Vegan Creamy Asparagus Soup {Gluten-Free}

A silky, creamy and nutritious vegan asparagus soup is perfect on a cold spring day to warm you right up. Gluten-Free, Paleo, and Whole30  too!

Soups are my jam. I just love them; can’t get enough of them; need them almost daily in my life. There are really only two types of people in this world, those who cannot live without soup, and those who don’t care about it at all.

I simply do not understand the latter. Soup is comfort food, it’s so warming and healing. It’s nutritious and delicious, it’s easy to digest. It just reminds me of home at any time. If I’m feeling sad, soup helps, if I’m cold, soup to the recipe. It just always works and serves it’s purpose.

Now among the soup lovers there is a divide – some love a creamy pureed soup and other are all about a chunky hearts coarsely chopped veggie soup.

Not going to lie – with soup I do not discriminate – I love both creamy and chunky heart soups. It just simply depends on my mood, and currently my mood is for a silky smooth pureed soup so I’ve got this creamy vegan asparagus soup to present to you today!

The other day I received an email from a reader (by the way I love getting those — it really makes me feel that people are interested in the blog for more than .05 seconds, so yes those emails seriously make my day, so keep ’em coming).

This reader, who we shall call A, was asking for some advice in coming up with a vegan asparagus soup recipe. She had some ideas regarding other ingredients but wanted to get my input. I figured now was as good a time as any to simply create my very own gluten-free and creamy vegan asparagus soup recipe and that way I could send her an official recipe that had already been tested and sampled.

And let’s face it, asparagus is an amazing veggie that needs to be incorporated into our diet more often. Did you know it is super high in Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and folate? Folate by the way is vital for a healthy pregnancy and important for cell growth and DNA formation! (source)

I’ve made a handful of creamy vegetable soups in the past, and I wanted this asparagus soup to have a similar consistency with an even bigger pop in flavor.

Why this vegan asparagus soup is the best:

• easy to make
• super rich and creamy
• delicious asparagus flavor
• packed full of vitamins and nutrients
• perfect for meal prep or as a  freezer friendly recipe

Vegan Asparagus Soup Ingredients:

• onions
• carrots
• celery
• zucchini
• asparagus
• broth
• nutritional yeast
• dairy free milk
• lemon

This asparagus soup needs nine key ingredients – though if you have to omit one of the veggies such as carrots, onions, celery or zucchini it will still work. I wanted to add the zucchini specifically to balance out that strong asparagus flavor but you could omit this veggie or instead replace it with a diced potato or even some beans for a thicker soup.

How to make my vegan asparagus soup on the stove top:

Start by dicing the onions, carrots, celery and zucchini. If you’re looking for a short cut here you could run all of these through the grating blade of your food processor, but usually I just quickly and coarsely chop these up with a knife.

To add additional flavor to creamy soups I love to sautee the veggies first in oil before adding the broth, so heat up some olive oil in a pot and add the onions first. Give those a couple minutes then add the carrots. Then add the celery. Then add the zucchini. Stir as you go.

Lastly add the aspragus, which does not need to be diced, but just roughly cut up. Just make sure to cut the tough ends off the asparagus spears and discard them.

Once you add the veggie broth everything simmers for 10 minutes. For additional creaminess and richness I love to add coconut cream and nutritional yeast. The finishing touch is a squeeze of lemon juice to add that necessary splash of acidity to the soup to balance out the flavors.

I personally love a creamy soup with no additional crunch but if you like to have a crunchy garnish or more texture in the soup there are tons of possibilities. Some of my favorite garnishes include garlic chips, chickpea croutons, toasted sliced almonds etc.

Recipe Tips:

• To add depth of flavor to pureed creamy soups always sautee the chopped veggies in olive oil for a few minutes before adding the broth
• Puree with an immersion blender right in the pot to minimize clean up
• Prep the veggies as you go to minimize on prep time before cooking
• Always add the coconut cream or regular cream at the end of cooking so that it does not curdle
• To add more texture to the soup serve garnished with chickpea croutons, sliced almond, roasted squash, toasted pumpkin seeds, blanched asparagus spears, garlic chips, etc.

