Anna Louise A great mushroom soup is one of the most deeply satisfying things a bowl can contain. Not the pale, slightly watery version that comes from a tin.
A properly made mushroom soup, with a mixture of mushrooms cooked until deeply golden, a splash of wine, good stock, and a little cream, is dark, silky, intensely earthy, and genuinely luxurious.
Mary Berry’s mushroom soup recipe uses two types of mushrooms — chestnut mushrooms for their firm, earthy flavour and button mushrooms for body and volume — with a smaller quantity of dried porcini mushrooms rehydrated in boiling water and added to the soup to give a depth of umami that fresh mushrooms alone cannot quite achieve. The porcini soaking liquid goes into the soup too — it is deeply flavoured and too good to waste.
This is the soup that impresses at a dinner party starter and comforts on a cold midweek evening in equal measure.
The Secret to Deep Mushroom Flavour
Cook the mushrooms at high heat until deeply golden. This is the most important step. Mushrooms added to a gentle pan release their moisture, steam, and become pale and slightly watery.
Mushrooms cooked in batches in a very hot pan — left undisturbed for two to three minutes until they caramelise and turn deep golden — develop a richness and depth that is completely different. The caramelisation is where the flavour lives.
Use dried porcini mushrooms. A small amount of dried porcini — just fifteen grams — rehydrated in boiling water and added to the soup gives an intensity of mushroom umami that dramatically deepens the flavour. The soaking liquid is equally valuable — almost stock-like in its mushroom intensity. Always use it.
A splash of white wine or sherry. Added to the pan after the mushrooms, it deglazes the caramelised bits from the base and adds a complexity and brightness that suits mushrooms beautifully.
Ingredients for Mary Berry Mushroom Soup
For the Soup
- 15g dried porcini mushrooms
- 150ml boiling water (to rehydrate the porcini)
- 50g unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 400g chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped
- 200g button mushrooms, roughly chopped
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 100ml dry white wine or dry sherry
- 800ml good quality chicken or vegetable stock
- 150ml double cream
- Juice of ½ lemon
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
To Serve
- A swirl of double cream or crème fraîche
- A few sautéed mushroom slices
- Fresh thyme leaves or flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- Crusty bread or sourdough toast
How to Make Mary Berry Mushroom Soup — Step by Step
Step 1 — Rehydrate the Porcini
Place the dried porcini mushrooms in a small bowl. Pour over the boiling water. Leave to soak for 20 minutes until the mushrooms are completely rehydrated and soft. Lift the mushrooms out — roughly chop them and set aside. Carefully pour the soaking liquid through a fine sieve into a jug — leave behind the last few drops as they can contain grit. Reserve this liquid.
Step 2 — Cook the Fresh Mushrooms
Heat half the butter with the olive oil in a large, heavy-based pan over the highest heat your hob produces. Add half the fresh mushrooms — do not add them all at once or the pan temperature drops and they steam rather than fry. Cook without stirring for two to three minutes until deeply golden on one side, then stir and cook for a further two minutes. Remove and set aside. Repeat with the remaining fresh mushrooms.
This caramelisation step is not optional — it is where the depth of flavour in the finished soup comes from.
Step 3 — Soften the Aromatics
Reduce the heat to medium. Melt the remaining butter in the same pan. Add the onion and cook for eight minutes until completely soft. Add the garlic and thyme sprigs and cook for two more minutes.
Step 4 — Deglaze and Build the Soup
Add the white wine or sherry to the pan. Let it bubble and reduce for one to two minutes, scraping up all the caramelised bits from the base of the pan — these are pure flavour.
Add the caramelised mushrooms, the rehydrated porcini, the porcini soaking liquid, and the stock. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook for fifteen minutes.
Remove the thyme sprigs.
Step 5 — Blend
Remove from the heat and blend until smooth. For a completely silky result blend for at least two minutes and pass through a fine sieve. For a slightly more textured result, blend for one minute and leave as is. Both are good — personal preference.
Step 6 — Finish and Serve
Return to the hob over a low heat. Stir in the double cream and lemon juice. Warm through gently. Taste and season very generously — mushroom soup needs more salt than you expect to bring out the earthy flavour fully.
Ladle into warm bowls. Swirl cream over the surface. Add a few sautéed mushroom slices, fresh thyme leaves or parsley, and serve with crusty bread or sourdough toast.
My Top Tips For Mary Berry Mushroom Soup
Cook mushrooms at the highest heat in batches. Every mushroom recipe on this site says this because it is always true and always the most important step. High heat, small batches, leave undisturbed. The caramelisation is the flavour.
Never waste the porcini soaking liquid. It is intensely flavoured — almost like a mushroom stock. Always add it to the soup. Pour slowly and carefully, leaving the last few drops in the bowl as they can contain grit.
Use both chestnut and button mushrooms. Chestnut mushrooms give earthy depth. Button mushrooms give volume and body. Together they produce a more complex, more interesting soup than either alone.
Season generously. Mushroom soup absorbs an extraordinary amount of salt before it tastes right. Start with what seems like plenty and keep tasting. Underseasoned mushroom soup tastes flat and slightly muddy.
A splash of sherry rather than wine. Dry sherry — manzanilla or fino — has a deep, slightly nutty quality that suits mushrooms particularly well. If you have some, use it. If not, dry white wine is excellent.
Serving Suggestions
As an elegant dinner party starter in small bowls with sourdough toast. As a warming weekday lunch with crusty bread. As a simple supper with nothing more than good bread and butter alongside.
How to Store Mary Berry Mushroom Soup
In the fridge: Store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Reheat gently on the hob, adding a splash of stock if it has thickened.
In the freezer: Freeze before adding the cream for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge, reheat gently, and stir in the cream once warm.
Mary Berry Mushroom Soup Recipe
Ingredients
Method
- Soak porcini in boiling water 20 minutes. Lift out — chop roughly. Strain soaking liquid through a fine sieve. Reserve.
- Heat half butter and oil in a large pan over highest heat. Cook fresh mushrooms in two batches — 2–3 minutes undisturbed until deeply golden, then stir 2 more minutes. Remove and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium. Melt remaining butter. Cook onion 8 minutes. Add garlic and thyme — 2 minutes.
- Add wine or sherry — bubble 1–2 minutes, scraping base. Add caramelised mushrooms, porcini, porcini liquid, and stock. Simmer 15 minutes. Remove thyme.
- Blend until smooth. Return to low heat. Add cream and lemon juice. Warm through. Season very generously.
- Ladle into warm bowls. Swirl cream, add sautéed mushrooms and herbs. Serve with crusty bread.
Notes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use only one type of mushroom?
Yes — chestnut mushrooms alone make an excellent soup. Button mushrooms alone give a paler, less intensely flavoured result. The mixture is best but single-variety versions are perfectly good.
Can I use wild mushrooms?
Yes — any combination of wild mushrooms gives an extraordinary soup. Girolles, ceps, and oyster mushrooms all work beautifully and give different flavour profiles. Use wild mushrooms in place of some or all of the chestnut mushrooms.
Can I make this vegan?
Yes — use olive oil instead of butter, vegetable stock, and oat cream instead of double cream. The result is excellent.
Why is my mushroom soup too pale?
The mushrooms were not caramelised properly — they were cooked at too low a heat or added too many at once. The dark colour of a great mushroom soup comes from deeply caramelised mushrooms. High heat, small batches, patience.
Can I add truffle oil?
Yes — a few drops of good quality truffle oil drizzled over each bowl just before serving elevates this soup into something genuinely spectacular. Use it sparingly — a little goes a very long way.
Leave a Reply