Creamy Zucchini Soup (Silky Without the Cream)

Creamy zucchini soup is the answer to a bag of zucchini and a short evening. This version simmers zucchini with onion and garlic, then blends the pot until it turns silky, so the texture comes from the vegetable and not from the dairy. The heavy cream is optional. Supermarket zucchini works as well as any other, and the soup is a good place for the rounded outer slices left over from other recipes. It serves 4, takes 45 minutes from start to finish, and keeps well in the fridge and the freezer, which makes it a cold-weather recipe as much as a summer one.

Why this works

• Zucchini has enough pectin and body that a long blend gives a silky texture on its own.
• The cream is flavor, not structure, so you can skip it and the soup still pours thick.
• Cooking the onion until translucent, never brown, keeps the color green instead of gray.
• A squeeze of lemon juice at the end brightens the pot after the long simmer.
• Everything cooks in one large pot, so the cleanup is short and the method is easy to repeat on a weeknight.

What to know about the ingredients

Buy zucchini that feel heavy for their size and have tight, glossy skin. The recipe calls for 2 lb, which is 4 to 5 medium ones, chopped. Firm zucchini keep the flavor clean. Grocery-store zucchini is fine in October, and the recipe does not depend on garden timing.

Vegetable broth sets the base, so pick one you would drink from a mug. If the label tastes salty, hold back on the salt at the end and adjust in small steps. Fresh lemon juice matters here, because bottled juice can taste flat against a mild soup.

Onion and garlic carry most of the savory flavor, so use a full cup of chopped onion and 4 sliced cloves as written. Olive oil is the only fat in the base, and it gives the soup a rounder taste than neutral oil would.

For a dairy-free pot, leave out the cream and finish with a spoonful of plain yogurt or nothing at all. For a richer bowl, use the cream. Either way, taste before serving and add the lemon juice and pepper last, since both change quickly.

Creamy Zucchini Soup

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Creamy from the blender, not the cream, so the dairy is optional and the texture is not.

Prep15 min

Cook30 min

Total45 min

Serves4

Scale1x2x3x

Ingredients

• zucchini, chopped — 2 lb (4 to 5 medium) (900 g)
• vegetable broth — 3 cups (720 ml)
• heavy cream, optional — ½ cup (120 ml)
• onion, chopped — 1 cup (160 g)
• olive oil — 2 tablespoons (30 ml)
• garlic, sliced — 4 cloves (12 g)
• lemon juice, fresh — 1 tablespoon (15 ml)
• salt — 1 teaspoon (6 g)
• black pepper — ½ teaspoon (1 g)

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat until it thins and slides across the pot, about 1 minute.
2. Add the onion and 3 g (1/2 teaspoon) of the salt and cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring twice, until the pieces turn translucent and slump against the pot. Do not brown them, brown onion makes the soup gray.
3. Add the garlic and cook 60 seconds, until it smells sweet.
4. Add the zucchini and the broth. The liquid should sit just below the surface of the vegetables. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer.
5. Simmer uncovered 15 to 18 minutes, until a fork pushed into a chunk meets no resistance at all.
6. Blend until completely smooth, 60 to 90 seconds in a countertop blender in two batches, or with an immersion blender in the pot. Fill a countertop blender no more than half full with hot soup and hold the lid with a towel.
7. Stir in the cream if you are using it, plus the lemon juice, the remaining 3 g (1/2 teaspoon) salt, and the pepper. Taste and adjust the salt in 1 g (1/4 teaspoon) steps.
8. Serve hot, with croutons or a spoonful of yogurt.

Nutrition per serving

247Calories

5 gProtein

14 gCarbs

19 gFat

Estimated per serving from standard nutrition reference values; will vary with brands and substitutions.

Tips for getting it right

1. Heat the olive oil until it thins and slides across the pot before the onion goes in.
2. Stir the onion twice during cooking and pull it when the pieces slump against the pot and turn translucent.
3. Cook the garlic only 60 seconds, until it smells sweet. Browned garlic turns bitter in a pale soup.
4. Add broth so the liquid sits just below the surface of the vegetables. Too much broth gives a thin soup that no blender can fix.
5. Blend for 60 to 90 seconds, in two batches if you use a countertop blender. A short blend leaves flecks of skin.
6. Look for a smooth, even surface with no flecks. If you see texture, blend a little longer.
7. Season at the end, and adjust the salt in 1 g (1/4 teaspoon) steps.

How to store, freeze and make ahead

The soup keeps in the fridge for 4 days and in the freezer for 3 months. Freeze it before the cream goes in, then stir the cream in when you reheat. That is why the recipe adds it at reheating. Leave a little room in the container, since soup expands as it freezes. This is a refrigerator and freezer recipe only, so cool it before you store it and reheat it until hot.

What to serve with it

Serve it hot with crusty bread for lunch, or as a small cup before dinner. Croutons or a spoonful of yogurt on top add crunch or tang. The soup is also good cold, which suits a warm October afternoon, so a leftover portion makes an easy lunch. For a fuller meal, pair a bowl with Parmesan Zucchini Gratin or Zucchini and Mushroom Skillet.

Variations

• Swirl a little cream or yogurt on top instead of stirring it through, as in the photo.
• Top with croutons and cracked pepper.
• Finish with extra lemon juice for a sharper bowl.
• Serve it next to a pasta night built on Hidden Veggie Marinara.

For more ways to use zucchini all year, see the guide to Zucchini Recipes and Small-Batch Preserving.