Thick and creamy with aromatic roasted garlic and the earthiness of thyme, this garlic mushroom soup is hearty and warming and a fall classic.
garlic mushroom soup
This really is my default soup at this time of year. Whenever I see mushrooms in the shops I snap them up with this rich and creamy mushroom soup recipe dancing in my mind.
While I love using mushrooms in risotto, in an omelette or just on toast. My favourite way to serve mushrooms is in a good hearty filling garlic mushroom soup.
Add to that this is a super quick and easy mushroom soup recipe. It’s ready in 30 minutes, now that’s really good fast food in my book!
Thyme
I’m using fresh thyme from my garden for my mushroom soup recipe. Thyme is such a wonderfully useful herb.
I find myself adding it to so many recipes, especially during the winter months. The flavour of thyme lifts almost anything and gives these mushrooms a real kick in the right direction with a boost of freshness and depth too.
You can of course use dried thyme in this mushroom soup. Always remember that when using dried herbs in a recipe to use half the quantity as you would of the fresh herb.
This is because when you dry herbs you suck in all that amazing flavour and concentrate it. If you use the same quantity of dried to fresh herbs you might well overpower a recipe.
Want to know a bit more about herbs and their uses? Then check out my book So Easy Herbal.
With over 50 great ways to use herbs from cooking to infusing oils and vinegars, making booze and household uses too.
Mushrooms
I’ve gone for a mixture of chestnut mushrooms and button mushrooms in this garlic mushroom soup recipe. You can use any type of mushrooms that you like and are available to you.
When you cook your mushrooms save some to add as a topping to this tasty soup.
Pro tip
Want to really ramp up that mushroom flavour? Then add some diced dried porcini mushrooms to your soup as I have.
This isn’t necessary but boy does it boost that wonderful taste of rich mushroom goodness in this simple garlic mushroom soup recipe.
If you are adding the dried porcini mushrooms to your soup simply rehydrate them first in a little boiling water. Chop the mushrooms and add both the chopped mushrooms and the remaining water to your homemade garlic mushroom soup.
Garlic
Now, this is very important in this easy garlic mushroom soup recipe. It really is all about the garlic and how you use it.
I wanted a really sweet warm taste to my garlic, nothing harsh.
The best way to get this rich and toasty flavour from your garlic is to roast it in its skin. However, that takes ages in the oven. Another way to get a similar roasted garlic flavour is to cook the garlic in its skin with the mushrooms.
Because the garlic is softening and cooking in its own skin and hasn’t been chopped up it becomes sweet.
Don’t be horrified by the fact I’m using 4 cloves of garlic in my garlic mushroom soup recipe. As they are cooked in this way they taste wonderful and not at all strong or overpowering.
Sherry
Adding a splash of sherry to your garlic mushroom soup really helps to bring out the flavours. I love using sherry in my cooking and always keep a bottle on hand in the kitchen.
Now don’t go thinking of the old fashioned idea of ‘cooking sherry’ being something that tastes bloody awful and is only good enough to use for shoving into a recipe and not pouring into a glass.
Oh no, if you are going to use any booze as an ingredient in your cooking make sure that it is something you’d actually drink yourself.
Alternatives
If you don’t have any sherry on hand then a splash of dry vermouth adds good flavour too. It’s not as rich and warming as sherry but it does go well with mushrooms (I use it a lot in mushroom risotto).
How long will this mushroom soup keep
Your soup will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge.
Can you freeze garlic mushroom soup?
Yes, this soup will happily freeze for up to 3 months. I like to freeze my soup in freezer bags which I lay flat on a baking try in the freezer till they are solid then take out the tray and they can then be filed together and take up hardly any valuable freezer space at all, result!
How to serve garlic mushroom soup
I love topping my soup with some of the actual ingredients. Bringing them right to the forefront of this garlic mushroom soup but in a slightly different form.
Adding the wonderfully soft chewy cooked mushroom slices with a sprinkling of thyme to the top of your garlic mushroom soup gives you even more mushroom flavour and also a different texture to play in your mouth.
Serve with big chunks of crusty bread. This is a rich soup already and a chunk of bread makes it into a good filling meal in its own right.
Garlic bread is an obvious choice as a lighter option than a big chunk of bread.
You could also make some simple croutons to serve on top of this soup. Make sure that you rub the bread with garlic before baking it so you get lovely crunchy garlic croutons. Now they would go perfectly with this rich and creamy garlic mushroom soup.
Or grill some bacon till really crispy and crumble this over your soup. (obviously not one for the vegetarians out there).
Looking for more tasty soup recipes to see you through the colder months? Then check these out before you go;
Quick and easy tomato and mascarpone soup
Italian inspired mushroom and tomato soup
Cream of courgette/zucchini soup with feta
Traditional Scottish cullen skink soup
Pumpkin soup with coconut and basil
Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.
