Acorn Mushroom Soup Recipe

Mushrooms and acorns bring rich, umami flavor and satisfying texture to this acorn mushroom soup. It’s filling, delicious, and thanks to its low fat content…very healthy.

You can use any mushroom (wild or cultivated), but I suggest using something other than the white button mushrooms you find in most grocery stores. Those don’t have quite enough flavor to stand up to the acorns. If you’ve got hen of the woods, oysters, or porcini, try those.

Soup is an excellent way to use hot-leached acorns. Hot leaching is faster than cold leaching, but it cooks the starch, making it less useful as flour  But with soup, no starch is required for binding, as it would be in a baked good.

What You’ll Need to Make Acorn Mushroom Soup:

• 1 1/2 cups shelled, leached acorn pieces (either hot- or cold-leached is fine)1 carrot, peeled and chopped 
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 Tbs. butter or oil
• 1 oz. dried mushrooms or 1/4 cup fresh
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/3 cup sherry or white wine of choice
• 4 cups chicken or mushroom stock
• salt
• 1/2 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
• chopped parsley

What You’ll Do to Make Acorn Mushroom Soup:

To rehydrate the dried mushrooms, place them in a shallow bowl and add enough warm water to cover them. When the mushrooms are soft (this may take 15 – 30 minutes), remove them from the water and chop them into large pieces. Save the leftover soaking water for later.

Sauté the carrot, celery, and onion in the butter (or oil) until they soften. Add the rehydrated mushrooms and acorn bits, and stir to combine. Sauté for another few minutes.

Add the sherry, bay leaves, and stock, and simmer for an hour, covered. Let the soup cool, then purée the mixture in a blender or with an immersion blender, and add salt to taste. Reheat the soup, and use the water leftover from rehydrating the dried mushrooms, or additional stock to thin the mixture to your preferred consistency.

Remove the soup from heat and stir in the yogurt, then top with chopped parsley, and serve.