Recipe: Homemade Cream of Mushroom Soup for cooking with or eating! - Bruce Bradley (2024)

If you venture into a grocery store this time of year you can start to see them stacked high. Like red and white mountains toweringfrom the supermarket shelves, these cans adorn end-of-aisle displays and pop up across the store. Yes, it’s the American processed food classic—Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Condensed Soup.

Founded in 1869 the Campbell’s Soup Company has become an icon of the packaged food industry.It’s a surprise to some, butits famous condensed soups weren’t invented until 1897. When I ran the Progresso Soup business, Campbell’s was the 800-pound gorilla of the soup aisle. Yes, Progresso’sadult soup strategy carved out a bigger slice of the category, but Campbell’s still called the shots. Its condensed recipe soups were an American staple and a “cash cow” for Campbell’s and grocers alike.

But when you take a closer look at the condensed Cream of Mushroom soup label, it’s hard to feel very good about this popular item.

Thankfully mushrooms do show up in the ingredients, but there are lots of reasons to be concerned:

• Cream (milk) and Whey: Does it surprise you that a soup that calls itself “cream of mushroom” has to list cream under the disclaimer“contains less than 2% of”? And if that wasn’t enough, the cream/milk/whey ingredients arelikely from cows that have been fed GMO grains, routinely received antibiotics, and pumped up withrBGH, recombinant bovine growth hormone.
• Highly processed oils: Vegetable oils like corn, cottonseed, canola, and/or soybean are anything but natural. In fact, they’re so highly processed I call them FrankenFats. Why? First, most vegetable oils are made from genetically-modified ingredients (corn, soybeans, or rapeseed – aka canola). Second, these oils areprocessed viachemical extraction since solvents like petroleum-derived hexane produce much higher yields than the traditional, mechanical pressing techniques. Then to removethese solvents the oils undergo more harsh processing. If that weren’t enough, the oils endure extreme heat, bleaching, and additional straining. And what are you left with? Atasteless, nutritionally inferior oil that your body may not even recognize.
• Saltis essential formost packagedfoods. It gives flavorto otherwisehighly processed, tasteless ingredients. To put this in perspective, one serving of condensed cream of mushroom soup has one-third of your daily allowance of sodium. Scary!
• MSG and chemically produced glutamic acids (yeast extract and soy protein concentrate):MSG isanother of the industry’s go-to, cheap waysto add taste to canned soup. What exactly is MSG? It’s the sodium salt of glutamic acid. However, as consumers have become more reluctant to buy products with MSG, Big Food has developed some sneaky ways to hide MSG substitutes in its soup—typically highly processed ingredients that are high in glutamic acid. While food companies and the FDA believe MSG and these high-glutamic acid alternatives are all safe, many people claim to still have adverse reactions to them. So, if you’re looking to avoid MSG and its look-a-likes, what can you do? Look for foods that are labeled “No MSG” or “No added MSG.” Also, to avoid chemically produced, high glutamic acid / MSG look-a-likes, look on your ingredient label for HVP (hydrolyzed vegetable proteins), Wheat Protein (Hydrolyzed), Corn Protein (Hydrolyzed), Soy Protein (Hydrolyzed), Yeast Extracts, Hydrolyzed Yeast, Autolyzed Yeast, Soy Extracts, Soy Protein Concentrate, and Protein Isolates.
• Modified food starch:This is a Big Food catch-all phrase that covers a lot of territory. Although it doesn’t mean that the starch has been genetically modified, most modified foodstarch is sourced from GMO corn. What makes this starch earn its “modified” moniker? It refers to processing the starch has undergone toeither physically, enzymatically, or chemically alter its natural properties. Yummy, huh?
• Flavorings:These days a word like “flavorings” can mean so many different things it’s scary. While it could be fairly innocent, with the introduction of salt and sweet flavoring enhancers that have been minimally tested, I’m increasingly wary of this innocuous sounding ingredient.
• BPA concerns: Bisphenol A (BPA), is a hormone-disrupting chemical that in verysmallamountscould lead to behavioral problems, obesity, heart attacks, early puberty in girls, infertility, type 2 diabetes, and even breast and prostate cancers. While Campbell’s and most major soup manufacturers have pledged tophase out BPA, they haven’t been very forthcoming on the details. As of the writing of this postthe Campbell’s statement regarding BPA is: “The current can packaging used for our products is one of the safest packaging options in the world. We also recognize that there is a debate on this topic and some consumers want us to use other materials in our packaging. The trust of our consumers, which we have earned for over 140 years, is paramount and we intend to keep it. For these reasons, we’ve already started using alternatives to BPA in some of our soup packaging, and we’re working to phase out the use of BPA in the linings in all our canned products.” Campbell’s pledged to remove BPA from its cans in March 2012, and almost two years later they appear tostill be dragging their feet.

So what’s a person to do?While the choice is ultimately yours, I believethere’s a much better option—a homemade version of cream of mushroom condensed soup that not only avoids all these highly processed ingredients, but also usesa ton of veggies (mushrooms, celery, and onions). If you’re looking for a way to sneak some vegetables into your meals, this homemade “condensed” soup isan easy way to do it.

Also, it’s very flexible. If a recipe calls for Cream of Celery or Cream of Chicken Soup, this homemade option is an easy swap. Finally, it also makes a darned good Cream of Mushroom soup—just check the notes for how to make a traditional soup from it! So triple the ingredients, and use one now and freezesome for later. This Homemade “Condensed” Cream of Mushroom Soup will be a great, go-to option in your cooking arsenal!

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So you ready to make a batch? Do you have any favorite recipes you make that call for condensed soup? If so, what are they? And stay tuned … if you’re a fan of the Thanksgiving classic, Green Bean Casserole, then my next post is right up your alley … and a great way to put to use this homemade “condensed” soup recipe to use!

Kitchen Resources/Tips:

• Chopping the vegetables for this soup can go a whole lot quicker if you use a food processor or food chopper.
• A good quality whisk helpsmixthe flour and milk together.
• If you’re looking for a gluten-free alternative for thickening this condensed soup alternative try potato flour.

• originally published November 18, 2014

• Updated November 28, 2023