Homemade Cream of Something Soup
It seems like canned Cream of Something or Other Soup crops up in so many recipes, especially now that it’s CrockPot season. And whether you don’t like to buy canned for health reasons, have dietary restrictions, or just want to try something different, this post is a simple guide to creating your own Cream of Something Soup at home. It’s also a great recipe for those times when you’re too lazy busy to drag a pair of toddlers to the store for a can of soup. Simply follow the recipe, consulting the SOUP BASE table for any substitutes to suit your dietary needs and also the MAIN INGREDIENT table for the same. Today, I made I made cream of mushroom with vegetable broth. Once you get the hang of your substitutions, you could make Cream of Just About Anything Soup by swapping in 1/2 cup of finely diced meats or veggies.
Cream of Something Soup Ingredients
Cream of Something Soup
Author/Source:
Kristi @ Onceamonthmom.com
Ingredients:
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 small onion, diced
- 1/2 cup main ingredient, diced
- 1/4 cup butter or substitute
- 1/4 cup flour or substitute
- 1 cup milk or substitute
- 3/4 cup broth
Cream of Something Soup Base Table
Cream of Something Main Ingredient Table
Directions:
Saute garlic, onion and main ingredient (mushrooms, chicken, celery, etc.) and set aside. Melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add “milk” and broth. Add sauteed garlic, onion and main ingredient. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, stirring regularly, until it reaches desired consistency (about 10-15 minutes). Season to taste with salt and pepper and use as you would a can of condensed Cream of Something Soup in any recipe. If I make it ahead of time, I pour the soup into a pint canning jar and refrigerate it for up to four days.
Freezing Directions:
You can freeze these in batches in pint or quart size bags or use as you would a can of condensed Cream of Something Soup in any recipe and freeze that dish. A great way to keep “cans” at-the-ready for your CrockPot recipes is to make a quadruple batch and bag each “can” serving in a pint-sized freezer bag. Place those bags in a gallon freezer bag, label and freeze. When you need a “can” of condensed soup, pull out a bag, thaw, and drop it in your crock!
Servings: 1 “can,” about 1.5 cups
Try it in these OAMM recipes:
This Post will be linked at:
- CrockPot Wednesday at Dining with Debbie
- Recipes I Can’t Wait to Try at At Home with Haley
- What’s On Your Plate at Good Cheap Eats
- What’s Cooking Wednesday at Turning the Clock Back
Great idea! I would just like to add that although the canning jars make it easy for storage in the fridge, it is NOT safe to actually can the soup. It is not safe to can anything with dairy or flour. (I know you didn’t say you actually canned it, but I wanted to put this out ther before someone decided to try it. Be safe people!)
Definitely true, it’s just a convenient size container for the fridge. Freeze it in a pint or quart freezer bag if you’re storing it. Thanks, Darcie.
Thank you for this safety tip because I was going to try canning it.
What about pressure canning? i was underthe impression that that method was dairy/meat safe.
I think dairy is still a no-no for pressure canning. Here’s the reason, according to GardenWeb.com “Butter and other fats insulate botulism spores, preventing heat penetration. In other words, fat increases the odds that botulism spores will survive.”
so if i make a batch of this…how much does it end up making?
About 1.5 cups or 1 “can” of condensed soup.
Thank you so much for this! I have been looking for a way to make my own for a while now since most of the soups on the shelf have MSG or high fructose corn syrup in it. I can’t wait to try and make my own Cream of Mushroom since that seems to be the big one in my house!
I know, it’s amazing how many things have HFCS in them when you start looking, isn’t it?
Thank you for this post. I haven’t been making any of my soup based recipes since my son was put on the GFCF diet. Now I can make a few of our favorites again.
Awesome! So glad we could help.
Thanks! This will be awesome for our family. Also, have you tried using Almond or Rice Milk for the Dairy-Free? My son had an intollerance to milk and soy while breastfeeding. So I took both out of my diet for 5 months. As we prepare for baby #2, I’m looking for more options to feed my family.
Thanks!
Abi
I have not tried almond or rice milk for the dairy-free soup. But, from what I’ve experienced of both, I’d lean toward rice milk of the two options. To me, the almond milk has a more distinct flavor.
Does the fat content of the “milk” matter? Lactose-free milk seems to be the same consistency as regular milk, fat percentage to fat percentage, but Rice milk is more watery. Will that effect how it turns out?
There might be slight difference in the cooking time to “condense” the soup to the right consistency. An additional teaspoon of flour or cornstarch may also help.
Awesome! Thank you! I’m totally pinning this!
This is a great idea. I can’t tell you how many crock pot recipes I pass up because I don’t want to use canned soups. Thanks so much for sharing!
I may have to try this. I was a bit concerned about it being cost prohibitive as I assumes the recipe.would use whipping cream or half & half. Glad it can be made with milk!
