This oyster mushroom soup is a healthy, healing recipe for cool evenings. It's brimming with flavor from lemongrass, miso & ginger!
One night a week, Jack goes to comedy class, which means it’s the night that I have all to myself. In lieu of doing anything productive, I usually eat toast for dinner in front of the computer and let myself go down a rabbit hole of Youtube videos. I watch what people eat in a day, I watch people who live in vans and make vegan food (#vanlife), I watch people who live in vans and make vegan food while raising young children, and I read the scroll of crazy judgy comments that come as a result of that lifestyle choice. By the time the night is over, I’ve had my fill of Youtube.
One person I’m happy to have discovered is Lauren Toyota of Hot for Food (go get her book, it’s awesome)… and through her videos/IG stories, I also came to know Timothy of Mississippi Vegan and his insanely gorgeous Instagram account. Later, Timothy and I connected because it turns out that we share the same book publisher.
Fast forward – his book, Mississippi Vegan – is out today(!) and it’s a stunner! It’s packed with primarily southern-inspired vegan recipes, and they all look so delicious! There’s vegan gumbo (four versions, actually), “sausage” biscuits, fried popcorn tofu po’boys, slow-cooked red beans & rice, and a ton more. I chose to make this Oyster Mushroom Soup. It may not be terribly southern, but it sounded ridiculously delicious, and it was!
Mushroom Soup Recipe Variations
I love brothy soups, and when I saw the ingredients for this particular mushroom soup recipe – lemongrass, ginger, miso, etc. – I had to make it because it’s full of so many of my favorite things.
In the book, Timothy often uses unlikely ingredients to build rich umami flavors (kombu, various types of mushrooms, etc)… but he also mentions that you can still make the recipes if you don’t have one or two of the ingredients called for. After making this mushroom soup recipe, I can tell you that it’s packed with a ton of wonderful flavor, but it would absolutely still be delicious if you had tamari but no miso, or if you didn’t have kombu, or if you had cremini mushrooms instead of fancy oyster mushrooms.
This healing mushroom soup makes my soul so happy – it’s a great one to make now that the nights are getting colder. Make this, and then go check out Mississippi Vegan!
For more fall mushroom soup recipes, check out this one with white beans and wild rice or this pho-inspired recipe!
Oyster Mushroom Soup
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 cups chopped leeks, white part only
- 1 cup chopped celery
- ¼ cup minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons minced ginger
- 1½ tablespoons white miso paste
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 5 cups vegetable broth
- 5 cups filtered water
- 3 cups oyster mushrooms, sliced or torn (4 ounces)
- 2 cups peeled and julienned carrot (1 large)
- 5 dried bay leaves
- 1 stalk lemongrass, crushed with a rolling pin and minced
- 2 tablespoons tamari
- 1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1-inch piece dried kombu
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 8 ounces cubed tofu, optional
- Optional garnishes: scallions, sesame seeds and/or red pepper flakes
- In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the leeks and celery and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add the miso, garlic powder, and onion powder and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add the vegetable broth, water, oyster mushrooms, carrots, bay leaves, lemongrass, tamari, lemon juice, vinegar, and kombu. Mix well. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and cook for another 30 minutes.
- Season with freshly ground black pepper and add the tofu, if desired. Discard the bay leaves and kombu and serve. Serve with scallions, sesame seeds, and/or red pepper flakes, if desired.
Â
I love the complex flavor of this soup. I added more mushrooms and a little less water. It was the perfect tonic for a cold winter day.
Hi Hi – I love the logic of bringing these ingredients together – a few comments re the method:
1) Miso should not be ‘cooked’ so I’d encourage folks to stir it in while the soup is hot, but after it’s removed from the heat. In other words, last minute before serving.
2) Konbu gets slimy if boiled – so again, I’d encourage gently warming the kombu in some water to just below boiling, turn the heat off and let it steep for 15-20 minutes then remove from the liquid. This liquid can then be leveraged in the recipe.
really lovely soup! I had no celery so I used savoy cabbage and it turned out super well. thank you ?
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
The oyster mushroom soup is fantastic. I did not have miso paste. But did have miso broth,. I did not have kombu, but did have a bit of fish sauce, no tamari, so I used soy And I added oyster, crimini, and shitake mushrooms and a shake of Trader Joe’s Mushroom umami seasoning. I had only a small amount of leeks so added an onion. And I doubled the ginger. My husband said it was the best soup he has ever had. I wonder how awesome it would be if I had the listed ingredients on hand that the recipe called for. Gotta say that the flavor combos melded perfectly. So tangy and yet mushroom flavor rocked and no flavors fighting with each other…MAGICAL.
