Easy Dairy Free Mushroom Soup

Dairy free mushroom soup is a must for any mushroom lover. Easy to make, ready in 30 minutes and cooks in just one pot! This recipe uses simple ingredients but is full of deep savory flavors. It’s sure to become your go-to favorite.

If you your go-to comfort food meal is soup, you should check out my favorite soup recipes, including Greek Lemon Chickpea Soup and Butternut Squash Soup.

Bowl of easy vegan mushroom soup with a wooden spoon in the bowl.

Here, you’ll find simple, gluten free recipes that are easy to make, quick and and packed with the best ingredients. I love sharing easy, from-scratch meals that fit into busy lives. To get to know more about Bites of Wellness and my fresh take on food, head over to the About page!

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Why you will love this recipe

  • Simple ingredients that let mushrooms be the stary
  • Quick and easy
  • 30 minute meal
  • Better than store bought
  • No canned soup
  • Thick and creamy without any dairy!
  • One pot meal
  • Great for entertaining – this recipe is perfect for entertaining because its not only flavorful but also vegan, dairy free, gluten free and Whole30 friendly.
Easy vegan mushroom soup ingredients laid out on a white table.

Spotlight on key ingredients

  • Sliced mushrooms – I recommend a combination of white mushrooms and baby bella mushrooms (cremini mushrooms). You could also use all white mushrooms or all baby bella mushrooms.
    • Shitake mushrooms or larger portobello mushrooms cut down into bite size pieces can also be used..
  • Fresh Thyme – fresh thyme is what really gives this recipe its fantastic flavor. You can make this with dried thyme, you will only need 1 teaspoon.
  • Vegetable broth – vegetable broth helps the soup taste like it’s been cooking all day on the stove.
  • Arrowroot powder – arrowroot powder helps to thicken the soup, helping to create a creamy mushroom soup texture without being too thick. You can also use tapioca starch or cornstarch.
  • Dairy free milk – dairy free milk helps create that creamy mushroom soup consistency and flavor without using any dairy. You can use almond milk, cashew milk, oat milk, canned coconut milk (full fat coconut milk), or whatever your favorite nondairy milk is.

How to make dairy free mushroom soup

Chop the onions and slice the mushrooms. Bring a large pot over medium heat. Sauté the onions until slightly softened. 

Add the mushrooms to the onions in the pot and cook mushrooms and onions for 5-6 minutes.

Sliced mushrooms being added to large pot with onions.

Add the fresh thyme, salt, garlic powder, bay leaves and coconut aminos to the mushroom and onion mixture.

Wood spoon stirring fresh thyme into mushroom mixture.

Mix the arrowroot powder into the vegetable broth (or vegetable stock) and stir well until completely combined. Pour the arrowroot powder and vegetable broth slurry and the dairy free milk into the mushroom and onion mixture and allow it to come to a simmer for 15 minutes to thicken.

After 15 minutes, serve hot or you can blend up some of the soup with an immersion blender to thicken the soup a little more to create a creamy mushroom soup.

Top tips

  • Time saving tip – You can buy pre-sliced mushrooms (white baby mushrooms or cremini mushrooms) in most grocery stores. This can help save you time on the prep of this recipe.
  • Double or triple the recipe – As written, this soup only makes 2 large bowls, which disappears quickly. You can double or triple the ingredients to make a larger batch of soup. Just note that it may take longer to sweat out the mushrooms. Also be sure to use a large pot.
  • To prepare the mushrooms, use a dry paper towel to brush off any soil/dirt you see.
  • Wait to salt the mushrooms until after they have cooked down for some time. Adding salt too early can cause the mushrooms to not fully release all their water, which can give them a spongy texture.

Serving suggestions

This soup is creamy and hearty but not super filling since it’s mostly just mushrooms. Therefore, I recommend serving it as a starter/appetizer or served with salad and/or bread.

  • Salad – Soup and salad go together so well (add a hunk of bread and call it a meal). Some great options would be Shaved Brussel Sprouts Salad, or Cruciferous Crunch Salad
  • Bread or crackersHomemade Seed Crackers, pita bread, or crusty bread warmed up in the oven.
  • Grains – To make the soup more filling you could add 1 cup of cooked grains (rice, quinoa) to the soup.

