Creamy mushroom soup
Creamy mushroom soup with browned cremini, dried porcini and thyme, and only half a cup of cream in the whole pot. Plus how to make a homemade cream of mushroom for casseroles.
- 210
- kcal
- 8g
- protein
- 13g
- fat
- 16g
- carbs
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 55 min
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
- 1 oz (28 g) dried porcini mushrooms
- 1 cup boiling water
- 3 tbsp butter, divided
- 2 lb (900 g) cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, or 1 tsp dried
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup dry sherry or dry white wine
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Salt, black pepper and chopped parsley
Method
-
1
Soak the porcini
Pour the boiling water over the porcini and leave 15 minutes. Lift them out, squeeze them over the bowl and chop them. Keep the soaking liquid, leaving any grit at the bottom of the bowl.
-
2
Brown the mushrooms
Melt 1 tbsp of the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add half the cremini and cook without stirring for 3 minutes, then stir and cook until browned, 8 to 10 minutes in all. Transfer to a bowl and repeat with another 1 tbsp of butter and the rest of the mushrooms.
-
3
Cook the aromatics
Return all the mushrooms to the pot with the remaining butter, the onion and the porcini. Cook 5 minutes over medium heat, then add the garlic and thyme for 1 minute.
-
4
Make the base
Sprinkle the flour over and stir for 1 minute. Add the sherry and let it bubble away, scraping the bottom of the pot. Add the broth and the porcini liquid and simmer 20 minutes.
-
5
Blend part of it
Blend about half the soup until smooth — with a stick blender in the pot, or in batches in a blender no more than half full, lid vented and covered with a towel, and stir it back in, so it is creamy but still has pieces of mushroom. Blend it all for a smooth soup.
-
6
Finish
Stir in the cream and lemon juice and warm through. Season well with salt and pepper and serve with parsley.
Brown the mushrooms properly
Mushrooms are about 90% water. Crowd too many into the pot and they steam in their own liquid, turning gray and rubbery instead of brown. Cooking them in two batches, in a hot pot, and leaving them alone for the first few minutes lets the water evaporate quickly so they can brown. That browning is where most of the flavor of the soup comes from, so it is worth the extra 10 minutes. It is the same patience that makes a French onion soup.
There is no need to salt the mushrooms while they brown. Early salt makes little difference once the water has cooked off, and the soup is seasoned at the end anyway.
Which mushrooms
Cremini (also sold as baby bella) have more flavor than white button mushrooms and cost only a little more. A mix is good too: add shiitake (stems removed), oyster or maitake for up to half the weight. The dried porcini are the backbone of the soup. One ounce costs a few dollars, keeps for a year, and gives the soup a deep, meaty taste that fresh mushrooms alone do not have. The soaking liquid is just as valuable as the mushrooms, but leave the last tablespoon or two in the bowl, where the grit settles.
Homemade cream of mushroom for casseroles
Many recipes for casseroles, green bean casserole and slow-cooker chicken call for a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup. A 10.5-ounce can holds about 1 1/4 cups. To make the same amount from scratch:
- Cook 1 cup of finely chopped mushrooms in 2 tbsp butter until browned.
- Stir in 3 tbsp flour and cook 1 minute.
- Whisk in 1/2 cup broth and 1/2 cup milk and simmer, stirring, until very thick, about 3 minutes.
- Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of garlic powder, and use it in place of the can.
It has less salt than the canned kind and no thickeners or flavor enhancers, and it is ready in 10 minutes. It keeps 3 days in the fridge.
Variations
- Gluten-free: leave out the flour. Blend two-thirds of the soup instead of half, and it will be thick enough. Or stir in 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp cold water and simmer 2 minutes.
- Dairy-free and vegan: use olive oil in place of the butter, vegetable broth, and replace the cream with 1/2 cup raw cashews soaked in hot water for 15 minutes and blended with the soup.
- Lighter: use whole milk in place of the cream. That takes about 55 kcal off each bowl.
- With wild rice: stir in 2 cups of cooked wild rice after blending for a heartier Midwestern-style soup.
Keeping it
It keeps 4 days in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer. Freeze it before adding the cream, and stir the cream in when you reheat: soups with cream can separate a little when they thaw. It thickens as it cools, so add a splash of broth when you reheat it.
What it is worth nutritionally
A bowl has about 210 kcal, with 8 g of protein, 13 g of fat and 16 g of carbohydrate, including about 3 g of fiber. Most of the fat is from the butter and the half cup of cream, shared across six bowls; a restaurant cream of mushroom soup made with a lot more cream can easily have twice the calories. Mushrooms are a good source of B vitamins, especially riboflavin and niacin, and of selenium and potassium. Ordinary cremini have very little vitamin D. Mushrooms that have been exposed to UV light, which says so on the package, are one of the few non-animal sources of it. The soup is vegetarian if you use vegetable broth.
