What day is it? What time is it? While the limbo between Christmas and New Years can cause us to ask the aforementioned questions, there’s one thing I do know. It’s SOUP SEASON! It doesn’t matter what day or time it is, this creamy mushroom soup will hit the spot. Creamy mushroom soup can be as rustic or as refined as you want. Which makes it a perfect Honey, I’m Hungry recipe! Ditch the gelatinous canned stuff (ew) and give this made from scratch version of a kitchen staple a try!
Most of the US has been in some sort of Winter weather advisory over the last month. Cold, wind, snow (and LOTS of it) makes us savor any time we’re able to spend inside where it’s dry and warm. It’s soup weather! While I try to keep plenty of variety from week to week when posting new recipes, Mother Nature has made soups a priority, and this creamy mushroom soup NEEDS to make it to your table. I’ll take that as permission to post two soup recipes in a row!
Recipe Versatility
Whether you’re someone who loves a great steak or you prefer a vegan/dairy-free diet, this recipe provides the versatility to meet your needs. I LOVE the richness that beef broth and heavy cream adds to this soup, but this recipe is fantastic swapping those two for vegetable broth and full-fat coconut milk.
The last time I made this soup, I used beef bone broth I made from leftover short rib bones. HOLY COW (haha, pun intended) I’ve never had a richer more umami forward creamy mushroom soup in my life! SO GOOD! I highly recommend giving this a shot if you’ve got access to beef bone broth. There are so many great store-bought broths and stocks available, but if you’re asking me, homemade can’t be topped!
This recipe also gives you the option for fresh or dried herbs. I love fresh herbs, but dried herbs are also wonderful! The recipe notes about 1/2 the amount of dried herb is needed when using instead of fresh. Dried herbs have concentrated flavor, so you can use less and get flavor payoff!
If you’ve got an immersion blender (this one is my favorite), or prefer a very rustic creamy mushroom soup, this soup comes together in one pot! A regular blender works great if you don’t have am immersion blender, just don’t over blend.
In short, there’s really no excuse to not make this creamy mushroom soup! Sorry, not sorry.
Replacing the Canned Stuff
Canned, condensed cream of mushroom soup is a staple ingredient across many holiday dishes. I’m not telling you that you must replace this ingredient, but I am going to give you the tools. Ditch some of the extra ingredients in the canned version we may not want in our holiday dishes, and give homemade a try. I doubt you’ll regret it!
If you want to create a homemade substitute for the canned cream of mushroom soup, you can cut the broth volume in half, to two cups. The result will give you the thick, creamy, umami the canned stuff gives to a recipe, but without ingredients like MSG. Winner winner, mushroom soup dinner!
Keys to Success
- Stir, stir, stir. A wooden spoon or spatula is my tool of choice for this soup. Several steps in this recipe say “stir continuously, ” and you should definitely make that happen. Whether it’s cooking down the mushrooms, adding the flour or the broth, making sure your ingredients are coming together will make sure you get that rich silky soup.
- Brown food tastes good. Don’t be afraid to get good color on the onions and the mushrooms. Of course, you want to watch the heat so you don’t burn anything, but getting a deep dark brown color to the base of your soup is the key to ultimate umami deliciousness!
- Always work the brown bits off the bottom of your pan. Any chance you get to use that wooden spoon to loosen the brown bits on the bottom of the pan and work them back into your soup, the deeper your soups flavor. The key times to get those brown bits will be when you add the wine and again when the broth is added. This will also help make your clean up a breeze!
Creamy Mushroom Soup
Equipment
- 1 immersion blender or blender
- 1 large sauce pan or dutch oven
- Measuring cups and spoons
- 1 chef's knife
- 1 wooden spoon or spatula
Ingredients
- 1 lbs sliced baby portabella mushrooms
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, leaves removed from stems or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, leaves removed from stems, roughly chopped or 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ cup dry white wine additional broth can be substituted for alcohol free
- 4 cups beef or vegetable broth
- ½ cup heavy cream full-fat coconut milk can be substituted
- 4 tablespoons butter vegan butter can be substituted.
- 3 tablespoons flour
- salt + black pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon umami seasoning
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Heat the large saucepan or dutch oven over medium high heat and add 1 tablespoon of the butter. Add the onion and sauté with a pinch of salt and pepper until soft and just slightly browned. About 3-5 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms, rosemary, thyme, umami seasoning, and another pinch of salt and pepper. Cook the mushrooms down until dark brown. Deglaze the bottom of the pan with the white wine and allow the mushrooms to absorb the liquid. Add the remaining butter, stirring the mushrooms occasionally
- Once the butter has melted, slowly sprinkle in the flour while stirring continuously. Cook for about 5 minutes. The mixture will be very thick and pasty.
- While continuing to stir, slowly add your broth of choice, about one cup at at time. Add more once the previous liquid is evenly incorporated into the mushroom mixture. Loosen the brown bits at the bottom of the pan as liquid is added.
- Once all of the broth has been added, reduce the heat to low and use an immersion blender to blend the mushrooms to your desired consistency. A standard blend can also be used, but the soup will need to be cooled slightly to avoid a blow up. Return the soup to the sauce pan once blended.
- After blending, stir in the heavy cream. Taste, adjust for seasoning with salt and pepper. Add the lemon juice 1 teaspoon at a time, tasting in-between.
- Simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes before serving.
Nutrition
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