While I personally didn’t manage to coax a single squash out of my insect-infested garden this summer, some of you are lucky enough to be reaping in piles of the stuff. So the zucchini part of this recipe is for you. The basil part of it is for me: next to okra, it’s the most prolific crop I managed to grow this year. Combined, the two summery ingredients seem made for each other, the basil lending its pungent pepperiness to the bland zucchini.
Basil may provide the predominant flavor in this lively soup, but zucchini is the main ingredient. After cooking, it’s blended until smooth with the basil and other seasonings, and then the soup is served with strands of raw, shredded zucchini. The thin shreds soften in the hot soup but still retain some crunch.
We loved this creamy zucchini soup. Even E, who usually avoids zucchini, finished her first bowl and went back for seconds. She described it as “like pesto in soup form,” and she’s right. We ate it as a starter course, but add some white beans and you’ve got a heartier, main dish soup. Give it a try before zucchini and basil go out of season.
Creamy Zucchini and Basil Soup
Ingredients
- 2 pounds zucchini (about 5 small to medium)
- 1 large Vidalia onion , chopped
- 4 cloves garlic , crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 3 cups vegetable broth (I used Imagine No-Chicken)
- 1/3 cup fresh basil leaves , packed
- 3 tablespoons raw cashews
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- additional salt & pepper , to taste
Instructions
- Set aside one of the zucchini; trim and coarsely chop the rest.
- Cook onion in a large saucepan for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in the chopped zucchini, salt, and pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the broth and simmer until zucchini is tender, about 15 minutes.
- Pour into a blender (in 2 batches, if necessary) taking care to avoid burns by not filling the blender more than halfway. Add the basil, cashews, and nutritional yeast and blend until smooth.
- Return soup to the pot, season with salt and pepper to taste, and keep warm. Shred the remaining zucchini with a spiral slicer, mandolin, or grater. Pour soup into bowls and sprinkle grated zucchini over top.
Nutritional info is approximate.
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Snoozer von Grimlock WackyPig 3
September 14, 2009 at 12:33 pmThis recipe is truly delicious and so simple! I followed the directions precisely (which is not my normal course of action), and I don't think I would do anything differently. I'm hoping zucchinis will still be on sale next week when I go shopping again. What a great use of the basil I have growing in my window 🙂
KamalKitchen
September 14, 2009 at 1:41 pmLooks great, Susan!Looks quite thick too.
thanks,
pb
aprilstarchild
September 14, 2009 at 8:23 pmJust made this, except due to a housemate's allergy I used pine nuts instead of cashews, and put them in a food processor first. I also added a can of white beans, as suggested.
Delicious! Although not quite as creamy as your picture, but I was using a food processor instead of a vita-mix or other blender.
Next time I might reduce the amount of broth, and add soymilk later, to make it even creamier-tasting.
K
September 15, 2009 at 5:08 pmI have no nutritional yeast..? What can I sub for it? (Cheese eater here…)
Andy
September 15, 2009 at 5:40 pmWe had a variant on this tonight – we used leeks instead of onions because we had leeks… was lovely. Thanks.
jamiefriggin
September 15, 2009 at 9:16 pmMmmmm, Susan! Made this tonight and just finished my first bowl. Will now go back for seconds. Outstanding! Thanks for sharing all of these terrific recipes!
Elle
September 17, 2009 at 7:36 pmWow! What a great tasting, creamy soup. I made this tonight and added white beans. It has been husband-approved! Thanks for sharing your recipes with all of us.
Snooze
September 24, 2009 at 5:49 pmWhooeeey this is a good one! Being a true Vitamix junkie myself, I always enjoy testing it's limits to all the amazing things it does, so I just jammed all of the ingredients in it raw, put it on high until steamy and mmmmmm love love love! Thanks Susan!
Tiffany S.
September 27, 2009 at 11:03 amThis looks delicious! I can't wait to try it.
Nutritional yeast is one of those funny additions – it tastes yucky by itself but add it to a dish and it adds that extra pow. It's like a healthy MSG. I love it now though I was skeptical at first (and it's not cheap).
katherine
September 29, 2009 at 12:37 pmi made this last night…i added a can of cannelloni beans into the blender as well…it made the soup just a bit thicker.
Fayinagirl (means Free One)
October 1, 2009 at 9:34 pmI absolutely LOVE the color of this dish! It looks so inviting.
KatieScarlett
October 6, 2009 at 7:22 pmWell, it's garden harvesting time and my counter is buried in zucchini and basil – and this recipe is a HUGE find!
I had to make adjustments because I'm allergic to onions and garlic and it still turned out fabulous I peeled and seeded the zucchinis, used carrot juice and water instead of broth, and added a litte bit of mace because of the carrot juice. After pressure cooking the whole thing, I added cashew butter, nutritional yeast, and some pepper. Oh my gosh it is SO good! I'm so happy to have so many zucchinis because now I can fill the freezer with this super great soup.
Thanks!
KatieScarlett
October 6, 2009 at 11:31 pmp.s. I forgot to mention that I added lentils to the soup also. After pressure cooking and blending the soup the lentils added a thickness and richness. Yum.
ben
October 8, 2009 at 5:57 amRecipe looks great, gonna' hafta' give it a try.
