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Soups Turkish / European

Cream of mushroom soup

A silky, deeply savoury mushroom soup made with well-browned button mushrooms, ready in 35 minutes.

Prep
10 min
Cook
25 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy

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Cream of mushroom soup

The secret to a good mushroom soup is not boiling the mushrooms but browning them hard until their juices have gone. That golden layer on the bottom of the pan gives the soup a depth you'd normally get from meat stock. In Turkey it's known as kremalı mantar çorbası and turns up on almost every restaurant menu.

Servings 4

Ingredients

Tick them off as you go.

Soup

To serve

Method

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  1. Wipe the mushrooms clean with a damp cloth, trim the dry ends of the stalks and slice thinly. Set aside a handful of slices for the garnish.

    ~5 min

  2. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large pan. Add the onion and cook over a medium heat for 4–5 minutes until soft and translucent, then stir in the garlic for 30 seconds.

    ~5 min

  3. Add the mushrooms and turn up the heat. They will release their liquid first; keep cooking for 7–8 minutes until it has evaporated and the edges start to brown. Most of the flavour comes from this step, so don't rush it.

    ~8 min

  4. Sprinkle over the flour and stir for a minute. Pour in the hot stock a little at a time, stirring after each addition so no lumps form. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer, lid ajar, for 10 minutes.

    ~10 min

  5. Blend with a stick blender until smooth, or leave it slightly chunky if you prefer. Stir in the cream and heat through for 2 minutes without letting it boil, then season with salt and pepper.

    ~3 min

  6. Fry the reserved mushroom slices in a little butter with the thyme until crisp. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the mushrooms and serve with toast.

    ~4 min

Enjoy!

The mushroom in this recipe

Button mushroom
Button mushroom Agaricus bisporus

About this species Grow it at home Fresh mushrooms

Mushroom swaps

Tips

  • Chestnut (cremini) mushrooms give a darker, more aromatic soup.
  • Add a handful of dried porcini and their soaking liquid for twice the flavour.
  • For a vegan version use olive oil instead of butter and oat cream instead of dairy cream.

Storage

Keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Don't let it boil when reheating. To freeze, freeze it before adding the cream and stir the cream in when you reheat.

Read our guide to storing mushrooms →

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Kitchen guides

Before you cook: clean, store, dry

How to clean mushroomsPractical ways to clean everything from button mushrooms to morels without waterlogging them or ruining their texture. How to store mushroomsHow to keep fresh, cooked, frozen and dried mushrooms at their best — and how to tell when they’ve gone bad. How to dry mushroomsA step-by-step guide to drying mushrooms at home in the oven, in a dehydrator or on a string — and how to store and rehydrate them.