This divine Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup hugs you with warmth and deliciousness. This is a super simple, eight-ingredient recipe, and you can make it gluten-free and oil-free.
If you've been missing the delicious, creamy flavor of a cream of mushroom soup since you went dairy-free, here's the recipe to satisfy that craving and more besides: my vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup.
This really is comfort food in a bowl. It's thick and creamy and rich and fragrant and it gives you that perfect warm and gooey feeling you need, say, after the worst possible day at work when the only thing that can comfort you is imagining the look on your boss's face when you hand in your resignation.
But before you rush in to do that, try this soup instead, and you might just start picturing yourself signing copies of your bestseller on 101 ways to deftly handle the boss from hell and get a promotion. Problem solved. 😉
How to make the best vegan cream of mushroom soup
Here's what I do: I make a roux of flour, much as you'd do with a traditional cream of mushroom soup, and then I add in some creamy cashew milk.
The most important part to remember with this recipe, as you would with any, really, is to build in layers of flavor to ensure that you end up with an awesome dish. And to keep the flavors close to the real stuff. Cashew cream or milk makes the best substitute for dairy cream in this recipe, because it tastes the closest, and it also doesn't add a strong flavor that wouldn't be in the original recipe like, say, coconut milk would. You can use almond milk too, and it would be fine, although I really prefer the cashew.
If you are nut-free, I'd recommend using an unsweetened soy milk or any nondairy milk that's thick and not too watery.
This recipe is simple as they come, with just eight ingredients, besides the salt and pepper: mushrooms, a smidgen of oil, onions, garlic, flour, sage or thyme, a good vegetable stock and nutmeg. And if you want to picture your boss turning green with envy over your perfect abs when you're throwing your resignation at him or her, you can make this recipe free of oil (although it won't be free of healthy fats) by sauteeing your onions and mushrooms in vegetable stock.
What do you serve with the vegan cream of mushroom soup?
This recipe doesn't need much to make it a meal to remember, but serving a crusty French bread on the side won't hurt at all. And a green salad would take it over the top.
If you make this recipe, I want to hear, of course. Leave me a comment below or tag @HolyCowVegan on Instagram. You can also follow me on Pinterest to keep up with my latest recipes, or subscribe to my free email updates.
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Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup Recipe
Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil (or 2 tablespoon vegetable stock for an oil-free version)
- 1 medium white or yellow onion (cut into a very fine dice)
- 1 large clove garlic (minced)
- ½ pound button mushrooms (sliced thinly or chopped)
- 1 teaspoon thyme or sage
- 3 tablespoon unbleached all purpose flour (for a gluten-free version, use 2 tablespoon rice flour)
- 3-4 cups vegetable stock
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- ¼ cup cashews
Instructions
- Blend the cashews with 1 cup of the vegetable stock and set aside.
- In a saucepan, heat the oil or vegetable stock. Add the onions and garlic along with a pinch of salt and ground black pepper. Saute, stirring frequently, until the onions turn translucent but do not brown. It is important that you cut the onions really fine so they just melt into the soup.
- Add the mushrooms. At this stage you can add a splosh of white wine for more flavor, if you wish. Saute the mushrooms over medium-high heat until they are tender, about 5-8 minutes.
- Add the thyme or sage, stir to mix, and then add the all purpose flour or rice flour. Mix well and let the flour cook for a couple of minutes, stirring frequently to let it cook evenly.
- Add a cup of the vegetable stock, stirring vigorously as you do so to avoid any lumps from forming. You can also use a whisk to mix at this stage. Add one more cup of stock, continuing to stir, and when it comes to a boil, stir in the blended cashew milk.
- Once the soup comes to a boil, you can thin out with more stock to get it to the consistency you like. Check for seasoning and add more salt and pepper as needed. You can also add a tablespoon of soy sauce for more flavor, unless you want to be soy-free.
- When the soup comes to a boil, stir, and turn off. Serve hot.
Aquaria
I have a rather severe nut allergy (ugh), so cashew consumption won't happen. How would this work using store-bought oat milk?
Vaishali
It should work fine with oat milk! The cashew cream makes it creamier, but if you can't have that oat milk is a decent substitute.
