No Can Needed
Most homemade “mushroom soup substitutes” you see online use milk, broth, butter, and sometimes powdered dairy. But this old cookbook version completely surprised me.
This vintage recipe doesn’t use milk at all. No cream. No mushrooms. No broth.
Just shortening, flour, seasoning salt, and water.
And yet, it was confidently labeled as a “Substitute for Mushroom Soup” and meant to replace a can of cream of mushroom soup in casseroles.
This is exactly the kind of recipe that shows how earlier generations cooked when the pantry was bare, the store was far away, or canned soup simply wasn’t available. Instead of copying flavor, they copied the function – a thick, salty, creamy base to hold a casserole together.
It may look strange at first glance, but this simple sauce did the same job a can of soup would have done in dozens of midcentury casseroles.
And honestly….that makes it kind of brilliant.
Mushroom Soup Substitute
Ingredients
Method
- In a saucepan, melt the shortening over medium heat.
- Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, until lightly browned.
- Add seasoning salt and cold water.
- Stir briskly and bring to a boil, continuing to stir until thickened.
- Use immediately in casseroles in place of one can of cream of mushroom soup.
Notes
- Scant cup: in a little less than a full cup, about 2-3 tablespoons less.
- This recipe makes roughly the equivalent of one can of soup.
- Works best in casseroles, stroganoff, and other baked dishes where the soup is mixed with other ingredients.
- You can add 1-2 tablespoons of chopped mushrooms, onion powder, or garlic powder if you want more of a traditional flavor – but the original recipe contains none of these.
Fork Fact
This recipe is naturally dairy-free – something you almost never see in modern cream of soup substitutes. It was likely created for times when milk was scarce, expensive, or unavailable.
Cream-style soups are traditionally used as a thick binder in casseroles, not just for flavor. Wikipedia Cream Soup