Easy Cream Of Asparagus Soup Recipe

Cream of asparagus soup is a classic French dish that's perfect for spring but delicious any time of year. "This recipe was inspired by the fresh flavors of spring," says Jaime Bachtell-Shelbert, the dietitian behind Wholly Nourished and this cream of asparagus soup recipe. "Asparagus is quintessential spring. and the green color matches the season." Bachtell-Shelbert utilizes half and half instead of heavy cream to make this soup a little lighter and also ups the vegetable and creaminess factor by including potato in the soup. 

You'll need a blender in addition to a soup pot to get this soup pureed to perfection. This recipe yields five servings, and the total cook time is just 35 minutes, so it's perfect for when you need a quick, easy, home-cooked meal. Read on for details on how to prepare this cream of asparagus soup for maximum tastiness. The red pepper and dill garnish is pretty but optional.

Make sure you have everything before you start cooking. This cream of asparagus soup requires extra virgin olive oil, a sweet yellow onion, roughly chopped, three cloves of garlic, chicken or vegetable broth, one and a half pounds of asparagus, one medium gold potato, freshly squeezed lemon juice, one large handful of fresh parsley leaves, salt, and half and half. Optional ingredients include fresh dill and red pepper flakes for garnishing the soup.

By the way, according to Bachtell-Shelbert, "The potato addition is twofold — to add more vegetable and to add creaminess from the starch. Therefore, less cream has to bed used." Also, if you don't mind a little more fat and calories, you can substitute heavy cream for the half and half, and it will make the soup even richer and creamier.

After you've gathered all the ingredients, you have to do a little bit of additional prep. In addition to cutting the potato into chunks, you'll also need to cut the asparagus. 

This recipe calls for the one and a half pounds of asparagus to be trimmed of tough ends and cut into three-inch pieces. Wash the asparagus thoroughly, then use kitchen shears to trim and cut it. The end result should be a very pretty bowl of fresh, green asparagus. Cutting the asparagus into smaller spears will make your life easier when boiling and blending the broth later on in the recipe. 

Heat the olive oil in a stock pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and saute it for about four minutes, or until it is just about translucent. Add the garlic, and saute everything for one minute more. Stir constantly to make sure the garlic and onions do not start to char or burn. The aroma should be fragrant and not "burnt garlic and onion."

The onion and garlic will definitely add a nice kick of flavor to the final product, and there's something about the combo of onion, garlic, and olive oil that just can't be beat.

Once the garlic and onions have been sauteed, it's time to add the broth for the cream of asparagus soup. Once you've poured the broth into the pot, increase the heat setting on the burner to high and bring the broth to a full boil. Once it's boiling, you can then add the potato chunks and the cut and trimmed asparagus pieces. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to boil for eight minutes. 

You should be mindful of not overcooking in this step, or else that gorgeous green asparagus will lose its color, and that's the last thing you want when you're making this colorful recipe.

After the broth has cooked on medium heat for eight minutes, as per the previous step, immediately remove it from the stove and transfer the liquid to a high-speed blender. It doesn't necessarily have to be a Ninja or Vitamix blender, as long as it's got a decent speed setting. "Any high-speed blender will work so that you achieve a smooth puréed soup," confirms Bachtell-Shelbert.

The blending step is what takes this soup from asparagus soup to cream of asparagus soup, so we wouldn't recommend sidestepping this part. The remaining ingredients also get incorporated in the blender in the next step of the recipe.

After all of the broth from the pot is in the blender, you can pour in the lemon juice, parsley, salt, and half and half. Blend the entire concoction on high speed until it is smooth and creamy.

It can be tricky blending hot liquid, so after you've placed the lid on the blender, layer a dish towel over it before you turn it on. Trust us, this extra step will save you from any unwanted splatter incidents. As pretty as it may be in a bowl, nobody wants puréed asparagus all over their kitchen cabinets.

Once the soup has been pureed in the blender, it's ready to serve. Red pepper flakes and dill make a great garnish, but you could also try a dollop of sour cream, some lemon zest, or even bacon bits if you wanted to add a little more protein to the soup. In terms of what this soup goes with if you want a more substantial meal, Bachtell-Shelbert tells us that it "pairs well with salmon or any other seafood dish" along with "roast chicken as well."

How long will this cream of asparagus soup stay fresh? "Store for up to one week in the refrigerator or freeze," Bachtell-Shelbert advises.