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Vegan Mushroom Soup

Vegan mushroom soup
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5 from 14 reviews

This vegan mushroom soup is delightfully creamy and hearty, featuring loads of veggies and hearty whole grains! 

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3/4 cup unsalted cashews
  • 1 medium yellow onion
  • 3 celery ribs
  • 2 medium carrots
  • 1 pound mushrooms: cremini* (aka baby bella) or a mix of baby bella and shiitake
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil
  • 8 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 cup dry pearled barley or farro (make sure it is pearled*), or white rice for gluten free**
  • 1 teaspoon each garlic powder and dried thyme
  • 1 tablespoon each dried oregano and dried dill
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt +1/4 teaspoon
  • Fresh ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce (or smoked shoyu), or more salt to taste
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions

  1. Place the cashews in a bowl and cover them with water. Leave them to soak while you make the recipe.
  2. Dice the onion. Thinly slice the celery. Peel and dice the carrots. Clean the mushrooms and slice them (if you’re using shiitake, make sure to remove the tough stems). Mince the garlic.
  3. Add the olive oil to a Dutch oven or soup pot. Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes until lightly browned. Add mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the garlic and stir for 2 minutes.
  4. Add the vegetable broth, barley, garlic powder, thyme, oregano, dill, kosher salt, and black pepper. Bring to a simmer. Cover the pot and simmer for about 20 to 25 minutes until the barley or farro is tender, stirring occasionally.
  5. Using a liquid cup measure, carefully remove 2 cups of the hot soup (including broth, veggies and barley) to a blender. Drain the cashews and add them to the blender, along with the cornstarch and soy sauce. Blend on high for about 1 minute until creamy. Then pour the creamy mixture back into the soup and simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes until thickened.
  6. Enjoy warm. Stores refrigerated for 3 days.

Notes

*Pearled barley cooks in about 20 minutes, whereas hulled barley cooks in about 50 to 55 minutes. The hulled barley has just the outer hull removed, whereas pearled also has the outer husk and bran layer removed, similar to the difference between white rice and brown rice. Check the package cook time to determine the difference if the package is not marked. 

**For gluten free, substitute white rice for the barley. You can also substitute brown rice, but cook it separately and add to the soup. In both cases, you can reduce the cook time in Step 4 to about 15 minutes.