Topping Ideas

Give the soup more texture by adding a topping. Some great options include:

  • Croutons
  • Fried onions
  • Parmesan cheese (regular or vegan)
  • Microgreens (broccoli, kale, arugula, radish)
  • Fresh thyme leaves
Silver ladle scooping a serving of homemade mushroom soup from a large pot

Common Questions

What if you don’t have fresh thyme?

  • Dried thyme – Dried herbs are much stronger, so you will want to use about 1 teaspoon.
  • Herbs de Provence – add about 1-2 teaspoons
  • Dried Italian seasoning – add about 1-2 teaspoons.

When using dried herbs, I recommend to rub them through your fingers, this helps release some of the natural oils in the herbs, giving them more flavor.

Spoon picking up a mushroom from a bowl of creamy mushroom soup.

How to thicken soup without heavy cream

Arrowroot (or tapioca flour or cornstarch) is used to thicken the soup.

It’s important that you fully mix in the arrowroot powder into cold or room temperature liquid before adding it to the heat. This is to ensure the arrowroot doesn’t clump in the soup.

To make the soup even creamier, blend half of the soup with an immersion blender or high-speed blender to help thicken it more. You could also add pureed white beans or mashed potatoes to the soup to help thicken it without cream.

Can this soup be made ahead of time?

The beauty of this easy mushroom soup is that it’s almost better the next day, so if you are having company, this would be a great make ahead meal. Just give the soup a few minutes to come back up to temperature over medium low heat before serving.

Note: This recipe only makes 2 servings, so if you are making it for company, you will want to double the recipe.

★ Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating below!
Overhead shot of bowl of best ever mushroom soup with a wooden handled spoon in the bowl on the left side of the bowl. Fresh mushrooms and thyme leaves surround the bowl and there is a grey striped napkin to the left of the bowl

Dairy Free Mushroom Soup

Dairy free mushroom soup is rich, creamy and so easy to make. This healthy mushroom soup is great lunch or dinner and has the best flavor. Ready in just 30 minutes, this creamy mushroom soup is made without dairy and cooks in just one pot.
4.92 from 149 votes
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Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Keyword: easy vegan mushroom soup, healthy vegan mushroom soup, mushroom soup, vegan mushroom soup
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 2

Guided Recipe Video

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onions and cook for 5-7 minutes while you slice the mushrooms..
  • After 5-7 minutes, move the onions to the sides of the pot and add the mushrooms, allow to cook 5 minutes.
  • Stir the onions and mushrooms together. Add fresh thyme leaves and continue to cook, at least 10 minutes.
    Note: You will notice a substantial amount of water has come out of the mushrooms, and they are reduced in volume by half.
  • Add the bay leaf, salt, coconut aminos and garlic powder (optional) to the mushrooms.
  • Add the tapioca starch to a bowl with the vegetable broth and stir well to combine. Add the vegetable broth mixture and dairy free milk to the mushroom mixture and stir well.
  • Allow to cook for at least 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste and add freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Equipment

Notes

Top tips
  • This soup is amazing the next day as well and can easily be doubled or tripled.
  • To make the soup creamier, you can blend half the soup in a high speed blender (be careful, it’s hot). 
  • To thicken the soup even more, you can add a can of drained white beans or boiled potatoes. 
  • A mixture of cremini (baby portobello) and white button mushrooms are best. However you can use all cremini or all white button mushrooms if you need to.
  • If you don’t have fresh thyme, you can use 1 teaspoon of dried thyme.
  • Dairy free milks that this works well with include: unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk, cashew milk or oat milk.
  • Substitutes for tapioca starch include arrowroot powder or cornstarch.
Storing leftovers
  • Fridge – Store leftovers in an airtight container up to 4 days in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove!
  • Freezer – If needed, you can also freeze the leftovers for up to 2 months in a freezer safe container. However, arrowroot powder can get a little gritty after freezing. so I recommend that you don’t freeze it unless absolutely necessary. 

