Creamy mushroom soup with Shiitake - made completely from scratch! So easy and delicious! If you haven't tried shiitake mushrooms yet in a soup - make this recipe and you'll love it!
In between the Christmas cookie recipes, I have to fit in this cream of Shiitake mushroom soup I made last week from scratch without using any heavy cream, and using only 1.5 cups of half-and-half. And, by the way, you can use any type of wild mushrooms in place of Shiitake. I've made this soup years before, with different types of mushrooms, and it's always been popular with the family, and I thought it would be nice to make a rendition of it during the holidays this year. Warm and hearty creamy mushroom soup is so welcome on cold winter nights, as a prelude to any dinner. In fact, for the past 2 weeks, a bowl of this wild mushroom soup with shiitake or a carrot-lentil soup always awaits me and my husband as a warming appetizer before dinner. And I wholeheartedly recommend the same for you: fill yourself up with soup before dinner, and you won't be as hungry and will probably eat less for dinner.
I know many people use store-bought cream of mushroom for gravies, but this is a SOUP! This recipe doesn't use any heavy cream and uses only 1.5 cups half-and-half, majority of creaminess in the soup comes from pureeing mushrooms, carrots, onions and vegetable stock (which you make yourself by boiling water with vegetables) into a wonderful thick concoction that looks like it's full of cream. The thick density of pureed mushrooms is easily solved by adding a bit of half-and-half. Or, if you're a purist and don't want any cream, you could even get away by substituting half-and-half with lesser amount of milk. Then, right before serving, sprinkle the soup with freshly ground black pepper and salt and enjoy your quiet winter evening warmed by a comforting homemade mushroom soup!
Step-by-step photos: how to make creamy mushroom soup with shiitake
Scroll down for the recipe, but these photos will help you to make this soup.
Start with preparing beautiful Shiitake mushrooms
Slice them up!
Chop up onions and carrots
Cook mushrooms, carrots, onions
Add 2.5 cups water to vegetables
Use food processor to puree vegetables and vegetable stock you just made
pureeing vegetables and vegetable stock in food processor
pureed vegetables and vegetable stock
Put puree back in the pan - see how thick and rich in color it is! Just a little bit of half-and-half will make perfect! No need for heavy cream.
Green onions are optional but I highly recommend using them!
Chop up the green onions!
Soup with added half-and-half. Nice cream of mushroom color!
Creamy Mushroom Soup with Shiitake
Ingredients
- 10 oz shiitake mushrooms , large whole
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 carrot chopped
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2.5 cups water
- 1.5 cups half-and-half (or heavy cream)
- 3 green onions chopped (OPTIONAL)
Instructions
How to make creamy mushroom soup with shiitake
- Slice mushrooms into bite-sized pieces. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large pan, add sliced mushrooms and cook for about 10 minutes until mushrooms soften. Remove half of cooked mushrooms to a separate plate.
- To the other half of mushrooms, remaining in a large pan, add chopped onion, carrots, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, pepper to taste. Continue cooking vegetables for 10 more minutes, until onions and carrots soften a bit.
- Add 2.5 cups of water to vegetables (mushrooms, carrots, onions) in the pan, bring to boil and boil on medium heat for 20 minutes. Some liquid should visibly evaporate, leaving reduced stock, but don’t let all water evaporate. add more water if that’s the case.
- Remove from heat and add the stock you just made (water with mushrooms, carrots, onions) into the food processor. Process the mixture until it achieves puree consistency.
- Put puree back into the same cooking pan, add reserved cooked mushrooms that you removed to the plate earlier. Add 1.5 cups of half and half. Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer (low heat) and cook covered for 5 minutes, constantly stirring. Add more salt and pepper if desired. Your soup is done at this point, or you can add chopped onions towards the end or use them as garnish, or skip them altogether (depends if you like green onions in your soup).
Notes
- What can you use instead of half-and-half? You can heavy cream instead. It will work just fine! Or, even better, use half milk and half heavy cream.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Di
Does the recipe call for 1t of dried (v fresh) thyme? I assume so since it’s only 1t. Pls clarify. Thx!
Julia
Yes, it's dried thyme.
george whitfield
what's half and half?
Julia
If you don't have half-and-half, here is the substitute:
To make 1 cup of half-and-half combine 1/2 cup of whole milk + 1/2 cup of heavy cream.
Karen Ambrose
I have dried shitake mushrooms. Do you think I could use them?? Would I need to change anything in the recipe?
Julia
Soak dried shiitake mushrooms in hot water for about 30 minutes, covered. Then, use them in the recipe. If dried shiitake mushrooms have stems, you might have to discard the stems after soaking the mushrooms and before using them in the recipe.
Ilene P
Do you think this recipe with work if you used an immersion blender instead a food processor? Would the texture be very different?
