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This zucchini soup recipe is so silky and naturally creamy with no dairy and uses only a handful of everyday ingredients! It’s an easy way to use up your summer zucchini harvest.
Try my Simple Fresh Zucchini Pasta Sauce or these Garlic Lime Cashew Zoodles next.
Why you’ll love it
Zucchini is one of those vegetables that is sometimes overlooked but really shouldn’t be! They’re wonderful to transform into this soup, and you’ll enjoy how light it is since there’s no cream added. Potato thickens it up beautifully and makes it deliciously creamy.
This satisfying zucchini soup is also very simple and fast to prepare, so you can make it all summer long as you continue to harvest your garden zucchini. It’s perfectly seasoned with a blend of herbs for a healthy and nutritious soup that you won’t be able to resist.
What you’ll need
- Zucchini – try to pick them or purchase when they’re on the smaller side (6-8″) so they’re more flavorful and less watery. I don’t peel the zucchini, but if there’s any major imperfections in the skin, be sure to cut that part off.
- Potato – using a potato is an old trick to help thicken it up without having to make a roux
- Olive oil and butter – for sautéing
- Onion and garlic – the tasty aromatic base. Any variety of onion is fine, but I like Vidalia (sweet), and you can always add in more garlic if you wish.
- Broth – to enhance the flavor. I used chicken, but vegetable works too
- Italian seasoning – it’s a mix of delicious dried herbs that conveniently comes in a single jar
Pro tip
I prefer to use Russet potatoes for this soup because they disintegrate and blend up perfectly, so they make a fantastic thickening agent. I used a fairly large Russet potato for this recipe, but you don’t need to be too exact about measuring it!
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- Use a quality Dutch oven to make this soup. I love my Le Creuset, but Lodge makes a good affordable one as well.
- This is the immersion blender I recommend, and this ladle is the one I swear by.
- Chop up the zucchini easily with a sharp chef’s knife on a sturdy cutting board.
How to make zucchini soup
This is an overview, and full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Slice the zucchini up and chop the onion and potato. Sauté the onion in a soup pot until softened. Stir in the garlic, then add in the zucchini, potato, chicken broth, and Italian seasoning.
- Bring to a boil, then simmer until the zucchini and potatoes are tender.
- Blend the soup either with an immersion blender right in the pot or use a regular blender and do it in batches. Season with salt & pepper as needed.
Substitutions and variations
- You can stir in a bit of cream, coconut milk, or even sour cream (I’d add a dollop to your bowl) if you want this to have a more creamy taste. You could even stir in some freshly grated parmesan.
- If you’ve got fresh garden herbs or prefer using a different blend than dried Italian seasoning, you can absolutely make the swap! I like to stir in some torn basil and fresh chives just before eating it.
- Easily make this recipe vegan by using vegetable broth and omitting the butter.
What to serve with zucchini soup
- In the photos, I served it with a drizzle of olive oil on top and Homemade Croutons. This recipe makes a great starter or appetizer soup before your main course since it is quite light.
- It would also go well with Garlic Bread or a dinner roll.
- Try a classic soup and salad combo and pair it with mixed greens with Italian Dressing.
Leftovers and storage
- Zucchini soup will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- To reheat, add leftovers to a small saucepan over a low heat, stirring occasionally, until warmed through.
- You can also freeze it for up to 3 months.
Please leave a star rating and review in the comments below if you made this soup with zucchini, or tag me on Instagram if you made this or any S&L recipe!
Zucchini Soup
Ingredients
- 3 pounds zucchini chopped
- 1 large Russet potato peeled & diced
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prep your ingredients. To cut the zucchini up, I slice it and then cut the slices in half (half moons), but you may want to chop it smaller if using large zucchini. I do not peel the zucchini.
- To a fairly large soup pot over medium-high heat, add the olive oil, butter, and onion. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or so.
- Add in the zucchini, potato, chicken broth, and Italian seasoning. Increase the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat so it's simmering and cover the pot with the lid slightly open. Cook for 20 minutes or until the potato and zucchini are tender.
- Using either an immersion blender or regular blender, blend the soup until totally smooth or leave some pieces in for more texture if you wish (you may want to let it cool a bit first). Season with salt & pepper as needed (I add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt – you need to be fairly generous with it).
