Name: Instant Pot Mushroom Soup
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 35 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1.1 lb (500 g) white button mushrooms, sliced; 1 medium yellow onion, diced; 5 cloves garlic, chopped finely or minced; 4 tbsp unsalted butter; 1 tbsp cooking oil; 1 vegetable bouillon cube; 1 tsp curry powder; 1/4 tsp ground black pepper; 4 tbsp all-purpose flour; 4 cups vegetable broth; 1/2 cup half and half cream; 2 sprigs parsley; salt, to taste

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Instant Pot Mushroom Soup for cold winter evenings. Comfortingly thick and tasty with an Indian twist!

Yesterday morning, I woke up to a scene right out of Frozen. Blinding white snow everywhere and snowflakes, big as frisbees, flying merrily in the slight wind. Hello, Canadian winter. You're officially here and I'm super glad because now I can do my favorite thing: make soup!

So cream of mushroom soup it was. Thick and delicious, it sat waiting in my trusty instant pot until mid-morning when the boys finally got up and we made short work of it.

And speaking of soup, here's another winter-friendly soup recipe if you are looking to add to your repertoire. Mulligatawny soup is a chunky curry soup that's made for these cold days. Do take a look ... I can bet you won't be disappointed.

How is this instant pot mushroom soup recipe different?

Back to my mushroom soup. This is an easy cream of mushroom soup and it is made with some pretty basic ingredients like onions, garlic, coarse black pepper, butter, broth, bouillon, flour and half and half cream. However, what's the point of posting another mushroom soup recipe, similar to a thousand others floating around the web, you might ask. So, in a bid to jazz up an ordinary recipe and to keep true to the theme of my blog (Indian food), I added one extra ingredient: curry powder!

Yes, curry powder makes this soup quite special, believe it or not. It gives it lots of extra flavor and a pleasing golden color.

How to make vegan cream of mushroom soup

This is a vegetarian mushroom soup recipe, but if you are on a vegan diet, you can make this soup vegan very easily by swapping out just two ingredients. Omit the butter and use vegan butter or just plain cooking oil, and switch the half and half cream with coconut cream. The latter will only enhance the taste of the soup and give it a mild coconut taste and flavor. Not a bad deal at all.

How to make instant pot mushroom soup

Note: Exact quantities of these ingredients are given in the recipe card below.

Preparation

1. Dice the onion.

2. Mince the garlic.

3. Slice mushrooms.

Cooking

1. Switch on the instant pot to saute (normal) and melt butter + cooking oil (vegan butter if you're following a vegan diet). Add the onions and garlic. Saute until soft and fragrant (3-4 mins, picture 1).

2. Add mushrooms, one vegetable bouillon cube, curry powder and black pepper. Cook until the mushrooms release water and become soft (5 mins, picture 2).

3. Add all-purpose flour and vegetable broth. Mix everything well and cancel saute. Secure the lid and make sure the steam release handle is sealed. Hit the pressure cooking button (high) and set the timer to 4 minutes. When the pot beeps, wait for 10 minutes before releasing pressure (picture 3).

4. Open the pot (picture 4) and stir through the half and half cream. Substitute the half and half with 1 cup coconut milk or ½ cup coconut cream if making vegan soup. Add chopped parsley and serve hot (picture 5).

Why this cream of mushroom soup works

1. It is really delicious. Yes, it's the combination of ingredients in the right proportions that works the magic every time.

2. It is homemade and you know exactly what's gone into it. The same can't be said for readymade soups that come in a tetra pack, obviously.

3. It's a quick and easy recipe. Takes all of 35 minutes from pot to bowl.

4. It's customizable. You can easily make it vegan by swapping out two ingredients only.

A few useful tips

1. Instead of half and half cream, you can also use heavy cream. This will make the soup richer and heavier.

2. Use salt with caution as the broth and bouillon both have salt. The best advice here is to taste and go!

3. If you are not vegetarian, you can use chicken broth in place of vegetable broth.

4. I used white button mushrooms but you can use cremini or portobello too. These varieties will, however, give the soup a darker brown color.

5. If you want a smoother soup, you can blend it in the pot using an immersion blender. Blend to the desired consistency. I usually don't do this since everyone in my home likes the taste of whole mushrooms in their mouths, but it's a personal preference.

Other vegan instant pot mushroom recipes you might like

Mushroom Pulao - A tasty one-pot mushroom and rice pilaf that makes for a perfect brunch recipe.

Mushroom Masala - Mushroom curry made creamy with cashews.