This creamy mushroom soup is easy, healthy, so delicious and comes together fast. Great for vegetarians and vegans alike!
For more great vegetarian soups, head on over to my posts for Easy Creamy Potato Soup, Creamy Butternut Squash Soup, Tomato Soup, Asparagus Soup, and Roasted Cauliflower Soup.
Why This Recipe Works
Goodness in a bowl — As far as fall soups go, they don’t get much more comforting, creamy, and flavorful than this mushroom soup recipe. Plus, it’s perfect for cool winter nights.
Vegan-friendly — No broth or cream used in this healthy mushroom soup. For creaminess, the recipe uses soaked cashews, mushrooms, and broth to create its rich, creamy texture.
Packed with Healthy Ingredients — Mushrooms, veggie broth, cashews, onions, garlic, herbs, and oil, that’s all you need to create this vegetarian mushroom soup.
Picky-eater approved — Even if your kids (or spouse) insist they don’t like mushrooms, this soup is a game-changer. Because it’s all blended up, there’s no mushroom texture that some people don’t care for, but instead you get all the delicious flavor of the mushrooms and cashews in a rich, hearty, creamy soup.
Ingredients
- Baby bella mushrooms — These mushrooms are the best to use when making this mushroom soup without cream. They are more rich in flavor and firmer than other types of mushrooms. They also have a lovely, deep, rich color that makes you want to dive right in.
- White wine — This ingredient is optional, as you’ll use it to deglaze the pan. It lends acidity and brightness to dishes. If you’d prefer not to use white wine you can use vegetable broth. If you do use white wine, I usually choose a drier wine like a chardonnay.
- Raw cashews — Raw cashews (not roasted) are a secret ingredient in a lot of soups, “alternative” milks, and other vegan dishes. Once cooked and blended, cashews create a creamy texture that works well as a substitute for heavy cream or milk in soups and sauces.
- Truffle oil — I use a little truffle oil at the end of cooking the soup to add a more intense umami and aroma to the creamy mushroom soup. You can find it at most grocery stores. If you don’t have it or don’t want to use it you can just use olive oil.
Here’s How You Make It
- Cook the onions in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Add a pinch of salt to the onions and let them cook till they start to soften and brown. Then add the garlic and thyme and stir for a minute.
- Add the mushrooms to the onions and allow to cook while you stir every once in a while, till the baby bellas soften and start to deepen in color. You’ll want most of the water the mushrooms have cooked out to have evaporated as well.
- Deglaze the pan by pouring the white wine or vegetable broth into the pan and scraping up any browned bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
- Pour in the broth and cashews and turn the pot up to high heat, allow to boil, then right away, turn it down to medium low. Let the soup simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so, till the cashews are tender.
- Blend the soup. Remove the thyme sprigs and use an immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth. Then add salt and pepper and a bit of truffle oil before blending in again.
How to Soak Cashews
Are you intrigued by using cashews to create a creamy consistency to more of your soups, sauces, and other dishes? Great! There are two common ways you can soak cashews to allow them to be blended easier. No matter which way you choose, be sure to pour the water off before blending the cashews.
One way is to add them to a dish (as many as you want) and cover with water and let them sit out at room temperature for a few hours or you can put them in the fridge to soak overnight.
If you’re in a hurry, you can soften them quickly by pouring boiling water over the top of them till the water just covers and let them soak for about 15-30 minutes.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- Want thicker soup? Then reduce the amount of broth by 1/2 cup.
- Adding truffle oil at the end gives the soup extra richness and velvety texture, boosting the overall flavor. If you’re less of a fan of truffle oil, you can use 1 tsp of truffle oil and 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil, or substitute for olive oil entirely.
- This soup will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. It also freezes really well in an airtight container for up to 6 months.
Some of my favorite side dishes include:
– A simple, tossed salad
– Olive Garden breadsticks
– Buttermilk rolls
– Potato rolls
– Crackers or plain potato chips (don’t knock it till you try it!)
– A baked potato
– Roasted veggies
More Mushroom Recipes
- Creamy Mushroom Garlic Chicken
- Mushroom Sauce for Steak
- Mushroom Sauce for Chicken
- Ravioli with Mushroom Cream Sauce
- Chicken and Mushroom Pie
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Creamy Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 white or brown onion - chopped
- salt - to taste
- 2 tsp crushed garlic
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 16 oz baby bella mushrooms - wiped clean and chopped
- splash white wine - (optional)
- 4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
- ½ cup raw cashews
- cracked black pepper - to taste
- 2 tsp truffle oil or extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large, heavy bottomed saucepan over a medium high heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook until soft and starting the color. Stir in the garlic and thyme, and cook for a further minute.
- Stir in the mushrooms and cook, stirring every few minutes, until the mushrooms are soft, starting to color, and most of the liquid given out by the mushrooms at the bottom of the pan has evaporated.
- Add a generous splash of wine to the pan and scrape any brown bits from the bottom of the pan with your wooden spoon while it evaporates. Alternatively, use a splash of the vegetable broth.
- Add the broth and the cashews and raise the heat to high to bring the pan to the boil. Instantly reduce the heat to medium low and allow to simmer uncovered for 20 minutes until the cashews are tender.
- Remove the thyme sprigs and using a stick blender, blitz the soup until smooth. Season to taste with salt (to make the soup more savory) and black pepper before blitzing in the oil. Serve in warm bowls.
Notes
- For a thicker soup: reduce the amount of broth by 1/2 cup.
- Blending a rich oil into the soup at the end helps up the richness and velvety texture of creamy vegan soups. Truffle oil will boost the mushroom flavor: if you’re less of a fan, use 1 tsp of truffle oil and 1 tsp of extra virgin olive oil, or substitute for olive oil entirely.
Little Mermaid and mushrooms?! You have pretty much nailed my two favorite things, although the first was my fav at 5 years old and the second was my fav starting at about 22 years old, but whatever! My hubby and I LOVE mushrooms. Definitely trying these burgers this weekend when we grill!
Ha I am there with ya – I hated mushrooms growing up but now I love them and Little Mermaid was my all-time favorite Disney movie when I was little, my mom says she would put me in front of the tv with The Little Mermaid in my car seat and I’d stay quiet for hours!
These look absolutely delicious. The melty swiss cheese and the mushrooms look so great! This is definitely a dish that makes me think of summer and I’m definitely going to give this recipe a try.
You’ve gotta love that melty swiss and mushroom combo right?! Definitely perfect for summer! Hope you like it if you try it out Coley!
We loved them for my husband and I. I frove the other two. Should I grill them frozen or thaw them first?