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!
I think I messed up. There are a million grey balls of flour (goodness gracious!) floating in my otherwise lovely soup. It’s a little gross. The one thing I know I did wrong was not waiting for the moisture to be gone before adding the flower and butter.
I love this recipe absolutely delicious and so easy to make, it is a go to in my kitchen!
Happy to hear it Nancy!
Best Mushroom Soup recipe ever!!!
I have made it my mission to roam the internet and cook books to find favourite soup recipes for my husband and I for the winter ( we both work graveyard shift in Canada and we both work outside so it can get bone cold most winter nights) and usually I have to try a few different recipes for the same soup to see which is best but this one Mushroom soup recipe is hands down the best I have ever had and I don’t need to try anymore recipes to know that. Thank you for this quality soup! It’s going to be a regular in our household from here on in.
Thank you so much Cassandra!
I’m now making this recipe for the second time, which is pretty rare for me as an adventurous type! My mushroom-hater boyfriend even liked dipping his toast in it. I love that it uses mostly pantry staples since I found mushrooms on a great sale this week but didn’t have a plan for them. This is super yummy, comforting and light. It also freezes fine from my experience! A total win in my book.
That’s awesome Vee! Love it when they’re on sale and it makes even your picky mushroom hater love it!
Great recipe. For those complaining of lack of flavor I would suggest deglazing the pot with the vegetable broth and scrape the bottom and sides to get all that goodness in there. I thought about blending half to thicken but it thickened nicely after reducing it a bit on the stove.
Didn’t have heavy cream and used 2% milk.
Out of thyme so I used Italian seasoning and cut recipe in half other than garlic. (Has a container of baby Bella’s to use up.)
Oh great tip Kris! Love that.
For extra taste I added onions and jalapeno. Used butter and half and half. And extra garlic!!! You dont need flour. You can blend half of the soup it will thicken up. Delicious.
Can never have too much garlic ;)
Very thin and watery. Had to make a slurry of cornstarch to give it some body. Not a whole lot of flavor. Back to my old recipe.
Sorry to hear that Sandy. Let us know if there are any questions we can help you to answer.
When I saw you had this recipe I immediately printed it. Your recipes are universally good; of course, I have to add my own touches.
My neighbor had oral surgery and can only eat soup so I made her this and pureed it. I did the white wine and used homemade stock I had from a whole chicken I made into cast iron chicken and biscuits. I also had thyme dried from some sprigs we bought. The mushrooms were crimini and shitake. The umami was amazing. I used whole milk and the last add of soy sauce was perfect.
I used to make mushroom soup in a restaurant by the 10-gallon batch. and this is as good or better than their recipe. Then again, with a smaller batch you don’t have the freedom to play you have with this. Thanks.
That does sound delicious Lance! Thank you for sharing!
My boyfriend and I LOVED this recipe. I used white button mushrooms to save a little money and I still got a great, rich mushroomy flavor out of them. I made some Italian herb focaccia to go with it and could not have been happier. This is another keeper, thanks!
Oh man that sounds perfect!
I added some white wine and to boil off in between steps 2 and 3. Delicious!
Oooh that sounds delicious!
I’ve NEVER seen my husband polish off the rest of the pot of soup…until tonight! I used Better than Bouillon, a little of the seasoned Vegetable base, the chicken base and some beef base. Add a little bit of smoked paprika and some sauteed onions also. Definitely a 5-star recipe.
Wahoo! Happy to hear it!
Super terrific, the whole family loved it! Followed the recipe to “T”, next would only thicken a bit more. Otherwise, wouldn’t change a thing.
Delicious and easy. Started out with a bag of white mushrooms bought at Produce Junction. Probably more than 2 pounds. A little olive oil/butter in pan to saute onions and garlic a bit before adding mushrooms. After the liquid boiled away, I stood for quite awhile, stirring, letting the mushrooms really caramelize. Tons of rich flavor. This is the secret, I think. I used 2 cups chicken stock, 2 cups water, and 1 beef bouillon cube. I found I needed to add about a tbsp more flour dissolved in about 1/4 cup of water to thicken a little bit more, personal taste. Otherwise followed the recipe. I did add the soy, 1/2 tsp at a time, tasting in between. Wasnt sure since I used the bouillion cube. Great recipe. Thanks for sharing. It’s a keeper. Next time though, I will vary the mushrooms.
I have made this twice substituting evaporated milk for half and half and using extra broth instead of water. We love it! Don’t like canned but this is so tasty. You can add more mushrooms, saute carrots and/or celery to add and I splashed worchestershire in as well. Since can be used also. So easy to make your own!
This soup turned out really good for me!
Our family is full of mushroom hunters, my dad being the best hunter of all… loved it!!
I followed your recipe exactly using “Better Than Bouillon” …. great stuff! First time using it! This soup will be a keeper! So nice and easy too!
Thank you!