Hearty and comforting, healthy and low-calorie — this vegetarian Ultimate Mushroom Soup recipe is the only one you’ll ever need!
My mom taught me how to make this soup and now it’s time to pass the knowledge on to you guys. It is the most flavorful soup of all the mushroom soups out there, and one of the healthiest. What makes this soup so special you ask? It has a secret… Read on.
The secret to the rich and hearty flavor in this recipe is the cooking time. The more you cook it, the better it becomes. It’s that simple. OK, let’s talk about ingredients.
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You’ll notice in the ingredient list that I used 2 pounds of mushrooms. That may seem like A LOT to you, but there is no mistake there. The mushrooms reduce greatly in size once you start cooking them and in order to get that amazing mushroom flavor, we need to use a lot of mushrooms. 🙂
I use wheat berries in this recipe, but feel free to use farro or barley. Whatever you have on hand.
You probably know by now that any soup will be more (so much more!) flavorful if you use chicken or vegetable stock instead of water. I never buy canned or boxed stock, but I do have a little secret ingredient that I’ve used in ALL of my soup recipes for at least 10 years now. Drum-roll please… Vegeta All Purpose Seasoning!!!
It is the best seasoning in the world and I strongly stand behind it. So, if you don’t want to purchase stock every time you cook a soup, I suggest you give it a try. You will be impressed and your grocery bags will be so much lighter.
In this recipe, you can use vegetable stock or just water with 2 tbsp of Vegeta All Purpose Seasoning. In both cases you are on your way to making The Ultimate Healthy Mushroom Soup. Enjoy it, friends!!!
Disclaimer: the link in this post for Vegeta All Purpose Seasoning is Amazon affiliate link.
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 large onion, chopped
- 2 lbs white button mushrooms
- 1/2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
- 3 medium potatoes
- 3 meduim carrots
- 1 cup wheat berries
- 5 bay leaves
- 3 quarts vegetable stock or water with 2 tbsp of Vegeta Seasoning. (see notes)
- 3 tbsp all purpose flour
- In a large 5-quart pot, saute the onion in olive oil on low heat for about 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, slice the mushrooms.
- Add mushrooms to the onion and increase heat to high. Cook the mushroom for about 10 minutes, until all the liquid evaporates. Meanwhile, you can peel and cube potatoes and carrots.
- Add the rest of the ingredients (excluding flour) to the mushrooms and bring the soup to a boil. The pot should be almost full at this point.
- Once the soup starts boiling, reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 1 hour. (About 1/3 of the liquid will evaporate).
- Mix the flour with 1/2 a cup of cold water and add it to the soup. Cook for another 10 minutes. Let the soup cool down slightly before serving.
I use Vegeta All Purpose Seasoning and Soup Mix and I LOVE this seasoning. Check it out on Amazon, I am sure that you will love it too!
Before you go…
Check out these recipes
EASY GREEK CHICKEN LEMON SOUP
POTATO GNOCCHI WITH MUSHROOMS AND FETA
10-MINUTE CHEESY MUSHROOM SANDWICH
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Hi Tania, This soup looks delicious and I love the idea of 2 whole pounds of mushrooms in the soup. Just one question, do you use cooked wheat berries or dry? One hour on the stovetop doesn’t usually cook them in my experience, I usually cook them in the Instant Pot pressure cooker and it still takes a long time. But they are worth it so… Thank you for all your diligent efforts. Best wishes.
Hi Mo! It really depends on what kind of wheat berries you have on hand.
Just follow the package instructions for the best results. You can of course, pre-cook these in the Instant Pot. Thank you and happy cooking!
Tania,
Thank you for your recipe. I have made this 4 times and my family loves it. Here are the slight tweaks.
1. I used barley, as that is what I had at the time. We’ve stuck with it because it was delicious.
2. I omitted the flour, because I find the starch from the potatoes thickens the soup to our liking perfectly. (I now add an extra potato chopped smaller than the rest of the “soup” potatoes in all my soups or stews that would require flour for thickening.
3. I do not have Vegeta, so I used Better Than Bullion’s Vegetable base with water as the stock.
4. I used dried Thyme because I was out of rosemary. It definitely changes the flavor, but it’s still excellent.
5. I have fresh California bay leaves and was hesitant to use 5, so I only used 2.
This is a staple in our go-to meals now. Thanks again!
Wonderful! I am happy to hear you enjoyed the soup, Jennifer! It’s great that you were able to adjust it to your liking. Thank you for the feedback and happy cooking!
