Cream of mushroom soup is a common ingredient in recipes as cooler weather approaches. This healthy comfort food in a bowl deserves its place along with the casseroles (like my favorite green bean casserole) soups, and stews of the season.
Will the Real Cream of Mushroom Soup Please Stand Up?
Unfortunately, most store-bought cream of mushroom soup has a variety of problematic ingredients. Offenders include:
- Vegetable oil: chemically processed, high in polyunsaturated fatty acids, and potentially harmful on a cellular level
- Modified food starch: A highly processed starch that contains maltodextrin (often used as a name to hide the presence of MSG)
- Monosodium glutamate: A food additive and excitotoxin that may interfere with natural neurotransmitter production
- Soy protein concentrate: This is why I’m not a fan of soy
- Other bad ingredients: such as soy lecithin, yeast extract, and “flavoring”
In addition, despite the “cream” on the label, canned soup has very little actual cream. Cream is the ninth ingredient on the list, after vegetable oil, processed flour, MSG, and other questionable items. And it isn’t even real cream! It is actually “dehydrated cream” containing milk and soy lecithin as a thickener.
Certainly, these ingredients are probably cheaper and much better for the bottom line of the companies producing processed foods, but they certainly aren’t better for us, the consumer!
No Time for Homemade?
Update: Since I wrote this post I found one premade mushroom soup I do love, and that’s Kettle and Fire’s Mushroom Bisque. It is made with their amazing bone broth, is non-GMO, and is made with all real-food ingredients I would use in my own kitchen. It is dairy-based, so opt for the homemade version below if that is an issue for you.
A Better Cream of Mushroom Soup (& It’s Easy!)
Like most foods, homemade not only tastes better, but it is typically healthier too. Cream of mushroom soup is no exception! This simple DIY version works as a substitute in recipes or is delicious on its own.
Unlike the processed canned version, it only has 10 ingredients total (including spices). Bonus: They are all real food ingredients that you can order at a grocery store. (No need to contact your friendly local industrial products salesman to get the soy protein concentrate or MSG!).
I typically make several batches of this and keep in the refrigerator. I also freeze it for easy meal prep at Thanksgiving or for when I used to get a pregnancy craving for something with mushrooms in it. 🙂
If you use cream of mushroom (or cream of anything) soup in recipes for your family, consider taking 20 extra minutes to make your own. I promise you will be hooked!
Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb fresh mushrooms
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup butter (or coconut oil)
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 TBSP arrowroot powder
- 1 quart chicken broth
- ½ cup heavy cream (or heavy coconut milk, optional)
- ½ cup sour cream (optional)
Instructions
- Chop mushrooms and onion and mince garlic.
- Melt butter or coconut oil in a large pan and add chopped mushrooms and onion.
- Saute until translucent and cooked.
- Add garlic and saute an additional 2 minutes.
- Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and arrowroot and stir.
- Add broth and simmer about 10 minutes until it starts to thicken.
- Add cream and sour cream and stir in until smooth.
- Serve as a soup or use as cream of mushroom soup in recipes.
Notes
Nutrition
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How do you use cream of mushroom soup?
Yay!!! Perfect!!! Can’t wait to try!
If I were to follow this same recipe, but omit the mushrooms and add in chicken instead, would it make a good cream of chicken soup? I make a casserole my family loves but would much prefer homemade soup to store bought! Also, I pressure can all kinds of things and make homemade chicken stock this way, could I pressure can this soup and extend its shelf life, or is it best to freeze it? Thank you so much! I just found your blog about a week ago but I am loving it! We’ve always been very conscious of our dietary choices, but just recently I’ve “cleansed” our home of chemicals. I’m making all of our cleaners and hygiene products, and couldn’t be happier!
Could whole farm milk be used in place of cream?
Thanks for suggesting the coconut milk substitution!
Thank you sooo much for this!!! So much calls for these cream based soups and it’s great to have a healthier option!
Could you provide a caloric intake and nutritional breakdown please? He has to watch his sugars and I have to watch my carbs…
Hi Graham. You can easily do this yourself by taking all the ingredients that you use and adding up all the carb/sugar counts of them, then divide all those numbers by the total of serving sizes. Remember the rule about fiber. Use a program like calorieking.com to help you. Most real food advocates aren’t big into calorie and macronutrient counting so she may not have that available. 🙂
Hi there,
What type of mushrooms would be ideal? Is there one that offers one taste and a second choice for an alternative taste?
I have lived in central Italy for 35 years and learned the proper way to use and cook garlic. Italians actually make very different use of garlic than you would think, and never use a lot unless on Bruschetta.
Your foods cooked with garlic will taste much better if you always add the garlic when everything else is almost cooked. Garlic should never brown, it is “cooked” before it reaches that stage and if it browns the flavor is not good.
DO NOT mince extremely fine and DO NOT use a garlic press. Your foods will taste better, have the garlic flavor but not be overpowered by it if it is minced in about 10 to 20 bits.
Thanks for the garlic hint.
Yes! That is what I discovered by accident while cooking a pot of marinara sauce. I forgot the garlic earlier and added it at the end. It tasted so much better! That is how I have cooked garlic ever since.
Thank you for this tip!
Thank you for these wonderful tips on garlic. I was wondering why the ladies in my old neighborhood had so much of a better flavor to their foods then I did no matter what I did. Now I know.
Hi, I love your site and tips. Thank you! Most cream of mushroom soup is concentrated, so what would be the ratio if using this? I.e. if it calls for a ten ounce can, how much of the homemade would you use?
do you know how you would do condensed cream of mushroom soup, gluten free???? so many recipes call for it and Campbells soup is not gluten free at all. I do alot of crockpot recipes and they always call for it.
Pacific brand is gluten free.
THANK YOU! I can’t wait to try this. I LOVE green bean casserole & have made it using the organic brands I can find, but this year we’re going gluten-free and I was pouting about not making one of my favorites! Now I can and it sounds DELICIOUS! Cream of Mushroom is one of my all time favorites.
I added 2 tsp. of Worcestershire and about 2 tsp. of onion powder to give it a little more flavor. Yummier! Does anyone know if this soup will freeze well?
Freezes great~!