Puréed Zucchini Soup

Pureed zucchini soup recipe

The Spruce 

  • Total: 30 mins
  • Prep: 10 mins
  • Cook: 20 mins
  • Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Nutritional Guidelines (per serving)
46 Calories
2g Fat
4g Carbs
3g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 to 6 servings
Amount per serving
Calories 46
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 2g 3%
Saturated Fat 1g 7%
Cholesterol 5mg 2%
Sodium 617mg 27%
Total Carbohydrate 4g 2%
Dietary Fiber 1g 3%
Protein 3g
Calcium 21mg 2%

There may be no better way to use the most prolific vegetable of summer than to puree a whole lot of it into a soup. This zucchini soup has great body simply from the sheer amount of zucchini that are in the recipe. There is no cream or starchy thickeners in sight, so it's both healthy (lots of vegetables) and efficient (as in using up all that zucchini gardeners tend to have on hand). This soup makes a nice lunch, a tasty start to a larger dinner, or the centerpiece to a light supper with crusty bread and a big summer or early fall salad served alongside.

If you also happen to have zucchini blossoms kicking around, they make a lovely garnish.


  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 tablespoon oil (or butter)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
  • 4 medium zucchini
  • 3 to 4 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
  • Optional: dash black pepper (freshly ground)
  • Optional: dash nutmeg (freshly grated)

Steps to Make It

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Ingredients for zucchini puree
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  2. Trim, halve, peel, and chop the onion. Since the soup gets pureed, there's no need to be too precise about the chopping.

    Chop onion
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  3. Heat a medium pot over medium-high heat and add the oil or butter. When the fat is hot, add the chopped onion and the salt.

    Heat a medium pot over medium heat
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  4. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent and tender - about 5 minutes.

    Cook onion
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  5. Meanwhile, trim and chop the zucchini.

    Trim and chop zucchini
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  6. Add the zucchini and broth to the onion.

    Add the zucchini and broth to onion
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  7. Raise the heat to bring everything to a boil, and then reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer and cook, stirring occasionally to keep things from settling too much, until the zucchini is very tender, about 15 minutes.

    Heat the mixture
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  8. If you have a hand-held immersion blender, this is a great time to pull it out and put it to use. Whirl the soup until it's extremely smooth. Whirl it for about twice as long as it seems you should and you'll end up with a much smoother, creamier soup.

    Use immersion blender
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  9. If you don't have a hand-held immersion blender, don't worry. Whirl the soup in a blender or food processor until very smooth (at least 1 minute per batch to make sure it's well and truly puréed). Be sure work in batches and hold a kitchen towel over the top of the blender or processor (hot soup tends to splatter out a bit).

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  10. Return the pureed soup to the pot. Add salt and pepper to taste (note that soup often requires a lot of salt to acquire good flavor, especially since there is naturally so much water in zucchini).

    Return soup to the pot
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  11. Serve the soup hot with a sprinkle of pepper and/or nutmeg, if you like.

    Serve soup
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  12. Enjoy!

Use Caution When Blending Hot Ingredients



  • If you want the soup to be creamier in texture, there are a few quick additions that can achieve that goal. Add a bit of heavy cream and then simply stir it in and heat over low heat before serving. Or, try just dollop a spoonful of sour cream, Greek yogurt, or crème fraîche onto each bowlful.
  • This soup freezes beautifully, so feel free to make a double or triple batch and freeze any leftovers to enjoy when zucchini isn't in season anymore.
  • Unlike tomatoes and fruits, soup cannot be canned. It's a low-acid food and the boiling water bath method cannot safely kill bacteria. The only safe option to can soup is with a pressure canner, which has higher temperatures to safely kill bacteria and spores.