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Mushroom soup will definitely get creamy without cream - you just need the right technique. The key thing is to puree part of the cooked mushrooms. That makes the soup creamy all on its own because the mushrooms release natural pectins. For example, you can blend half the soup until smooth with an immersion blender and leave the other half with whole or chopped mushroom pieces - that way you get a nice creamy texture with some bite to it.
If you don't think pureeing alone makes it creamy enough, you can also add mashed potatoes or cooked potatoes and blend those in. That thickens the soup really well and makes it super creamy. Some people use oats or flour as a binder too - just cook them in early on, then they dissolve and thicken things naturally. Don't forget the seasoning: good umami really helps. A splash of soy sauce, dried mushrooms cooked in the broth, or just generous salting brings all the flavor forward.
Coconut milk or cashew cream are also good options if you want it even creamier, but honestly pureeing is really the game-changer. Try it out - you'll be surprised how creamy it gets without having to dump anything extra in there.
Absolutely - cream isn't really necessary. You can use crème fraîche, yogurt, or even coconut milk instead, depending on what flavor you're going for. Another trick is to really puree the mushrooms well and then thicken it with some potatoes or flour - that'll give you that creamy texture without any cream products.
Here's another trick a lot of people forget: stirring in a grated potato or a bit of cornstarch makes the soup super creamy and binds everything nicely. That works way better than just pureeing if you really want a thick, velvety texture without cream.
Try properly searing the mushrooms and then deglazing with broth - if you keep that fond from searing in the soup, it'll get pretty rich. Those are the mushrooms' natural juices, and they give the whole thing body.
If that's still not creamy enough for you, you can always stir in an egg or egg yolk, but only once the soup stops simmering, or it'll curdle on you. Tastes kind of more luxurious that way than with cream anyway.
If you forage for mushrooms yourself, you've already got a big advantage - lots of wild mushrooms naturally have more flavor and umami than farmed ones, which makes the soup feel richer and creamier on its own, even without cream. But watch out: especially with foraged mushrooms, you really need to make sure you've identified them correctly before you process them - once you've puréed them, you won't be able to spot any issues anymore. Otherwise, like I said, it works perfectly with potato starch or puréed mushrooms, but the flavor makes the bigger difference here.
I'm not 100% on one side about this 😅 creamy definitely works, but "cream isn't necessary" might be a bit of an overstatement - it really does help a lot with the mouthfeel. But yeah, there are good alternatives that I actually prefer myself. Butter is underrated - if you whisk a decent amount of cold butter into the purée at the end (beurre blanc technique), it gets incredibly creamy and much silkier than just using cream. That works better than all the other tricks.
The purée thing is obviously right, but I'd add to that: not just some of the mushrooms, but also the onion and maybe a small potato should go into the purée too. That binds much better than just the mushrooms alone. And with starch - yeah, doable, but then it quickly gets too thick and has this slightly rubbery bite if you're not careful. Better to cook a proper base that becomes creamy on its own.
But the stock trick is really gold 👌 intense flavor from the start makes such a huge difference. Combine that with good butter at the end and you don't need cream at all - sometimes it even tastes better.
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