You can make this incredibly easy cream of mushroom soup in just 20 minutes! It’s not only easy and quick, but it’s perfectly delicious, too! Perfect for a comforting bowl homemade mushroom soup any time.
Why you’ll love this easy cream of mushroom soup recipe
If you’re looking for a great cream of mushroom soup, that is just perfect for every-day eating, this is it! Beyond being incredibly delicious, this soup is ready to eat in just about 20 minutes. Just let that sink in for a few seconds … delicious … soup … 20 minutes. You’ll never open a can of mushroom soup again!
The real beauty of this soup is that you can walk in to the kitchen, throw together just a few ingredients and then walk out with a bowl of delicious and comforting soup in minutes. There are not a lot of recipes you can say that about. It’s simply perfect!
Ingredients and Substitutions
Mushrooms – I will often use cremini mushrooms for this soup, though regular white button mushrooms or any mushroom you have or prefer is just fine, too. I like to buy the whole mushrooms and slice them myself, as I like the extra chunkiness. That said, pre-sliced mushrooms are just fine here, too.
Chicken Broth – you can swap in vegetable broth if you’d like to make this soup vegetarian.
Cream – If I have it, I’ll always use heavy, whipping cream (35% butterfat) in this soup. It doesn’t need a lot and it doesn’t put this soup over the top in the richness department. It also makes for a thicker/creamier soup.
If you don’t have or want to use heavy cream, I’d suggest mixing whatever lighter cream or milk you use with a teaspoon or two of cornstarch before adding to the soup. It will thicken up the lighter cream. For a dairy-free option, try coconut milk (stirred).
Flour – This recipe uses all purpose flour as a thickener. If you’d like to make it gluten free, you can use a gluten-free flour in place of the all purpose flour, or skip the flour altogether and thicken the soup a bit at the end of cooking by mixing up a slurry or 2 Tbsp cornstarch with 2 Tbsp water and adding to the soup a bit at a time, until it thickens.
Thyme – I think thyme is the perfect herb for mushroom soup. It’s subtle, but present and complements the mushrooms without overpowering them.
Video
Recipe Tips
- This mushroom soup is not super thick, at least not like the gelatinous canned version. It’s pleasantly thick. If you like, you can puree it very lightly with an immersion blender (leaving some of the mushroom pieces) or, scoop out some of the mushrooms, blend and then add it back in to the soup to thicken it more, as well.
- This recipe makes 2 large bowls or 3 smaller ones. I keep the recipe in these increments since it equates to one standard “tray” of mushrooms and the better part of one carton of chicken broth. I’m also only cooking for 2 or 3 most often. That said, you can double or triple the as needed, to feed more. Use the handy “2X” or “3X” buttons above the recipe ingredients below, to double or triple the ingredients.
- Be sure to taste your soup before serving and adjust seasoning as necessary. While the chicken stock will have some salt, you will probably want to add a bit more. And some freshly ground pepper is always nice! If you taste it and it seems like it needs something, it’s probably salt!
Making ahead, storing and freezing
This soup can be made ahead and re-heated, as it keeps its nice consistency in the fride.
This soup will store well in the fridge for about 2-3 days.
While you can freeze this soup, you may notice a small texture change after thawing and re-heating, due to the cream. If you are concerned about that, you can freeze it before adding the cream and then simply add the cream when re-heating
Get the Recipe: Easy Cream of Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 3 pieces
- 1/2 cup yellow onions, finely diced
- 8 oz fresh mushrooms, button or cremini, or mixture, cleaned and sliced (1 standard "tray")
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, or 1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 - 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, use the 1/3 amount for a bit thicker soup
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, if using a lighter cream, mix with a couple teaspoons of cornstarch before adding to soup
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms, thyme, salt, and pepper and the second 1 Tbsp. of butter. Cook, stirring regularly, until the mushrooms start to brown, about 5 minutes.
- Add the last 1 Tbsp. of butter and stir to melt. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds to a minute. Add the stock and stir while returning the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
- *At this point, if you like a thicker soup, you can remove a few of the mushrooms with a bit of soup to puree and return to the pot or simply pulse a few seconds with an immersion blender. Neither is necessary if you'd rather leave it with all whole mushroom pieces.
- Add the cream and cook for a further minute or two to heat. Taste the soup and add additional salt and freshly ground pepper, as needed. If the soup tastes "flat", it needs more salt! Enjoy! *
Notes
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Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
This was a big hit! Really easy and so flavourful. I followed the recipe closely only adding a clove a garlic, minced. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Jen :) So glad you enjoyed it!
That is the best mushroom soup I have ever eaten, the ONLY thing I did was add some garlic, wow am I happy I doubled the recipe. Bravo!!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Connie :) Thanks so much!
Another fabulous soup!!!! I’ll never use canned soup again. This was soooo easy to make, much easier than other similar mushroom soup recipes but just as much flavor. Another keeper!!!!
Thanks again, Jennifer!!!
I’m so glad to hear! Thanks so much :)
This was so delicious! I wouldn’t change anything in the recipe except to make a bigger batch. We got two bowls out of a single recipe so I have prepared more mushrooms and onions to make more tomorrow. I look forward to making and enjoying this again. My husband even enjoyed it.
So glad to hear, Norma :) Thanks so much!
Delish, only change I made was to add some celery seed and garlic salt.
Glad you enjoyed it, Jan! Thanks so much L)
Absolutely perfect!
So glad you enjoyed it, Sally :) Thanks so much!
Yes, it’s perfect.
So glad to hear, Alison :) Thanks!
I have some Fresh Chanterelles …have you ever made this soup with Chanterelles?
Hi Scott and no, I haven’t, but I feel like this soup would work well with any mushroom you enjoy.