I’m all about the creamy soups during the cold winter months, and this incredibly creamy Mushroom Soup is one of the best. This mushroom soup recipe is so easy to make and is as cozy as it gets. You’ll want to serve this soup with some crusty bread or crackers to soak up every drop of that savory creamy broth because it is just to die for. And the best part? Because this mushroom soup is so simple and uncomplicated, it’s also very inexpensive, even when the cost of mushrooms is on the higher side!
Ingredients for Mushroom Soup
I love this Creamy Mushroom Soup for its simplicity. It’s just sautéed mushrooms, a creamy broth, and a few simple seasonings. Here’s what you’ll need to make this mushroom soup:
- Mushrooms: I highly suggest using baby bella mushrooms for this soup because they have a nice deep color and rich flavor. White button mushrooms will not add as much color or flavor to the soup. You could also chop up some larger portobello mushroom caps to use in place of the Baby Bellas.
- Olive Oil: Olive oil is used to sauté the mushrooms so they get a nice deep brown color, which adds both flavor and color to the soup.
- Garlic: Garlic adds depth to the flavor and Pairs just perfectly with the flavor of the mushrooms.
- Butter: Butter adds richness to the soup and combines with the flour to create a roux, which thickens the broth.
- Flour: All-purpose flour combines with the butter to create a roux, which thickens the broth. Without the flour, the broth will be very thin.
- Vegetable Broth: Vegetable broth is the base for this soup and it provides complexity to the flavor, as well as a nice brown color. You can use mushroom broth instead if you have it.
- Heavy Cream: Heavy cream adds a deliciously rich and creamy flavor to the soup.
- Seasonings: This mushroom soup is seasoned simply with salt, pepper, thyme, and soy sauce. The soy sauce adds a wonderfully earthy umami flavor that enhances the mushrooms.
What Else Can I Add?
If you want to put your own spin on this mushroom soup recipe, here are a few other ingredients you can add:
- Paprika: Add sweet paprika to make it closer to a Hungarian Mushroom Soup.
- Onion: If you want even more savory vegetable flavor, sauté a finely diced onion with the mushrooms.
- Sour Cream: To make the soup even richer and to add a slight tang, stir a few dollops of sour cream into the broth at the end.
- Homemade Croutons: Top your soup with homemade croutons for a delicious garlicky crunch!
Make it Vegan
It’s very easy to convert this recipe to a vegan mushroom soup. Simply use coconut oil in place of the butter to make the roux, and then use full-fat coconut milk in place of the heavy cream. Coconut milk tastes really good in savory recipes like this and actually pairs very well with mushrooms! Check out our Vegan Creamy Mushroom Ramen for another example of these flavors together.
What to Serve with mushroom Soup
The broth in this soup is extremely rich and creamy and you’re going to want to sop up every drop, so I highly suggest serving it with some crusty bread like our No-Knead Bread, Focaccia Rolls, or Soda Bread. Or, if you don’t want to make homemade bread, at least make sure you have some crackers on hand!
I’d also suggest adding some vegetables on the side to lighten things up, and I’d go for a wintery roasted vegetable like Roasted Brussels Sprouts or our Roasted Cauliflower Salad.
How to Make Mushroom Soup Taste Better
Using really good, full-flavored broth is key to making mushroom soup taste its best. We suggest using Better Than Bouillon to make the broth used in this soup because it has tons of flavor, is budget-friendly, and reduces waste compared to boxed and canned broths. We used their vegetable-flavored bouillon, but you could certainly use their mushroom flavor if you have it.
Creamy Mushroom Soup
Servings 4 (1 cup each)Ingredients
- 1 lb. baby bella mushrooms ($4.59)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced ($0.24)
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 1 pinch salt & pepper ($0.05)
- 4 Tbsp butter ($0.47)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour ($0.04)
- 3 cups vegetable broth ($0.51)
- 1 tsp soy sauce ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp dried thyme ($0.02)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream ($0.75)
Instructions
- Wash the mushrooms to remove any dirt or debris. Slice the mushrooms and mince the garlic.
- Add the olive oil, mushrooms, and a pinch of salt and pepper to a soup pot. Sauté the mushrooms over medium heat until they have released all of their moisture, all the liquid has evaporated from the bottom of the pot, and the mushrooms become very dark brown. Add the minced garlic and continue to sauté for one minute more.
- Add the butter and flour to the pot. Stir and cook for about two minutes more, or until the butter coats the bottom of the pot and turns deep golden brown.
- Once the flour mixture is a bit browned, add the vegetable broth, soy sauce, and thyme. Stir to dissolve all of the flour from the bottom of the pot. Allow the liquid to come up to a simmer, at which point the flour will slightly thicken the broth.
- Finally, stir the cream into the soup. Give the soup a taste and adjust the salt or pepper to your liking. Serve with crusty bread and enjoy!
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Nutrition
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How to Make Creamy Mushroom Soup – Step by Step Photos
Begin by rinsing and slicing one pound of baby Bella mushrooms.
