This Creamless Cream of Mushroom Soup is rich and deeply flavored—no cream needed. A bright Mushroom Salad garnish adds texture, color, and contrast, making each spoonful more interesting.
| Creamless Cream of Mushroom Soup |
Creamy soups are comfort food at its best. You can achieve a silky, satisfying texture without adding cream by relying on flavorful ingredients and a thorough puree. This version draws inspiration from Dorie Greenspan’s Paris mushroom soup and uses simple techniques to create depth and richness.
I finished a bottle of champagne from a recent celebration and decided to splash a little into the soup. The champagne (or a dry white wine) brightens the mushrooms and lifts the overall flavor. Mushrooms naturally contribute umami, and a touch of soy sauce enhances that savory character even further. Fresh winter herbs—sage and thyme—add an aromatic backbone that makes the soup taste luxurious without any dairy.
Pureed until smooth, the soup is rich in flavor though cream-free. To avoid a visually monotonous bowl, serve the soup with a small mushroom salad as garnish. The salad introduces crunch, a cool contrast, and fresh color, transforming a simple bowl into a composed dish.
In France, it’s common to top soups—especially creamy ones—with accents like nuts, croutons, or a petite salad. These finishing touches bring texture, temperature contrast, and visual interest. The Mushroom Salad garnish used here follows that idea: thinly sliced mushrooms, diced red pepper, scallion, lemon juice and olive oil add brightness and crunch that balance the soup’s velvety body.
Satisfyingly rich and topped with a refreshing mushroom salad, this soup proves you don’t need cream to achieve a comforting, elegant bowl.
Creamless Cream of Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
-
2
tablespoons
olive oil -
1
medium onion
chopped -
4
garlic cloves
sliced -
2 10-
ounce
packages or 7 cups of white button mushrooms
sliced -
1
tablespoon
fresh sage
chopped -
2-3
sprigs fresh thyme
leaves removed -
2
tablespoons
soy sauce -
½
teaspoon
paprika -
½
cup
champagne or white wine -
4
cups
vegetable broth
if using store-bought broth, buy low-sodium
Mushroom Salad Garnish
-
4
button mushrooms
trimmed, thinly sliced -
½
red bell pepper
finely diced -
1
scallion
green parts only, thinly sliced -
1
lemon - extra virgin olive oil
- salt
Instructions
-
Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sliced garlic and sauté until the onion is softened, about 3–4 minutes.
-
Add the sliced mushrooms, chopped sage, thyme leaves, soy sauce and paprika. Stir to combine. The mushrooms will release their liquid and shrink; continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated.
-
Pour in the champagne or white wine and cook until that liquid has mostly evaporated.
-
Add the vegetable broth, bring the soup to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
-
Carefully puree the soup in a blender or with an immersion blender until smooth and velvety.
-
To make the Mushroom Salad garnish, combine the thinly sliced button mushrooms, diced red bell pepper, sliced scallion, a squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Season lightly with salt.
-
Ladle the soup into bowls and top each serving with a spoonful of the Mushroom Salad garnish. Serve immediately.
More Creamless Cream Soups
Creamy (Creamless) Zucchini and Potato Soup; Creamless Cream of Asparagus; Roasted Pumpkin Soup; Creamless Mushroom Soup by Pino Luongo.