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Allergy-Friendly Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup
by Melanie Carver

Many casserole recipes call for cream of mushroom soup, but the canned versions available at the store are filled with milk, soy and wheat (not to mention fat and salt).  This recipe provides a delicious alternative that avoids those allergens and is also vegan and gluten-free.  I prefer it to be very flavorful and chunky, so I pack it with herbs and use lemon juice to make tangy "buttermilk" for the base.

With this recipe, you can make a variety of Thanksgiving dishes for those with milk and/or soy allergy, are vegetarian/vegan, or have Celiac disease.

Ingredients
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp gluten-free flour (I use garbanzo bean flour)
1 cup diced/sliced cremini or white mushrooms
1/4 cup finely diced white onion
1 1/4 cup original or unsweetened milk alternative (I use So Delicious coconut milk beverage)

1 Tbsp lemon juice (or vinegar)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

pinch dried rosemary

pinch dried oregano

1/4 tsp poultry seasoning or Garlic & Herb Mrs. Dash
3 Tbsp minced fresh parsley (optional)

soup1

Substitutions and Notes
Poultry seasoning is just a blend of spices that is pre-mixed for you. You can also make your own using any combination of thyme, parsley, oregano, sage, rosemary, marjoram, celery seed, black pepper.  Alternately, you can use a Mrs. Dash blend, if safe for you.

If you don't want your soup to be really chunky, reduce the amount of mushrooms and onions and use a food processor to chop finely.

Any gluten-free flour should work, I prefer the nuttiness and fullness of garbanzo bean flour for this recipe. You can also use rice flour, sorghum flour, or millet flour.

Instructions
In a large saucepan or bistro pan, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the chopped mushrooms and onion and cook for several minutes.

Pour and measure the milk beverage into a measuring cup and add the lemon juice (or vinegar) to it so that it can begin to sour into "buttermilk".  This process takes about 10 minutes, so you do want to do this step early on.

When the mushrooms and onions have softened and reduced in size, add the gluten-free flour to the pan and whisk.  The flour will "gum" with the oil/liquid.  Allow to cook for a few minutes while you prepare the spices or chop the parsley.

The milk is ready to pour in when there are separated "blobs" in it.  Pour the milk in slowly, and continue to whisk.  Allow it to slowly come to a boil (still on medium heat) and then reduce the heat to medium-low.

Add the spices (dry and fresh) and continue to simmer until the soup has thickened and reduced.

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The final product will fit in a standard mason jar (about 400 mL); which is a little more than one store-bought condensed cream of mushroom can.

Serve the soup to eat right away or use it in another recipe that calls for cream of mushroom soup (casserole, vegetable dishes, etc.).

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The information shared here is for your convenience only, it is not an endorsement or guarantee of the product's safety. Please read the ingredient labels and contact the manufacturer if needed to confirm the safety of a product for your child.

Melanie Carver is the Vice President of Community Services for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA). (Kids With Food Allergies is a division of AAFA.)  She is a long-time vegan and has a special interest in nutrition. She is the mother of two, one of whom still has food allergies.

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  • Milk-Free Cream of Mushroom Soup Recipe Ingredients
  • Cream of Mushroom Soup
  • Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup Stored in Jar

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Comments (32)

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This sounds easy to prepare & delish based on everyone's comments below! Just wondering if this might also work to make "cream of leek" soup? Thanks to my sulfite allergy  I haven't been able to find a safe version & it's a soup my Great Aunt used to serve when I was small (~ 7y/o) so of course never thought to get her recipe back then...

allergic rver

Hi Nina,

Welcome to KFA. . Glad to have you. 

I can certainly understand why you're concerned about college. We'll be there in a few years with our oldest. I would suggest that you start a new topic in our gi disorders forum -https://community.kidswithfoodallergies.org/forum/gastrointestinal-disorders. We have awesome members on our community and they should be able to give you some tips. 

Jen

Thank you @KathyP13 really appreciate the resource!  

Yes, it's very scary and my daughter has a difficult diet, avoiding wheat, dairy, eggs, treenuts, fish/shellfish, legumes, chicken and a host of individual produce since she has EoE and OAS.