Julia
I think this recipe works best with the food processor. The food processor will deliver the best texture with the least amount of effort.
Virginia Linnell
Excellent recipe. Had some shitakes that needed to be used up and your recipe came up in my search. Simple ingredients and easy to be able to make at the last minute. I had an LOL moment - at the end of recipe it says 'cook covered, constantly stirring' 🙂 ... I put on simmer, covered and stirred a few times, then served the delicious mushroom soup. Thank you, Julia!
Julia
You are very welcome! 🙂 I am glad you found my site, tried this recipe, liked it, and left this wonderful, positive comment!
Liz Riddick
Ahh....mazing! Thank you for sharing this. I got fresh shitakes from the farmers market this morning. This is the perfect recipe for a snowy spring day.
Julia
I am so glad you tried this recipe and liked it!
Shelley
The creamy mushroom soup was delicious and so simple. I only had 5 oz of shitake, so I cut the recipe in half. Yum!
Julia
Thank you! I am glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Keith Aitken
This is a great soup. I used more shiitake than mentioned, still good . . . Also substituted unsweetened soymilk for the half-n-half, plus a small red potato to compensate for the lack of creamy consistency 🙂
Julia
Thank you, Keith! I am so glad you enjoyed this soup. Great idea to use a potato!
Amy CAda
Mushroom lover's dream!!
I used Fairlife milk (1 cup) and 1/2 c half and half and this is the best soup I've ever made and so easy!!!
I am already planning on making it...weekly? with all kinds of mushrooms all winter.
Julia
Amy, I am so happy to hear that! So glad you enjoyed this soup. 🙂
Szonja Vamos
This might be one of the most delicious soups I have ever had (unbelievable to say that about one I made at home), and was SO easy to make! I followed the recipe pretty closely - except I used a hand held blender to puree the soup because I don't have a food processor, and used milk instead of half and half since I didn't have that on hand either. My only complaint is that the yield was rather small (the recipe says three servings - so that's about right) but in the future I would double it! This soup recipe is one for the books.... I'll never forget it and will probably be making it from now on as a go-to soup! Stoked to have stumbled upon this recipe. THANK YOU 🙂
Julia
You're very welcome! I am so happy you liked this recipe! Yes, milk should work just fine, since a lot of thickness in the soup comes from pureeing the mushrooms and the vegetables. Good to know that a hand held blender worked.
Jay Holloway
Thank you for recipe, Simple and delicious.
Julia
You're very welcome!
Linda Ward
I made this soup tonight, used portobellos and cremini mushrooms. I made it vegan by substituting Earth Balance butter and I used a can of coconut cream in place of the heavy cream. It was delicious! Thank you for the recipe.
Julia
Thank you, Linda, for your comment! Portobellos and cremini mushrooms sound like a delicious choice! So does coconut cream in place of heavy cream!
Iryna
Julia, I've made this soup yesterday. I had some unused Shiitake mushrooms and was searching for a good recipe to use them up. I stumbled across your recipe and since it was easy and required minimum ingredients, I made it right away.
What a delicious soup it was! So flavorful and creamy. To me it resembled a little bit Porcini mushrooms soup. But since fresh Porcini are quite difficult to get here in the US, Shiitake are pretty good alternative.
Anyways, I'll definitely be making this soup again, so good!
Julia
Thank you Iryna for stopping by and leaving such a nice comment! You make a great point that this soup does taste like it's made with porcini mushrooms even though it's really shiitake. I am SO GLAD you enjoyed it! 🙂
Chantel
We grow shiitakes in our backyard and are always looking for great ways to use them. This recipe uses a good amount of them and it's super easy and quick, not to mention delicious. I've made it about 5 times now and I've passed it on to other shiitake lovers. One thing I noticed in the directions at Step 5, you say to cook covered for 5 minutes, while constantly stirring. No can do. Reminds me of one of my favorite scenes from Raising Arizona. "Well, which is it, young feller? You want I should freeze or get down on the ground? Mean to say, if'n I freeze, I can't rightly drop. And if'n I drop, I'm a-gonna be in motion."
Julia
Lucky you - growing shiitakes in your backyard!
You're funny! 🙂 I guess I meant cooking covered while occasionally lifting the lid and stirring so that the stuff doesn't get stuck to the bottom of the cooking pan.
Rochelle
I love this soup....can it be frozen? Thanks for the great recipe!
Julia
Yes, this soup can be frozen. I am glad you liked it!
Susan Breidenstine
Glad to know I can freeze it. I bought a lot of mushrooms and have been looking at recipes for soup. In the middle I received a call that our new floor will be put in earlier so I will have almost no refrigerator space for 3 days. I need to make this soup to use up the mushrooms and freeze it before they show up! Can't wait to try it.