Rich and creamy garlic mushroom soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 4 cloves garlic unpeeled!
- 500 g mushrooms sliced sliced
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 tbsp thyme 1tbsp fresh thyme or 1/2tbsp dried thyme
- 100 ml dry sherry or vermouth (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 600 ml vegetable stock
- 2 tbsp Greek yogurt or double cream
Instructions
- Heat the oil and butter in a pan and add the unpeeled garlic cloves and the chopped onion and saute for 5 minutes
- Add the sliced mushrooms and thyme and cook for a further 10 minutes
- remove a few mushroom slices to decorate the soup and remove the garlic and pop it out of it's skin and mash the soft flesh before returning it to the pan
- Add the sherry or vermouth if you are using this and cook for 1 minute
- Pour in the vegetable stock, cover and simmer the soup for 15 minutes
- Add the cream and use a hand blender to cream the soup ready to serve
- season to taste and serve with the reserved mushrooms and fresh thyme leaves plus some coursly ground black pepper
This looks amazing – I could eat a bowl of it right now. I’ve put it on the top of my list of ‘recipes to try’.
Hi Veronica
Hope you will get around to trying it. Super easy and tasty.
K
Second batch just made today, kept to the recipe, used the daughters Ninja to blend it.
A much more smooth and creamy outcome than the stick blender.
Lovely.
Hi David
Glad you have made more of this soup. I always suggest the stick blender as that’s what most people will tend to have in the kitchen. Totally agree that Ninja makes a super delicious creamy soup. Use one myself for smoothies and soups too.
K
I don’t know what I did wrong but mine does not look like the picture and came out grainy. Besides not adding the sherry I followed the recipe to a T.
Hi Amy
The photo is exactly as I made it and it has never turned to grainy for me. Sorry you weren’t happy with how it turned out for you.
K
I am so ready to try this as I love all the ingredients. Quick question, what kind of sherry do you recommend?
Hi Elda
I just used a medium dry sherry which is what I usually have in the drinks cupboard.
Hope you like the soup
K
This looks so good! What a great lunch meal prep for the week!
Hi Suzanne
Glad you like my recipe.
K
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Hi Vanessa
A bit confused by your question as I say in the blog post that the soup keeps in the fridge for 4 days and that you can freeze it too.
K
Thanks for this! It was delicious! I used chicken stock rather than veggie and added dried porcinis like you suggested, it was so good! Will definitely be making this again.
Hi Rhonda
Chicken stock is excellent and gives great flavour. Glad you liked the soup so much.
K
Beautiful flavour.. I was steaming parsnips also and used the water left over for making the veg stock
Mine is grainy.. used food processor to blend
Wondering if chestnut mushrooms would work best?
Hi Averil
I use a variety of mushrooms. Never had it grainy though. Nice idea using the parsnip water as stock.
K
Do you dehydrate the porcini before adding to the soup?
Hi Marion
I rehydrate them first then add along with the extra liquid. Have added that info to the post and recipe card.
K
All I can say is OMG!, This turned out so good….I actually pan seared some chicken and threw it in, because hubby wasn’t going for just mushrooms, but it turned out Amazing!
Hi Shannah
Glad this was such a success and you enjoyed it so much. Like the addition of the seared chicken too.
K
Really easy, tasty, yummy soup. Frying the garlic in their skins first to make them soft & sweet made all the difference! Thanks
Hi Linda
So glad you liked this soup recipe so much. Totally agree re the garlic, it really makes a difference.
K
My soup tastes bitter. What can I do to fix. I have added Sherry.
Hi Sue,
I’ve never had my mushroom soup taste bitter before. You can add a little butter or honey/sugar to sweeten the soup if you find it bitter. Hope this helps.
K
Soup was so good I ate 3 1/2 bowls. I did make a few changes though. I sautéed the onions and mushrooms in ghee and then sprinkled a small amount of flour or them for a thicker soup. I didn’t have thyme so I used bouquet garni instead. The porcini mushrooms and soaking water was a delicious addition.
Hi Geri
Glad you liked the recipe so much, like your additions.
K
I made this today. It was so warming and tasty, brilliant on a cold, dank day in northern England. I will definitely be making this again.
Hi Maggie
So glad you liked the soup so much, thanks for the nice comment.
K
Amazing mushroom soup full of flavour. This is now Christmas day soup recipe for this year! I added some dry mushrooms and vermouth as suggested and used 10% fat greek style yoghurt in place of cream. Hubby says best soup I’ve made yet! Recommended highly.
Hi Rachel
Glad you liked the recipe so much and hope it goes down well on Christmas day too.
K
Really good tasty, easy to make soup. I used 2 teaspoons of garlic granules as I had no fresh garlic in and was delicious
Hi Judith
Glad you liked the soup so much. Garlic granules are always a good standby.
K