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This incredible asparagus soup recipe turns out perfectly silky and creamy, and that’s without cream. We blend asparagus, potatoes, and a simple homemade broth. It’s healthy, super satisfying, and vegetarian!
This asparagus soup is pure Spring in a bowl, and honestly, it’s one of my favorite ways to cook with asparagus! It’s light on calories but big on flavor. Don’t get me wrong, I love a rich, creamy soup, but sometimes you just want something a little lighter. That’s where this recipe comes in. Substituting potatoes for cream thickens the soup and adds a silky texture without any heaviness. I use this trick in our creamy vegetable soup and broccoli cheddar soup, too!
This soup is also resourceful! We use the parts of asparagus and leeks that usually get tossed (like the tough ends and dark green tops) to make a really flavorful broth. It’s such a tasty way to cut down on food waste while boosting flavor. For more asparagus recipes, I bet you’ll love this roasted asparagus or my go-to asparagus omelet.
Key Ingredients
- Asparagus: When shopping, look for bright green asparagus spears with tightly closed tips. A little purple on the tips is also a good thing. Skip any asparagus that looks dull, yellow, or has open, flowery tips. They should also feel firm and snap when bent. If they’re limp or bendy, they’re past their prime.
- Leeks: Leeks are like onions, but taste a bit more sweet and delicate. We’ll use the white and light green parts in the soup, and save the dark green tops for our broth. To clean them, just trim off the root and dark green tops, slice the leek lengthwise, and rinse well under running water to get rid of any grit hiding inside. If you want more tips, check out our tutorial for how to clean leeks!
- Carrot: Just one carrot brings a little sweetness and a bit of color to the broth.
- Garlic: I like to use garlic in both the broth and the soup for extra flavor.
- Potatoes: Here’s the secret to that creamy texture! No cream needed. Just potatoes (russet or Yukon Gold work great) to give this soup body and silkiness.
- Spinach: Toss in a few handfuls of baby spinach at the end for a bit more green and a little extra nutrition.
- Lemon: A squeeze of fresh lemon juice on top is my favorite finishing touch. It makes all the flavors pop!
- Cheese (optional): We used parmesan in the photos, but feta or a spoonful of ricotta or mascarpone is amazing too.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Asparagus Soup
Tip 1: Make the asparagus broth. My favorite part about this soup recipe is that the base is a broth made with ingredients you would normally just toss in the trash. For this asparagus soup, combine the trimmed ends of the asparagus, dark green tops of the leeks, a carrot, a garlic clove, a bay leaf, salt, and pepper in a pot. Cover with water (or a light chicken broth), then simmer for about 25 minutes.
Tip 2: Cook the leeks until soft. Whenever you use leeks, you really want to cook them long enough for them to soften and sweeten. We do this in a bit of olive oil in a Dutch oven, then build our soup from there. I cook my leeks the same way when making potato leek soup.
Tip 3: Add potatoes. Once your leeks are soft and sweet, stir in garlic and potatoes. Then, pour in some of that asparagus broth from earlier. Let everything simmer until the potatoes are soft (about 20 minutes).
Tip 4: Finish with the asparagus and spinach. The asparagus does not need much time to cook, so we wait until the potatoes are soft before adding it. When they are tender and bright green, we take the soup off of the heat and then stir in spinach. This adds flavor and nutrition, but most importantly, it makes our soup a bit greener.
Tip 5: Blend and thin as needed. I usually use my immersion blender right in the soup pot, but for a completely smooth soup, transfer to a stand blender and blend. Depending on how thick you’d like the soup, you can thin it with a bit more of the asparagus broth. Then season to taste and serve.
More Vegetable Soup Recipes
Perfect Asparagus Soup
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This simple asparagus soup is delicious, vegetarian, and minimizes waste. Instead of using stock to make the soup, we make a quick asparagus broth using the asparagus and leek trimmings. The broth is delicate and fragrant and is the perfect way to make use of trimmings instead of throwing them away.
6 Servings
You Will Need
2 pounds asparagus (907 g)
1 large leek
1 medium carrot
2 garlic cloves, gently smashed
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced, about 1 pound (450 g)
3 cups baby spinach, about 4 ounces (113 g)
Half of a lemon, cut into wedges
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese, feta, ricotta, or mascarpone for garnish, optional
Directions
- Make Asparagus Broth
1Trim the dry, woody bottoms of the asparagus. To find where to trim, bend the stalks until they naturally snap. Cut or snap at that point. Save the tops for the soup and add the stems to a large pot.
2Cut the dark green tops from the leek and rinse them well to remove any grit. Add these to the pot with the asparagus stems. Rinse the leek’s lighter green and white parts and set them aside.
3Add the carrot, smashed garlic clove, bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper to the pot. Cover with 9 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes. Season to taste with salt, adding a little at a time until you can taste the broth’s flavors without it being overly salty. Strain the broth and reserve the garlic cloves.
- Make Asparagus Soup
1Thinly slice the reserved white and light green parts of the leek.
2Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sliced leeks and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Cook, stirring often, until softened and fragrant, about 5 minutes.
3Stir in the reserved garlic cloves and cook for one more minute. Add the potatoes and 6 cups of the asparagus broth (save the rest for thinning later). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the potatoes are very tender, about 20 minutes.
4Meanwhile, cut the tips from 12 asparagus spears measuring about 1 ½ inches from the top. Set these aside for garnish. Roughly chop the remaining asparagus.
5Once the potatoes are tender, stir in the chopped asparagus (not the reserved tips) and simmer until tender-crisp and bright green.
6Remove from the heat and stir in the spinach until wilted but still bright green, about 1 minute. Blend the soup until smooth using an immersion blender (or a regular blender in batches).
7Taste and season with more salt and pepper as needed. If the soup is too thick, thin it with the reserved asparagus broth, 1/4 cup at a time.
8Just before serving, cook the reserved asparagus tips in boiling salted water until tender-crisp and bright green (about 3 minutes). Rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.
9Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with the asparagus tips and cheese (optional). Serve with a lemon wedge for squeezing over the top.
Adam and Joanne’s Tips
- Storing: The soup’s bright green color may dull slightly over time, but you can store this in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- Blending the soup: I use an immersion blender. If you use a stand blender, remember to blend in batches. If your soup is hot while blending, you want to remove the lid’s center insert and cover it with a kitchen towel while blending, helping some of the steam release and preventing the lid from popping off (which can be a big, hot mess).
- Leftover broth: Use it in other soups to cook rice or grains or make risotto.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We did include 1 tablespoon of parmesan cheese in the calculations for each serving (there are 6 servings total). We omitted salt from the calculations since you must add to your tastes.
Nutrition Per Serving
Serving Size
1 of 6 servings
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Calories
149
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Protein
6g
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Carbohydrate
20g
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Dietary Fiber
4g
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Sugars
3g
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Total Fat
6g
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Saturated Fat
2g
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Cholesterol
3mg
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