A hearty Wild Mushroom Soup is the ultimate comfort food in our house. This recipe calls for both dried wild mushrooms soaked in sherry, and cremini mushrooms for a delicious, savory, earthy soup.
This soup was also adapted from our very first cooking class we ever took, and in some ways launched our food and wine journey. Read more for our take on an amazing Wild Mushroom Soup with Sherry and Thyme.
Table of Contents
Background
Once upon a time after Sean and I first moved in together (circa 2003-ish), we were living in San Francisco and his birthday was coming up. Neither of us were very good cooks at the time, and we were also struggling to get by (I was a full time graduate student, and also worked full time directing an after school program, and taught classes part time at the university… we were pretty busy!). So I decided to buy sean a cooking class. Secretly I just wanted him to learn some skills so he could cook great meals for me after a long day. 😉
The class was called “Soups, Stocks, and Sauces” and was meant to teach the fundamentals of, well, liquids. He came back from the class empowered and excited to cook me a soup he learned how to cook in class. Needless to say, a simple wild mushroom soup was the first thing he learned how to cook with confidence. We’ve since changed it up, a lot, but the fundamentals of creating a soup from scratch remain the same.
It was truly the gift that keeps on giving! Teach a man to fish…. ok, let’s move on.
Living in the Northwest we also have a ton of access to wild mushrooms. There are seriously foragers all over the place and the farmers markets are full of them. We love using a combination of different mushrooms for flavor. Feel free to adapt the mushrooms to whatever you have in your area.
What Are Wild Mushrooms
Wild mushrooms are simply mushrooms not cultivated by humans (i.e not grown or farmed). They’re found in nature. In this soup we start with wild (dried) Chanterelles, Porcini, or sometimes Morels.
We also mix in some fresh Cremini mushrooms, as we’re doing in this version. A mix of both. Cremini mushrooms are simply the baby or smaller version of Portabello mushrooms and can be wild or cultivated (but what you find in the stores are usually the cultivated versions).
How to Store Mushrooms
- Store in a brown paper bag for best results. If you buy mushrooms wrapped in plastic, then transfer them to a brown paper bag to absorb the excess moisture. I learned this trick from one of the largest mushroom producers in Washington state.
- Eat as soon as possible from purchasing. You can store mushrooms in fridge for roughly 4 – 5 days and then they will start to lose their freshness.
- Do not wash/clean mushrooms until you are ready to use them
How to Clean Mushrooms
The most important rule to mushrooms is to avoid them from getting wet. When cleaning the potential dirt from the mushroom the two easiest methods are a dry or slightly damp paper towel, or using a kitchen towel.
- Place the mushroom in a dry or slightly damp paper or kitchen towel.
- Brush the cap of any dirt, and gently roll the mushroom to remove the stem.
- Store dry prior to cooking.
How to Make Wild Mushroom Soup
The steps to making a wild mushroom soup are important in order to avoid the texture of the soup becoming unpleasant. If you add the liquid first, the texture of the mushrooms will be soft and almost gelatinous. We generally follow this order:
- Saute onions and mushrooms so they are slightly browned
- Make a roux
- Add liquid and flavoring
- Finish by tempering in a cream – in our case crème fraîche
We add a touch more flavor by adding a good quality Sherry (NOT “COOKING SHERRY”!). Sorry for yelling, but the key is to find a Sherry that you would actually sip yourself (if you wouldn’t drink it, don’t use it). To add the Sherry flavor we re-hydrate the dried mushrooms with the sherry and then pour into the soup as part of the liquid after they have re-hydrated.
We finish with a nice crusty bread. For an added bonus, dice up a few fresh chanterelle or cremini’s and fry up in butter as a nice topping.
Wine Pairing for Mushroom Soup
This soup is slightly creamy from the crème fraîche mix, and very savory from the earthy mushrooms and sherry. The creamy textures and flavors are a fantastic match for a barrel fermented Chardonnay.
You can also try it with white Rhone blends too. The style of wine has the perfect balance of fruity richness, savoriness, and a touch of spice that was fantastic with the soup.
If you can’t find this small production wine, look for a new world Chardonnay or Rhone Style Blend from Washington State or California. If you prefer a red wine, you can’t go wrong with an Oregon Pinot Noir for this.
More Soup Recipes
- Smoked Mushroom and Lentil Soup
- Smoked Sausage and Lentil Soup
- Simplified Smoked Salsa Verde Chicken Soup
Wild Mushroom Soup Recipe With Sherry and Thyme
Ingredients
- 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, (can use dried chantrelle also)
- ¾ cup good sherry
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups white onions
- 1 pound cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced with stems
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic, finely diced
- 4 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken stock, smoked if you have it
- 8 sprigs thyme, tied with string
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
- ½ cup crème fraîche
Instructions
Rehydrate Dried Mushrooms
- Place dried porcini mushrooms in a small bowl and add sherry. Soak for at least 30 minutes, no more than an hour. Stir to make sure the sherry incorporates with all the dried mushrooms.
- After re-hydrated, strain the liquid from the mushrooms, and keep the strained liquid. Dice up the re-hydrated mushrooms prior to putting into the soup.
For the Wild Mushroom Soup
- In a 3 quart soup pot over medium heat add olive oil and white onions. Saute for 8 – 10 minutes or until soft. Next add cremini mushrooms and continue to stir for another 15 – 18 minutes or until they start browning. Add butter and garlic and stir until the butter is melted.
- Add flour and continue to stir for another 3 minutes to make the roux. Add stock, sherry, thyme, rehydrated mushrooms, salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Simmer the soup for 20 minutes, it will slightly thicken.
- In a separate medium sized bowl add the crème fraîche and place one cup of the hot soup mix in the bowl and stir. This will temper the cream and keep it from curdling. Place the entire mix back into the soup and stir, bringing back to a simmer for another 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste as needed.
- Serve with your favorite crusty bread.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If you find grit in your rehydrating liquid (sherry) just run it through a coffee filter.
Great idea Dave!
5/4/2021 Made this today since Mom had a tooth pulled and couldn’t eat anything but soft foods. It turned out terrific. Had about 12 oz. of wild mushrooms from Costco and rehydrated a half dozen of dried morels to use. Had to use sour cream rather than creme fresh but it still turned out great. Mary loved it and I thought it pretty good since I’m not a big mushroom fan. Definitely a keeper.
My sherry was all full of grit from soaking the dried mushrooms in it. Couldn’t use all of the sherry. Otherwise was very good. In the past I’ve always rehydrated in some stock. I don’t mind losing some of that.
Joanne, that’s interesting. Most dried mushrooms are already cleaned before dehydrated. Was the grit more like sand or dirt or smaller particles of the dried mushrooms?
When do you add the dried, rehydrated mushrooms? Your recipe does not state. Thank you so much for getting back to me. I’m in the middle of making your soup right now.
Ann
Thank you for catching that! Sent email as well, add them when you add the other liquids. Recipe updated.
We made this for dinner last night and it was amazing! The flavors were so well blended. This will be on heavy rotation all winter long. Thank you!
I really like all the mushroom dishes, and especially the soups! What could be better than a mug of tasty, fragrant and hearty soup in cold weather? I cook mushroom soups according to different recipes, adding different types of mushrooms and different spices, experimenting with the base, but I have never seen such an original recipe. Thanks for your blog, I’m glad I found it! I will come here more often 🙂