Variations:

• if you are not following a dairy-free, vegan, paleo or Whole30 diet you can add in heavy cream in place of the coconut cream and grated Parmesan in place of the nutritional yeast
• if you are not vegan you can use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth. This will make for a richer soup since chicken broth is fattier and richer in flavor.
• If you are not Paleo, you can also add in one diced potato to the soup to add to the thickness or richness.
• If you are not Paleo or Whole30 you can add in a can of cannellini beans to the soup to add thickness.
• To cut down on calories omit the coconut cream or replace with a lighter dairy free milk like Almond milk, etc.

Is this soup Paleo / Whole30?

• Yes! All of the ingredients in this recipe are both Paleo and Whole30 friendly as well as vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free.

Is this asparagus soup freezer friendly?

• Yes! You can freeze this soup is ziplock bags and reheat in a pot on the stovetop.

How to make instant pot asparagus soup:

• Using all the same ingredients turn on the Saute function with the high setting on the instant pot and saute all of the veggies in oil for a few minutes before adding the broth.
• Turn off the saute setting, seal the lid and put on high pressure for 10 minutes. Once the timer goes off turn off the Instant Pot and do a natural pressure release for 5 minutes before switching the valve to venting and wait for remaining pressure to be released.
• Remove lid, add in coconut cream and nutritional yeast and puree with an immersion blender until smooth.

Garnish Ideas:

• chickpea croutons (if not following a Paleo or Whole30 diet)
• garlic chips (thinly sliced garlic pan fried in olive oil until crispy)
• lemon zest
• roasted squash
• toasted sliced almonds

This has easily become one of my favorite pureed creamy soups so I hope you love it too. Please let me know what you think in the comments below!

Looking for other soup recipes ideas?

• White Bean Kale Soup
• Spaghetti Squash Soup
• Vegan Pumpkin Soup
• Cream of Broccoli Soup
• Roasted Cauliflower Soup

5 from 1 vote

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Vegan Asparagus Soup {Stove Top & Instant Pot}

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

25 mins

Total Time

35 mins

 

A silky, creamy and nutritious vegan asparagus soup is perfect on a cold spring day to warm you right up. Gluten-Free too and ready within and hour!

Course: Lunch, Soup

Cuisine: gluten free, Healthy, Vegan

Keyword: asparagus soup

Servings: 4

Calories: 160 kcal

Author: Vicky Berman

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup onion 1/2 large yellow onion, diced
• 1/3 cup carrot 1 small carrot, peeled and diced
• 1/3 cup celery 2 stalks, diced
• 1/2 cup zucchini peeled, halved and diced (1)
• 1 pound asparagus tough ends cut off and discarded and cut into 2 inch segments
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup coconut cream
• To garnish: 1 lemon zested, and juiced

Instructions

1. Heat oil in pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent.
2. Add carrots, cook 1-2 minutes.
3. Add celery, cook 1-2 minutes.
4. Add zucchini and asparagus, cooking 1-2 minutes, mixing everything around.

5. Add vegetable broth, salt/pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

6. Add nutritional yeast and coconut cream. Simmer for 1-2 minutes.

7. Puree in blender or with immersion blender. 

8. Serve with lemon juice, zest.

9. Optional garnish ideas: garlic chips, chickpea croutons, roasted squash, drizzle of olive oil. 

Nutrition Facts

Vegan Asparagus Soup {Stove Top & Instant Pot}

Amount Per Serving

Calories 160 Calories from Fat 81

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 9g 14%

Saturated Fat 5g 25%

Sodium 959mg 40%

Potassium 545mg 16%

Total Carbohydrates 16g 5%

Dietary Fiber 5g 20%

Sugars 6g

Protein 6g 12%

Vitamin A 64.2%

Vitamin C 16.2%

Calcium 4.3%

Iron 18%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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