Easy Cream of Mushroom Soup

Wonderfully silky and incredibly flavorful, this cream of mushroom soup is flavored with butter, garlic, and thyme.

Course Soup

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Servings servings

Calories 204kcal

Heat the butter in a large, heavy stockpot over medium-high heat. When the butter starts to foam, add the mushrooms, garlic, and salt. Cook, stirring often, for 5-7 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender.
Add the chicken broth, black pepper, and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the soup, partially covered, for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.
Turn the heat off. Puree the soup using an immersion blender. Prior to blending the soup, you can reserve a few mushrooms to use for decoration.
Stir the heavy cream into the pureed soup. Taste and decide if you'd like to add more salt - this would depend on how salty your chicken broth is.
Turn the heat back to medium and bring the soup to a low simmer. If you'd like to further thicken the soup, mix the cornstarch with two tablespoons of cold water until smooth and stir the slurry into the soup.
Continue heating the soup (but don't bring it to a boil - lower the heat if needed), stirring, until heated through and thickened, 1-2 minutes. Serve immediately.

You can use 1 pound of frozen mushrooms. I like these mixed mushrooms from Whole Foods Market. They will release quite a bit of liquid, more so than fresh mushrooms. But they are very flavorful, and you can use them frozen.
If you prefer not to use cornstarch, you can make a thicker and creamier soup by pureeing it completely in a stand blender instead of using an immersion blender, which isn't as efficient. Working in at least two batches, carefully transfer the hot soup to your stand blender. Blend each batch until completely smooth and transfer it to a bowl. When all batches are done, return the pureed soup to the stockpot and proceed with the recipe.
When using a stand blender, never fill your blender past the maximum fill line. It's best to fill it no more than half full. If the lid of your blender wasn't designed to allow steam to escape, you’ll need to remove the centerpiece and drape a clean towel on top of the lid. You can hold down the lid when blending to prevent it from being pushed off, but do so without actually placing your hand - or your face - over the hot steam.
You can keep the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Gently reheat them, covered, in the microwave at 50% power or on the stovetop over medium heat, taking care not to bring the soup to a boil. You might need to thin the soup out slightly first by adding a tablespoon or two of water. I don't recommend freezing the leftovers.