10 Minute Creamy Vegan Mushroom Soup

This deliciously warming 10 minute creamy vegan mushroom soup makes the perfect lunch or light supper. So quick to make and entirely plant-based!

Marvellous Mushrooms

For me, mushrooms are the perfect ingredient to use in so many different autumn inspired recipes! They remind me of that glorious time of year where summer melts away and the leaves start to fall. 

Autumn is my absolute favourite time of year, so I figure why not celebrate it with some healthy, warming and plant-based mushroom soup?!

This 10 minute creamy vegan mushroom soup makes the perfect lunchtime treat or light supper. It’s earthy, mellow and very healthy.

The mushroom is definitely the star in this recipe. Of course, there are tons of different mushroom varieties that could be used for this soup, but I’ve chosen chestnut mushrooms. This is for a few reasons. Firstly, they are readily available in most supermarkets and are cheaper than some more exotic varieties of mushroom. They also have a particularly delicious, nutty flavour that makes this soup especially yummy.

Mushrooms are also extremely healthy so incorporating them into your diet makes total sense. They are a fantastic plant-based source of vitamin D and are thought to be especially beneficial for the heart and the gut.

I also love the fact that mushrooms tend to cook very quickly as well. Unsurprisingly, this is a big bonus for somebody who likes to dream up and blog about quick recipes!

One of the ways you can save time in prepping this 10 minute creamy vegan mushroom soup is by crumbling up the mushrooms, rather than chopping them. That’s right! With clean hands, you can literally squash and rub the mushrooms together to break them apart directly in to the pan, creating rough chunks. Chopping them undoubtedly takes longer and is not necessary here. There’s also something oddly satisfying about squashing and crumbling them up with bare hands!)

As a side note, if chestnut mushrooms are not available in your area, it’s totally fine to use pretty much any other basic variety in this quick recipe such as button or Portobello mushrooms.

Do take a look at some of my other yummy mushroom containing recipes for further quick cooking inspiration, such as these 15 Minute Mushroom & Mascarpone Puff Pastry Squares and this 15 Minute Beef Ramen.

Ingredients

Lets have a look at some of the other key ingredients in this 10 minute creamy vegan mushroom soup and how they blend together to make the final, delicious result.

First up, is garlic. Surely there is no better match made in heaven than mushrooms infused with gorgeous garlicky flavour?! That’s exactly why you find garlic included in this quick recipe. It really just boosts the nutty and rich flavour of those lovely mushrooms hugely!

White wine is another key ingredient here, as it brings some lovely sweetness to the final soup. Of course, some people avoid alcohol and if that’s the case for you, may be get hold of some low or no alcohol wine. Thankfully, there are more and more varieties available that don’t contain any booze. Alternatively, you can exclude the wine all together – the final soup will still be delicious.

Balsamic vinegar is another important ingredient that helps to bring some lovely sweetness to this 10 minute creamy vegan mushroom soup. I fully recommend purchasing a high quality balsamic vinegar. Unfortunately, these can be pricey but the cost is sooo worth it! Decent balsamic has a thick and syrupy texture plus a powerful flavour that is just not present in the cheaper, watery types of balsamic. So do invest in a bottle of the good stuff if you possibly can.

The creamy texture of this soup is achieved with the use of coconut cream. This is such a fantastic ingredient to use in plant-based cooking to get a smooth and silky result that is normally done with dairy. It’s no surprise that I like using coconut cream in lots of my quick recipes!

The final key ingredients in this 10 minute creamy vegan mushroom soup are the herbs. Tarragon and thyme are famous for pairing gorgeously well with mushrooms. They also blend together really well! You don’t need to use fresh herbs here – the dried varieties work perfectly well.

For finishing off the soup, I recommend using fresh chives. These have a lovely oniony flavour that pairs very well with mushrooms and also adds a pop of gorgeous green colour to a soup that would otherwise be very beige looking.

I like to cut up my chives with scissors directly on top of the hot soup as I personally find that this saves on precious time, compared with using a knife and chopping board for the job. I’m all about the quick shortcuts!

Crowning the finished soup, alongside the fresh chives, are flaked almonds. The main reason for using these is to add a little bit of lovely crunch! It’s always nice to have some variation in texture within recipes and flaked almonds does the job well. They also have a very mild flavour that doesn’t interfere with the other tastes within the soup. Basically, they’re a more interesting and healthy version of a classic crouton!

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO MAKING THE PERFECT 10 MINUTE CREAMY VEGAN MUSHROOM SOUP

Lets have a look at a helpful step by step guide to making the perfect quick creamy vegan mushroom soup including handy photos;

Makes 2 Portions

Step 1;

Heat a large frying pan or wok over medium/high heat with a generous drizzle of light olive oil.

Step 2;

Whilst the pan heats up, peel and thinly slice two cloves of garlic. You don’t have to finely chop or mince them (this takes a long time and is not necessary) – you literally want to create little slices of garlic.

Put this garlic into the preheated pan along with 1/2 teaspoon of dried tarragon, 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme, 75 ml (1/3 cup) of white wine, 2 teaspoons of good quality balsamic vinegar and a generous pinch of salt. Cook all of this together for about 1 minute until softening, stirring regularly as you do.

Step 3;

With clean hands, take 300g (10.5 oz) of chestnut mushrooms and crumble them up directly into the pan. Just rub and squash them until they break up into chunks. This is quicker than slicing them (and also quite satisfying!) Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring regularly until the mushrooms are softening.

If chestnut mushrooms are not available to you, any regular type of mushroom will do such as button or portobello.

Step 4;

Next, crumble 1 vegetable stock cube into the mushroom pan and then pour in 200mls (7 fluid oz) coconut cream and 100mls (3.5 fluid oz) water. Cook everything for a further 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently until the stock cube has totally dissolved and everything is combined. Remove the pan from the heat.

Step 5;

Pour the cooked mushroom mixture into a blender or food processor. Blitz it all together until smooth and free from lumps. This usually takes 30-60 seconds, depending on which type of machine you have.

Step 6;

Divide the blended soup between two serving bowls. Take a small bunch of fresh chives (about 5g / 0.17 oz) and chop these into little pieces (I like to do this directly into the soup with scissors as it’s quicker than using a knife and board.) Sprinkle these equally over the top of the soup.

Finally, sprinkle about 1/2 tablespoon of flaked almonds across the top of each bowl of soup (so 1 tbsp of almonds in total). Note that both the chives and almonds are optional toppings – you could use croutons instead or nothing at all if you prefer.

All done! Serve your warming soup with some lovely crusty bread.