If you've ever had Lithuanian mushroom soup at someone's grandmother's table, or an aunt's, or a family friend's, you know it doesn't taste like anything from a can. It smells like the woods it came from. Grybų sriuba (or Lithuanian Mushroom Soup) is one of those dishes every Lithuanian family seems to make slightly differently, but the base is always the same: real mushrooms, potatoes, sour cream stirred in at the end.
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This version is built off the soup you'd get as a starter at a Lithuanian business-lunch spot, the kind of cheap, fast two-course set menu aimed at office workers on their lunch break. Small bowl, big flavor, out the door in twenty minutes.
Recipe Highlights
THE MUSHROOMS: Chestnut (baby bella) mushrooms are used here, but a handful of woodland or dried porcini pushes it closer to how it's actually made back home.
THE TEXTURE: This is a chunky, spoon-through-actual-vegetables soup, not a purée, so don't reach for the blender.
THE CREAMY FINISH: No roux, no cream carton, just proper grietinė (sour cream) tempered in at the end so it enriches the soup instead of splitting all over it.
THE MEMORY: For a lot of Lithuanian families, this soup starts in the forest, not the kitchen, with everyone checking the same patch of woods every autumn and the pot going on the second you're home.
Ingredient Notes
Chestnut mushrooms are the accessible base, and they're what most people will actually have access to. If you can get your hands on any woodland mushroom mix, even a small handful, add it in alongside the chestnut ones; it's the single biggest thing that pushes this toward how it's made in Lithuania. Dried porcini, soaked, works even when fresh wild mushrooms aren't around, and you should not throw out the soaking liquid.
Grietinė is Lithuanian sour cream, thicker and tangier than the crème fraîche or heavy cream you'd see in a French or Italian version of this soup. Regular full-fat sour cream is the closest substitute and what this recipe is built around.
The potatoes aren't a garnish, they're the body of the soup, so don't skimp on them. As for herbs, a Lithuanian kitchen reaches for dill before parsley, though a mix of both works well if that's what you've got.
Method
1. Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until soft.
2. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they release their water and it evaporates completely, about 7 to 8 minutes.
3. Add the garlic, potatoes, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper and stir for 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Pour in the stock, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are fork-tender. Remove the bay leaf.
5. Take the pot off the heat. Spoon the sour cream into a small bowl, add a ladleful of hot soup, and stir to combine, this stops it splitting when it goes back in. Stir the tempered sour cream into the pot.
6. Stir in the dill and parsley. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
7. Ladle into bowls, add an extra spoonful of sour cream on top if you like, and serve with dark rye bread.
Expert Tips
- Cook the mushrooms until their liquid has fully evaporated before you add anything else. That's where the flavor comes from, not the stock, so don't rush this step.
- Always temper the sour cream with a ladle of hot broth before it goes back into the pot, or it will split and you'll end up with little white flecks instead of a silky finish.
- Watch the potatoes closely once they hit fork-tender; go much past that and they'll start breaking down, and you'll lose the chunky texture that makes this soup what it is.
- If you're using dried porcini, save and strain the soaking liquid and use it in place of some of the stock. It's where most of the extra depth comes from.
Serving Suggestions
Serve it the way it's dished up at Lithuanian lunch spots: a small bowl, dark rye bread on the side, nothing else needed.
Storage and Make-Ahead
This keeps in the fridge for a few days. Reheat it gently, on low, so the sour cream doesn't split.
If you're making it ahead, stop before adding the sour cream, refrigerate the soup base, then temper in the sour cream fresh once it's reheated.
Substitutions and Variations
Any wild mushroom mix you can find works in place of the chestnut mushrooms, more or less interchangeably.
For a dairy-free version, swap in a plant-based sour cream alternative; the texture holds up reasonably well. If you want something heartier, stir in a spoonful of cooked pearl barley toward the end.
And if you like this one, Lithuanian Beetroot Soup is worth trying next.
Recipe FAQs
Chestnut mushrooms alone make a good soup on their own, so don't feel like you need a forager in the family to make this properly. Wild mushrooms just add another layer of depth if you have access to them.
Yes. Swap the butter for a neutral oil or dairy-free spread, and use a plant-based sour cream alternative at the end, tempered the same way as the dairy version.
More Lithuanian Soup Recipes
Lithuanian Mushroom Soup (Grybų Sriuba)
Ingredients
- 15 g (1 tbsp) butter
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 300 g (about 10½ oz, roughly 4½ cups sliced) mixed mushrooms sliced (chestnut mushrooms plus a handful of any woodland/wild mushrooms available; even a small handful of dried porcini, soaked, adds real depth)
- 2 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 1 bay leaf
- 250 g (about ¾ lb, roughly 1¼ cups diced) potatoes peeled and cut into small (1cm/ ¼ inch) cubes
- 600 ml (~2¾ cups) vegetable or mushroom stock
- 2 tablespoon sour cream grietinė, plus extra to serve
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped
- Salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2–3 minutes until soft.
- Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they release their water and it evaporates completely, about 7–8 minutes.
- Add the garlic, potatoes, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper and stir for 1–2 minutes.
- Pour in the stock, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 8-10 minutes, until the potatoes are fork-tender. Remove the bay leaf.
- Take the pot off the heat. Spoon the sour cream into a small bowl, add a ladleful of hot soup, and stir to combine, this stops it splitting when added back in. Stir the tempered sour cream into the pot.
- Stir in the dill and parsley. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
- Ladle into bowls, add a small extra spoonful of sour cream on top if desired, and serve with dark rye bread or sourdough.
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