Add the mushrooms to a soup pot with 1 Tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté the mushrooms over medium heat until they release all of their water, the water evaporates, and the mushrooms begin to brown. Add three cloves of minced garlic and sauté for about one minute more.
Add 3 Tbsp of salted butter and 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour to the pot. Continue to stir and cook over medium heat, allowing the butter to melt and create a paste with the flour that coats the mushrooms.
The butter and flour will begin to coat the bottom of the pot. When it becomes medium brown, it’s time to add the liquid to the pot.
Add three cups of vegetable broth, ⅛ tsp thyme, and 1 tsp soy sauce to the soup pot and stir to dissolve all of the browned bits off the bottom of the pot. Allow the broth to come up to a boil, at which point it will thicken slightly from the flour and butter roux.
Once the soup has reached a boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and add ½ cup heavy cream. Allow the soup to heat through and begin to simmer gently.
Taste the soup and adjust the salt or other seasonings if desired. The soup may need additional salt depending on the salt content of the broth used. We used Better Than Bouillon, which tends to be on the salty side, so we did not need any additional salt.
Serve the creamy mushroom soup with your favorite crusty bread and enjoy!
DANG, this soup tasted amazing. I went through a quarter of a loaf of crusty bread with one bowl, and was honestly kinda disappointed when I got to the mushrooms at the bottom . . . I wanted more broth, dangit!
I threw in a bit of onion, as I had it lying around, and that was lovely. Also fresh thyme, because my window box is actually producing this year! Yay!
I think this soup would fill out really nicely with some potatoes and maybe chicken, but I had a nice hearty dinner just going at it with my cottage loaf.
Tried this recipe exactly as printed. Fantastic flavor, very delicious. Only downside was the soup being a bit thin as a main course. (Served with parmesan drop biscuits from budget bytes cookbook)
Family agreed that thin sliced potatoes would be extremely welcome here and would turn this into a hearty dinner.
Definitely a make-again recipe
have you ever froze this soup? i wanted to try but wasn’t sure how the mushrooms would turn out
I haven’t, unfortunately. Cream based soups don’t always do so well in the freezer.
This had a lot of similar steps to your creamy mushroom herb pasta, but this turned out much better! It could be a bit more savory so next time I think I will up the spices and soy sauce a bit.
Any good ideas on how to replace the flour as thickening agent … would love to keep this recipe low carb.
You could use a good Gluten Free flour (Pamela’s is one I use a lot, or Bob’s Mill) using the exact ratios, or you could try cornstarch. I don’t know how much of that you would use.
xanthan gum is low carb and can be used as a thickener.
Portobello’s are just very mature (ie “old”) cremini (brown) mushrooms. They get bigger (obviously) as they grow older. Feel free to use either.
THIS LOOKS SO GOOD!!! I might try stirring in a cooked grain, like barley, farro, or wild rice. My carnivore husband could stir in cooked shredded chicken.
What a great recipe to find in my email this morning. I didn’t know what I wanted to cook for dinner, now I do! This sounds amazing. :)
Hi Beth! I always enjoy getting your recipes in my inbox. When I saw the picture of this creamy garlic mushroom soup I knew I had to make it right away. So I made it tonight and it was great!!! I followed your recipe exactly except that I used my homemade vegetable broth (super easy super tasty!). I love how easy it was to put this soup together yet the flavor was complex thanks to a ton of mushroom (hello umami!). The amount of heavy cream was just perfect – enough to give it a nice creamy feel but still remains light and flavorful. Thank you!!
So glad you liked it!!
This was pretty good. It’s not the best mushroom soup I’ve had and it needed some extra spices and flavors, but overall a good base. And baby bellas were on sale for $1 at Meijer soooo, had to make this! I used about double the thyme, added ~2 tablespoons of Worcestshire, some garlic powder, and extra salt and pepper. The Worcestershire really kicked it up and made it very savory! I blended it with my immersion blender at the end (just about 1/3 of the soup, didn’t it want it totally pureed) and it was a very good texture.
OH! And I used half and half, not heavy cream. It was still very rich with the butter and cream together.
Sine we’re talking about soups, do you have a good broccoli cheese soup? It’s something I crave, but I can’t find a recipient that really duplicates the flavor and texture of the kind I get at Panera and other restaurants.
I have one in my print cookbook, but I don’t have one for the site yet. I might experiment with another version to post here. :)
Could you puree this? I like the flavour of mushrooms, but am not a big fan of the texture.
I used my immersion blender on some of it! I think the texture might not be very silky if you blended the whole thing, but it would definitely be less chunky!
Sure, I don’t see why not. :)
This was great! I used white mushrooms, chicken broth, and half and half because that’s what I had on hand, and I loved it. I added a little diced onion to the mushrooms too – so good!
This looks delicious! I think I’ll make my own vegetable broth. I love the aroma of the Better Than Bouillon broth, but can’t stand the taste.
I checked here for mushroom soup 2 weeks ago when I saw mushrooms on sale and didn’t see a recipe. Happy to see my makeshift soup was pretty close to this. Simple and delicious.