Now, I know what you’re thinking: there’s no way that this is healthy. Well, if you are talking about using real, unprocessed, whole ingredients as healthy… then yes, it is! Besides a nominal amount of white flour used to thicken it (that can easily be omitted), this recipe is made from 100% real ingredients. If you’re talking about healthy as low-carb, then yes! Barely any carbs here. But if you are talking about “healthy” as in low-fat or low calorie… this recipe is not it. HOWEVER. I have a few things to say about this before you go running away. First: I don’t recommend eating this soup as a meal on its own. Even though it’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever tasted (seriously), I think it’s far too rich and heavy to be an entire meal. Pair it with a side salad and a good piece of whole grain bread, or enjoy it as a first course in a small portion. Second: if you are really concerned about the fat or calorie content of this recipe, fear not- I have a solution! Just cut the amount of butter in half and use whole milk or half and half instead of heavy cream. Problem solved. (Also in recipe notes below.)
Let’s talk about browned butter for a little bit. It’s one of those things that’s worth talking about. If you don’t know what it is, or if you’ve never made it before, you’re in for a treat. First of all, don’t be scared of it- it’s very easy to make. You just have to pay attention to it. Second of all, and fair warning, you’re going to want to put it on EVERYTHING. Some of my favorite browned butter recipes are pasta dishes, like Butternut Squash, Browned Butter, and Rosemary Fettucini Alfredo and Spaghetti with Browned Butter and Wilted Greens. It goes extremely well with earthy flavors, like squash, potatoes (try using it in place of regular butter in your next batch of mashed potatoes), and – you guessed it – mushrooms. Which makes it a perfect candidate for this soup. Butter consists of two things: fat and dairy solids. When it melts, you’ve probably noticed that it tends to foam up and the bright yellow fat separates from the white dairy solids. Browned butter is butter that has been heated past melting so that the dairy solids get cooked more and browned. It creates a toasty, rich, nutty flavor that is oh so delicious. When making it for this soup, just melt the butter in the pot and continue heating and stirring until it turns a brown color. At this point, immediately add the onions and mushrooms- the liquid from the vegetables will stop the browning process. It is possible to burn butter if you let it brown for too long, so just keep an eye on it. Deep breath: you’ll be fine. It’s worth the extra couple of minutes and attention it takes. Here’s a great tutorial for how to brown butter if you want to learn more.
After browning the butter and adding the mushrooms and onions, this recipe is nothing more than adding some flour (to thicken it) and chicken broth (vegetable or mushroom can also be used for 100% vegetarian), melting some brie directly in the pot, pureeing, and adding heavy cream. It’s seriously simple, especially if you have an immersion blender. I cannot recommend this product enough. If you don’t have one, consider adding it to your vital kitchen supplies. Just plug it in, submerge it directly in the pot of soup, and press on- it will puree the soup without the need for you to drag out your standing blender (and consequently do tons more clean-up). I use to it puree soups like this or like butternut squash soup, or to just thicken soups by pulsing for a bit. Go get you one! If you follow my blog, you know that I’m a huge fan of soups. Here are all my other soup recipes if you want to take a look. If you like this recipe, you’ll also like this creamy mushroom, chicken, and wild rice soup. And make sure you cook the mushrooms correctly to get the most flavor out of them! Recipe for Mushroom Brie Soup below, including notes for making a gluten-free and a lower fat version. Enjoy!
