which is better? I’d go cream for every day purposes, and reserve creme fraiche for company (yes, it’s more expensive and not carried by all grocery stores). But it’s no lesser a soup with “just” plain cream, I assure you!
Onion and garlic – Essential flavour base; and
Butter – For sautéing.
How to make Mushroom Soup
This soup is very straightforward to make, but there is time involved in sautéing and simmering. This task is essential to bring out all the wonderful flavours!
Sauté onion and garlic in butter for 5 minutes over medium heat until softened, but don’t let them go golden;
Cook mushrooms for 10 minutes until they become soft. They will release quite a lot of water during this stage but the water will evaporate. Don’t try to cook them until golden; they will refuse to because the pot is too crowded and we’re OK with this;
Simmer 15 minutes – Add vegetable stock, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, lower heat to medium and simmer gently for 15 minutes without a lid;
Add cream or creme fraiche and simmer for a further 5 minutes;
Blitz until smooth – Transfer the soup to a blender and blitz until smooth. WARNING! Make sure you remove the lid of the feeder (the hole in the lid of the blender), and cover the hole with a folded tea towel before you blend. Hot soup in a tightly sealed blender on full speed = soup explosion!! The lid will blow off, and you’ll end up with hot soup all over the ceiling – and all over yourself. Been there, done that!
Stick blender option: You could also use a stick blender, but I find that it doesn’t puree the soup as smoothly as pictured. It works fine, but a blender is better; and
Return to pot and simmer further on a low heat for a couple of minutes until bubbles caused by blending subside, then serve! Ladle into bowls and garnish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or cream, croutons and parsley or, if you’re feeling a bit Frenchy ‘n fancy, chervil.
I added some golden sautéed slices of mushrooms for the photos, as a cue so you’d know what this bowl of brown liquid actually is. I must confess I’ve never done that in real life before!! 😂
Oh and as I always say when sharing a soup recipe, bread for dunking really is not optional. I say it is in the recipe, but everyone knows I’m lying through my teeth! – Nagi x
PS. I guess I should follow that cheeky statement up with some bread recommendations! 😂 Here are my top 3 picks:
Crusty Artisan Bread – By far the most popular bread recipe I’ve shared, famed for the exceptional results and dead-easy method;
No Yeast Bread Loaf – Loved as an excellent speedy alternative that does not require yeast, along with Irish Soda Bread;
Focaccia – The latest addition to my bread collection, an Italian favourite wildly popular straight out of the gate!
Or choose your own bread recipe!
Watch how to make it
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 onion , chopped
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 400g / 14 oz white mushrooms (Note 1)
- 200g/ 7 oz Swiss Brown/Cremini mushroom (Note 1)
- 3 1/4 cups vegetable stock (bonus points for homemade veg stock! – Note 2), or chicken stock
- 1/4 tsp salt , cooking/kosher
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 3/4 cup crème fraiche or cream (any full-fat) (Note 3)
Garnishes/serving:
- Croutons (Note 4)
- Cream or extra virgin olive oil , for drizzling
- Parsley (roughly chopped), chervil (if you're feeling a bit fancy), or thyme leaves
- Bread for dunking
Instructions
- Chopping mushrooms: Cut mushrooms into 4 slices, then dice into 3 or 4 pieces.
- Saute onion and garlic: Melt butter in a large pot over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic. Cook for 3 minutes until softened, but not golden.
- Cook mushrooms: Add mushrooms and cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly. Do not try to brown; they won't as the pot is too crowded but we do not need colour.
- Simmer 15 min: Add vegetable stock, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and simmer gently for 15 minutes without a lid.
- Cream: Stir in cream (or crème fraiche), then simmer for another 5 minutes.
- Blitz: Transfer to a blender (do in batches, if necessary). Remove the cap from the feeding hole in the blender lid (Note 5), cover the hole with a folded tea towel. Blend until completely smooth.
- Return to pot, simmer for a minute or two until bubbles caused by blending largely subside and soup is hot.
- Serve: Ladle into bowls. Garnish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil or cream, croutons and parsley or (if you're feeling a bit fancy), chervil. Don't forget bread for dunking!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More vegetable soups
Life of Dozer
Builders are here jackhammering up a concrete slab all day today, and I can’t find Dozer’s earplugs. So I sent him off to spend the day with the golden retriever boarder!
Dang! Stood right in front of the beautiful mushrooms at the market today and wondered if I should buy them — and I didn’t!
Will get them for the weekend!
Can’t wait to make my own veg stock and mushroom soup!
Hugs to Dozer!