Laina
October 13, 2009 at 10:21 pmSusan, this recipe is sooooooo delicious. It's another favorite. I blogged about it. 🙂 http://eats2live.blogspot.com/2009/10/susan-vs-creamy-zucchini-and-basil-soup.html
I really appreciate the benefits received from your vast supply of wonderful recipes.
Do you have another recipe you can think of that uses lots of basil. Love that herb. 🙂
Thanks,
Laina
Coupe Studios Music and Sound Design
October 14, 2009 at 6:31 pmMade this last night with the last of the year's zucchinis, and it was a huge hit! Stuck mostly with the ingredients you suggested, but went extra heavy on the yeast and added a carrot. Thanks for posting!
sky goddess
February 1, 2010 at 5:56 amThank you so much for this recipe, Thanks, I have now finally found a way to get my daughter to eat courgettes 🙂 We're getting about four a day and there's only the two of us! I used miso for stock (but only about two cups) and some salted mixed nuts as that is what was in the cupboard, so I didn't add more salt. I also put in half a box of silken tofu (cos it needed using up) and extra cumin after tasting. Very yummy!
Lora
April 16, 2010 at 12:09 pmI tried it was great
Amy
April 22, 2010 at 5:08 pmMy husband loves pesto and he gave this soup a big thumb’s up. We added a cup of white beans and 1/2 tsp of cayenne. Thanks for the great and easy recipe.
Ms_Min
July 11, 2010 at 4:11 pmThis is my new favorite way to eat zucchini. Yummy!
Heather (Where's the Beach)
July 22, 2010 at 2:21 pmOh this sounds fantastic. I have been craving zucchini – probably because I am out of them right now.
Karen
July 30, 2010 at 4:13 pmI made this soup last week with my farmer’s market finds. I love the basil! I brought it to work and my coworkers said it smelled wonderful, if only they knew how good it tasted! Thank you so much for posting this.
Jess
August 4, 2010 at 9:45 amYet another wonderful recipe! I used toasted pine nuts instead of the cashews, and it tasted SO good! I also subbed a mixture of celery and carrots for the onion (allergic). I’m going to make this over and over, since my CSA keeps sending me pounds and pounds of zucchini 😛
Barna
August 8, 2010 at 7:31 pmjust made this recipe tonight – both my hubby and I loved it! didn’t change a thing. will definitely be making it again. love your website!
Victoria
September 28, 2010 at 3:03 pmI’m going to be making this lovely soup this week and will be leaving out the cashews 🙁 in order to reduce the fats. Is there something else I should consider adding instead?
Great site! Made your Rainy Day Lentil Soup last night and it was terrific!
SusanV
September 28, 2010 at 3:39 pmI would probably just add a touch more nutritional yeast. Hope you enjoy it!
janet
October 5, 2010 at 7:09 amI really liked this soup. Thank you for introducing me to nutritional yeast.. and such a simple, but tasty soup. 🙂
janet
October 5, 2010 at 7:09 amOh yeah, I wrote about it here: http://tastespace.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/creamy-zucchini-and-basil-soup/
Vibha
December 16, 2010 at 5:34 amThis is absolutely fantastic! I made it last night. My dad who rarely asks for a repeat to be made a few days, has asked for one!
This is so filling, satisfying and healthy! I think this is going to be my next comfort food!
Vibha
Linda
June 21, 2011 at 12:31 pmThis is a great recipe! The texture reminded me of cream of broccoli soup. I suspect on a cold winter’s day it would be even more satisfying. Sometimes it’s the texture of food you crave. The cashews produces a great cream, better than tofu, oats, or anything else I’ve tried.
Bethany Luti
July 3, 2011 at 4:17 pmThis was delicious! My store was out of raw cashews so I used unsalted roasted cashews. Amazing that it was so creamy, yet not a drop of cream! I am not vegan or vegetarian, but I am looking for ways to eat less meat and more vegetables…thank you!
jpham
July 28, 2011 at 1:14 pmThis was amazing! My only sub was I was out of cashews so I put 4 oz ff cottage cheese in for creaminess. I know not vegan, but I’m veg so works for me and got rid of the pesky fat.
Suzanne
July 30, 2011 at 8:08 pmThis recipe was a hit at our Vegan/Vegetarian tasting party. I had some very large zucchini from my CSA so I deciped to look on the internet for a recipe. Very tasty. Thanks.
Julie & Marty
August 9, 2011 at 8:44 pmThis was fantastic! Love it! Very, very tasty! Didn’t have raw cashews on hand so substituted tahini and that worked out great.
tandteacake
August 19, 2011 at 5:25 pmI just love this recipe, Susan! And I’m not a vegan. 😉
In fact, I love it so much that I had to do a post about it:
http://tandteacake.blogspot.com/2011/08/creamy-zucchini-and-basil-soup.html
Thank you,
Tobias
Christine
August 20, 2011 at 9:11 pmMy whole family loved this soup….next time I will make double.
Thank you!
Sue Bair
September 13, 2011 at 10:55 amOh Yummy this looks great!
Leena Komaraaju
September 23, 2011 at 12:10 amHi Thanks for recipe for this extremely delicious zucchini and basil soup. To add to your marvelous recipe, I would like to share something on the health benefits of basil in particular which is a remarkable medicinal herb. It can also be made into a soup on its own. http://tinyurl.com/3uz4zzw.
Amelia
March 20, 2012 at 7:00 pmI just finished a giant bowl of your soup. It’s so good! I had to stop myself from eating the whole pot. Thank you.