Easy to make and addictive, this rich, velvety soup is made from roasted shiitake mushrooms scented with thyme, chicken stock, roasted garlic and aromatic vegetables. Even with many new varieties of mushrooms on the market, shiitakes continue to be one of the most dependably flavorful, and this simple shiitake soup recipe is a perfect example.
Shiitakes are one of my all time favorite cultivated mushrooms for their dependable umami flavor. While they're often used in Asian recipes like miso soup, or seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil and green onions, they also work perfectly fine in more European / American mushroom recipes like a simple creamy mushroom soup.
The secret to this recipe is roasting the mushrooms. Most mushroom soup recipes will instruct you to cook the mushrooms and soup vegetables together, while that can be ok, you'll get a deeper flavor from roasting the mushrooms separately and adding them to the pot later.
Chef's Tips
- This recipe is for fresh shiitake mushrooms only, dried shiitake mushrooms are too firm and will not give the same result.
- If you want to make a creamy dairy free mushroom soup you can add an additional ½ cup chicken stock and drizzle in ½ cup of mild oil like light olive oil while the soup is pureeing.
- I love the pure flavor of fresh mushrooms in this recipe, but if you want to make a blend using a combination of fresh and dried mushrooms you can use 8 oz fresh mushrooms and ½ oz dried.
How To Make It (Step-by-Step)
Remove the stems from shiitake mushroom caps and quarter them. Toss the mushrooms with oil, a pinch of salt, pepper and a handful of fresh thyme sprigs and put them on a baking sheet or a large cast iron skillet.
Roast the mushrooms until browned, then remove to a bowl and discard the thyme sprigs.
At the same time the mushrooms are roasting, trim a whole bulb of garlic, toss with oil, wrap in aluminum foil and bake until tender when pierced with a knife. After it cools you'll be able to squeeze the soft garlic cloves to add to the soup.
To build the soup, sweat some leek, onion and celery in a pot with butter or cooking oil. Make sure to cook the vegetables slowly so they evaporate water without browning, this should take about 15 minutes. Add the cooked mushrooms, chicken stock and bring to a simmer.
After the mixture is simmering and hot, transfer it to a blender and puree, adding the cream. You'll want to make sure you puree it for at least one to two minutes so it's as smooth as possible. If you want it extra smooth and fluffy you can drizzle in two tablespoons of olive oil or cooking oil while it's pureeing.
Serving
The recipe will make a thick, velvety soup. I occasionally serve it in a mug or tea cup for sipping, if you want to do that you can thin it with a splash of chicken stock and garnish it with a drizzle of olive oil.
If you serve it in a bowl it's good to add some cooked mushrooms on top for texture. My favorite is a simple salad of sliced roasted mushrooms tossed with salt, pepper, olive oil, tiny fresh thyme leaves and a few drops of white wine vinegar.
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Creamy Roasted Garlic & Shiitake Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb shiitake or other mushrooms tough stems removed
- Handful of fresh thyme sprigs plus a few extra for garnishing
- 4 oz leek
- 4 oz celery
- 4 oz onion
- Splash of dry white wine
- 1 whole bulb garlic
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable stock preferably homemade
- 1 cup heavy cream or half and half
- 1 Tablespoon long grain rice
- 1 Tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter or cooking oil
Garnishes (Improvise and make it your own)
- Extra virgin olive oil hazelnut, or walnut oil, to garnish
- Kosher salt and fresh ground white pepper
Instructions
- Remove the tough stems from the mushrooms, you can compost them, save to add to a stock or brown them and simmer with the stock you’ll use to make the soup.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F. Quarter the mushroom caps and toss with the oil, thyme sprigs and salt.
- Cut the stem end of the garlic bulb off to expose the cloves. Lightly oil, wrap in foil with a few thyme sprigs.
- Lay the mushrooms on a baking sheet lined with parchment or in a large cast iron skillet. Nestle the wrapped garlic bulb in the pan. Bake until lightly browned, about 25-30 minutes. Allow the mushrooms and garlic to cool and reserve them for later. Pick out the thyme sprigs and discard.
- Separate a few pieces of mushroom out for the garnish. Cut the mushrooms into thin wedges, season with a pinch of salt and pepper and whole, tiny leaves of fresh thyme. A few drops of white or red wine vinegar can be nice too.
- Heat the butter in a 3 quart sauce pot with the leek, onion and celery. Cook on medium low to medium heat until the vegetables are begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Add the roasted mushrooms and rice and cook for 5 minutes more. Do not color the bottom of the pan.
- Add the sherry or wine to the pan and cook off. Add the stock to the pan and bring to a simmer, turn to low and cook until the rice is tender.
- Transfer the soup to a blender, add the cream and puree until very smooth. it should puree for a minute or two. If you want to make it extra smooth, drizzle in two tablespoons of mild cooking oil while it purees.
- Taste the seasoning for salt, adjust until it tastes good to you. Assess the consistency of the soup, if it seems thick, add a splash of stock or water. Chilled immediately and refrigerated in a container with a tight fitting lid the soup will last for around 5-6 days.
Serving
- To serve, heat the soup, whisking to ensure it’s nice and smooth. Serve in warmed cups or small soup bowls garnished with a thread of extra virgin olive oil and a few of the roasted mushrooms or other things like croutons, fresh cut chives, chopped toasted hazelnut or walnuts, etc.
- If you want to sip the soup, thin it with a splash of water or stock as needed to loosen the consistency and garnish with an oil and fresh cut chives.
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