Polish Christmas Mushroom Soup {Wigilijna Zupa Grzybowa}
The difference between Christmas mushroom soup [zoo-pah g-rzyh-boh-vah vee-gee-leey-nah] and “regular” mushroom soup is that Christmas mushroom soup is vegetarian. As a matter of fact, all 12 dishes served at Polish Christmas Eve dinner are meatless or made with fish (we don’t consider fish meat). The 12 dishes represent the 12 Apostles and mark the beginning of Christmas festivities with the most important dinner of this holiday. As soon as the first star is spotted on a dark December night sky, we’re ready to share the opłatek (a thin wafer, resembling a communion wafer) wishing each other good health, happiness and good fortune. After that we proceed to the table filled with steaming soups, pierogi, herring, and more.
The 12 dishes may vary from home to home. My family mainly eats only beetroot broth with mushroom-filled dumplings, but many families opt for a small portion of wild mushroom soup instead, and some do both. Only a small portion of either soup will be served, to save room for the remaining 11 dishes.
Wild mushroom soup is a clear soup, nothing but mushrooms in it. Broth is bold and mushroomy, and lightly creamy.
Polish Christmas Mushroom Soup {Wigilijna Zupa Grzybowa}
Ingredients
- 1 oz / 30 g / 1 c of dried wild mushrooms*
- 1 ½ c / 350 ml of water for soaking
- 6 c / 1 ½ l of vegetable broth (or 6 c of water and the next 4 ingredients)
- 2 carrots
- ½ of celery root
- ¼ of an onion
- 1 parsnip or parsley root
- 6 whole peppercorns and allspice berries (each)
- 3 bay leaves
- Salt (careful if using broth that may contain salt already)
- 2 tbsp of butter
- 2 tbsp of heavy cream
Instructions
Soak wild mushrooms overnight (or at least 4 hours).
The next day, place mushrooms, with the water they were soaking in, in a medium pot. Add broth (or water and vegetables), spices and a pinch of salt. Boil covered on low for 30 minutes or until mushrooms are soft.
When wild mushrooms are cooked, strain everything out, reserve the liquid broth. Remove the vegetables (save to make a Polish vegetable salad "sałatka jarzynowa"), and, once the mushrooms cool, dice them and return to broth.
To cream add a bit of broth to temper it. Add cream to soup and heat through. Taste, add salt if needed and a sprinkle of fresh ground pepper.
Finish by adding butter for extra flavor.
Notes
*IMPORTANT: some wild mushrooms are not to be served to children. Do your research before serving to children.
Will you be cooking it this Christmas? Happy cooking and tasting!
Much love,
Anna
* I like this mixture of wild mushrooms as it reminds me very much of mushrooms picked in Poland.
My cookbooks!
Visit my YouTube channel
Support us by shopping in our merch store!!
WANT TO GET MY NEXT RECIPE VIA EMAIL? TYPE IN YOUR EMAIL BELOW:
Here in the south we’re sadly lacking in ethnic stores, and I’ve found nothing Polish, as there was living in NY. So do you have a suggestion to find “wild mushrooms” that are in the Christmas mushroom soup? I remember that as part of the feast babka prepared every year for our family gathering… now everyone is gone, and I miss the food. I’ll try to prepare the dishes, but finding ingredients is difficult when all they eat is BBQ and biscuits ! Thank you if you can help.
I feel your pain. It’s been my frustration living in the US but I found alternatives. Please read the instructions in my recipe. I posted links where to buy ingredients similar to Polish equivalents. Good luck cooking!
I also moved to the south from NY. I ordered porcini mushrooms online.
Can I use dried shiitake mushrooms? I only have a few porcini mushrooms, which is my usual go-to.
You can try, although they have a bit more sour taste.
Okay this sounds like I am on the right track.i have been recently searching for a soup we would have when I was a kid that had mushrooms and I thought there was potatoes fried in onions and butter that would be placed in the bowl of soup.is this the same soup,or do you no of the name I am referring too? I am sure the soup was changed over the years,I remember not liking it as a child but as always,would love it today.appreciate any help.
Thank you.
Gina
“Wild mushroom soup is a clear soup”… So why the cream?
Kazimierzu,
what I meant by “clear” is that it is not served with noodles, potatoes or any vegetables other than mushrooms… clear broth. 🙂
Smacznego! Anna
What area of Polska are you from? Because you offer a different spin on the Wigilna zupa.
I’m in the North East, Szczecin area, but my family came from central Poland, Łódź area.
My heritage is Polish. We. as an extended family, always celebrated Christmas Eve together and had traditional Polish food similar to yours. We typically had about 30 people at the meatless dinner – young and old. One tradition we also had was to have an empty chair at the table in case we had visitors. Of course the “visitors” were the “Holy Family who could find no room at the inn.”
Am keeping some of the Polish holiday traditions alive for my children and their families to understand and appreciate the importance of family and heritage.
Hi! So excited to find your blog, as I am trying to prepare a traditional Wigilia feast this year even though I can’t be with most of my family. I will be using many of your recipes – they sound delicious!
For this soup – I have ground allspice and pepper; would it work to use these for flavoring, or do I need to buy whole allspice berries and peppercorns? If so, how much would you suggest of each?
Dziekuje bardzo!
You just a small dash of ground allspice and a pinch of pepper. Good luck!
I am looking for a Wigilia recipe for a kvass based soup with wild mushrooms and potatoes. The broth was cloudy and light brown as made by my grandmother
It sounds like “żurek” with mushrooms.
I am not clear about how many dried mushrooms to use. 30 g is 1/4 cup, but the recipe also says 1 cup.
I’m making your recipe for Christmas Eve. It’s very similar to our family’s (we came to Canada from the Krakow area about 100 years ago). Our recipe was never written down, so it’s nice to have your guide. I am using “zur”, a starter from our local Polish store, where I also found the Polish dried mushroom. I used the rest of your recipe and it looks great, so far. Merry Christmas!
Anna, do you know the secret of how to make pierogi dough soft and tender. I’m a first generation American but my mother was an awful cook so our pierogi were always tough as a hockey puck. If so please post. You may save our teeth.
My family has found a wonderful pierogi recipe and the dough is so tender..the secret is sour cream. It is Martha Stewart’s recipe.
I’ve tried that recipe and still stand by my own (my grandma’s, that is). 😉
Hi Anna, I remember my Mom doing wigilia evry Christmas and we always had mushroom soup. She would get dryed Prawdzifki from a friend in Poland. Looking at the recipe she didn’t use any of the vegetables, just mushrooms. I remember some salt and pepper, garlic, all these in small amounts. I think she used some thing like crema plus the water used for soaking, (after soaking) finely chopped some of the mushrooms and the rest sliced mushrooms.
I am trying to duplicate her recipe. Unfortunately, she passed several years ago.
I made this soup for a fundraiser for my parish. Three lbs. Of mushrooms worth! I love your website and YouTube channel. It brings back so many memories and helps me recreate my hand is and mom’ s recipes.
I used dried Porcini and white button mushrooms. Not adhering to tradition I rendered 2 ounces of minced salt pork to sauté the vegetables and added 3 tablespoons of flour to vegs then added mushroom soaking liquid and chicken broth. Seasoned with black pepper parsley and dried marjoram. When done dropped some home made kluski into soup. It is the way my Babci made it so that’s what me reminds me of her and the other old timers thank have passed. it is delicious and an emotional soup. Sto lat to everyone.