For those of you who want to take a stab at making cream of mushroom soup, here is the recipe that I made in the How to Make Gluten Free Cream of Mushroom Soup tutorial. I’ve named the recipe No. 1 because I’m sure that I will come up with other versions at some point. In fact, I’ll probably add a little garlic powder, sage, and thyme to this recipe the next time I make it. Feel free to adjust the seasonings to your taste. That’s the beauty of making things yourself!
If you’re making cream of mushroom soup for the first time and are feeling a bit overwhelmed, you can always spread the work out. I would recommend making the sauce one weekend afternoon and then refrigerating it for use in a weeknight recipe. I saved half of the batch I made and used if for Green Bean Casserole two or three days later and it was yummy =)
Instructions
Yield: Equivalent of two cans of condensed soup, I think
- 16 oz. Portabella mushrooms (or any mushroom with a hearty flavor
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1/2 c. gluten free flour (I used brown rice flour because of its subtle flavor)
- 2 c. chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 1/2 c. light cream or half & half (or 1 1/8 c. plain soymilk + 3/8 c. canola oil)
- squirt of lemon juice
- white pepper to taste
- a tiny pinch of nutmeg
- Sauté mushrooms over medium-low heat in 1 tsp. of olive oil. Set the mushrooms aside once they have released their juices.
- In a clean skillet, melt the 4 Tbsp. of butter. Once the butter is melted, gradually add the flour to the butter while constantly whisking.
- Once you’ve added all of the flour, allow the roux to cook for a few minutes while you continue to whisk it.
- Gradually began to add the stock to the roux. Add a little bit and whisk it in before you add any more. Once you’ve added all of the stock begin adding the cream.
- After adding all of the cream, bring the sauce to a simmer and let it cook for one minute. Continue whisking since the sauce may continue to thicken. Add the sautéed mushrooms into the sauce, and you’re done.
Tutorial
So many of the favorite dishes from my childhood started with a can of Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup. Poppy Seed Chicken, Chicken Rollups, Chicken Spaghetti Casserole, my Grandmother’s gravy….all unattainable on a gluten free diet until you learn how to make a white sauce.
For more great gluten free recipes like this one, make sure to check out my ebook, The Gluten Free Survival Guide. It’s full of all of my favorite GF recipes, like sandwich bread, waffles and tortillas, plus I cover how to make great soups, sauces and gravy. I know you’ll enjoy the recipes as much as my family does!
I first discovered white sauce in my great-grandmother’s cookbook. My grandmother gave it to me when she was cleaning out her house and there were so many recipes that I had never heard of. The book got packed away in my hope chest until John started eating gluten free during our last year of college. I pulled it out and began making white sauces, otherwise known as Bechamel. We had a lot of fun trying different variations and ended up eating a lot of casseroles and pastas. If you’re trying this for the first time, I highly recommend a bottle of wine, good music, and a relaxed evening.
P.S. The picture from the Gluten Free Contest is a close-up of this Cream of Mushroom Soup. Three people guessed correctly, but Natalie at Gluten Free Mommy is the winner and gets to pick the topic of my next post.
Instructions
This post is really about learning technique, so I’m going to post the recipe separately. There are a lots of different bechamel sauces, but the process of making them all is the same. The following is the basic structure – the bones – of making a good sauce. Once you’ve gotten this down you’ll be able to improvise to your heart’s content.
Sauté the Mushrooms
First, dice about 8 oz. of portabella mushrooms and sauté them in a little bit of olive oil until they release their juices. Set the mushrooms aside, we’re going to stir them in at the end.
Melt the Unsalted Butter
Over medium-low heat, melt 4 tbsp. of unsalted butter. Go ahead and splurge and use the really good stuff =)
Whisk in the Gluten Free Flour
Once you’ve started whisking in the flour, you’re officially making a roux. This is the same stuff that Louisianians’ use to make gumbo, but we’re not going to let ours get that dark. The traditional recipe for bechamel sauce uses equal measurements of flour and butter. The recipe that I followed here called for quite a bit more, so your roux may not get as thick. I’ve used brown rice flour, but feel free to use your favorite gluten free flour. Just be sure that you like the taste of it because it will come through in the sauce. So now, just add a little flour to the butter and whisk it in. Once that flour is mixed in, add a little bit more and whisk again. At first it will look like this:
However, it will eventually form a paste that is somewhat like the consistency of cake icing.