Anonymous
use hemp seeds instead! cashew allergy here too
Gail
This was delicious! I love cream of mushroom soup, but as I've gotten older, my body doesn't tolerate a lot of milk or cream. The cashew milk was devine, and I hardly taste the difference! The only alteration I made to the soup was I added some collagen protein powder which makes it not vegan, but my priority was finding a healthier soup without dairy. I will be adding this recipe to my rotation, and I plan on trying one of your curry recipes later this week! 🙂
Lynn
This was excellent. Thank you. I used to die when my mom would serve the canned version of this as a kid. As an adult and when I used to eat dairy, I could be dare to make a homemade version because of was so traumatized by the canned stuff. The vegan version, however, is entirely delightful and nothing like the gaggy dairy version or canned version. Thanks for helping me give this soup a chance, and a place on my regular menu!
Singing Vegan
I’m feeling under the weather today and cream of mushroom soup was one of my childhood comfort foods. When I searched for a vegan version, yours was the first that caught my eye.I used tarragon for the herb and it was perfect! Thanks so much for the recipe..
Stefanie
Hi! This sounds amazing. I have all the ingredients ready to go. However, is the sage and thyme fresh or dried? Thanks!
Vaishali
Dry!
Sandra
I must admit that I added a few extras to my soup but the cashew idea is great. All your other Indian recipes look great and I will be making many of them in future.
Amanda
Amazing recipe!! I used a regular blender to make the cashew cream. Just added the cashews into a glass measuring cup, added 1 tsp of veggie broth powder and 1 cup of boiling water. Covered and let sit for five minutes before putting the cashews and broth in the blender. This is a recipe worth saving! In the future, I’ve now got my cream of mushroom soup to make green bean casserole during the holidays! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I’m a terrible vegan cook but this recipe gave me hope!!
Vaishali
That's so great to hear.
Tricia
This recipe looks yummy but where is the cashew milk? It calls for 1/4 cup of cashews...
Vaishali
Step 1.
Tricia
Thank you. Do you soak the cashew nuts overnight and then purée as when you make vegan cashew ricotta?
Vaishali
If you have a high powered blender you don't even need to soak. Otherwise a 30-minute soak should do just fine.
Lilia
Very tasty! My family loved it! I creamed it all and it was amazing! Thank you.
Sally
Just made this and it was absolutely delicious!! I added gluten free soy and a little more then a slosh of wine also doubled the cashew amount. Taste so good!!!
Vaishali
Awesome!
Jake
This was fantastic. I reduced it a bunch to use it as a base for green bean casserole. I had fresh thyme, sage, and rosemary from cooking earlier in the week so I added a little of each. My first time using cashews as a creamer and it exceed my expectations. Thank you!
Sean
I used this recipe as a jumping off point and it came out amazing. A couple of modifications that I think make it a bit better.
1. Use more mushrooms. I doubled the amount.
2. Use a variety of different mushrooms. I used baby bella, white, shitake and crimini
3. I skipped the cashews and added hemp milk instead. The "milk" is only to make it creamier and I have family members with nut allergies, so I prefer not to cook with nuts.
4, Finally instead of vegetable stock, I had some mushroom base and made a mushroom stock instead. The best part of that is it allowed me to have some left over mushroom stock that I use as "au jus" for a portabello mushroom vegetarian French dip with vegan provolone cheese.
I will also say I love this recipe if you have mushrooms that are not still white and beginning to darken.
melissa kane
Had mushrooms in the fridge, looked for a mushroom recipe on your site (one of my favorite recipe resources!) and just made this. Didn't alter it in any way (except to double it) and it was perfect.
Thanks again for another spot on recipe!
Vaishali
Melissa, so happy to hear!
Chris
Hi. I’m a little confused because the text mentions cashew milk, but the recipe calls for cashews. ?
Vaishali
See step 1 where you blend the cashews.
Laurie
I don’t have any cashews on hand. Can I sub unsalted macadamia nuts?
Vaishali
Sure.
CHRISTOPHER CARTER
While it smells and tastes AMAZING, I was disappointed that I didn't achieve a thicker, creamy texture like in the photo.
Should I have added more flour?
Vaishali
Hi Christopher, let it cook a little longer, and it should thicken. Or add more cashews.
Stephen
Just made this with 3 different mushrooms I foraged from mother nature they blow the dish away. I changed one more thing instead of a splash of white wine I used apple cider vinegar. It was the best so thick and creamy it was like a dream got another bowl left for tomorrow can't wait ????❤️??
Anizah Fong
Thanks heaps for this recipe! It was delishhh... made it with oat flour and it was yummm. Thanks once again!
Vaishali
So great to hear!
clare
This soup was excellent! We have made it twice in a week! We subbed
1 cup oat milk for the cashews and blitzed it as we prefer a smooth soup but the texture was good unblitzed too.