Asparagus Soup with Lemon and Parmesan
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This asparagus soup tastes rich, yet it’s made without heavy cream – just veggies, broth, and a bit of Parmesan cheese puréed to silky perfection.
One of my favorite soup recipes, this creamy asparagus soup is made without heavy cream – just vegetables, broth, and a bit of Parmesan cheese puréed to silky perfection. It’s perfect for early spring when asparagus is in peak season and there’s still a chill in the air. Serve with a focaccia or a good crusty bread.
What you’ll need To Make Asparagus Soup
How To Make Asparagus Soup
Begin by melting the butter in a large pot. Add the onions and garlic.
Cook until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes.
While that’s going, prep the asparagus. Trim off the tips (you’ll use them for a garnish), then cut the remaining spears into 1/2-inch pieces.
Add the chopped asparagus to the pot, along with the chicken broth, salt, and pepper.
Bring to a boil.
Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are very tender.
Purée the soup with a hand-held immersion blender until smooth and creamy. Alternatively, you can blend the soup in batches in a blender.
Return the soup to the pot and stir in the fresh lemon juice and grated Parmesan cheese.
Finally, cook the asparagus tips in salted boiling water for a few minutes until tender-crisp.
The best way to preserve the bright green color of the tips and keep them crisp is to shock them in an ice bath, but you can also refresh the tips under cold running water.
Finally, ladle the soup into bowls and top with the asparagus tips, Parmesan cheese, fresh herbs (if using), and freshly ground black pepper.
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Asparagus Soup with Lemon and Parmesan
This asparagus soup tastes rich, yet it’s made without heavy cream – just veggies, broth, and a bit of Parmesan cheese puréed to silky perfection.
Ingredients
- 2 bunches asparagus (about 2¼ pounds), bottom ends trimmed
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 medium yellow onions, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
- 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, from one lemon
- ½ cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano
- Handful fresh herbs, such as thyme, dill or basil (optional, for garnish)
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Do not brown; reduce the heat if necessary.
- In the meantime, cut the tips off of one bunch of the asparagus and set aside (you'll use those for a garnish). Cut the remaining spears and the other bunch of asparagus into ½-inch pieces.
- Add the chopped asparagus to the pot (minus the reserved tips), along with the chicken broth, 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn the heat down to low. Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are very tender.
- Meanwhile, bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the reserved asparagus tips for a few minutes, or until tender-crisp. Drain the tips and then place them in a bowl of ice water to "shock" them -- this stops the cooking process and preserves their bright green color. Once the tips are cool, drain them and set aside.
- Purée the soup with an immersion blender until completely smooth. (Alternatively, use a standard blender to purée the soup in batches, then return the soup to the pot.) Bring the soup back to a simmer and stir in the lemon juice and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary. To thicken the soup, allow it to simmer, uncovered, until the desired consistency is reached.
- Ladle the soup into bowls, then top each bowl with asparagus tips, Parmigiano-Reggiano, herbs (if using), and freshly ground black pepper.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: You can freeze the soup for up to 3 months. Defrost the soup in the refrigerator for 12 hours and then reheat it on the stovetop over medium heat until hot. (The soup will freeze best if you add the cheese when reheating.)
Pair with
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (6 servings)
- Calories: 160
- Fat: 10 g
- Saturated fat: 6 g
- Carbohydrates: 10 g
- Sugar: 3 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 10 g
- Sodium: 593 mg
- Cholesterol: 22 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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This soup is fabulous! I’m so happy it is low fat and healthy. I am saving the recipe as one of my favorites.
Thanks!
I accidentally over steamed some asparagus last night so it was pretty mushy and I thought using it for a soup recipe would salvage it. This recipe is SO GOOD. I did not simmer for 30 minutes because my asparagus was already cooked. I pureed everything in a blender and turned out beautifully! Gave some to my husband to taste test and he said “Why are we even making pizza this soup is good enough for dinner by itself!” High praise from someone who’s favorite food is pizza. Thank you for a great recipe.
Hi Jen – I really want to make this soup this afternoon but I don’t have fresh asparagus. Can I use canned?