Notes
- This soup is pretty flexible, so don’t worry too much about measuring, and feel free to throw in some fresh garden herbs too. Basil and chives go great (I stir some into my bowl right before eating).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Could one can this soup?
Hi! I’ve never canned anything before, so I am not sure – sorry!
This looks delish and so easy! Do you ever serve it chilled?
Hi! Haven’t tried that, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be delish!
I was planning to make this recipe in the morning but forgot to buy russet potatoes.. would it be too weird of flavoring to use a sweet potato as a substitute?
Hi! So, it’ll for sure change the flavor, and I don’t think sweet potatoes act as thickening agents the same way as regular potatoes do, so you might end up with a sweet tasting soup that’s not properly thickened. If you really want to make it today, I would make a roux to help thicken the soup.
I just made your zucchini soup which is delish! I did add a few ingredients: 1/4 frozen/thawed peas to give it a deeper color, a dash or two of Tabasco to kick it up a notch and 1/2 c grated parm. Plus a 1/4 c. heavy cream. I’ll also add a few home made croutons when serving. It’s a winner especially when you have a abundant crop of zucchini!
Sounds great to me!!
Was good and easy! I’m making it again!
Great!! So glad it was enjoyable!
Hi Natasha – I made this tonight and it was wicked good! I had made a recipe from another site when I first got my immersion blender – it had zucchini + carrot and we just didn’t like it (although we love both zucchini + carrots individually). Glad to see your recipe come thru in the newsletter. The potato was a better option to blend with the zucchini.
It tasted great – I added 1/4 cup light cream and some basil (from a tube) at the end. Also added a package of cheese tortellini to make it a meatless meal. Loved it! ❤️
I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Angela! Appreciate your review as always!
Made it and it turned out delicious. I used the zucchini and yellow squash I already had and it was amazingly good.
Fantastic!! 🙂
At what point do u add the cream?
Hi! There’s no cream in it as written, but you can stir some in right at the end and warm it through if you want to add some. Hope you enjoy the soup! 🙂
I’m always a fan of your recipes, but I was a little skeptical about this soup. I’ll never doubt you again because it was SO GOOD! When you say it’s forgiving, you weren’t lying. I used beef broth because that’s all I had and added matchstick carrots that were about ti go bad. We topped it with a little salt and cheddar cheese, too. I think we’ll be making this soup a lot this winter. Thank you for another wonderful recipe.
Well that’s great to hear!! 🙂 I’m so glad you decided to try it and enjoyed it.
This Soup is very satisfying, a cinch to make. and it’s nice to have a rich tasting soup which is actually healthy.
Natasha, I don’t have a scale. Will not get one, as my kitchen is a small apt. type galley kitchen & am already crunched for space. I used about 6 zuccchini and I suppose you can’t really go wrong with this, common sense. But could you put in approximate amount of items as well as weight?
Also could you do something about the excessive ads on your site. It’s work mama, just to get to the receipes and very distracting with all kinds of pop-up ads appearing every few seconds. Not to mention time-consuming.
Hi! I’m glad you enjoyed the soup. 🙂 With zucchini, I prefer to say the weight because they can grow quite large, and what one person considers a small or medium zucchini is completely different to what another person would think that is. I can’t recall offhand for this recipe exactly how many zucchini I used – sorry about that (or else I’d add it, but I used the scale at the grocery store when I bought them). But yes, it’s a very forgiving recipe, and 6-8 small zucchini sounds about right. Re: the ads, you may not be aware, but this is a small business, and ads enable it to earn an income and support livelihoods. Without being paid for hard work, Salt & Lavender would be unable to give you free recipes. Supporting small business through ads is easy and important. It’s the same idea as shopping local, and we love your support!
Do you think this recipe can be done with a mix of zucchini and yellow squash? The zucchini’s I buy from Costco comes in a bag with both in it and I already have that and don’t want them to go bad
For sure!! I think that’s a great idea.
Will be making this soon can i use vegan butter as am a vegan i love zucchini sooooooooooo much perfect for raining days in Singapore and my after office meals sorry i took a break from commenting on your recipes as busy with work will dm you if i make this and let you know how it goes Thanks Ramya
yes you can!