I’m so glad you loved the recipe!
So you did a completely different recipe? Because those aren’t the original ingredients…… Well done shit for brains. Choke on it next time you silly cow
Love your Baba Ganoush recipe on a regular basis and decided to try this one. Used unsalted home made veg stock so doubled the white miso and it is absolutely delicious. It is so hearty I omitted the tofu and it did not need it. Used David Chang’s scallion ginger sauce as a condiment which was perfect with it.
Hi Joe, I’m so glad you enjoyed the baba ganoush and also the soup!
How many calories is this whole recipe you think?
This is now a favorite and regular in our kitchen. I’ve been adding chopped Pak Choy along with Parsnips and other root veggies. Other types of mushrooms as well. To enhance the Tofu, I slice into thin patties and brown in a pan of olive oil and chopped garlic. Topped with coarse salt and pepper. Cut into cubes when ready to serve. Holy Moley Batman!!
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the soup!
Wow! I rarely follow recipes but I did for this one and it was a delightful flavor explosion, The only thing I did different was used extra Oyster Mushrooms because they were so lovely at the market, I could resist!
I LOVE your recipes,usually. This one is not my thing. Maybe I haven’t done it right, yours looks much yummyer. (I’ve substituted the miso). I missed those Japanese soups I used to eat in Wagamama and I thought it might be that. I don’t think I’ll do it again. Is there any way I can convert these boiled veggies so smth else? Otherwise probably I’ll just through it away.
It was nice but I didn’t love it enough given all the work. I put cubed tofu in and garnished with scallions. I wanted more flavor – might add some type of chili heat to my leftovers. My broth didn’t have the dark brown color as in the picture. Mine was pale. Wonder what I might have done wrong.
This mushroom soup was the most delicious I have ever tasted.
It has quite a few ingredients, chief one being oyster mushrooms, which are the only mushrooms I eat.
The other ingredients, varied as they are, add to the depth of flavour due to their complexity.
Made as directed.
So utterley delicious. Thanks
Wonderful recipe! I used smoked tofu and it was delicious. Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved it!
Looking forward to trying this soup! Would this soup freeze well if I made a double batch?
Hi Emily, yes it freezes well!
Just made and love it!!! I was wondering if I could freeze it?
I have never added tofu to a soup before, what kind did you use?
oops! should have listed that – in this case, I used extra-firm tofu, the kind that you’ll find in the refrigerated section.
great savory recipe for this time of year but without heavy ingredients! Miso paste yay!
thanks Sabrina!
I made this today and love the flavor. Wonderful. The only problem is that the minced lemongrass is not edible and I spent time picking it out as I ate it. How can this be corrected when I make it again? Thanks
Hi Louise, I’d be sure to use only those very tender inner parts of the lemongrass, pulling away the tough outer leaves. I chop them really finely and they’ve always become tender enough to eat in the soup. If you still don’t prefer that texture, you could try adding the whole crushed lemongrass stalk to the soup while it simmers, and pull it out before serving. This way, much of the flavor would infuse into the broth as it cooks.
Hope that helps!
Hi, Jeanine.
I have never cooked with lemongrass before so this was a new learning experience. Thanks for your comments which took me youtube for some additional info about how to prepare lemongrass for cooking. I love the soup and have found a way to make this batch work. I took out the big stuff and pureed the other stuff so now I’ve got the flavor without all the tough parts of the lemongrass. I’ll make it again now that I have your information. Thanks.
Hi Louise, I’m so glad you’ve found a great way to blend up the lemongrass finer – youtube is so helpful! Thank you for your feedback 🙂
This looks right up my alley. About how much paste does crushing and mincing the lemongrass yield? I have a tube of lemongrass paste in my fridge and am wondering about how much I would use. Thanks!
Oh, how nice. Love mushrooms and in a soup they just works perfectly:-)
This mushroom soup looks great, but if you put the miso soup in that early and then bring to a boil you are killing all the active/live beneficial cultures. I would suggest putting the miso in towards the end of the cooking process.
Hi Donna, yes, I usually do that too – this time I followed Timothy’s recipe as it was written (and it was still delicious). Thanks for the note, it’s a good point.