The presence of the word “cream” in the description of afood product usually doesn’t bode well for vegans. But, not all definitions ofcream involve milk and sometimes the word can be used to refer to a texture.After all, facial creams don’t contain milk.
Anyway, is it vegan? No,cream of mushroom soup is not vegan. Nor is cream of celery or cream ofbroccoli, etc. While the soup does get much of its creamy texture with the helpof starch, it still contains several dairy-based ingredients.1
Is it vegetarian? Creamof mushroom soup is generally vegetarian unless lard or bacon grease is usedfor the roux—which is much more common in homemade soup. Specifically, it’ssuitable for lacto and lacto-ovo vegetarians, the subgroup of vegetarians thatallows for dairy.
What we’ll do here is look at the various reasons cream of mushroom soup falls short of being suitable for vegans.
Why Cream of Mushroom Soup Is Non-Vegan
Cream of mushroom soup contains milk cream.
It’s what’s known as a thickened soup, which is a type of soup that’s made with added milk,cream, or sour cream.2
For example, ingredients for Campbell’s Classic Cream ofMushroom include:1
- Water
- Vegetable Oils (Corn, Canola, and/or SoybeanOils)
- Mushrooms
- Modified Food Starch, Wheat Flour
- Salt, Yeast Extract
- Cream(Milk)
- Soy Protein Concentrate
- DehydratedWhey
- Flavoring
- Dehydrated Garlic
This isn’t obvious to some folks at first, because most ofthe creaminess comes from the starchy components.
In fact, if you check out the food label you’ll see that thetwo dairy ingredients are included in the ingredients that make up 2% or lessof the soup.
Cream of mushroom and similar soups (celery, broccoli, andchicken) are made with what’s called a basic roux.3
One of the first steps in making a sauce (including thosethat are incorporated into soups) is the addition of a starch thickener in theform of either slurry, beurre manié (pronounced “burr mahn-yay”), or a roux (“roo”).4
Roux is what you get when you mix flour with a fat sourceand cook them together to be used to thicken sauces and soups.5,6
The flour is mixed with the oil or melted fat, blended, andcooked to the desired level of brownness.
Roux is often non-vegan as various animal products can beused for the fat source—usually butter, but bacon grease and lard are alsocommon. But, it can be vegan-friendly if plant oils are used.
Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup contains vegetable oils (notbutter), but it still has some amount of milk. This is because, for cream ofmushroom and similar soups, the roux (regardless of the fat source) is thinnedout with milk or milk cream.
Other milk ingredients are also common. For example, wheyprotein is used in the Campbell’s version.
So you know, whey protein is only found in milk so it’s alwaysnon-vegan. The protein content of cow’s milk is about 20% whey and 80% casein.7
Whey is the protein that’s left over when milk is curdled duringcheese production and it contains all of the soluble components of milk afterthe pH drops past a certain point in the coagulation process.8
Whey protein has a lot of useful properties in foodproduction and is often used to assist with texture and gelling.9
I searched several other brands to be sure.
Health Valley puts out one that contains:10
- Filtered Water
- Organic Mushrooms
- OrganicCream (from Milk)
- Organic Rice Flour
- Organic Mushrooms
- Organic Soy Sauce (Organic Soybeans, OrganicMaltodextrin)
- Organic Mushroom Powder
- OrganicButter (Organic Cream, Lactic Acid)
- Organic Molasses
- Yeast Extract and Salt
- Organic Potato Flour, Organic Rice Starch
- Organic Flavor, Natural Flavor
- Organic Canola Oil
- Organic Onion Powder, Organic Spices
I suppose it’s intended to be a healthier version of thesoup. And the cream is organic if that’s any consolation. But, it’s still non-vegan.
I looked at several others. One company put out agluten-free version of the soup, but it still contained dairy. They just swappedout the wheat for other grains.
What About the Fat-Free Version?
Then there’s the low-fat or fat-free version of the soup toconsider. I know Campbell’s makes one.
Sometimes fat-free products offer hope to vegans because alot of animal products like whole milk and butter are filled with saturatedfat. So, those ingredients are often replaced with plant oils which are, ofcourse, vegan.
Sure enough, some fat-free foods swap out butter with plantoils which works out well for plant-based eaters.
Unfortunately, fat-free cream of mushroom soup seems to be everybit as non-vegan as the full-fat version.
In fact, Campbell’s FF cream of mushroom soup containsseveral times the amount of animal products.
Ingredients include:11
- Water
- Mushrooms
- Modified Food Starch, Wheat Flour
- Salt, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
- Cream(Milk)
- Vegetable Oil (Corn, Canola, And/Or Soybean)
- DehydratedButter (Cream, Salt)
- Soy Protein Concentrate
- Buttermilk
- Flavoring
- EnzymeModified Butter
- Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate
- Skim Milk
- Lactic Acid
- WheyProtein Concentrate
- EnzymeModified Butter Fat And Oil
- Whey Protein
- Soy Lecithin
I’m not sure why they went with so many milk products forthis version. I’d imagine they cut back on vegetable oils to drop the overallfat content, and then boosted the number of dairy derivatives to make up forthe lost texture. But, that’s just speculation.
That’s it for the vegan status of cream of mushroom soup. Thanksfor reading.
You may also want to check out the following relatedarticles:
References
- Campbell’s® Classic Cream Of Mushroom. https://www.campbellsfoodservice.com/product/campbells-classic-cream-of-mushroom/
- Understanding Food: Principles and Preparation (Page 328).Amy Brown – Wadsworth Cengage Learning – 2011. ISBN-10: 0-538-73498-1
- Cream of Mushroom Soup. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cream_of_mushroom_soup
- Understanding Food: Principles and Preparation (Page 399).Amy Brown – Wadsworth Cengage Learning – 2011. ISBN-10: 0-538-73498-1
- Roux Definition, Cambridge Dictionary. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/roux
- Berolzheimer, Ruth (1942). The American Woman’s CookBook. New York: Garden City Publishing. p. 307.
- Jay R. Hoffman & Michael J. Falvo (2004).“Protein – Which is best?”. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine(3): 118–130.
- Whey Protein. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whey_protein
- Understanding Food: Principles and Preparation (Page 211).Amy Brown – Wadsworth Cengage Learning – 2011. ISBN-10: 0-538-73498-1
- HealthValley Cream Of Mushroom Soup, 14.5 oz (Pack of 12). https://www.walmart.com/ip/Health-Valley-Cream-Of-Mushroom-Soup-14-5-oz-Pack-of-12/17353113
- (4pack) Campbell’s Condensed 98% Fat-Free Cream of Mushroom Soup, 10.5 oz. Can. https://www.walmart.com/ip/4-pack-Campbell-s-Condensed-98-Fat-Free-Cream-of-Mushroom-Soup-10-5-oz-Can/781303384
