My signature collection of recipes includes my family-renowned Asparagus Parmesan Soup, which is creamy and can be made as thick or as thin as you prefer.
You might refer to this soup as cream of asparagus soup, but asparagus is not the only star ingredient that makes Parmesan asparagus soup a balanced meal choice.
You’ll Have Green Love ♥ for this Asparagus Parmesan Soup Recipe
My asparagus Parmesan soup recipe is a satiety fulfilling meal that is also appreciated as it is a nutrient-loaded meatless option.
In other words, as soups go, this Parmesan asparagus soup recipe is a very healthy soup to sip on.
Asparagus Parmesan soup is a vegetable-based, meatless soup and you will find it to be an easy soup to prepare as there are no funky ingredients in it, and all are attainable at your local grocery store!
There are endless variations of this Asapargus parmesan soup recipe, and I’ll share a bit of that as well!
- Nutrient-dense
- meatless meal
- low calorie
- fiber-loaded
- easy recipe
- simple to modify
- multiple variations
- can be dairy-free
- a zero waste recipe
If you prefer to just make the soup and not keep reading feel free to jump to the recipe below, do not that you will miss out on some key points that won’t be mentioned in the recipe.
Asparagus Soup By Any Other Name…
No worries, about the multiple names you will find me sharing in reference to this soup:
Asparagus Parmesan soup, Parmesan asparagus soup, cream of asparagus soup with Parmesan, or Asapargus soup with lemon and parmesan.
This is a nutrient loaded meatless soup that you will fall in love with, spoon after spoon.
Every single one of these names is in fact meant for my recipe and I’ll share the ingredients and the why moving through this quick food post.
To make this soup you will be cooking the onions and asparagus separately, uniting them once softened through blending and then returning them all to the pot to cook again, with your thickening agent of choice.
Do note, if you don’t want to use dairy you won’t have to and you could skip the thickening, but it will be runnier, so you will be doing the ‘slurp slurp’ rather than a spoon to mouth soup!
What can I do with the woody part of the asparagus?
Now here is the true meat and potatoes, the zazzle and dazzling part of this recipe and it is where the zero waste factor plays into my story.
You’ll want to grab the recipe for my bold asparagus stock recipe to use up those woody ends because this soup is really a zero waste recipe if you make my veggie stock after.
The stock is a quick cook on your stovetop, yields big flavor and well, it’s vegetarian!
Parmesan Asparagus Soup Recipe Overview
Just know that there are no steadfast rules for the ingredients just use them as guidelines.
For your base, you can use sweet yellow onions, white onions, leeks, shallots, chives, whatever you want, or even a combination of each, this is where you can make this recipe your own.
I have made this asparagus soup with so many different options and it turns out each time!
For fun, and another bit of a flavor booster you could add in parsley, chopped fine, but again, parsley has a taste to it and you already know if you like it or not!
You need a broth base, so if you prefer to use a stock that is chicken rather than veggie this is the step you will be using it in, as you soften your veggies so that they will blend.
The Dairy You Can Use In The Recipe + Temperature Tips
- whole milk
- heavy whipping cream ( I add this to the HOT soup but if you are using dairy other than this you will want to Heat your dairy source up so it won’t curdle, i.e Whole milk, 2% Milk)
- greek yogurt – if you are adding this instead of heavy whipping cream you will need to make sure to add this to a cooled base or just add it little by little introducing it to the hot base, otherwise you will experience curdling!
What are my other options besides dairy to make the soup thicker?
- coconut milk (will then taste a bit more Thai like lemongrass soup)
- pureed mashed potatoes
- make a roux (soy milk, almond milk)
- cornstarch
- pureed cooked beans (white)
- chickpea flour
- Xanthan Gum – My Favorite solution!
- Nutritional yeast
Hey Don’t Throw Out The Asparagus Steamed Water
The biggest mistake in cooking is tossing out what is prime for use, that which has the nutrients, the flavor, and the truest essence of the cooking ingredient, like the water pasta was cooked in.
When you steam your asparagus do NOT, I repeat DO not, toss out the water, reserve it!
Tips To Make This Soup Faster
I am not big on wasting time in the kitchen, but I do expect big bold tastes so, I keep things easy.
Asparagus Prep
First, to cook the asparagus quicker, you can cut them, using kitchen shears or a knife, into about 4 pieces per stem.
Smaller pieces cook faster than larger ones, but I don’t always do that.
The microwave is my BFF.
Add the asparagus to a microwaveable safe dish, and fill the water just even with the asparagus not drowning them.
Then you’ll be adding your spears to the dish and cover with a microwave-safe container.
Once they are steamed in the microwave, you can cut them into multiple pieces (if you didn’t do this before you steamed them), and then that will get added into the soup!
