Extra Creamy Mushroom Soup Recipe

This Extra Creamy Mushroom Soup offers a truly luscious, velvety embrace in a bowl—the ultimate comfort food for cozy evenings. It’s packed with deeply savory, earthy mushroom flavor, beautifully thickened with a hint of flour and luxurious heavy cream, but without feeling heavy. If you’re looking for a homemade soup that tastes gourmet but is surprisingly easy to make, this recipe is a game-changer. Trust me, you’re going to love how quickly this comes together!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Velvety Smooth Texture: This soup lives up to its name! We get that dreamy, creamy texture by combining a roux base with rich milk and heavy cream, plus the option to blend for an even more luxurious finish.
• Deep, Earthy Flavor: Using a mix of mushrooms, along with sautéed aromatics, thyme, and paprika, ensures every spoonful is bursting with complex, savory, umami goodness that simply warms your soul.
• Simple Ingredients, Gourmet Results: You don’t need a fancy list of ingredients to achieve a restaurant-quality soup. This recipe relies on humble pantry staples and fresh mushrooms to deliver an incredible depth of flavor.

Ingredients

Gathering up these simple ingredients is the first step to soul-warming deliciousness!

• Butter and Olive Oil: This dynamic duo starts our soup off right! Using both helps sauté the aromatics perfectly without burning the butter, adding richness and a beautiful base flavor.
• Onion and Garlic: The foundational aromatics. We sauté the onion until soft and cook the garlic just until it’s fragrant—these steps are key to building the depth of flavor in the soup.
• Mushrooms: The star of the show! Using a mix (cremini, button, and shiitake) gives the soup a much richer, earthier, and more complex taste than just using one type.
• Dried Thyme and Paprika: Thyme pairs perfectly with mushrooms and lends that classic, comforting soup profile. Paprika adds a subtle smokiness and a little warmth without any heat.
• Salt and Black Pepper: Essential for balancing and enhancing all the earthy and creamy flavors. Don’t be shy about tasting and adjusting!
• All-Purpose Flour: This acts as a thickener (a roux) when cooked with the fat, ensuring your soup develops that beautiful, creamy body without being watery.
• Vegetable Broth: The liquid base that carries all our savory flavors. Using vegetable broth keeps the flavor light and allows the mushrooms to shine, but chicken broth works too!
• Milk and Heavy Cream: The reason this soup is extra creamy! The milk thins the base slightly while the heavy cream adds that luxurious, velvety richness we all crave in a cream of mushroom soup.
• Fresh Parsley: A bright, fresh herb finish that cuts through the richness and adds a pop of color and herbaceousness right before serving.

Note: The full list of ingredients with measurements and exact quantities for this Extra Creamy Mushroom Soup Recipe will be found right under the article in the printable recipe card!

How to Make the Extra Creamy Mushroom Soup

Step 1: Build the Flavor Base

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add your finely chopped onion and sauté for about five minutes until they turn soft and translucent. Next, add the minced garlic and cook for just one minute until you can smell its gorgeous fragrance. Don’t let it brown!

Step 2: Sauté the Mushrooms

Toss in your sliced mushrooms! Let them cook for a good 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. This is the crucial step where they release their moisture and start to brown, concentrating their deep, earthy flavor. Stir in the thyme, paprika, salt, and pepper.

Step 3: Create the Roux

Sprinkle the flour over the mushroom mixture and stir it well. Cook for about one minute to make sure you cook off that raw flour taste. This creates your roux, which is essential for thickening the soup later.

Step 4: Simmer and Thicken

Slowly pour in the vegetable broth while you stir continuously. Keep stirring to make sure no lumps form. Once everything is combined, bring it up to a gentle simmer.

Step 5: Add the Creaminess

Reduce the heat and stir in the milk and heavy cream. Let the soup gently cook for another eight to ten minutes. You’ll watch it transform into that beautiful, thick, creamy consistency.

