A mix of savory mushrooms is simmered up with veggies and hearty barley in a silky cashew base to make this rich and indulgent creamy vegan mushroom soup.
I'm just going to put this out there: this soup is awesome.
This is one of those recipes that I've been making some variation of forever, tweaking and perfecting, until it finally reached that point where I had to share it. The original recipe came from my mom's collection. Back when I moved out of the house, I made a point of copying all of my mom's favorite recipes down on index cards, because that's how we shared recipes back in the old days.
Anyhow, I still have a little box of recipe cards from mom that I dive into from time to time. Mushroom barley soup was one of my favorites from that box. The original recipe was pretty simple, though it wasn't vegan. I made a few swaps and added in some soymilk to make it creamy. For a long time it was one of my favorite soups.
But as my cooking changed, the recipe evolved. Wine and fresh thyme were new additions, different types of mushrooms entered the picture (the recipe works with all kinds!), and soy milk got replaced with super creamy cashews. This last time I made it I decided to blend up some of the soup — mushrooms, veggies, barley and all. That's what put it over the top. If you're looking for something super cozy and comforting that nobody would ever guess was vegan, well here you go.
FAQ & Tips for Making the Best Creamy Vegan Mushroom Barley Soup
- Look for miso in the international foods section of your supermarket. If you can't find it there, try an Asian market or Amazon.
- Can this recipe be made gluten-free? Unfortunately, barley contains gluten, so mushroom barley soup is inherently not gluten-free. Experiment with subbing other grains like quinoa or brown rice. And also be sure to use gluten-free tamari instead of soy sauce.
- I don't cook with alcohol. Is there a substitute for the wine? It adds a lot of flavor, but you can swap it out with some additional vegetable broth if you like.
- And if you do use the wine, check with Barnivore to ensure the brand you choose is vegan.
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Creamy Vegan Mushroom Barley Soup
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 pound assorted fresh mushrooms, I used a mix of button, cremini and shiitake, cleaned and chopped
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 2 medium carrots, diced
- 2 celery ribs, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 6 cups low sodium vegetable broth, divided
- ½ cup dried pearl barley
- ½ cup raw cashews, soaked in water 4 to 8 hours and drained
- 1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 ½ teaspoons white miso paste, optional but recommended
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
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Coat the bottom of a large pot with oil and place over medium heat. When oil is hot, add the mushrooms in as even a layer as possible. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes, flip and cook 5 minutes more, until most of the mushrooms are nicely browned. Add onion, carrot, celery, and garlic to the pot and sauté until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes.
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Add wine and thyme to the pot. Raise heat and bring to a simmer. Lower heat and allow to simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Add 5 cups of broth and barley to the pot. Raise heat again and bring to a boil. Lower heat and allow to simmer, uncovered, until the barley is tender, about 45 minutes.
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Transfer 1 cup of the soup into a blender. Add remaining 1 cup of broth, and cashews. Blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy, then return it to the pot. Add the cashew mixture to the pot, along with soy sauce and miso, if using. Stir until all ingredients are fully incorporated, making sure to fully dissolve the miso. The soup will be very thick at this point. Thin it with some water if desired. Reheat for a minute or two, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
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Divide into bowls and serve.
Recipe Notes
If you forgot to soak your cashews, just place them in a saucepan with some water and boil for about 15 minutes.
Why don't you include the nutrition information for your recipes?
Just because there's too many variables, brands, ranges of ingredients, etc., and there are a ton of sites that allow people to calculate the info themselves.
I just discovered your blog a couple of days ago, and I just made this soup. It is hands-down the best cream of mushroom/mushroom barley soup I've ever had, let alone cooked myself! This will definitely be a winter favorite.
Yay! I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Michelle!
Just made this. Oh. My. God. Absolutely delicious! I'm not cooking with oil these days, so I left it out and just cooked the mushrooms in a dry pan, then added the other veggies when the juices were cooked down about half way. I use miso broth instead of vegetable broth, so I omitted the miso and soy sauce. It was perfect.
Awesome! And I'm glad to hear it worked out without oil - I'm sure that info will be useful to lots of readers! Thanks so much!!
One of our family favorite recipes. This is a winter staple and I imagine I will be making this recipe for many years to come. Thanks for a great vegan classic. Hoping to try it as a vegan substitute in a family beef stragonoff recipe, too.
Wonderful! I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I actually have a stroganoff recipe with some similar ingredients if you'd like to check it out: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/vegan-mushroom-stroganoff/
You mention using soy milk for this recipe before, could you provide how you would substitute the nuts for soy milk instead? Even reading this recipe has me hungry, can't wait to try it out!
I used to just replace 1 or 2 cups of the broth with soy milk. I'm not sure of the exact amount - I would just eyeball it. I didn't blend the soup when I made that version, but I think it would work out just fine if you did. I hope you enjoy it!
I just made this this afternoon and all I can say is WOW!! This is absolutely delicious! This is now my absolute favorite soup!! Thank you soooo much for creating and sharing!!!!!!
So happy to hear it! Thanks Leslie!!
Delicious recipe. I tasted it last weekend ant felt it really yummy
Glad to hear it! Thanks Susan!