How Do You Bolster The Flavor Of The Soup?
Asparagus is a flexible veggie as far as I am concerned and it lends itself beautifully to being seasoned or not.
But, what really brings out the flavor of a simple stem of asparagus is lemon!
Yep, its tart, citrusy flavor against the earthy flavor of the asparagus is a match made in heaven, or at least on my plate, lol!
As I’ve shared before Parmesan is a great addition to many recipes, because it offers a flavor that does not overpower what you are making (unless of course, you add a lot) but when used as an added ingredient in moderation it helps to create a balanced flavor.
Cream Of Asparagus Soup With Parmesan Recipe To LOVE
Asparagus Parmesan Soup
Easy and nutrient loaded Asparagus Parmesan Soup.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Pounds of Rinsed, Asparagus (woody ends off and reserved)
- 1 C of Water
- 1 Medium Onion peeled, and chopped (no particular way, just smaller pieces for faster cooking)
- 1/2 Leek, chopped
- 1 TBSP of Minced Garlic
- 2 TBSP of Butter
- 1/4 tsp Xantham Gum (optional no flavor is derived from this )
- 1 1/2 C of Vegetable Stock (or chicken stock if you are not making a vegetarian version)
- Fresh milled pepper to taste
- 4 - 1/2 cubes of Freshly Cut Parmesan cubes (or one parmesan rind)
- 1/2 C Heavy Whipping Cream
- 2 TBSP Freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 TBSP of Fresh Zest
Instructions
- Place the onion, leeks, and garlic in the soup pot
- add 1 TBSP of the butter reserving the other Tablespoon
- OPTIONAL but it is a thickener: Add in a 1/4 tsp of Xanthan Gum you can also use cornstarch as well it is a 1:1 ratio, or YOU can choose to use NEITHER it does not affect the FLAVOR, just the thickness!
- then 1/2 c of stock
- Cover on medium heat to steam, soften those veggies and add the parmesan cubes atop the veggies so it becomes part of the liquid, do stir as needed over 10 minutes, but keep covered in between stirring to soften those onions.
- While the stock is cooking, place the asparagus in a microwave-safe bowl, add one cup of water, but do not drown the asparagus, the water can be decreased just so it meets the asparagus but does not cover it completely
- Place in microwave, covering, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, the asparagus needs to be soft when you take them out and microwaves differ in cooking times.
- Remove the asparagus at the end of the cooking cycle taking caution about the hot water and steam that will escape.
- Do NOT drain the asparagus, instead, cut all the asparagus using kitchen shears into smaller pieces except leaving a few long spears in the case that you want to add them atop the bowl of prepared soup for presentation otherwise cut them all into smaller pieces and just set them aside.
- At this point, your stock base should be ready, so remove the lid, and make sure that the veggies are soft and that the onion is translucent if it is not, then cook for an additional five minutes.
- The stovetop should be off. You can let the pot stay on the burner.
- remove 1/2 c of the freshly cooked asparagus, and the asparagus reserved water into a separate bowl and set aside.
- Add the remaining asparagus to the onions and mix well.
- Add in freshly milled pepper to taste
- Now add in the heavy whipping cream (if you used any other dairy form, please read the post to understand how to add in dairy without curdling. the Heavy whipping cream will not curdle)
- Mix then transfer to a blender and puree.
- Once blended, Remove and transfer back into the soup pot and top off with the remaining butter.
- Add remaining broth and stir.
- Now, you'll want to puree the asparagus you set aside in its cooked reserve water.
- Once pureed add that into the soup pot, (it should be a nice green) with all the other ingredients
- Add the fresh-squeezed lemon juice.
- Simmer just for 2 minutes to allow the ingredients to combine and turn off the heat, leaving soup on the burner without a lid as it will continue to combine.
- After 5 minutes, serve and top off with asparagus spears if you reserved any, and evenly scatter and divide the fresh lemon zest amongst the 4 bowls of soup
- enjoy
- If there are leftovers, or you are not using all of the soup portions, do not add the lemon zest to the leftovers, instead zest on-demand once you reheat the leftover refrigerated portion.
Notes
You do not need to add Xanthan Gum, it is optional and you could use cornstarch as a 1:1 swap.
In fact, you could eliminate the heavy whipping cream altogether if you choose and use cornstarch or Xanthan Gum (in larger measurements per guidelines ) to use as a thickener instead.
For those that want a MORE green soup:
* Totally Unconventional but a super idea: you could add a drop of green food coloring, it won't change the taste but it will amp that color
-do not use frozen or canned asparagus to get the greenest green, use fresh!
- remember the more white onion, and dairy you use, against the green asparagus, the lighter the color of the soup becomes. Also, the vegetable stock is brown and can overtake the color as well.
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