Dinner Tonight: Bourdain's Mushroom Soup Recipe

By
Nick Kindelsperger
Nick Kindelsperger is a contributing writer at Serious Eats.
Nick Kindelsperger
Nick Kindelsperger is a food critic at the Chicago Tribune.  His food writing appears in The Washington Post, Newsweek, Epicurious, Baltimore Sun, Serious Eats, Grub Street, New York Magazine, and Tasting Table, among others.
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Updated Aug. 09, 2018
A bowl of mushroom soup with a spoon lifting some of the soup.

"This is a ridiculously easy soup to make.” Well, okay then. Nothing like Anthony Bourdain telling you what to do. I was just innocently flipping through Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook, grazing over his faithful French adaptations, when I came upon a recipe that sounded like the perfect Dinner Tonight recipe. How can you go wrong a recipe even he says is the easiest recipe in the whole book?

It wasn’t until about 20 minutes in that I snuck a look at the simmering time and noticed that it was an hour. That makes this recipe a little longer than most, but Bourdain was right about one thing: it is easy. Maybe I thought it took too much effort to make a delicious mushroom soup, but this thing can’t be stopped. I did have some fabulous homemade stock at my disposal and some good looking mushrooms, but there is no trickery here, no crazy techniques or ingredients. The sherry is about the only thing I don’t normally have. Other than that, it’s just some standard onions mixed with mushrooms, which somehow combine to make this fantastic soup. Even though I had to simmer the soup for about an hour, it was still one of the easier weeknight meals I’ve made, and, honestly, one of the most flavorful.

Recipe Details

Dinner Tonight: Bourdain's Mushroom Soup Recipe

Total 0 mins
Serves 2 servings

Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoons butter

  • 1 onion, thinly sliced

  • 12 ounces button mushrooms, halved

  • 4 cups chicken stock

  • 1 sprig parsley

  • 2 ounces sherry

  • Salt and pepper

Directions

  1. Over medium heat, melt two tablespoons of the butter in a saucepan. Toss in the onion and cook until soft but not browned.

  2. Toss in the remaining butter and then add the mushrooms. Cook for 8 minutes.

  3. Pour in the chicken stock, add the parsley, and bring to a boil. When bubbling, reduce to a simmer and cook for an hour.

  4. Pour soup into a blender (you might need to do this in stages), and process until smooth. Return to the saucepan and bring to a simmer. Pour in the sherry, and season with salt and pepper.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
562 Calories
41g Fat
33g Carbs
17g Protein
Show Full Nutrition Label Hide Full Nutrition Label
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 2
Amount per serving
Calories 562
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 41g 53%
Saturated Fat 24g 118%
Cholesterol 106mg 35%
Sodium 1729mg 75%
Total Carbohydrate 33g 12%
Dietary Fiber 4g 16%
Total Sugars 14g
Protein 17g
Vitamin C 13mg 64%
Calcium 51mg 4%
Iron 4mg 24%
Potassium 1234mg 26%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)