Some days, soup is what’s needed for dinner. It’s comforting, a lovely bowl of goodness that gives you a hug. This delicious mushroom soup topped with crispy croutons is just that!
My husband is a proud Yorkshire man and was brought up on a diet of all things Yorkshire, all of which he was delighted to introduce me to when we started dating. One of the foodstuffs he most loves is Hendersons Relish. I’d never heard of this before I met him, so there’s a good chance you may not have either. It’s like Worcestershire Sauce (don’t hate me, Yorkshire people), in that has an intense, savoury richness which adds an incredible umami flavour to any dish. Yorkshire people particularly like their pies slathered with it – and with good reason.
When we decided to try out a plant based diet some time ago, deep, savoury flavours were the ones I thought I’d miss the most. However, on making this mushroom soup, I discovered that this does not necessarily need to be the case. I found, quite by chance, that Hendersons Relish (unlike Worcestershire Sauce) is vegan friendly. Woo!
This earthy soup is a wonderful warmer for lunch, as a starter, or with a fat hunk of sourdough, a satisfying dinner. Enjoy!
If you love soup, why not try these 25+ of the Best Easy Soup Recipes out!
Ingredients, Substitutions and Variations
- Olive oil – you’ll use this to start the soup and fry the croutons. You could switch for vegetable oil.
- Onion and garlic– required for a flavour hit! Use white or yellow onions.
- Mushrooms – you can use any kind of mushrooms you like. Chestnut, woodland and shiitake are flavourful and work well here, but any will do.
- Vegan stock cube and water – or use 600ml homemade vegetable stock if you have some to hand.
- Hendersons Relish – this soup is at its best when you use this! If you’re not vegan, you can use Worcestershire sauce instead or, alternatively, to keep it vegan, use 1tbsp soy sauce, 1tbsp mirin and 1tsp tamarind paste.
- Whole grain bread – you can use white if you prefer.
- Chives – optional
Top Tips
- Roughly chop As this soup will be blended, don’t waste time finely chopping your onion and mushrooms. Rough is fine.
- Blend until smooth You can control the texture of your soup. If you prefer some chunks in your soup for a bit of bite, only blend half.
- Keep an eye on your croutons They don’t take long and can burn easily!
Rich Vegan Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 600 grams mushrooms
- 1 vegan stock cube
- 600 mls water
- 3 tablespoons Hendersons Relish
- 2 slices whole grain bread
- Handful chopped chives
Instructions
- Roughly chop the onion and add to a large casserole dish with two tablespoons of the olive oil. Sauté gently for 5 minutes.
- Finely chop the garlic and add to the pan, then roughly slice the mushrooms and add these too. Cook (without stirring) for 3-4 minutes, then add the stock cube, water and seasoning and cover. Simmer for ten minutes.
- Meanwhile, put your oven on to the highest temperature. Cut the bread up into rough squares and toss with the remaining oil and some salt. Put in the oven and cook for 5-10 minutes until golden and crisp.
- Whizz your soup with a blender or food processor. If it’s too thin, add some more water to your liking, then add the Hendersons Relish. Check your seasoning and add more if necessary.
- To serve, top each bowl with a handful of croutons and chopped chives. Yum!
Nutrition
More delicious soup recipes:
- Celery Soup
- Simple Watercress Soup
- Roasted Squash Soup
- Curried Lentil Soup
- Cauliflower Cheese Soup
- Chilled Beetroot Soup
- Thai Noodle Soup
- Leek and Chorizo Soup
- Carrot and Ginger Soup
- Parsnip and Chestnut Soup
- Leek and Ricotta Soup
- Red Leicester and Broccoli Soup
You can get my Le Creuset dishes here.
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It’s the perfect comfort food on a cold day. I love that it’s dairy-free and full of amazing, earthy mushroom flavor. Delicious!
Loved the richness of flavor to this soup. So good!!!!
Exactly what we needed for lunch! Simple, yet delicious. Made it with mixed woodland mushrooms and both myself and my husband loved this soup! Thank you 🙂
Your delicious soup warmed me up on a cold spring day! Thank you so much for your awesome recipe!
Such a hearty tasty mushroom soup recipe. I loved making this batch for the autumn chill.
Lovely hearty recipe and I’m from Yorkshire but don’t remember Hendersons Relish when I lived there in the 90s – is it new? Also you could deepen the flavour even more in this soup by soaking a few dried porcini mushrooms and then adding term in too ?
Is there anything similar to the aforementioned relish? What’s in it? That might help. Or is it the idea that making this rich satisfying soup is aided by some kind of Umami-ish adjunct – in which case I’d be thinking of things like Kimchi, umeboshi, cultured kraut, Hosein, tamari.
Co
Looks great! Is Hendersons Relish available in the States?
I’m not sure! If you can’t find it in international food sections of supermarkets, I’m sure you’ll be able to get it online. A bottle lasts a fair while so it’d be worth it!
Henderson’s relish is not sold outside of Sheffield in UK or at least it didn’t used to be. The closest thing you will get to it is Worcester sauce.