Mushroom and Leek Soup
Easy mushroom and leek soup with a touch of cream.
Mushroom and Leek Soup
When I travel for work I don’t often look forward to the food. Most of the time it’s hotel catering, served buffet style in large, impersonal ballrooms. Boring pasta for 200– need I say more? So my expectations were pretty low, food-wise, for this last trip I took to Scottsdale, AZ.
However, during the third day of the meeting, after sitting in a freezing cold conference room for four hours, I helped myself to some mushroom and leek soup that graced the buffet table during lunch. After a tentative first sip, I happily slurped up the rest, which was a simple concoction of portabello mushrooms, leeks, herbs, and cream. It was comforting, warming and (gasp) tasty, which worked wonders on my spirits after three long days of meetings, networking, and not-so-stellar food.
Soup is one of my favorite things to make so I had to try out my own version after returning home. I started by chopping up a medium leek, a couple of garlic cloves and a medium-sized onion. I cooked them over medium heat, in a large pot, with a few tablespoons of olive oil just until the veggies started to soften. I tossed in two chopped portabello mushroom caps and continued cooking it all until the mushrooms released their moisture and started to brown.
I next added some chicken stock (you could also use veggie stock) pouring in just enough to cover the veggies by a couple of inches. I let the soup simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes. Using my immersion blender, I pureed the soup and then added a couple tablespoons of heavy cream and garnished it with a little fresh parsley before serving.
More Soup Recipes
PrintMushroom and Leek Soup
This mushroom and leek soup is easy to make and is so warm and cozy!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Saute
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 medium leek, chopped (remove the tough green parts)
- 1 medium-sized onion, chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 large portabello mushroom caps (remove the stem and gills), roughly chopped
- 3 cup chicken or veggie stock
- 2–3 fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1/3 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
Instructions
- In a stock pot heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped leek, onion, and garlic. Let it all cook, stirring frequently, until the veggies start to soften, about five minutes or so. Add the mushrooms and continue to cook everything for another 3-4 minutes, or until the mushrooms have started to brown. Pour the stock into the pot add the fresh thyme sprigs, and bring the pot to a simmer. Let the soup simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
- Remove the thyme stems from the pot and discard. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until it’s smooth. If you need to use a stand blender, carefully blend the soup in batches and then return it back to the pot. Stir in the salt, pepper, and heavy cream. Adjust the seasoning, if necessary. Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 of recipe
- Calories: 255
- Sugar: 12.3g
- Sodium: 1702.mg
- Fat: 10.3g
- Saturated Fat: 4.7g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3.5g
- Trans Fat: 0.2g
- Carbohydrates: 29.3g
- Fiber: 3.1g
- Protein: 12.9g
- Cholesterol: 27.8mg
That looks like the perfect bowl of soup to me. Really, there is nothing better than rich, homemade mushroom soup!
It’s so true that getting some good food at a conference is a surprising, delightful experience! It’s a wonder anyone can take any information in when they’re surviving on mediocre pastries and white bread sandwiches.
I love a rich mushroom soup. Always so comforting.
yum! I just started cooking with leeks for the first time this year and they add such a great flavor- this soup looks wonderful!
I’ve been wanting to cook with leeks for some time now. I need to try this delicious soup asap!
I tried this recipe this evening , & it was a delight, thank you really enjoyed it , very easy & quick
John
I just made this soup. A friend had ordered leek and mushroom soup at a really nice restaurant …so she found this recipe. I made it before she had a chance to and it is delish. I used my turkey broth from Thanksgiving and it added a little smokey taste which was nice. Thanks so much.
This was the perfect mushroom soup recipe after much internet searching! I’m excited to try more recipes and check out your book. Thanks!
I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you for the rating, too 🙂
I started out with your recipe and decided to add 2 Yukon Gold potatoes that I had and instead of cream I put in a can of Campbell’s cheddar cheese condensed soup with an extra 1.5 cans of water. I’m on my third helping. Delicious!
Great idea with the potatoes! So glad you liked it – thank you for the rating, too! 🙂
Perfect
I’m about to try this, but was thinking of using chicken bone broth because I heard it’s good for you. Would it ruin the recipe to make this change? Would you do anything different if you used bone broth?
Bone broth would work great! Just use the same amount – the only thing you might need to adjust is the salt, so give it a taste at the end and adjust if needed. Hope that helps!
Very nice recipe.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very tasty!
This is wonderful! I subsituted shitaki mushrooms as they needed to be used up and I used 2 leeks, no onion. Also, I cut up one potato and cooked in it, so when blended it was creamy with no dairy.
Absolutely fabulous filling and tasty soup!!!
So glad you enjoyed it!
I made this soup tonight–excellent! This is so easy and healthy. I will make again and again.
I didn’t have any fresh thyme, so I added a little dried basil and oregano. I also added some chopped carrot since I had a tired looking carrot in the fridge.
I didn’t use large portobello mushroom caps–just most of an open 8 oz tray of regular button mushrooms.
Also, to make it a little lighter, I used half and half instead of heavy cream.
My husband tossed in some homemade crotons and added a splash of Outerbridge’s Sherry Pepper to his.
This soup seems very versatile, I plan to play with it a little more. Thank you!
So glad you loved it!