Chilled Zucchini Soup With Lemon and Basil
Updated October 11, 2023
Nico Schinco for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
- Total Time
- 15 minutes, plus optional chilling
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 5 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
2 pounds zucchini, trimmed and roughly chopped
2 cups basil leaves (about 2 ounces), plus more to serve
1 cup roasted cashews (5 ounces), plus ¼ cup chopped roasted cashews to serve
6 tablespoons lemon juice (from 2 lemons), plus more if needed
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons white (shiro) miso
2 cups vegetable stock
Kosher salt and black pepper
Ice cubes (optional)
Extra-virgin olive oil, to serve
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
27 grams carbs; 376 calories; 16 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 28 grams fat; 5 grams fiber; 1032 milligrams sodium; 11 grams protein; 9 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Place the zucchini, basil, cashews, lemon juice, garlic, miso, vegetable stock and 2 teaspoons salt in a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth and silky. Taste and check seasonings, adding more salt or lemon juice as needed.
- Step 2
Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or serve immediately, transferring the soup to a bowl and adding a few ice cubes if needed. Top with chopped cashews, a drizzle of olive oil, black pepper and a few basil leaves.
Private Notes
Comments
In order to guarantee a creamy soup, first place the cashews, lemon juice and just 1/2 cup of the stock in the blender or food processor. Blend to create a creamy liquid. Then add zucchini, basil, garlic, miso, remaining vegetable stock and 1-2 teaspoons salt in the blender or food processor.
This soup is delicious! Great way of using summer, zucchini, and basil. Adding mint takes it to the next level. Note to Cooking editors: it would be most helpful if you indicated the yield in cups rather than four servings. Who is to say how much is in a serving? If I knew this yielded 6 cups, I would’ve used a food processor instead of a blender. Using a blender, I had to do the recipe in multiple batches. From start to finish it took me 45 minutes to prepare this soup. Worth it.
David, I’d soak almonds for a few hours or overnight, remove the skins, and use the hydrated nuts in place of cashews. The soaking really softens and plumps the almonds.
Wonderful soup to use the abundant zucchini we have in the summer. I used raw cashews as the roasted ones in the supermarket were all excessively salted. I couldn't find miso, so I used a tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce and low sodium chicken broth as the vegetable broth had very high sodium content. I also added about 1/4 c of extra virgin olive oil in the final blend. I think that helped create a silkier texture.
Had a vitamix, made this as shown. Used a couple slices of toasted sourdough to wipe the bowl clean. Delicious. And my wife described it perfectly: a savory smoothie :D
Let me be clearer about my previous comment about the discrepancy between the appearance of my soup and that above. The one in the picture is creamy and uniformly green, whereas my is more rustic looking - i.e., much less uniform in texture and color.