Step 6: Blend and Finish

This step is totally optional, but if you want that truly velvety, restaurant-quality texture, use an immersion blender to blend about half of the soup right in the pot. Return the blended portion to the rest of the soup. Give it a final taste check for seasonings, and stir in the fresh parsley just before you serve up this amazing bowl of comfort.

Pro Tips for Making the Recipe

• Don’t Rush the Mushrooms: Seriously, the key to a deeply flavored mushroom soup is giving the mushrooms enough time in Step 2 to release their liquid and then brown slightly. This concentrates their umami flavor beautifully.
• Use Quality Broth: Since broth makes up the liquid base, using a high-quality vegetable (or chicken) broth will make a noticeable difference in the final taste of your soup.
• Blend for Velvet: If you like a few chunks of mushroom but still want a smooth base, follow the suggestion to blend only half of the soup. If you prefer it entirely smooth, blend the whole batch!
• Prevent Lumps: When adding the flour, make sure it fully coats the fat (the butter/oil). When adding the broth, pour it in slowly while stirring constantly to ensure a perfectly smooth, lump-free soup base.

How to Serve

This extra creamy soup is a main event all on its own, but here are a few ways to really elevate the experience:

• The Classic Pairing: Nothing beats a thick slice of crusty artisan bread or a gooey grilled cheese sandwich for dunking.
• Fancy Toppings: Top your bowls with a drizzle of truffle oil, some sautéed sliced shiitake mushrooms, or a sprinkle of toasted, buttery croutons for extra texture.
• Side Salad: Pair the rich soup with a simple, bright side salad tossed in a light vinaigrette to balance the creamy flavors.

Make Ahead and Storage

Storing Leftovers

Allow the soup to cool completely, then place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will stay delicious for up to 3-4 days. The flavor actually gets even better the next day!

Freezing

Because this soup contains heavy cream and milk, freezing can sometimes cause the texture to change slightly or ‘break’ when thawed. For best results, freeze the soup before adding the milk and cream. When you thaw it, finish the recipe by heating it up and stirring in the dairy. Otherwise, freeze the finished soup in a freezer-safe container for up to 2-3 months and accept that the texture may need a good whisking during reheating.

Reheating

Reheat leftovers gently on the stovetop over low to medium-low heat. If the soup looks too thick, stir in a splash of milk or broth to bring it back to the right consistency. Avoid boiling, which can cause the cream to separate.

FAQs

1. Can I make this Extra Creamy Mushroom Soup vegetarian or vegan?

Yes, this soup is already vegetarian if you use vegetable broth! To make it vegan, you would need to swap the butter for vegan butter and replace the heavy cream and milk with a rich, unsweetened plant-based creamer, like cashew or oat creamer. The overall texture will be slightly different, but the flavor will still be wonderful.

2. Why are my mushrooms not browning, and how can I fix it?

Mushrooms release a lot of moisture, which essentially steams them. To ensure browning (which concentrates the flavor), make sure you are using a large pot so they aren’t overcrowded. If they are crowded, the steam won’t escape. Keep the heat around medium-high and let them cook, without stirring too frequently, until all that liquid has evaporated and they start to caramelize.

3. What can I use instead of flour to thicken the soup?

If you want to skip the flour, you can still achieve a thick soup! Simply blend all of the soup using the immersion blender instead of just half. The starches in the mushrooms and onions, combined with the heavy cream, will thicken the base sufficiently. Alternatively, you can mix 1 tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of cold water to create a slurry and stir that into the simmering soup at the end.

4. Can I use dried mushrooms in this recipe?

Absolutely! Dried mushrooms are a fantastic way to boost the umami flavor. Rehydrate about an ounce of dried mushrooms (like porcini or shiitake) in hot water for 20 minutes. Reserve the soaking liquid (strain it through a paper towel to remove any grit) and use it as part of your vegetable broth measurement. Chop and add the rehydrated mushrooms along with the fresh ones.