You’ll love it Nadine – the perfect way to show off some beautiful mushrooms! N x
You’re so right about mushroom soup not tasting like mushrooms. I can’t wait to make this recipe. I also love the feature, sliding over the quantity to automatically increase ingredient amounts. Maybe it’s always been there but I’ve never noticed it. And is Dozer wearing a bathrobe? That is so cute. Where did you get that?
I hope you try this one Naomi, I’d love to know what you think! And yes – the serving scale feature has always been there – it makes life easy when you need to do a big batch of cooking 🙂 N x
Dozer is the most blessed dog in the universe. When I die I want to come back as your pet Nagi. What could be better? Official taster for all those most delicious recipes, trips to the beach, a pool and a great place to stay when mom’s away. Life is good. Now I will dive into this yummy mushroom soup. Any chance you have found a simplified way to make beef consume?
Don’t we all want to come back as Dozer Lynne??!! I don’t have a recipe up for consommé but I do have one for homemade stock here: https://discountspot.info/homemade-beef-stock/%3C/a%3E N x
Amazing recipie.
I think you are the best cook on the planet Nagi.
I follow you and make pretty much all your recipies.
I’m told my food is delicious.👍
and it’s thanks to you.
Please keep them coming.🙂❤
Oh that’s so good to hear Jean, thanks so much!! N x
I have made almost the exact same soup from Anthony Bourdain’s recipe…the only difference is he adds a big glug of a good quality spanish sherry…yummo
Woo Hoo!! I’m so excited to try this. I’ve been patiently waiting for a mushroom soup. I love mushrooms and think I have made all your recipes that include mushrooms. Thanks!
Wahoo! I hope you love it Mickey!! N x
I made the soup today after seeing your video (and reading everything on this page). It was so delicious my husband asked me to make double portion next time. I didn’t use any thyme, so no herbs except little dry parsley for garnish. And I used only white buttons and the color of the soup was still pretty. Thank you so much for the recipe! Five stars from my husband! (10 if we could!)
That’s amazing Karn, thanks so much for letting me know! 🙂 N x
Can mushroom broth (homemade or store bought) be used in place of vegetable broth?
Hi Rene, if you can find it, I’m sure it will intensify the mushroom flavour even more! It’s not very common around here! N x
I’m on Weight Watchers and Non Fat Yogurt is 0 points. Do you think that would be yummy instead of the cream? I do realize that taste will be compromised somewhat but will be healthier.
Hi Frances, yes you could use that in place to make this – Creme fraiche has a slight tangy flavour so it shouldn’t be too far off! N x
I lived in an area with a lot of cheap green grocers so I made mushroom soup all the time, sometimes with Pinot Gris or Merlot or Shiraz.
You can definitely use yogurt instead of cream. Make sure you get a nice deep golden colour when you sauté the mushrooms in butter and oil . I like my mushroom soup with tons of garlic. Use a ton of mushrooms.
Enjoy with a garlic and cheese toasted sandwich.
I love mushrooms, so I added 50% more of them. Then before adding the stock, I removed the extras to the side. After blending, I put them in the pot with the soup. Super flavor with mushrooms to bite into.
Sounds perfect Robert! N x
Love your wit……and recipes
Look forward to viewing your next offering
Thanks so much Pepita! N x
Nagi, you’ve done it again!
I’ve just made a big pot of this-so easy to prepare. And oh so tasty!
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes (…still waiting with bated breath for the cookbook?!…). xx
I’m so glad you loved it Sandra, thanks so much for letting me know!!! 🥰 N x
Good mushroomy soup. Best mushroom recipe I’ve used. I used a stick blender as I prefer bits in my soup! Thx Nagi
Sounds like you nailed it Leslie!! N x
Hi Nagi. Vegetable Stock link in the Mushroom Soup post does not work. Could you please fix.
Here’s the link, Margaret: https://discountspot.info/homemade-vegetable-stock/%3C/a%3E 🙂
I usually like my soups chunky, but the reasoning behind this purée is sound. Can I make a double batch or should I make two single batches? Because of crowding the mushrooms in the Dutch oven, that is.
Any suggestions for recipes that’ll use the rest of the fresh thyme? I hate when it goes bad in the fridge.
You can dry freeze the thyme in a container. I always have sprigs of frozen thyme to drop into stews etc.
Hi Nagi, recipe looks great, but the link to the homemade vegetable stock seems to have expired?
Just made it, gorgeous even without garlic (mam allergic to it) and so simple. I sliced a few and browned them to add back in to the blended soup, lovely 😋
Sounds great Marina!! N x
Thanks Sharon – Let me look into this! N x
Here it is, Sharon. https://discountspot.info/homemade-vegetable-stock/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E