Zucchini Soup
131 Comments
Updated May 23, 2024
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This zucchini soup is a refreshing addition to your summertime table. It’s light, fresh, perfectly creamy (with no dairy), and a delicious way to enjoy the best of zucchini season!
When it’s zucchini season, it’s pretty much a requirement to make zucchini soup. Zucchini is of course the star ingredient here, but the punch of onion, garlic, lemon, and herbs are what really makes this soup so good. And when you add cashews into the mix – ooooh boy does it become deliciously creamy.
I’ve made my fair share of blended veggie soups (hello Vitamix soups), but this zucchini soup is a personal favorite. So if you’ve got a bounty of zucchini happening in your fridge, this beautifully pureed soup should be next on your list of zucchini recipes to whip up.
What’s In This Zucchini Soup?
Just like any other blended veggie soup, you want to enhance the flavor of your star ingredient. In this case, here’s what you’ll need to add big flavors to an otherwise simple zucchini soup!
- Zucchini: Just 4 medium zucchinis are needed. But make sure they weight about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds in total.
- Onion & Garlic: Nothing beats this aromatic duo to add tons of flavor.
- Cashews: Cashews are great for their creamy texture, which makes them perfect for blending into soups!
- Broth: You can use either vegetable broth or chicken broth, it’s up to you!
- Lemon: There’s nothing like fresh squeezed lemon juice to brighten up a soup.
- Fresh Herbs: My favorite combo is parsley and dill, but you can really use any herbs you like!
- Salt & Pepper: For that perfectly seasoned flavor.
Find the printable recipe with measurements below.
How To Make Zucchini Soup
Grab your upright blender or immersion blender, and watch how easy this soup comes together!
Saute the onions and garlic Let everything come to a boil, then simmer
- Cook the aromatics. In a large saucepan, saute the onion and garlic, until the onions are soft and translucent.
- Add the zucchini, broth, cashews, salt, and pepper. Bring everything to a boil, then turn the heat to low. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the zucchini is tender.
Use an immersion blender or blend in a high-powered blender The zucchini soup becomes so deliciously creamy!
- Blend it up! Add the chopped herbs and lemon juice, then use an immersion blender to blend the soup until it’s smooth and creamy. Alternatively, you can use a high-powered blender (see how to below).
- Ladle and serve. Garnish with chopped herbs, and a drizzle of olive oil for the final touch.
How To Store Leftover Soup
This soup freezes beautifully! So you can make an extra large batch is you’ve got an abundance of fresh zucchini.
- Store it: For up to 5 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Freeze it: You can pour the soup into a freezer safe container, like my favorite Weck Jars or use these amazing silicone Souper Cubes – just pop them out into a bowl and reheat! Either way, the soup will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer.
More Delicious Zucchini Recipes
Zucchini is one of my all-time favorite vegetables. I love to bake it, saute it, spiralize into zucchini noodles – you name it. So if you need a few more ideas, these recipe favorites won’t disappoint.
If you make this zucchini soup, let me know how it turned out! I’d love to hear what you think in the comments below.
Zucchini Soup
Description
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 medium zucchini (1 ½ to 2 pounds), skin on, ends trimmed, halved lengthwise, and sliced
- 3 cups vegetable or chicken broth, or more as desired for a thinner texture
- ¼ cup raw cashews
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh herbs (dill, basil, or parsley work great), plus more for garnish
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute for 4-5 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic, and stir for another minute.
- Add the zucchini, broth, cashews, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to low, cover, and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender.
- Add the chopped herbs and lemon juice to the soup. Then use an immersion blender (stick blender) to blend the soup until smooth, or transfer the soup in batches to a high-powered blender, and blend for just 15-30 seconds, until smooth.
- Ladle portions of the zucchini soup into bowls and garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and fresh herbs.
Lisa’s Tips
- This is my favorite immersion blender – it’s so darn powerful!
- I find that a high-powered blender tends to make this soup a bit smoother in texture, rather than an immersion blender. Both work great, it’s really just up to you and your preference on texture.
Nutrition
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Someone gave me a zucchini, not my favorite vegetable, but a friend suggested I make a soup with it, and I used your recipe. It was very enjoyable, now if someone gifts me a zucchini, I have something tasty to make with it.
Happy to hear you’re loving this zucchini soup, Rita!