Technically it should work, but I definitely think it’s best with fresh. If you use canned, I’d cut back on the added salt.
Made this and LOVED it. Added shredded rotisserie chicken after puree and it was absolutely delicious. Your recipes never disappoint love it!
So I have not been graced with Jenn’s recipes until today. I had a bag of asparagus that I didn’t want to simply grill. So I searched for asparagus soup (but I cannot have heavy cream/milk). And low and behold my eyes light up as I read in the high level description on Google search results… “… without heavy cream” all next to 5 stars. My curiousity was peaked. My taste buds salivated. I’m WFH today so of course my attention diverted to immediately making this soup irrespective that it is 87 degrees out. I’m sorry – the only thing I did was add a few tiny potatoes (the only deviation) because I only had 12oz of asparagus. Per guidance, I added fresh basil on the top at the end. Wowsers! I can’t wait to try out more recipes, which I’m already looking through. Thank you for coming into my life Jenn.
Made this tonight as a starter. Delicious!
OMG – this is *seriously* good soup! And so simple! I read the other comments raving about it, but nothing like tasting for yourself! Thanks!
Very tasty.
Just made this. Halved the recipe because that’s all the asparagus I had. Only change was I added a little crushed red pepper. This is fantastic. Great balance of flavors. It’s summer so we are going to let it cool down and see how it is as a chilled soup (or at least a bit hot soup!)
Perfect. The squeeze of lime at the end was just right.
Makes a thin purée. Would reduce amount of broth next time. But tasty.
Just excellent. If this is any indication of the nature of your recipes I am going to be a loyal fan!
This is definitely the most delicious asparagus soup I have ever made! Thank you so much for this recipe, my husband and kids loved it!
This soup is really delicious and I will be making it frequently!
My family’s favourite soup EVER!!! So easy to make and freezes beautifully for when asparagus season is over. Truly delicious
Can this soup be served cold?
Sure – enjoy!
My soup tastes great but it is stringy what did I do wrong?
Cheryl
Hi Cheryl, It sounds like it’s not blended enough. Asparagus is very fibrous so if you don’t have a powerful blender, it can be stringy. It helps to pass it through a fine mesh strainer after blending.
Thank you for your response, I used an immersion blender. I will try again and use my food processor because it is delicious.
WOW, this is a perfect spring soup. We lived in Germany for many years and I always look forward to “Spargel” soup but this soup is better. So much lighter than the traditional dairy filled soup. Hope to try this recipe with some other spring vegetable. THANK YOU
I have made asparagus soup for years but it was heavy with cream and butter. This version is so much better. It’s healthier and tastes so light. Adding dill and crispy asparagus tips make it so pretty. My husband absolutely loved this!
Great soup! I doubled the lemon and used cilantro as the herb. Superb! Home grown asparagus makes it very flavorful.
Meant to give it 5 stars!!!
Soup was delicious and perfect for a luncheon with friends. One of them grabbed the recipe right out of my hand on her way out!
Thanks Jenn. I just made my second batch for the freezer for later in the season when it is too nice to come in and cook. I let it meld overnight before putting it in the freezer and hold off on the cheese and lemon until we eat it. As you know it is crazy healthy too!! 🙂
Oh my, so yummy! I used 1/4 tsp dried thyme while cooking and bottled lemon juice at the end but followed everything else to the T. This will forever be my staple creamed asparagus soup!
It was delicious, will be making it again!
This was awesome!!!!
I added 1/2 cup of evaporated milk during the last simmer.
I will be making this again, thank you.
Can this be successfully frozen? I have a ton of asparagus. I normally home can soups but not sure how that would be for this recipe.
Hi Candace, This freezes nicely. See the bottom of the recipe for freezer-friendly instructions. Hope you enjoy!
I just finished making the soup. I added in fresh tarragon while cooking the asparagus and added lemon zest at the end. Thank you it came out delicious.
Used our home grown asparagus for the soup. Also made your focaccia bread recipe to go with it. Both were delicious! Thanks Jenn!
Took a taste….and ate the whole batch while it was still in the pot!!!! Making the full amount right now to share…..maybe?? Lol
Super yummy! I added fresh sprigs of thyme when the asparagus were cooking and then fished them out before processing. Also, used four cups of broth rather than six – it tasted perfect before opening another chicken broth.