This soup is absolutely delicious. I plan to try more of your recipes. You are right about the density but I actually like it. I sprinkled a little nutmeg in it. Yum! Yum.
Alethea
Nutmeg sounds like a delicious addition. :) Glad you're enjoying it!
This is one of the best soups I have made in awhile. I used farro instead of barley because I needed to use it up. It filled me up from lunch until dinner time. Thank you for sharing!
Glad to hear it! And I love the idea of using farro in this!
I am thinking about making a larger portion of this for my family. I was wondering, if this could be something that could be slow cooked? If so, what alterations would I need to make?
Usually when I do slow cooker recipes I just throw everything in and let it simmer until it's done, so I think you could do that here, just leaving out the cashews and blending them up at the end. You could also sauté the veggies according to the recipe before adding them to the slow cooker, but that's up to you - I usually can't be bothered with that when it comes to slow cooker dishes.
This recipe IS delicious but there's no reason to use 1/4 cup of oil to cook the mushrooms. I used less than one tablespoon and it was perfect. Mushrooms give up so much of their own liquid, they stay moist and juicy without hundreds of empty calories. Thanks for a great recipe
I made this for our lunches this week and it's soooo good! Delicious, filling and comforting! Like some of the other readers/commenters, I used less oil and it turned out great.
Awesome! Glad you're enjoying it. :)
Hello I have Aka Miso will that be okay in this recipe?
I'm pretty sure it will! The flavor might be a bit different - if anything I'd start with a bit less.
I think it's unfair that I've made this, and shared the recipe, so many times with saying how amazing this is! One of my favorite recipes. Impresses the non-vegans every time!
I'm so glad to hear that! Thank you so much for letting me know!
I got towards the end of my cooking and realized I needed soaked cashews and not cashew milk.. I'm the dummy here.. is it still possible to use cashew milk and if so, what would the portion of it be?
You could, but the soup will probably come out much thinner. Sometimes what I'll do in a pinch is boil my cashews for 15 minutes to soften them up - not quite as effective as soaking for a few hours, but it does the job. :)
That's what I did and it turned out great!
Thank you for letting me know!
Made this soup tonight and it was insane. Super flavourful, homey, comforting and just superdelicious. This is going on regular rotation.
I'm so happy to hear that!! Thanks Lindsay!
Just made this and it did not disappoint! Skipped the oil and only had 4 cups of broth so added extra water. Topped it with a few handfuls of chopped spinach. SOOOOO TASTY! Sharing with everyone I know :)
I recently made this soup and it was incredibly delicious! I'm putting it in my regular rotation of recipes.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!! THanks Julie!
This soup is hands down AMAZING! So good! Even a winner with my picky omnivorous family!!
Yay!! I'm glad it's a hit!
Made this tonight and it is so good! I meal prepped it for the rest of week, but couldn't resist sneaking a little for dinner tonight!
I'm glad you liked it!! Thanks Nicole!
Hello, we have a cashew allergy in the house - any recommendations for a substitution ? Wanting to make this for dinner tonight :D
Thank you, jean
Macadamia nuts might work. You could also try leaving the nuts out and replacing a bit of the broth with coconut milk. I hope you enjoy it!
Can I use almonds, hazelnuts, or pine nuts?
I'm really not sure, but my instinct tells me almonds or pine nuts wouldn't blend up creamy enough. Hazelnuts might work, but if macadamias are available I think they'd be a better bet - they're often interchangeable with cashews in recipes like this.
Hello, just wondering how long you can keep the soup in the fridge? Can you freeze after cooking if you want to take on a 5 hour drive?
I think two days max in the fridge should be fine, and I haven't tried freezing it but I think that would work!
Can you recommend a substitute for the wine? I know I can just use more broth, but know there will be a missing flavor.
Thansk
I'm not sure if there's anything that will give you quite the same flavor. If you're trying to avoid alcohol perhaps you could try an alcohol-free cooking wine? I'd love to hear how it works out if you do!
Just made this soup for lunch on a freezing winter day!! Absolutely amazing and awesome - thank you for sharing.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks Debra!
One of my familly’s favorite recipes. I’ve made it with white wine and Marsala, and I highly suggest the Marsala. So good. You continue to impress me with your recipes.
Oh that sounds great! I'll have to give it a try with Marsala. :) I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Delicious! This is definitely going into my recipe file!
Yay!! Glad you like it!
Made this tonight and the flavors are fantastic! Unfortunately, I don’t have a high powered blender so my cashew mix came out kind of grainy. I think next time I’ll try using a ready made nut milk instead, since you mentioned you used to do that. I’ll definitely be making this again because it is amazing!!! My husband isn’t fully on board with the vegan thing, and he’s not really a soup guy, but he loved this!
Yay!! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I actually just published a similar recipe using coconut milk - I think that would work with this one too! https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/creamy-mushroom-wild-rice-soup/
This soup looks delicious! I have hulled barley would I be able to use that instead of pearl barley?
I think so! But you'll probably need to add a bit to the cook time and it might not blend up as smooth since hulled barley is a bit tougher than pearl. I'd love to hear how it works out if you try!