Keep whisking the roux over the heat and allow it to cook until the floury taste has lessened.
Now Start Adding the Liquid
Once you’ve added all of the flour, you can start adding the liquids. In fact, I think that I had already started adding vegetable stock in the picture above and the roux had started to expand a bit. When you’re making a bechamel sauce you should either add cold liquid to a hot roux, or cold roux to a hot liquid. In this case our roux is hot, so the liquids should be cold. In the recipe that I’m making in the picture, I added vegetable stock and then cream. Many bechamel sauces will only call for cream. After I had whisked in all of the stock my sauce looked like this:
After adding the cream it looked like this:
When you add the liquids it’s important to just add a little bit and then whisk it in. Once that liquid is incorporated, add a little bit more. At first the roux will absorb all of the liquid and it will seem to be making something almost like dough. Just keep adding liquid a little at a time, and keep whisking. If you think you’ve added too much liquid, keep whisking. Roux is an amazing thickener and it will keep thickening as you cook. The only times I’ve gotten in trouble with a Bechamel sauce is when I’ve added more flour at this point – don’t do that unless it’s been cooking for a really long time and is just not getting thick again.
Add the Mushrooms Back to the Soup
Once you’ve finished adding the liquids, you can stir the mushrooms back into the soup.
Feel free to let the soup sit over low heat while you finish the other parts of your meal. A thick skin may form on the surface of the soup, but you can easily reincorporate it by whisking the sauce.
Proceed with Dinner
If you were planning on having the soup as soup, then serve up some bowls and enjoy! Otherwise, go ahead and add it to any recipe that calls for cream of mushroom soup and continue that recipe according to its instructions.
BAH! Oh how I wish I would have read this 40 minutes ago!
I will be printing this one for my next soup madness.
=)
You’re a genius!
-Kate
Oh come now, we’ve got to have more details than that =)
Holy Mother Mary of God! This was awesome, even with Potato Flour. My 5 yr old son is Wheat free, Casiene free and he loved it. I put it in my pot of Chicken and dumplings. Although I am not sure I did a good job on my dumplings, the stew was absolutely delicious. Good grief the whole family loved it. This is surely going to be on the menu from now on. We are going to make the mushroom soup for a Tuna Noodle Casserole. Yum! Thanks so much for this recipe, other recipes seem impossible to make, this was simple. My husband helped me make it by stirring while I added things. Thanks!
YUMMY, I HAVE GOT TO TELL YOU THAT I MADE CREAM OF POTATO AND WITH POTATO FLOUR AND IT WAS GREAT. THE ONLY THING IT NEEDED WAS A LITTLE SALT AND PEPPER THAT WAS IT. NEXT TIME WE PUT PEAS OR HAM IN IT. CREATING A WHOLE NEW MENU WITH THIS RECIPE. TONIGHT I MAKE TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE WITH THE CREAM OF MUSHROOM. THANKS AGAIN.
mmm…tuna noodle casserole. It’s been a long time since I’ve had that. Hope it’s great!
Here is the recipe I used FOR TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE
I actually doubled the recipe. I had some modifications due to what I had on hand.
First I used white rice flour. I used 3 cans of portbello mushrooms. I still followed the directions above. Only I left them on low while I was making the cream soup. Then I put them in a food processor for a few seconds to make smaller pieces. Use whatever gluten free noodles on hand, we used long spagetti. (Found them at Giant Eagle, try glutenfreemall.com for noodles, also gfcf.com for yummy stuff and glutenfree.com. for other stuff) I cooked noodles first so they would be cool. I cooked my the rest of the family thier noodles as well. Since my son is Casien free I used the soy milk/oil mix. YUM. Here is what I do. I mix the noodles and soup to taste, then I add the following and no matter how wierd it sounds, it is so amazing. My sister in law hasn’t had this in 9 years she was in heaven. I mixed it with salt, pepper, onion powder, onion salt, garlic powder all to taste. Also, add a couple of tablespoons of your gluten free Helmens or Kraft Mayo, swirl some mustard (gluten free of course), it will give that taste that seems to be missing before you add it in. This is so flavorful that you will set your taste buds on a ride once all this is mixed in. I just kept mixing and adding more in to give it alot of flavor. Ok, so you know my secret Tuna Noodle Casserol it is good hot or cold. Heck now everyone knows. Enjoy.
