team. i’m super excited about this creamy roasted mushroom soup. it’s delicious. and makes your kitchen smell ah-maaaazing! and even people who you have been feeding nearly every day for 5 years without knowing they don’t like mushrooms might even like this soup.
yeah, so, raise your hand if you knew that my husband didn’t like mushrooms? ‘cause i didn’t. somehow it never came up when i was feeding him skillet pizza with mushrooms and goat cheese, or easier mushroom risotto, or baked tofu with coconutty kale, sweet potatoes, and mushrooms or any of the other recipes with mushrooms on the site. i mean, sure, he said each of those recipes would be better with either chicken or pepperoni. but he *always* says that. that is his suggestion for every recipe i test that doesn’t have chocolate in it. ::sigh::
all that to say, even my husband liked this creamy roasted mushroom soup! he may not go all heart-eyes emoji over it like i do, but i’m sure if i added some chopped pepperoni to his bowl of soup, he’d get there (meat croutons? is that a thing?).
for those of us who *do* like mushrooms, one of the things that i like about this soup is that it has a strong mushroom flavor, without having to resort to fancy mushrooms or dried mushrooms, which invariably smell like a pet store where you walk in and immediately feel inspired to run around and open all of the cages, lest living creatures spend one more second in that environment. (please take this as a commentary on how odorous dried mushrooms are, not how much like animals that are not goats or chickens.)
where…right! soup! delicious soup. mushrooms (fresh ones) are “in season” now, by which i mean they grow indoors so can grow even when we get 18” of snow and, well, 18” of snow would indicate that a warm, creamy soup might still be appropriate for another minute or two (read: through late may in maine).
and ever since i discovered that you can put tofu in the blender with yummy things and wind up with creamy soup without having to *actually* add cream, i’ve been all about it. we have the carrot ginger soup of early january to thank for this.
on the surface, it seems funny that i would be excited about this, since i’m not generally into cream of _______ soup and i’m one of four people who doesn’t like alfredo/cream sauces (unless they are made of cashews and garlic, in which case i will eat them with a spoon). but when we realize that what i am actually doing is sneaking protein into a healthy meal, it’s less surprising.
so now that i’ve spent longer rambling about this creamy roasted mushroom soup than it will take you to make it (ish), off you go!
creamy roasted mushroom soup
Save to BigOven Ingredients
- 12 oz. (340 g.) white button mushrooms, cleaned and dried (see notes)
- 6 large cloves of garlic, papery skins removed
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme, divided
- 1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce, see notes
- 7.5 oz. (213 g.) drained tofu (i used extra firm but whatever you like will work)
- 2 cups (16 fl. oz. / 473 ml) low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
Instructions
- preheat the oven to 425° F. trim the very end of the stems off then chop the mushrooms into 6 – 8 pieces each, depending how big they are. heap the chopped mushrooms in a pile on a rimmed baking sheet. sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the dried thyme over them and toss them around a little bit to spread the thyme around. spread the chopped mushrooms and the whole cloves of garlic out in a single layer on the baking sheet (no oil necessary). roast for 17 – 22 minutes, stirring halfway through, until they are darker brown, a bit dried (but not shriveled), and smell amazing.
- while the mushrooms are roasting, combine the soy sauce, tofu, broth, and remaining teaspoon of dried thyme in a blender container.
- when the mushrooms are done, add them and the garlic to the blender. puree everything on high speed until it’s smooth. either pour into bowls to microwave individual servings or pour into a heavy bottom pot and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until warmed through. serve warm.
Notes
i know cleaning mushrooms is a controversial topic. there’s the camp that says “they absorb every drop of water that comes near them and then they are ruined for eternity!”. for awhile, i was in the “gently brush them off with a damp cloth” camp, until i realized that takes forrrever and life is short. now i’m in the “let’s wash the mud off them with a soft toothbrush and some water, then set them on an absorbent towel to dry” camp. cook’s illustrated did a fancy experiment (read: simply weighed mushrooms before and after washing them) and determined that they absorb hardly any water if you dry them off after washing them.
the soy sauce boosts the mushroom flavor without getting all compete-y.
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Correction / nuance: I like mushrooms as a /topping/, just not as the dominant flavor! I order pepperoni, mushroom and bell pepper pizza, for example, but I don’t get mushroom pizza on mushroom crust, hold the sauce and cheese, because that would be weird. I also don’t eat the raw whole mushrooms from veggie platters. Actually, I don’t eat anything from veggie platters. I go straight for the charcuterie.
i shall print this and hang it on our refrigerator! and your veggie platters comment made me laugh, because, truth. xo!