Wonderful!! Now time to confess. I thought I had brought everything with me to make this and realized I had left my homemade veg broth and aminos home. So I used water and low sodium soy sauce. I am pretty sure I used more mushrooms than asked for too. I found mushrooms on sale and got a 2 1/2 lb. sliced box and just guestamated 20 ounces button mushrooms. Not sure what you consider a stalk of rosemary so guessed on that too, so nice to have it growing in the yard. This was wonderful. I had just made my own cashew milk so used that. Very rich and creamy. When I get it home I am going to blend some of it for a true cream soup. I think this would be a nice sauce for many things when it is creamed. Thank you for sharing.
What is the calorie count for one serving? If you’re going to call something “low-cal”, at least be specific. What’s low-cal to you may not be for someone else.
Hi Patti! I do not count the calories in food. You are welcome to use online calorie calculator if you are interested. The soup is low-cal because I don’t use meat, dairy or any other heavy ingredients. It is just made out of veggies and grain…
It sounds like a very nice soup and it’s one I could make. Diet is very harsh and could you tell please what wheat berries are. I have only heard of barely.
Hi Barbara! Wheatberries are the whole grain form of wheat – the whole, complete grain before it has undergone any processing. They could be found on Amazon or in many health food stores. Feel free to use barley instead. Hope you’ll enjoy the soup!
Hi! If we use pearl barley instead of wheat berries is the cook time still the same?
Hi Dilyn! Please, check the cooking instructions on the barley package. Usually, pearl barley cooking time is about 25 minutes. Thanks!
I’m going to give this a spin next week–sounds amazing! I’m not going to use your secret weapon, though…it contains MSG and that triggers LOTS of bad reactions in my house. I like to use gluten-free bullion to build flavors in soups, and I’m sure it will compliment your recipe perfectly.
Great! Let me know hot it turns out, Therese!
Can this be made in a slow cooker, or would it ruin the mushrooms? It sounds so yummy.
I’ve never cooked it in the slow cooker, but I think it should work well, Mary! Let me know how it turns out!
I wonder if this would work puréed….el husband doesn’t like texture of mushrooms….
I am not sure, Vanessa. I’ve never pureed wheat berries (barley) before. I’d recommend to go with classic pureed mushroom soup then. All the best!
Why not cook the onions and mushrooms until done then purée with some stock until smooth then add back to the pot and proceed from there in the directions? You would still get the mushroom flavor with no chunky mushroom texture and you might be able to skip adding the flour at the end because it might be thick enough with the mushroom purée. I do stuff like this all the time because my husband is a picky eater too. Hope this is helpful. ?
Thank you so much for sharing this delicious looking mushroom soup. I make soup a lot & always buy broth; but not anymore, after reading your interesting tid bit about Vegeta All purpose seasoning. I have already added it to my wish list. I am looking forward to making a batch. Yum.
I am so happy to hear that, Nancy! You absolutely must let me know how you liked Vegeta!!! XO
This looks super cool and awesome.. Lovely presentation
Thanks, Fareeha!
I love the idea of 2 pounds of mushrooms in a soup. Looks delicious.
Haha! They do add a lot of flavor, Mark! Have a great day!
I adore mushrooms so this is a soup that will be on my table soon. Such a healthy, hearty dish, Tania. And your photography is simply stunning! Now I want a snowstorm so I can curl up with a big bowl of this in front of a movie!
Enjoy your weekend!
Thanks a lot, Robyn! Have a great weekend too!
Yum!!! As you know, I love mushrooms. Looks fantastic.
Yes, I think that’s THE SOUP for you, Natasha!
What a gorgeous recipe and your photography is simply stunning:-)
Thank you kindly, Camilla!
Nothing like a good mushroom soup! Yum!
That’s exactly right, Jessie! 🙂
I love love love mushrooms, and this is such a great idea! Can’t wait to try it, thanks for sharing!
It’s my pleasure, Sarah!
My mom makes mushroom soup too, yummy! And she uses the Vegeta seasoning for everything also! This recipe makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside 🙂
Thanks, Kate! I Moms know how to make good soup. 🙂
It’s raining all day here and Atlantic City, it’s a shame I run out of this soup!
Ohh I love that! I ‘ve been wanting to drink some soup since long.
Gonna try that tomorrow!
Thank you for sharing:)
Let me know how you liked the soup, Neha! 🙂