Rich And Creamy Garlic Mushroom Soup

 I adore mushroom soup and this one is so rich and creamy and filled with the warmth of roasted garlic and depth of earthy aromatic thyme. This soup really is 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 soup to make. 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 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 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.

Garlic

Now, this is very important in this mushroom soup. 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 here. 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 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 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 mushroom soup

I love topping my soup with some of the actual ingredients. Bringing them right to the forefront of this 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 it’s 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

Caldo verde soup

Italian inspired mushroom and tomato soup

Cream of courgette/zucchini soup with feta

Watercress and spinach soup

Traditional Scottish cullen skink soup

Pumpkin soup with coconut and basil

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