Easy to make. I added sliced, steamed carrot slices and pieces of country ham with the Parmesan. I assumed the county ham would be enough salt instead or added salt called for in the recipe. Ham provided adequate salt for my family’s taste.
This soup will be a regular in our family when asparagus is on sale.
This recipe is sooo good that I made it twice in one weekend! Easy to make and so tasty. Thank you so much. Didn’t alter a thing and it was perfect.
Oh my gosh! This is SO GOOD! I love that it tastes like cream of asparagus soup with no cream! The only change I made was sauteing the onions & garlic in olive oil instead of butter because my daughter can’t eat dairy (while nursing and baby is allergic) and then I took out a serving for her before adding the parmesan at the end. It was delicious and she said it was so tasty even without the parmesan! No wonder you have so many 5 star plus reviews!
Absolutely fantastic! We loved it and can’t wait to make it again. It is so fresh and light. It has a nice creamy texture without the cream.
We loved the soup. Unfortunately I doubled the broth by mistake. I had halved the recipe bc I only had half the amount of asparagus. Is there a way I could thicken it up with more asparagus?
Hi Ellen, Oops! You could add more asparagus, but I’d also add more of the remaining ingredients to maintain the flavor of the soup.
I was skeptical that there was no cream. I even bought it to add! It is perfection without anything added. Complete perfection! Well done!
This is really good. We had some asparagus that needed to be cooked. It’s 70 degrees, cloudy and windy in Key West today so we thought soup and then the next thought was Jen! This does not disappoint.
We live on our boat here in the winter/spring time and so we have limited space. We cut the recipe in half and it worked great. If you do this, just note that the asparagus still takes 30 mins to get tender enough to puree. In other words, don’t cut the times down too.
The only addition I mad was to skip the salt and add a dash or two of Tony’s cajun spice and a couple dashes of Crystal hot sauce. It was amazing!!!! Definitely in our rotation going forward!
Whole lemon with zest. My wife loved it.
Hi Jenn! I’m making this for the first time for a work event. If made the evening before, it is ok to add the cheese and let the soup chill overnight in the fridge? Or would you recommend chilling without the cheese and then add it the next day before serving? I don’t plan to freeze it, I just want to be ready the night before. Thanks as always for your amazing recipes!
Hi Cole, you can add the cheese in before refrigerating. Hope everyone enjoys!
thank you!
I made this for my cookbook club luncheon. I had to make it a week ahead and freeze. It re-heated beautifully following the instructions to add the cheese during re-heating. I also blanched and froze the asparagus tips that were used as garnish a week ahead. The club said it was some of the best soup they’ve had!
Jen, can this asparagus soup be served chilled?
Hi kc, a number of people have commented that they’ve served the soup chilled and have been happy with it. Hope you like it too!
I made this soup per the recipe with one exception: I used just a pinch of salt. Why does anyone need a teaspoon of salt? Terrible healthwise and tastewise.
I love this soup recipe! It’s flavorful and healthy. I just add a dash of crushed red pepper because I like spicy. This is my second time making it and it’s a keeper.
Amazing asparagus soup without cream. Made yesterday and had all the ingredients. The soup is simply one an entire family can enjoy. Considering adding this to holiday meals too for larger groups. My wife also has 2 of your cookbooks, but in searching for a new asparagus recipe, I saw Jenn Segal online and I knew it would be good.
This is the most delicious asparagus soup I’ve ever made or tasted
Bravo 👏 .
A family favourite and dinner guest favourite. Never would have thought to pair lemon juice and parmesan cheese together in a soup, but wow!
I just made this. It’s absolutely the best asparagus soup I’ve ever had! Love the lemon and Parmesan addition!
I just made this again for – oh, I dunno, the 20th time? – and it’s GLORIOUS. Perfect year-round, really, but a truly wonderful starter for any springtime meal. I do sieve this to remove the lingering asparagus threads and it’s always velvety and rich, even though it’s actually a really healthy soup. Thank you, Jenn – you’re a queen!