 Some produce is ok if she cooks it and breaks down the protein, but others even after being cooked, is difficult.  Lots of fresh fruits not ok except organic berries and apples.  

She was just scoped and her lower esophagus is hardening  We go for follow up on Monday to the biopsy from the scope.  She is getting into safe cooking for herself and we've put together a six week menu of recipes and shopping lists.  She is needing to widen her safe food recipes, so this is great!  Most recipes we have to modify and I've written in them.

Really concerned about what to do when she lives in a dorm?  Anyone know if colleges have ever given "kitchen" accommodations for college students with EoE?  Happy you shared the dorm cooking links...it's a Godsend!  Thank you.

Nina3712

Hope the recipe works for you @Nina3712

The thought of sending if your kid off to college is hard. Throw in managing food allergies and it's really scary! Teaching basic cooking skills and finding easy recipe is a great way to prepare them. My daughter is in her second year and manages well. But she has "easy" allergies to avoid. 

We have a number of members on the forums who have kids in college or are gearing up to send them in the next couple years. This is a search of topics about dorm room cooking - https://community.kidswithfood...ng=Dorm+room+cooking

Kathy P

I can't speak to this recipe, but because we avoid corn, I make a corn free (but NOT safe for milk or wheat food allergies) version of condensed cream of mushroom soup, with cream and flour, and I freeze it very successfully.  This is despite the fact that most freezer resources tell you that you can't freeze cream-based, flour-based sauces without a loss of taste or texture. True, if you were using this as cream of mushroom soup, you'd need to add more milk to adjust for the thickness of it, but it would taste pretty darn good!

My approach to freezing things has been, "What do I have to lose?" I usually mix up an extra batch of something and freeze it, then break it out to sample it on a day when I have time to make something else if disaster should happen. The majority of the time, at least for me, it works -- especially if you don't allow it to linger for more than a month or so in your freezer. 

When I freeze my cream of mushroom soup, I freeze a "can's worth" of it in a small quart zip-top bag, cool it by dredging it in a sink filled with ice water, and then dry it off and label it with a permanent marker. I lay it flat in the freezer to freeze. 

K8sMom2002
Last edited by K8sMom2002

I don't find the green SoDe has a coconut flavor.  I'm not a big fan of coconut flavor either, and that is my go to milk sub.

 

I'm not sure how long it will store in the fridge.  Some thickeners hold up better than others and I haven't use garbanzo flour.  I find most times, if I use a gf flour mix, thickened things hold up pretty well or even get a little too thick and need to be thinned a little when I reheat it.  I'd probably not keep it more than 3 days in the fridge.  But that's more based on food safety guidelines.

Kathy P

Hi Allison!  I haven't made this recipe specifically, so I'm not sure on the storing or freezing of it, but I can answer your third question.    We use the unsweetened coconut milk all the time--in the green SoDelicious box (the picture above shows the "original" SoDelicious coconut milk, which is slightly sweetened), in savory dishes like mac n' cheese, and mashed potatoes and we've never noticed a coconut flavor at all. 

Starkled

Couple of questions: 1) How long can this safely be stored in the fridge (i.e. could I make it this weekend and use it in a recipe Tuesday night?) 2) I suppose this could also be used as a base in a pot pie recipe for leftovers next weekend - if it does store, or can it be frozen? and 3) Does the coconut taste come through? (not a coconut fan...)

 

I have never made a green bean casserole but now I want to try!

Allison
To do cream of chicken, I normally saute onion and celery minced in the oil. Add the flour and blend that all up. Then instead of milk substitute, I use chicken stock. I generally use a rice flour blend - there is one called Kathy P's brown rice flour mix which is my go to. You can us? A commercial blend. I habe not tried it with garbanzo like this recioe. I use 1 tbsp fat, 1 tbsp flour, and 1 cup stock for a slightly thickened sauce. If I want it thicker, I go up to 1.5 tbsp fat/flour (those should always be the same amount) to the 1 cup stock.
Kathy P

My son has celiac disease and have been looking for something to substitute for the cream soups that are in so many traditional recipes. I made this tonight to try it on green bean casserole minus the French onions and it was amazing. Way better than the can stuff! Thank you so much.

JV