This simple mushroom and chestnut soup recipe is fabulously satisfying and deeply comforting. It is full of rich flavours to warm your tummy and lift your spirits.
Chestnut Soup is delicious in the twinkly light of Christmas, it’s comforting on cold January days but it is also perfect for autumn and for the in between time when it’s not winter but it’s not quite spring. I love it!
This week I have mainly been out in my garden trying to persuade it to behave.
Lots of digging, weeding, pruning and preparing for bulb planting means I am very hungry by lunchtime and this mushroomy chestnut soup has enough oomph to fill me up.
Tips To Help You Make A Delicious Chestnut Soup
Gently fried vegetables, simmered in stock and sherry, flavoured with chestnuts and rosemary is my kind of autumn recipe.
It celebrates two of the season’s best offerings, mushrooms and chestnuts, which really are a match made in heaven!
Here are a few tips to guarantee your chestnut soup is packed full of flavour.
- Do not, whatever you do, throw away the soaking liquid when you drain the dried mushrooms! That little bowl of liquid is full of porcini flavour and adds a lovely mushroomy depth to this soup.
- Blending a cup full of the finished soup, and adding it back to the pan, means that the soup is self thickening and doesn’t need any thickening agents added.
- Frying the vegetables gently until they soften retains as much of their flavours as possible.
- I used ready cooked and peeled chestnuts in my soup for a quick lunch with no faffing!
Substitution Suggestions
Chestnuts are pretty essential in chestnut soup but here are some alternatives for some of the other ingredients.
- I used ready cooked chestnuts for a quick cook but if you have fresh chestnuts to hand, roast them, peel them and use them!
- Rosemary gives this soup a lovely autumnal flavour. You could replace it with thyme or sage and you could add a bay leaf to the stock to ring the changes.
- If you want a spicier soup add a chopped red chilli and some paprika. Smoked paprika gives it a smoky kick.
More Warming Soup Recipes
If you’re like me you’ll be craving warming soup throughout autumn and winter (and on into early spring!) check out my Collection of Cosy Winter Soups. Here are a few suggestions to keep you going:
- Roast Aubergine Soup with Courgettes and Tomatoes
- Sweet Potato and Red Lentil Soup
- Roasted Tomato and Garlic Soup
- Slow Cooker Swede Soup
- Butternut Squash Soup with Chilli and Coconut
- Celeriac Soup with Apple
More Chestnut Recipes
I cook with chestnuts a lot throughout autumn and winter, watch out for more recipes coming soon! In the meantime have a look at these if you are feeling the chestnut love!
- Vegan Mushroom Pie with Ale and Chestnuts
- Pasta with Squash, Chestnuts, Mushrooms and Sage
- Chestnut and Cashew Nut Roast
- Vegan Sausage Rolls
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Chestnut Soup
Ingredients
- 5 g dried porcini mushrooms soaked in 250ml boiling water for 20 mins
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 100 g carrots diced
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh rosemary finely chopped
- 150 g chestnut mushrooms roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp cream sherry check it's suitable for vegans
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 180 g chestnuts cooked and peeled (I buy them ready done)
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Soak the dried porcini in 250ml of water for 20 minutes. Drain, KEEPING THE SOAKING LIQUID, and chop finely.
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion, carrots, garlic and rosemary very gently on a low heat for 5 minutes.
- Add the drained, chopped porcini and the sliced fresh mushrooms and cook for a further 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
- Add the porcini soaking liquid, sherry, tomato puree, chestnuts and stock and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Remove 1 cup full of the mixture, blend until smooth and return it to the soup. Stir it through.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Hi Chris
I only came across your blog yesterday, but after seeing this recipe we just had to make it for lunch. This is definitely a keeper. It is full of flavour and packed with good things. Hubby added a little thyme, as well as the rosemary, plus 1 tbsp of Bragg’s aminos for extra umami. We try to cut down on oil, so only use a spray or two, plus a little water for sautéing at the beginning.
We can’t wait to make more delicious things from your blog.
Thank you.
What a lovely comment to come back to after the Christmas break, thank you! x