This vegan mushroom soup comes together with a quick saute/puree process of three ingredients (plus water/broth/herbs/spices) that creates a creamy and tasty soup, then whip up a showstopper topping of crispy mushroom and shallot chips for a quick meal, packed with nutrition and flavor.
A mushroom soup that packs a flavor punch!
I recently had a lightbulb moment when I realized how much mushrooms have to offer in their own right, unadulterated by cream or butter! I mean, look at them! All earthy, of many shapes and sizes, mysterious, and turns out mushrooms are jam-packed with nutrition, such as B vitamins, and vitamin C, and minerals such as selenium, zinc, and potassium. With a few on hand, I decided I had to make this vegan mushroom soup. Fun fact, cultivated mushrooms, often grown without sunlight are low in vitamin D, whereas grown wild or dried, with exposure to sunlight, their vitamin D concentration is improved. Perhaps even more than their impressive nutrition, the fungi (in a class all themselves, separate from veggies) offer antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer properties, based on their unique amino acid makeup.
Types of fresh mushrooms at my local food coop:
Nutrition and health benefits aside, cooking with a variety of mushrooms over time, versus just typical “white” or “button” mushrooms has opened my taste buds to how incredibly flavorful many of the fresh mushroom varieties are. Shiitake, for example, lends a truffle-like flavor to broths. All I can say is try different varieties as you include them in your recipes.
Simple Recipe:
All that you do to create this tasty, and healthy soup is:
- roughly chop and saute the three ingredients: mushrooms, shallots, and garlic in some olive oil.
- add veggie bouillon, herbs, and spices to the pot to cook a bit longer
- puree the mixture (saving some whole pieces aside)
- prepare mushroom and shallot “chips” in a hot oven
Seasonings and Toppings:
Seasonings: I’ve chosen sage and thyme, salt, pepper, and cumin to season this soup. Fresh sage and thyme marry well with mushrooms and the cumin gives an added dimension. The herbs and cumin, salt, and pepper are simply added to the pot along with the broth.
Toppings: Crank up the oven to 425, thinly slice (1/8″ or less- I did by hand, and a mandoline slicer would work great) some large portabellos and roast them until they dehydrate a bit, release their aroma, and crisp up. While that happens, cut a clump of enoki mushrooms into a few slabs as shown below, slice the portabello stems if yours came with stems, then pan-fry these with sliced shallots. Toss with tongs then drain them on paper towels and season with salt and pepper. If you’ve never had fried shallots, they are heavenly, and same for these thinly roasted and pan-fried mushrooms.
How hearty is this mushroom soup?
I’m not going to lie, this is a light soup. It’s highly flavorful and satisfying, and the toppings create a real showstopper of a presentation, but it’s a light soup. It would make a simple, light lunch, and an amazing soup to serve before a larger meal. Served on its own as a small meal you might need to add some rice, quinoa, or farro, some crusty bread for carbs, or to include some protein of your choice. By the same token, at this time of year, it can be restorative to eat a soup such as this, as a detox of sorts.
The ease of preparation for this mushroom soup combined with its flavor profile and robust nutrition makes it a great soup to add to your weekly rotation this time of year.
Eat it as is, or increase its substance with the above-mentioned additions. Let’s make this soup!
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3-Ingredient Vegan Mushroom Soup
Kitchen Tools
- 1 baking sheet
- 1 3 quart soup pot
- 1 blender
Ingredients
- 3 cups shiitake mushrooms (roughly chopped)
- 2 cups cremini mushrooms (roughly chopped)
- 1 ea shallots
- 1 cube vegetable boullion (my prep calls for 1/2 cube per cup water)
- 2 cups water
- 3 ea garlic cloves
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 springs fresh sage
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 pinch salt (or to taste )
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Optional Topping Ingredients
- 1 ea shallot
- 2 ea large portabello mushrooms
- 1 oz enoki mushrooms (see note)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Method:
- Remove stems from shiitake mushrooms and roughly chop.
- If you are going to prepare the toppings, preheat oven to 425
- Roughly chop cremini mushrooms, shallot and garlic.
- Saute above chopped ingredients in tablespoon of oil (or less, you be the judge) for 10 min, allowing the mushrooms to release their water, and all to develop some golden color.
- If you are going to prepare the topping, slice the portabello mushrooms thinly and slice the 1 oz of enoki mushrooms, which come in clumps, into a few small slabs (see photo in post). Slice the 2nd shallot thinly.
- Add 2 cups broth (I used 1/2 bouillon cube per cup) to the pot along with fresh sage, chopped and fresh thyme leaves stripped from their stems. Add salt and pepper to taste, as well as the cumin and cook 10 minutes.
- While the soup cooks, lay the portabello out on parchment on a baking sheet, drizzle VERY lightly with oil, salt and pepper. Not much oil is needed at all, as the mushrooms will dry/toast regardless. Place in oven for about 10 minutes.
- Remove 1/2 cup of mushroom/shallot pieces and puree the rest of the soup in high speed blender until smooth. Return to pot with the mushrooms/shallots you kept aside. The soup is ready, if you are not preparing the toppings
- Turn the soup off, check the portabellos for doneness and once you have these two steps under control, heat the 2nd tablespoon of oil over med-high heat.
- Once the oil is hot, turn down to medium, add in the sliced shallots, and carefully lay the enoki slabs in pan as well. Finally, slice up the portabello stems if you have them, and add to the pan as well.Use tongs to gently turn the enoki as they brown, and toss the shallots/stems around as well, until both are nicely browned. Remove both from pan with tongs, and lay on paper towels to drain any excess oil.
- Once you serve the soup into bowls. lay the pan-fried mushrooms and shallots atop the soup, sprinkle with red pepper flakes if you like, a bit more cumin, salt and pepper and enjoy!
