Let’s talk about soup today! Let’s talk about creamy, velvety homemade cream of mushroom soup.
This soup is a favorite enjoyed alone and as I started to learn to cook I also realized that my favorite recipes called for a can of cream of mushroom soup. My favorite casseroles. My favorite stews and pot roasts.
But I wanted to create a fresher, healthier version of the canned mushroom soup.
I found a real good recipe at Food.com but it had quite a bit of white flour. So I did more research. Adjusted. And found a healthier, tastier substitution for the can of cream of mushroom soup.
Watch me make the recipe on an episode of The Cook’s Channel:
Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup
Letβs start with mushrooms. You will need 8 ounces of fresh mushrooms, sliced. I used baby bella mushrooms because they were on sale but you can use whatever you like or have on hand.
Mushrooms are very porous, when you clean them be sure to use a damp cloth and wipe them off. If you throw them into a strainer and then under the faucet, the mushrooms will absorb the water and become slimy. Gross.
Heat up your frying pan and add 2 tablespoons of butter. When the butter is melted sautΓ© the mushrooms, until they are golden brown. Browning them gives the mushrooms a deep, rich caramelized flavor!
This recipe also has arrowroot in it!
Arrowroot is mostly known for its thickening properties. It is gluten free and a healthier alternative to flour and cornstarch. Most people who are not gluten free like arrowroot over cornstarch because it is flavorless.
I was able to find arrowroot in Publix. It is also at Whole Foods.
This is the conversion for anyone using arrowroot over cornstarch:
1 tsp arrowroot = 1 tablespoon flour or 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch.
And here we are, friends! Homemade cream of mushroom soup.
Taste and add more salt or pepper to your liking if needed.
Wait one second! You can eat this straight up as soup or, you can use it for a pot roast π
Say a delicious Sunday pot roast that calls for a can of cream of mushroom soup?!
PrintHomemade Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 8 ounces fresh mushrooms, roughly chopped
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 teaspoons arrowroot
- 1 tablespoon water
- Optional:
- Parmesan cheese crisps
- Fresh parsley
- Fresh chives
- Balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large soup pan.
- Add the mushrooms and sautΓ© until golden brown, about 5-8 minutes.
- Add the shallots and garlic and cook until the shallots are soft, about 3 minutes.
- Sprinkle salt and pepper over the mushroom mixture and mix to combine.
- Add the broth slowly, deglazing the pan with a wooden spoon as you add the liquid. Bring to a boil.
- Stir in the heavy cream. Taste and add any additional salt or pepper to your liking. Allow to simmer on the stove for 10 minutes or until thickened.
- While simmering, add the arrowroot to 1 TBS water. Mix to combine. After 10 minutes add the arrow root mixture to the soup and stir. Allow to simmer for an additional 3 minutes.
- For a creamier soup, add one cup of the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. Add back to soup pot.
- Optional: Top with fresh parsley, fresh, chopped chives or with a swirl of balsamic vinegar for a deeper flavor. For a crunch, serve with parmesan cheese crisps or whole roasted mushrooms.
Notes
Conversions for thickeners: 1 tsp arrowroot = 1 tablespoon flour or 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch.
I just made this mushroom soup to go in the pot roast recipe. I’ve never in my life liked mushroom soup-until now. It’s delicious & it may not make to the pot roast! It is 9 am & I could eat it for breakfast it’s so good! Thanks!
Traci, this comment made my day! Wow! So glad you liked it. I actually never liked mushroom soup either π Hope you enjoy the pot roast!
Wonderful! Can this be frozen for use in recipes?
Tried this recipe tonight and it was much easier than I anticipated and wonderful! Thank you!!
I’m going to be trying this recipe this weekend! For so many years I’ve been missing out on making Mother’s chicken in cream of mushroom sauce because I got skeeved out by the ingredients on the label of the can. Thanks, this looks awesome!
This soup was excellent! I sis however add cooked rice. Making this again tonight and adding wild rice and cooked ham. Can’t wadi for dinner. It’s cold here and will warm us up.
★★★★★
I just made this soup today and the flavor is amazing!!! I’m not sure if I did something wrong, but my soup didn’t really thicken. It stayed quite watery. I followed the exact recipe. Am I the only one this happened to? I stirred for like upwards of twenty minutes.
Hi Danielle! Stirring for 20 minutes is a lot of stirring!! π Hopefully other people will comment as I have not had this issue, but you can always add a bit more arrowroot or cream to thicken it. Glad the flavor was tasty.
I’m actually trying it again now!! So I’ll see if it happens again and maybe add more arrowroot if needed. I’ve been craving it since then!!!
My dad says it was not enough flavor for him, so I sauteed more mushrooms onions and garlic, put it in the blender added that as well as a smidge of chili powder and cumin and a hefty dash of cayenne powder, I think it helped. . .
Is there an alternative I can use besides heavy cream? I’m trying to to find a healthy version of cream of mushroom soup..
Awesome!!!!!!!!!
Does this freeze well? I have several cups of broth to use and would like to save extra soup. Thanks!
This is a great question, Sarah! I have not frozen this before but it should work like any other soup! Put it in a freezer container. Make sure it cools a bit before putting it in the freezer. It will probably be best if you let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator π Let me know how it works out!
Very late to the party on this, but I had to chime in. I made this for my mom on Mother’s Day, and it was absolutely fantastic! So incredibly rich and decadent, with meaty baby bella mushrooms. I realized at the last moment that I was out of garlic, so I had to use garlic powder, but it still turned out great.
Served it with a salad of baby butter lettuce, pecans, blackberries, cambozola cheese, and a lemon garlic vinaigrette.
That salad sounds so delicious! Thanks for chiming in π So grateful!
A paleo substitute for the arrowroot is tapioca starch (also known as tapioca flour). It, too, is flavorless and works great.
Thanks, Sigrid!
can hardly wait to try this!
Chiming in again, because this soup is now what my mom requests for her Mother’s Day dinner! Thanks for this gem. It’s rich and decadent. Tonight we had big bowls of creamy cremini soup with a crisp lemony salad. For dessert we enjoyed dark chocolate covered caramels topped with flaked sea salt. A perfect spring supper!
Oh does this ever look good — and the ingredients so much more healthy than the commercial variant! I’ve done some experimenting in the past (before I heard of arrowroot), but yours has a good simplicity to it.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy <3
For the third year in a row, my mom requested this luscious soup for her special Mother’s Day dinner. These are the slight variations I made this year:
1. I used a combination of cremini, porcini, and oyster mushrooms. The oyster mushrooms are pretty delicate, so I added them towards the very end of sauteing the veggies.
2. I used about half a sweet onion. Love the extra onion flavor!
3. Homemade chicken stock added tons of great flavor.
4. I used a teaspoons of kosher salt rather than table salt, a small pinch of ground white pepper, and a small pinch of nutmeg, and that was just enough seasoning for my taste.
The soup is packed with savory flavor, beautiful meaty texture from the mushrooms, and velvety, luxurious broth. A snip of flat leaf parsley on top adds the bright, fresh taste of springtime. Thanks for this recipe – it’s become a favorite for my mom on her special day!
My daughter is allergic to Soy. it’s in all Campbell’s soups. Could i use this recipe as a substitute for the traditional green beans casserole served during holidays? The one on the back of the French onion packages?