This Mushroom Soup is simple, delicious, and full of hearty flavors. We combine tender mushrooms, simple greens, and chewy orzo with a comforting herb-infused vegetable broth. This healthy soup recipe is perfect for enjoying on a cold winter day—nutritious, delicious, and vegetarian.
Immune-Boosting Mushroom Soup Recipe
If you’re looking for a delicious healthy soup recipe to add to your rotation, this one is a winner. Our mushroom orzo soup is chock full of green vegetables – spinach, celery, broccoli – meaty mushrooms, and tender orzo pasta. Aromatics, herbs, and organic vegetable base round out the flavors and add excellent depth.
It’s easy to focus on immune-boosting ingredients when the recipe is as simple as this one. Abundant greens add high levels of fiber, iron, magnesium, and calcium. Those super greens are rounded out by vitamin D-rich mushrooms that add a nice meatiness to the soup and lend plenty of umami.
As written, this orzo soup is vegetarian. You can make it gluten-free by subbing in a high-quality gluten-free orzo. You can also make it a vegan mushroom soup by omitting the parmesan cheese.
Either way, this mushroom soup recipe is healthy, immune-boosting, and so good your family will crave it again and again.
What You Need
This mushroom orzo soup is full of fresh vegetables that make it healthy and flavorful. Scroll down to the recipe card for actual amounts.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Celery
- Garlic
- Shallot
- Mushrooms: I used Shimeji mushrooms for my soup, but you can use any fresh mushroom. Opt for mushrooms with a lot of flavor.
- Spinach: I recommend using fresh, baby spinach for this soup. You can use any other baby green like kale or swiss chard as well. If you need to use frozen spinach, be sure to defrost it first and squeeze out the extra moisture.
- Broccoli: Cut your broccoli into bite-sized florets.
- Organic Vegetable Base: You can also use a chicken base if you don’t care whether the soup is vegetarian.
- Water
- Orzo Pasta
- Seasoning: This soup uses Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.
- Parmesan Cheese: This is optional; the soup will still be great if you want to keep this out to make it vegan.
How to Make this Mushroom Soup Recipe
This immune-boosing soup comes together in less than 45 minutes. The most time-consuming thing is prepping your veggies, which only takes 10 minutes. The key to boosting the flavor of this mushroom soup is to add the vegetable (or chicken) base directly to your vegetables while they’re sauteing. This allows the veggies to absorb more flavor than they would otherwise.
- Prep Your Vegetables. Before you get started on anything else, take 10 minutes and prep all of your vegetables. You can add the celery, garlic, and shallots to a single bowl. The broccoli and mushrooms can share another.
- Heat Your Stock Pot. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and heat it until it starts to shimmer.
- Saute the Vegetables. Once the olive oil is heated, add the chopped celery, garlic, and shallots to the pan. Add a little salt and pepper to draw out the flavor, and cook until they start to soften. This should take between 6 and 8 minutes.
- Add the Vegetable (or Chicken) Base. Add the vegetable base to the sauteing veggies. Stir until all the vegetables are coated evenly with the base. This should take about 2 minutes.
- Add Water and Seasoning. Add the water, Italian herb mix, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to the vegetables. Increase the heat to high and bring the pot to a soft boil.
- Add the Pasta. Once you start to see bubbles forming at the edge of the pot, add the orzo. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes. The orzo has a little more cook time coming up, so it doesn’t need to be fully cooked yet.
- Add the Mushrooms and Broccoli. Add chopped mushroom and broccoli florets to the soup and cook it for an additional 5 minutes. Both the pasta and the broccoli should be al dente.
- Add the Spinach and Parmesan. Add the spinach and parmesan. Stir the soup to help the spinach wilt.
- Remove From Heat. Once the spinach starts to wilt, remove the mushroom soup from the heat.
- Serve and Enjoy! Ladle mushroom soup into individual bowls and enjoy! You can add an additional sprinkle of parmesan if you’d like.
Tips for Success
- Make Ahead and Freeze. If you want to make this soup ahead of time and freeze it, omit the pasta and spinach. When you’re ready to serve the soup, reheat the pot on the stove and add the pasta and spinach at the proper times. Pasta doesn’t tend to retain great texture through freezing, thawing, and reheating.
- Prep Veggies Ahead of Time. If you’re making this soup during the week, prep all of your veggies ahead of time. You can store them in ziplock bags or a bowl covered in plastic wrap. When you’re ready to make the soup, pull everything out of the fridge, and the soup will be done in no time!
- Share with a Friend. I find this is a great soup to drop off to a friend who may be recovering from something or needs a little pick me up. Because it is such a delicious and healthy soup, they will be extra appreciative.
How to Store
Mushroom soup will stay fresh in the fridge stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days. The pasta will absorb quite a bit of the broth while it sits, so expect the soup to get thicker over time.
Can I Freeze This Mushroom Soup Recipe?
This soup won’t freeze well once it’s finished; pasta loses its texture and flavor when frozen. But you can make it ahead of time up to the point where you add in the pasta. Mushroom soup pre-pasta and pre-spinach can stay in the freezer for up to 3 months. Once you’re ready to serve, thaw the soup overnight in the fridge and heat it on the stove. Resume the recipe where you add in the pasta.
Immune Boosting Super Green Mushroom Orzo Soup
Equipment
- Stock Pot
- Cutting Board
- Knife
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 stalks of celery cubed
- 2 large garlic cloves diced
- 1 medium shallot peeled and diced
- 3 tablespoons organic vegetable base or use chicken base if you are not vegetarian
- 8 cup water
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian herb mix
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 cup Mushrooms I used Shimeji, any fresh mushroom will work
- 3 cup Broccoli cut into florets (bite size pieces)
- 1 cup Orzo pasta
- 3 cup fresh baby Spinach
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a large stock pot over medium-high heat add olive oil.
- Once olive oil is heated, add celery, garlic and shallots. Stir and cook until vegetables start to soften. About 6-8 minutes.
- Add chicken base and stir to coat vegetables, about 2 minutes.
- Add water, Italian herb mix, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Increase heat to high and bring to a soft boil.
- Once you see bubbles add pasta and reduce heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes.
- Add mushrooms and broccoli and cook an additional 5 minutes. Pasta and broccoli should be al dente
- Add spinach and parmesan. Stir to wilt and melt.
- Remove from heat.
- Seve in soup bowls. Enjoy
- Top with additional sprinkle of parmesan cheese if desire.
Notes
Try These Other Immune-Boosting Foods!
- Immune Boosting Lemon Chicken Rice Soup
- Immune Boosting Pumpkin Ginger Coconut Soup
- 15 Foods that Boost the Immune System