I’d love to try freezing this but I’m skeptical. Anytime I’ve tried to freeze a cream sauce it separates when it thaws. I think it has something to do with the flour. When you thaw out this soup is the consistency the same as when you made it?
I’ve not had any trouble with it; this is a “condensed” soup, so it’s intended to be reconstituted in a recipe. That tends to make a difference in my experience. It’s not something I just add milk to and eat as a mushroom soup (though I suppose you could), but it works great in recipes.
This is such a fantastic resource! Thank you so much for sharing a wonderful healthier homemade version of a store bought classic.
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This is awesome!! I’m so glad you laid it all out there like this – makes it so easy to see, understand, and replicate. Love it
Just so I am clear, one recipe of this will make what is equal to one can of let’s say Campbells cream of something soup???
Yes, that’s exactly right. It’s the equivalent of using 1 can of CONDENSED Campbell’s cream of mushroom, celery, etc. soup.
Thank you so much for this recipe! I made Portabello Mushroom Soup last night and it was the BEST mushroom soup ever!
I used almond milk and Earth Balance instead of dairy items, and Frontier Herbs *beef* broth + water for the broth, making the recipe completely vegan!
I don’t know how well it would freeze, but I can’t imagine not eating it all w/in just a few days anyway!
Thanks so much for the easy to understand recipe.
Any suggestion to make the golden cream of mushroom soup? I’m not sure what makes it ‘golden’ but I prefer it over the regular. Thanks for the awesome recipe and also thanks for the no canning safety tip because I thought about trying it too!
Google tells me that the difference between the two is that “golden” includes tomato in the recipe. I think I’d try adding a tablespoon of tomato paste.
I would also like to express my appreciation. Our family is slowly changing to a vegan diet and this will be a huge blessing for us. I intend to make cream of potato soup for vegetable pot pie this week to bring to a gathering. Thanks again!
I do something similar for my pot pie sauce… But I make it from chicken fat instead of butter & chicken meat ;-D Of course, most people don’t have frozen cubes of chicken fat… Any time I cook a crock full of chicken to shred, I skim the fat off the broth & pour it into a silicone ice tray & freeze…
Thanks, love the chicken fat idea. I make my own chicken broth after cooking my chicken in the crock pot but always threw the fat out after skimming it.
This looks like a great recipe! How would you do cream of potato — cook (or at least par-boil) the potatoes first? Could this recipe be tripled or quadrupled and still be fine?
I would definitely par-boil the potatoes, and chop them fairly small (maybe 1/2-inch cubes). And yes, I usually quadruple it when I make it.
I did a little happy dance when I saw this! We do a lot of casseroles here (I work nights and try to simplify dinnertime for my hubby as much as possible) but I cringe whenever I use a cream soup recipe because of the sodium and preservatives. Love the versatility of this too, Campbells is about to lose my business!!
We promise you’ll love it!!
As long as you leave some space at the top, you can freeze the soup in canning jars, right? For those of us who don’t want to use a bunch of bags??
Yes, I do that sometimes. I do like to use the plastic caps instead of metal when freezing canning jars, though. Also, only use the straight-sided jars for freezing. Mine also have a FREEZER FILL LINE marked on the side. Fill just to there and you’ll be fine!
So if a recipe called for a can of cream of mushroom soup, would I need to add anything to this or just dump it in? Most of the recipes I make we dont add water to the can of soup, just dump and go. Is that the same with this? I love that I can make something that we use all the time healthier, thanks!
Yes that’s exactly right. This is a substitute for the condensed soup. Just dump and go.
I just finished making this for a squash casserole. My mom, who is the pickiest southern woman on earth when it comes to food, LOVED it! She loved it so much, when we used enough for the recipe, she ate the rest with a spoon!
That is awesome! So glad to hear. I am making some batches myself this week!
Just to echo everyone else, this is fantastic! I’ve been avoiding recipes that call for any canned condensed soups as I transition to a healthier diet. This has me missing several ol’ time favorites, but with this I feel like it will be kitchen homecoming! Thank you!
[...] Just wanted to share the success I’ve had lately with freezer cooking. I’ve mentioned to a lot of people the amazing free site I found that had the whole foods menu rather than just “casserole” traditional style freezer cooking. (though they do have ways you can use some of those recipes too, like homemade cream-of-something soup: http://onceamonthmom.com/homemade-cream-of-something-soup/) [...]
I love this! I am curious as to how long it will last in the freezer?
The quality should be good for about 4-6 months (depending on whether you’re putting it in a deep freezer or an attached freezer).
I’m in heaven! Just finished making a quadruple batch of cream of mushroom (only changed one thing…I didn’t have any broth, so I used water and bouillon cubes instead) and I’m already planning another one! It’s so yummy, I could eat it straight! Thanks for a fantastic recipe!
Isn’t it though? So glad you liked it and are making more.
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