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When the weather is grey and your body asks for something warm and grounding, what could be better than a medicinal mushroom soup? In a recent video, Miyoko Schinner follows her intuition to create a deeply comforting, healing dish with whatever ingredients she already has on hand.
Schinner, widely known as a vegan cheese pioneer and founder of Miyoko’s Creamery, now shares recipes and techniques on her YouTube channel The Vegan Good Life with Miyoko. Her cooking style blends tradition with practicality, often rooted in global techniques and a strong understanding of plant-based flavor. In this video, she builds a medicinal mushroom soup around what she calls her “brilliant bouillon,” while also drawing on Italian methods, foraged ingredients, and a strong sense of what her body needs in the moment.
Read more: 10 Vegan Soup Recipes For Cold Weather
“I am cooking by feel, by what I want to eat today,” Schinner says. That idea shapes the entire dish.
Cooking by intuition, not rules
This is not a recipe built on precision. It is guided by craving and instinct.
Schinner opens by explaining the motivation behind the soup: “You know when your body just tells you you need something in particular to heal?” she says. “Today is a day that I’m just craving something with lots of medicinal mushrooms in it.”
Rather than follow a strict formula, she builds the soup step by step, responding to what feels right. Mushrooms take center stage, supported by simple vegetables like onion, carrot, and garlic. She describes listening to her body as she cooks, adding, “My body is telling me what I want and I do want some allium.”
That flexibility is key. The result is a medicinal mushroom soup that feels personal, adaptable, and rooted in the moment.
The ‘brilliant bouillon’ that builds the base
At the heart of the soup is Schinner’s homemade bouillon paste, which she describes as a powerful, cost-effective alternative to store-bought broth bases.
“This is your bouillon base that you buy in a jar,” she says. “There are commercial brands that you can buy in a jar, but you can also make your own.”
Her version starts with dried porcini mushrooms, blended into a fine powder. “They smell so great,” she says. “It just makes everything taste so much richer.”
She combines the porcini powder with neutral oil or mild olive oil, white miso, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, soy sauce, and salt. The mixture is blended into a thick paste that can be stored in the fridge and used whenever needed.
White miso plays a key role in layering flavor. “That’s going to add umami,” she explains. “It’s going to add the salt that you’re looking for. It’s going to add depth to this.”
The result is a concentrated base that turns water into a rich, savory broth in minutes. It anchors the soup and eliminates the need for a long-simmered stock.
A mix of mushrooms, including medicinal varieties
Schinner builds her soup with a mix of mushrooms, each contributing something different.
She uses dried porcini for depth, fresh cremini for body, and oyster mushrooms that she foraged herself. Even though the oyster mushrooms are waterlogged from rain, she still uses them, noting, “I just feel like they’re going to have the nutrition that I need.”
She also adds turkey tail mushrooms, known more for their medicinal properties than their flavor. “They are very, very healing,” she says. “I’m just going to add this to the soup, to the broth, so that they release their medicinal purposes.”
She is clear that turkey tail is not meant to be eaten. Instead, it infuses the broth subtly while contributing what she describes as immune-supporting benefits.
The Italian magic: adding soaked bread
One of the most distinctive elements of this dish is the addition of stale bread.
Schinner draws on an Italian technique, soaking old bread in water and incorporating it into the soup. “This is what the Italians do oftentimes,” she explains, referencing dishes like pappa al pomodoro.
She soaks the bread, squeezes it out, and adds it directly into the broth. The bread absorbs the liquid, thickens slightly, and adds texture and comfort.
“I don’t throw bread away,” she says. Later, as the soup finishes, she adds a chunk per serving and lets it soak up the flavors.
The result is a dish that feels more substantial and deeply satisfying, without needing cream or heavy ingredients.
Building the soup step by step
The soup begins with sautéed onion, carrot, and garlic in olive oil. Schinner then adds the mushrooms, including rehydrated porcini along with their soaking liquid, which she uses for extra flavor.
She pours in water and stirs in the bouillon paste directly, allowing it to dissolve as the soup simmers. “You can adjust the amount,” she says. “You can taste it after this has simmered for a while.”
The turkey tail mushrooms are added to infuse the broth, then removed before serving. Toward the end, she adds more miso for extra depth, noting it is “very, very healthgiving.”
The soup simmers briefly, though she notes it could cook longer if desired.
A bowl of comfort for cold, rainy days
By the end, the soup reflects everything Schinner set out to create: warmth, nourishment, and comfort.
As she tastes it, she says, “It just hits the spot. I just feel like it’s already going to work to strengthen my immune system and just make me feel better.”
The final dish is simple but layered. The mushrooms bring depth, the bouillon adds richness, and the soaked bread delivers texture and familiarity.
For Schinner, the message goes beyond the recipe. “Please do things that make you feel strong and that heal you,” she says.
It is a reminder that sometimes the most meaningful meals are not planned. They come from listening, adapting, and making the most of what is already in front of you.
For more of Miyoko Schinner’s healthy vegan recipes, visit her YouTube channel.
Read more: This Vegan Mujadara Soup Is A Healthy Twist On A Lebanese Comfort Classic