Nutrition Information

Nutrition Facts
Amount per Serving
Calories
116
Fat
 
1
g
Carbohydrates
 
21
g
Fiber
 
3
g
Sugar
 
7
g
Protein
 
6
g
Where does nutrition info come from? Nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy, sourced from the USDA Food Database.
DID YOU LOVE THIS RECIPE?Let others know by rating and leaving a comment below!

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293 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Mommy just made this for the fan and it was a hit! Super simple and quick to make. My only modification I made was I took a small portion of the soup and blended it to create a slightly thicker texture :)

  2. 5 stars
    Came across this recipe online and decided to give it a try. Let me tell you this is THE BEST recipe for mushroom soup I have ever made! My other half was eating it and asking if there was any leftover for the next day as he would be sad if not! Great recipe! Thank you :)

  3. 5 stars
    This was delicious! I added an extra 1/2 cup of both the broth and the almond milk, another tbsp of corn starch (I didn’t have tapioca flour) and some white pepper. Perfection-thank you so much for this recipe!

  4. 5 stars
    TOTALLY the best ever! And I eat mushrooms every day (Fuhrman). This week, after making a mushroom heavy stock (from Serious Eats blog) I was dying for a good mushroom soup and wasn’t in the mood to mess around with all their complications today and suspicious. Searched online and there you were!

    SO HAPPY I didn’t! Yours is the VERY BEST I’ve ever had. And I’m sorta picky LOL.

    Thank you so much. I’m eating it all day today in Florida 32 degree weather!

  5. 5 stars
    I adored this soup! I made it with my mom and it was fun and tasty! We added shiitake mushrooms, garlic and Herbs de Provence which was so lovely and aromatic. Can’t wait to make it again! Thanks so much for this one!

  6. 5 stars
    We also have a nut allergy in our family so I am using hemp coconut milk – concerned it may come out too “coconut”flavor, but it’s cooking now so we will see! I used leeks instead of white onions, stay tuned!

  7. 5 stars
    Appropriately named! I am in heaven eating this right now. The only adjustment I made was adding garlic in the beginning. The flavor is mellow and savory and just perfect! My only complaint is that I only made a single batch!

  8. I’m curious how you get your nutrition information. I have to be very careful about potassium and the amount listed is huge – half my daily allowance. But none of the ingredients that I’m familiar with are very high in potassium. Not sure about coconut milk since I only use rice milk. I’d love to try this recipe but I’m just not sure.

    1. Hi Margaret!
      The recipe info pulls from an online database. You can easily do an import of the recipe to your favorite calorie tracker like My Fitness Pal to potentially get more accurate info.

  9. 5 stars
    This soup is fabulous. I made one change though. Instead of veggie broth I soaked dried mixed mushrooms in a cup of boiled water and then strained. Makes it even more delicious

  10. 5 stars
    Just made and it is amazing!!!! Used soy sauce and tried chia seeds instead of tapioca but it didn’t really thicken so I took some out and blended with stick blender then added it back. Made for lunches for next couple of days but boyfriend will be home soon and he loves mushrooms so it might be gone before tomorrow lol. Already decided this is my Xmas dinner starter :-)

    Just a warning though if you are making it for a vegetarian or vegan do NOT add Parmesan cheese as this is not suitable for vegetarians.

  11. 5 stars
    After reading that it tastes even better on day 2, I decided to make this tonight for lunches for the next few days My initial sneak taste was AMAZING! Could you make this is a crock pot, do you think???

  12. 5 stars
    I am making this for the third time today, and just wanted to add to the chorus of compliments! Thanks for Such a great recipe!

  13. 5 stars
    You weren’t kidding, this soup is amazing!

    I didn’t think I would be able to recreate it well, but the simplicity left little margin for errors and it came out fantastic! Thank you for the awesome and easy to follow recipe.

  14. 5 stars
    I had Mushroom Bisque soup at Seasons 52 a week ago and I have been craving it ever since. Well, this recipe is delicious and almost a carbon copy. Thank you, this will be made often in our home over the next few months :-)

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