I had this with your chili lime baked trout and French carrot salad. So good 😋
Hi Scander – What a perfect meal to make! Glad this zucchini soup worked out.
This was a great soup. Only a few ingredients and very easy to make. I didn’t have any raw cashews so I cooked a couple of large pieces of frozen cauliflower with the zucchini for the creamy factor and it worked great. I added some dill from a tube after blending it. To be honest I didn’t have high hopes for the recipe but it was delicious.
Hi Sandy – Happy to hear you ended up loving this zucchini soup!
Great soup! Thank you for the great recipe!
I also added a couple hot peppers for a little heat. At the end, I increased the creaminess by adding coconut cream and an avocado.
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe, Rita! And sounds like some tasty tweaks. :)
Was gifted several large zucchinis and this recipe does not disappoint. A favorite with the kiddos at home.
I love this soup- it’s light, easy to make, 1 pot meal! The cashews add such creaminess and the lemon & herbs ( I add lots of parsley) make it taste so fresh. I’ve passed this recipe on to many friends and all rave about it. It’s a hit!
Thanks for sharing the Downshiftology love with your friends, Maria!
This soup was so so good! I’m so happy to have found this recipe for some zucchini I had to use up. I used what bits and bobs of onion and cashews I had lying around and I’m happy it still turned out well based on the seasonings and the blending that the recipe calls for. There was something kinda cheesy and satisfying about this soup so I added some nutritional yeast to play into that and it was really satisfying. Would 1000% make this soup again.
Thanks so much, Allison! I’m happy you enjoyed it. And definitely feel free to add all those bits and bobs. I do the same thing. ;)
I made this soup today for lunch and it was so good. I used fresh basil and sprinkled some parmesan cheese on top. Zucchini is my favorite vegetable so I will be making this soup all the time!
Hi Rebecca – Happy to hear you enjoyed this zucchini soup! Love the addition of basil and parmesan.
The most delicious zucchini soup recipe ever!!! AND it’s easy to make… Bonus
Hi Jane – Happy to hear you love this zucchini soup!
I am revisiting this as we have it every week. So easy and very good. A great way to use up our zucchinis that we grow. Score of 5/5 for me. I am trying to watch my calories at the moment and this is an excellent, filling, gratifying dish. A good way to get some nuts into the diet too.
Hi Brolga – I’m so glad you love this zucchini soup!
Very comforting, healthy and delicious soup!
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
It was excellent. Nothing more to say.
I’m glad you loved this zucchini soup!
This soup is delicious and nourishing. Thank you for creating recipes that are life inspiring and refreshing!
You’re more than welcome, Shonesia! I’m happy you loved this zucchini soup recipe.
So good! A great way to get in more veggies. I paired this with your salmon tacos recipe :)
Oh nice! That sounds like a really light and fresh pairing. Glad you enjoyed both recipes!
This was absolutely delicious. It was creamy in texture and very tasty. I only had sage on hand but it worked well. I put it in the Vitamix machine which worked really well. A keeper for sure
Happy you love the recipe, Susan!
I still had some zucchini left and wanted to do something different, so I tried this soup. It’s delicious and perfect for a warmer end of summer/early fall day! I followed the recipe, but used a combination of parsley and basil. I liked the raw cashews. Will definitely be making this soup again!
Glad this zucchini soup was the answer to your leftover zucchini!
My whole family loves this recipe!!! Such a great way to use those big zucchini I find hiding under the leaves. We like it with the fresh basil from my garden. Is this recipe safe to pressure can? Do you know if the recipe has been tested. I would love to have it in storage to eat all through the winter.
Hi Tina – So happy your family loves this recipe! As for pressure canning, I’ve read that it’s not best to can something with zucchini or nuts. So it’s probably best to eat this one fresh!
can this soup be frozen?
Yes, absolutely!
I did not care for this recipe, and I like other zucchini soup recipes. Must have been the cashews. I followed the recipe exactly using a combination of parsley and dill and weighed and measured ingredients.
Soup is really delicious! Going to have to double up next time so I can have more.
Always a good idea to freeze an extra batch for later!
Excellent! I used fresh parsley & 1/2 teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Also did this in the insta pot….quick and delicious!😋 Then put it into my blender to blend. This is a ‘keeper’ for my recipe collection!
Glad you’re loving this zucchini soup Meredith!