Loretta, Thank you so much! My mouth is watering just reading the recipe =)
OK, I used this instead of a can of cream of mushroom soup as was called for in a breakfast casserole recipe. It was a little different than making a roux with regular flour -the roux never got really thick UNTIL I added the GF stock and then it really got thick quick! I almost added more GF flour thinking I needed more -thank goodness I didn’t do that -I actually used double the amount of liquid called for and had up until that point followed the recipe perfectly. The flour I used was Bob’s Red Mill all purpose GF flour mix (maybe that was the problem?) Anyway, this was amazing and the breakfast casserole was awesome – I actually served a 100% GF brunch to guests and they never even guessed! 🙂 I’m happy to share the casserole recipe if you want it.
Thanks so much for this blog -I’m new to your site and I just love it!
Wow! This was delicious! Let me just say, I do NOT like to cook (and I’m not very good at it), but being a stay at home mom to four boys (w/another on the way) I have to cook (from scratch) – and often. Boys are hungry!!! My fourth son (18 mos) is allergic to almost everything under the sun and is the finickiest eater, so finding an allergy free recipe that suits his palate is challenging. Well, as I type this he is devouring this recipe! I made a couple of moderations to it because we didn’t have mushrooms and my cupboards are practically bare. So, I sauteed onions, instead of mushrooms and used Lactaid Whole Milk, instead of cream. I used potato flour, but will try rice flour next time. Finally, I added some mixed vegetables (frozen, but fresh would be much yummier!) to a small portion of the soup to serve to my son. He loves it!!! I am very curious if this freezes well. It would be nice to make a large pan of it and freeze it to use in other recipes later. Thank you!!!
I agree with everyone: this recipe is delish and a meal-saver! I, too, would like to know if it freezes well? And, would this same basic technique work for cream of chicken soup? Has anyone tried a cheese soup made with rice cheese? I have a daughter who is gluten and casein free and misses her cheese…Please advise. Thanks so much, Mary Frances. I’ll be checking in with your site more often!
Hi Mary Frances,
I loved this recipe, even though I played around with it a little (I used beef broth instead of chicken/vegetable broth, added onions and fresh thyme.) It was so easy and delicious. You have a terrific site, lots of great recipes and ideas. Thanks!
This was great!
Once I found this recipe, I was smacking my head – a roux! Of course! I should’ve thought of that!
I’ve been making homemade cream of mushroom soup substitute for years to avoid the MSG in commercial soups. So, when we went gluten-free, it wasn’t something new to me. However, my recipe was a powdered mix that used powdered milk. I am attempting to eliminate powdered milk from my house, and have stopped making up the powdered mushroom soup mix. I forgot that I didn’t have any left when my son requested our Tuna Rice Casserole for his birthday dinner. When I went to make the soup mix (to substitute for cans of cream of mushroom), I was surprised to discover we were out! Then I was scrambling online to find a substitute for my substitute!
I’m SO thankful you posted this. I am very familiar with making a roux. The only changes I made to the soup recipe is to add thyme and salt, as these seem to make it taste more like the familiar (to me) canned soup of my childhood.
I echo others though in the question: Does this freeze well?
Or should I attempt to can it?
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Thank you so much! I am gluten-intolerant, and just now stumbling onto your website. I really appreciate you sharing your knowledge with those of us still trying to get a grip on all this stuff!
I too would love to know if this freezes in decent shape…
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Wow! This is great. I have been wondering what I will use for crockpot recipes now that I can’t eat wheat. Can’t wait to try it!
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Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. Now I can make all kinds of different meals for my daughter and her husband. My daughter requires Gluten Free food. I used this recipe tonight substituting chicken for the mushrooms to make a cream of chicken soup. I then made two batches of enchiladas, using the gluten free soup in one and regular cream of chicken soup in the other. Everyone in our family preferred the gluten free version. I did end up cooking it a bit longer in order to get the thickness I wanted.
Wow!!! That is awesome! Just made it to use in my green bean casserole for Thanksgiving! I added a little salt, black pepper, sour cream, and shredded cheese. I actually like it better than the traditional one. I’m going completely gluten free this year for my brother, who hasn’t been able to enjoy a lot of dishes at Thanksgiving. I also have a gluten free cornbread, sausage, granny smith apple, and cranberry stuffing that is to die for! I’m just pleasantly surprised at how good gluten free is tasting! Thanks for an awesome recipe!