Creamy, rich and intensely flavorful, this slow cooker mushroom soup with white beans is absolutely dreamy. It cooks entirely in the slow cooker, being tended to once or twice during the process, so it suits a slow day at home. Perfect for a warming winter meal or a simple dinner party appetizer.
This mushroom soup recipe came about after seeing how popular my Slow Cooker Mushroom Risotto is getting. When done right, the slow cooker can do some amazing things with mushrooms without any need for pre-browning! And I just needed to do more with this concept.
So lets make a rich, velvety, mushroom soup entirely in the slow cooker.
This really is cooked 100% in the crockpot with no pre-browning of the mushrooms, and if you’re skeptical about that, I totally get it (I was too). But we aren’t just going to boil the mushrooms from raw. We will use a two stage process.
- First, we will use the slow cooker to braise the mushrooms, in butter, with herbs and garlic, which brings out the flavor in a huge way.
- Then we go in and add all the stock and transform the mushrooms into a soup.
This process will suit the days when you’re at home and available to dip in and out as needed, or you can make it across two days (instructions are in the recipe card’s notes section).
White beans are a little surprise ingredient here. They add some body to the soup and make it extra thick, creamy and filling. But you’d never know they were there. There’s no beany taste whatsoever and the flavor of the soup is intense enough not to be derailed by them. In fact, you kind of want them there to mellow things out.
What’s important to know about the ingredients and substitutions
- You can use any kind of mushrooms here. I’ve used chestnut, portobello, or a mix. If you’re using 100% white mushrooms the flavor will be a little more mellow. This is also a good home for some exotic mushrooms. A few shiitakes will always be welcome. But you don’t need to use anything special. The flavor is well developed enough with the normal ones.
- I use cannellini beans but I’ve tested it with butter beans and that worked just as well. Any white beans should be fine.
- A little white wine in this recipe contributes a nice flavor, but swap in veggie broth if you wish (and maybe a little lemon juice at the end to bring in an acidic component).
- Salted butter all the way – if you don’t use salted butter, make sure to season the soup extra well.
- You can definitely play around with the herbs. I’m loving the combo of provencal herbs, tarragon and nutmeg. If you’d prefer, you can use a mix of herbs such as thyme, sage, parsley and rosemary. You can’t go too wrong here.
- The carrot is optional – it helps to build up a flavorful base but it’s not a deal breaker.
- I love pecorino in this soup, but any kind of parmesan / pecorino / Italian hard cheese will work nicely. If you’re vegetarian, use one made without animal rennet (Tesco sell a vegetarian friendly pecorino in the UK, and in the US some US-made parmesans are vegetarian friendly too).
More Easy Warming Mushroomy Meals
Slow Cooker Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 2 lb mushrooms, stems removed and roughly chopped
- 6 tbsp (90 g) salted butter, chopped into smaller chunks
- 2 tbsp white wine
- 3 shallots, sliced
- ½ large carrot, sliced
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tbsp dried provencal herbs mix
- 1 tsp dried tarragon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 2 cups (475 ml) vegetable stock
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) double (heavy) cream
- ½ cup (50 g) pecorino, parmesan or Italian hard cheese, grated
- 14 oz (400 g) canned white beans, drained and rinsed
Instructions
- Turn the slow cooker onto HIGH. Add the butter to the slow cooker first, before you start prepping the other ingredients, just to give it a head start on melting as the slow cooker warms up.Then chop and add the shallots, carrot, garlic and mushrooms. Add the herbs and wine, give it all a good stir, and leave to cook for 3 hours. Once the mushrooms start to reduce, you can lift the lid and give everything a good stir.2 lb mushrooms, 6 tbsp salted butter, 2 tbsp white wine, 3 shallots, 1/2 large carrot, 6 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp dried provencal herbs mix, 1 tsp dried tarragon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- Check the mushrooms. We want them to be well reduced, and the juices and butter should have formed a rich bubbling sauce. I would make sure they've cooked for 3 hours on high at the very minimum before moving on (this helps to ensure the wine has a chance to mellow out), but you can leave them longer if you wish.
- Add the white beans and vegetable stock, then cook for another 1-2 hours to bring it all back up to a high heat. You can err on the lower side if you add the stock already hot – if you add cold stock, the entire pan needs to come back up to heat and that will take longer.2 cups vegetable stock, 14 oz canned white beans
- Puree the soup. If you have an immersion blender, you can do that in the pan! Otherwise, transfer the soup to a jug blender to blend, and then transfer it back once smooth.You can blend this soup to a very smooth velvety texture or you can leave it just a little bit more textured – either way is good.
- Add the cream and cheese. Stir through until the cheese has melted through and you have a delightfully creamy soup! You can now serve it immediately, or leave it on KEEP WARM until you're ready.1/3 cup double (heavy) cream, 1/2 cup pecorino, parmesan or Italian hard cheese
- Serve with fresh bread, and some parsley or chives for topping if available.
Notes
- Day One: Steps 1-2. Cook the mushrooms,, then transfer to a large storage dish. Place in the fridge overnight.
- Day Two: Steps 3-6. Add the mushrooms back into the slow cooker, then immediately add the stock and beans (Step 3). But because you’ve added the mushrooms cold, you will likely need 2+ hours to bring the pan back up to a nice bubbling heat before you can move on to Step 4.