Learn how to transform your simple summer zucchini into a creamy zucchini soup! The flavors are rich and easy to attain with simple ingredients. No cream is involved, instead, we use potatoes for a velvety smooth consistency and extra heartiness!
When my garden has an abundance of summer zucchini, I always look for recipes to use them in. And this creamy zucchini soup is a delicious way to do it!
This soup has a rich parmesan flavor, hearty potatoes for creaminess, and lots of summer zucchini! We love to make this at the end of summer or early fall. It’s velvety smooth in texture, easy to make, and so flavorful!
Ingredients Needed
The ingredients are very simple, making this soup so great! You’ll need a handful of pantry staples with a few produce ingredients.
Zucchini: We like using green zucchini.
Yellow onion: a must for adding flavor to the soup!
Garlic cloves: to layer in more flavor.
Onion powder: since zucchini is very bland on its own, I use onion powder to add as much flavor to the soup as possible.
Broth: you can use chicken broth or vegetable broth!
Thyme sprigs: I like to use the whole thyme sprig to infuse fresh herbaceous flavor into the soup while it simmers.
Potatoes: This recipe uses yellow potatoes to achieve creaminess without using cream. But the original recipe for this soup used white beans so you can use either!
Parmesan cheese rind: the hard rind of parmesan cheese is used to simmer with the soup and infuse rich, salty flavor. I don’t recommend skipping this step, since it adds so much umami flavor!
Olive oil: for sauteing the aromatics.
How to Make Zucchini Soup
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1
Soak the potatoes. Fill a bowl with cold water, and let the diced potatoes soak in the water to remove the extra starches.
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2
Sauté the onions. In a large pot with oil, sauté the diced onions with a pinch of salt for about 3 minutes – or until soft. Add the minced garlic after and cook with the onions for another minute.
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3
Add the zucchini. Next, add the diced zucchini with another pinch of salt and sauté with the onions for 3-4 minutes, or until they soften.
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4
Add the remaining ingredients. Once the zucchini is softened, drain the potatoes in the bowl of water and rinse them. Then add the potatoes to the pot with zucchini, along with the parmesan rind, thyme sprigs, onion powder, broth, and a healthy pinch of salt & black pepper.
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5
Simmer the soup. Cover the soup and let it cook on a gentle simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The potatoes should be soft when tested with a fork.
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6
Puree the soup. Use a fork or tongs to carefully remove the thyme sprigs and parmesan rind. Then either carefully transfer the soup to a blender or use a hand-immersion blender in the pot to blend the soup on high until creamy and smooth. Taste, and add additional salt if needed then serve!
Tips for Success
Best ways to puree the soup. I like to use a high-powered blender to puree the soup, but this has to be done carefully since the soup is hot. And depending on how big the blender container is, you may have to blend the soup in batches. If you have a hand-immersion blender, this is the easiest way to puree the soup without transferring it out of the pot!
Toppings to add. If you want to top this soup with yummy toppings, we love shredded parmesan or cheddar cheese, sour cream, homemade croutons, chives, or micro greens (as pictured).
Instead of potatoes. Potatoes are my favorite way to achieve a creamy texture in this soup, but we have also used white beans in the original recipe and love it. So if you don’t have tomatoes, opt for white beans such as navy or cannellini.
How to Store Leftovers and Freeze
Keep leftovers fresh – by storing the soup in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4-5 days. Let the soup completely cool before chilling.
How to freeze – let the soup cool completely before placing in a freezer-friendly container or bag (remove excess air and lay flat). Freeze for three months, then let it thaw completely before heating up on the stovetop.
What to Serve it With
Pizza. We love a good pizza and soup combo! You can pair it with our 10-minute naan pizza, cast iron skillet pizza, or your favorite store-bought pizza.
Bread. If you don’t have pizza, serve it with homemade bread! We love any soup with sourdough or crusty Italian bread. Try our cinnamon raisin artisan bread or cranberry walnut bread for something homemade!
Salad. Soup and salad are always a great healthier combo option! This soup would pair perfectly with our go-to Greek chickpea salad, Italian Panzanella salad, or this Tuscan artichoke salad.
More Zucchini Recipes
Looking for more zucchini recipes? We have so many to try! From our parmesan baked zucchini fries, and zucchini lasagna, to our chicken parmesan meatballs with zucchini or our vegetarian zucchini “meatballs”!
Creamy Parmesan Zucchini Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon oil
- 3 medium zucchini, chopped
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 cup cubed yellow potatoes, instead of potatoes you can also use white beans
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 3-5 thyme sprigs
- 32 oz. chicken broth or vegetable broth
- 1 parmesan rind
- salt & black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the potatoes to cold water: Place the diced potatoes in a bowl of cold water to soak for several minutes.
- Saute aromatics: saute the yellow onion in oil for about 3 minutes in a large pot. Then add the garlic and saute for about a minute.
- Saute the zucchini: Next, add the cubed zucchini with a healthy pinch of salt and saute for around 3 minutes, or until soft.
- Add the remaining ingredients and simmer: Drain the water from the bowl of potatoes and rinse them with cold water. Add to the pot the potatoes, broth, parmesan rind, thyme sprigs, onion powder, and a healthy pinch of salt & black pepper. Cover and simmer the soup for 25-30 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft when tested with a fork. Stir the pot occasionally.
- Blend: when the soup is finished, use a fork or tongs to remove the thyme sprigs and parmesan rind. Then either carefully transfer the soup to a blender or use a hand immersion blender in the pot. Blend the soup for about 30 seconds on high until creamy and smooth.
- Serve: Before serving the soup, taste it and add any additional salt if the flavor needs to be enhanced. Serve with a dusting of parmesan cheese on top, and enjoy!
This looks & sounds absolutely divine! Thanks for sharing this! I can’t wait to make this over the upcoming weekend! Bethany, do you grow your own micro greens or are they store bought -where exactly do I look in the produce section for micro greens?
Thanks so much, Deborah! And the micro greens I get at my local whole foods, we also have them at another local store too. But they are very easy to grow inside 🙂 I love using them in my photography!
Made this today for lunch with a friend. Easy and delicious, plus healthy.
Love this recipe – I make it often!
So happy to hear it! Thank you, Jenny 🙂
Made this today and it was easy and delicious. I love soup and am happy to add this to my collection. I made it exactly as written and it was tasty as is minus the optional Everything seasoning as I did not have that but was inspired to try other herb blends (salted and salt free) I had on hand. Ran them through a spice grinder first to get to powder then added them to different bowls of the soup rather than the whole batch just to see how they’d work. They were all delicious.
Love it! Glad you could try out different herbs to add more flavor. It’s a great soup to try that out with! Thanks for sharing, Gina. So glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Very good! I used half yellow squash, half zucchini because it’s what I had on hand.
So glad to hear it! Thank you, Jenny!
Quick and easy and it was excellent! Nutritious as well. Highly recommend.
Love to hear it! Thank you, Andrea 🙂
Can you use frozen zucchini?
We are looking forward to making this over Christmas