I couldn’t wait for the weather to get cooler so I could make this again. I’m feeling a bit under the weather and this is the perfect soup! Such an awesome recipie!!
I'm so glad you like it!! Enjoy!
This soup is incredibly delicious and so forgiving. I accidentally added the miso in the first step and had to substitute a wine because I didn't have white wine. Still, it was delicious. It was thick, hearty and very filling. I completed the first step in my pressure cooker in 15 minutes, significantly reducing the cooking time. So glad I found this recipe!
I'm so glad you're enjoying it! And great to hear it works in the pressure cooker! Thanks Sharon!!
I made this last night and I have to say it is fantastic. I love the addition of the miso it reminds me of a fancy mushroom miso soup I once ate at a restaurant. I am starting to head towards being plant based for the most part and you are amazing at coming up with creative dishes.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Miso really is amazing for adding savory flavor to dishes like this. :) Thanks so much Shabi!
I'd be interested to see what your mothers "Original" Recipe was..... IF that would be possible...
Dennis...
Any ideas how to convert this into and Instant Pot recipe? Thanks1
I'm afraid not - I'm one of the few folks who hasn't yet gotten an Instant Pot. Once I do I'll be sure to experiment with this recipe though. :)
I loved this recipe! The wine and miso gives it this lovely background flavor, and the whole thing is so rich and satisfying. I just had some heated up frozen leftovers, and immediately had to find this page again to make another batch! Thanks for a great recipe, this is definitely in the permanent collection going forward.
Awesome!! I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Thanks Eileen!
I actually won our small soup cook off with this recipe among 6 other non-vegan soups! I was thoroughly impressed! Thank you for this delicious recipe that I will be making again and again. Next time, I'd like to try it with the dry wine and miso paste which I didn't have on hand.
Holy moly!! That's so cool! Thank you so much for letting me know and I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for this amazing recipe ! I doubled it and used a little bit of sunflower oil to start. The best mushroom barley I’ve had and I can’t believe I made it . Thanks to your recipe ! Yummmm ... it’s my dads favorite soup, I brought some to him- he loved it too.
Awesome! Glad you both enjoyed it! Thanks Shana!
Google search brought up your blog when I was looking, specifically, for a vegan mushroom barley soup recipe. Followed your recipe, except I left out oil (used broth to saute veggies) and wine (didn't have any), but added 1/2 cup red lentils and one diced, large white potato. So hearty and delicious.
Lentils and potato both sound like delicious additions! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
I made this soup for a light, late night dinner for my family. I followed the recipe exactly and my only regret is that I didn’t double it! It was so delicious and filling and my non-vegans gobbled it up. I will be making this often! Thank you for sharing.
I'm so glad it was a hit!! Thanks Rachel!
This is the best recipe I've ever made. Oh my.
WOW! I'm so happy to hear that! Thanks you so much!!
I NEVER comment on recipes, this is the first time I ever have in my whole entire life. But I have to say that this is the best soup recipe I have ever made. Ever. I followed exactly as is, and I wouldn't change a thing. The miso is a must!!
Yay!! I'm so happy to hear that! THanks so much Samantha!
Hi there is it possible to cook this in a crockpot? I just wanna be sure the cashews will not degenerate.
I haven't tried it in a crockpot, but I think it will work! I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try!
I can’t use soy sauce, any replacement?? My husband can’t eat night shades veggies or soy adding substitutes would be awesome and I am sure helpful to others
Thank you for your great recipes
Vicki
Have you tried coconut aminos? It tastes just like soy sauce and works great as a substitute in most recipes. It should work just fine here!
My husband keeps requesting I make this again even in 90 degree weather! I've made this about 5 times already. It's absolutely delicious and makes great leftovers for lunch. Thank you for the recipe.
That's wonderful! I'm so glad you both like it!
I really want to try this but am allergic to cashews. What may I try instead?
Can you have macadamia nuts? They'll probably work!
I"'e been using a mushroom barley soup recipe from the original Moosewood cookbook for years. (OK decades) I decided to try this one as I've been craving soup and new recipes during quarantine. Absolutely loved it and so did my wife. Will definitely make it again.
I used no oil, just water. subbed lions mane and oyster mushrooms. no wine (didn't have any or I would have!) and doubled the miso haha. Also, instead of broth I used a mushroom boullion cube (again, was all I had). The soup was super amazing and thick and perfect.Two people ate nearly the whole pot with some nice fresh and toasted bread. Will be adding this to our weekly roster!
Followed the recipe using a mixture of different mushrooms. Excellent soup!!!
When went to a trendy vegan restaurant in NYC last night, and I ordered a mushroom barley soup. Wow just wow! It felt like a warm hug. I searched everywhere for a VEGAN mushroom barley soup with the type of ingredients I like and I came across yours. Wow this is the perfect snow day soup. I love it! So yummy!
I've made this soup multiple times and it is my go-to mushroom soup. It tastes better every time I make it, just delicious.
Made this soup last night - it is amazing and the whole family enjoyed!
Instead of cashews I puréed some cooked white beans with some cooked soup and added them as a thickener. It worked really well.