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Creamy Zucchini Tarragon Soup

Recipe
Comments
Post Review

Creamy Zucchini Tarragon Soup

I feel like Mary Poppins would be a really wonderful soup maker.

I’m not talking about the spoonful of sugar.

It’s that magical purse she carries around.  If she can pull a coat rack and house plant out of her nanny bag, imagine the things she could coax from a giant soup pan.  Dreams!  I imagine the most lovely and effortlessly delicious soup, with a dash of cream like whaaat!?

Wait… can Mary Poppins make us all soup forever and always?

I wonder if Mary Poppins has wasabi peas and a baguette in her purse.  Probably.

Creamy Zucchini Tarragon Soup

I made this soup on a day that I needed soup… and a day when I needed soup to be easy.

This zucchini soup went from coarsely chopped veggies, to a hot broth bath, to blender soup magic.  It’s incredibly simple and majorly satisfying.

This soup can be as meaty or vegan as you’d like.  It’s entirely flexible.  Chicken stock versus vegetable stock.  Butter versus olive oil.  A sprinkling of parmesan cheese or a smattering of chopped toasted almonds.  Tarragon is essential.  It has a bright anise-like flavor that really compliments the base zucchini flavor.

Adding a bit of cream to finish is decadent, but the soup is dang delicious without it.  I made the soup with and without cream and I happened to eat the entire bowl of cream-laced soup… just sayin’.

Creamy Zucchini Tarragon Soup

This soup recipe comes from the center of my stack of Spring reading inspiration.  The new Daphne Oz book, Relish is disarmingly sweet and has some really lovely recipes that inspire sharing and caring.    Also… I think reread East Of Eden because it tears my heart apart then puts it back together-ish.  Lastly, kitten toe hair is a thing.  I can’t deal (but I can).

Creamy Zucchini Tarragon Soup

recipe from Relish

serves 4

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2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium sweet yellow onion, about 1 1/2 cups

2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

4 medium zucchini, chopped, about 5 cups

2 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves, plus more for garnish

1/4 cup white wine

2 cups vegetable or chicken stock

salt and fresh cracked black pepper

1/4 cup heavy cream, optional

white truffle oil for garnish, optional

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat.  Add onion and saute until translucent, about 3 to 5 minutes.  Add garlic and saute for 1 minute more.  Add zucchini and tarragon leaves and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring often.  Add the wine and deglaze the bottom of the pan. Add stock and bring to a simmer.  Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, or until zucchini is cooked through and soft.

Transfer soup to a blender, place a towel over the blender and puree until smooth.  You can also use an immersion blender.  Return the soup to the pot and stir in cream, if using.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve with a drizzle of white truffle oil and a few tarragon leaves.  

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88 Responses

  1. My umpteenth time making this soup at the end of August when the zucchini supply begins to dwindle and a warm soup on a breezy evening is just a good idea. Even zucchini-deniers love it. Thank you Joy!

    Reply

  3. Please amend your ‘print the receipt’ programme. It wasted 3 sheets of my printer paper and ink with ‘junk’ before printing the actual recipe. But I do look look forward to trying it!

    Reply
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  5. Everything that I’ve tried of yours has been delicious and this is no exception!! Now I finally know what to do with all those zucchini from the garden this summer! I need to buy every cookbook you have stat- keep up the good work ????

    Reply

    1. Thank you so much Amy! That’s so sweet Amy! Good thing I have two books out, and working on a third!

      Reply
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  12. My 2 year old LOVES this soup … and we had a hearty tarragon crop this year, so I’ve been making it constantly. One thing I do differently – I wait to add the tarragon until the soup is done but before I puree it. The hot soup still takes on the tarragon flavor, but it’s a lot brighter.

    Reply
  18. Pingback: Creamy zucchini & tarragon soup – Reinventing an old favourite | whimsical dale

  19. I made this soup two days after I saw the post. It was delicious! Minus the cream and its rather low fat!

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  24. Up here in Alaska my friends and I call kitty toe hair “Extra Tufts,” because we humans all wear rubber boots called “Xtra Tufs.” I love those extra tufts.

    Reply

  28. Thank you for a wonderful recipe and a delightful post. This will be the perfect soup when the zucchini is coming in fast and furious in the garden. You’ve given me the nudge I needed to pull the old Vitamix and give it whirl. Thanks so much!

    Reply

  29. I love zucchini, can’t wait to try this. I will probably use the cheddar cheese suggestion instead of the heavy cream. But what the heck might even try both :)

    Reply

  32. I’ve been looking for a good spring soup recipe, this looked so delicious i went out and bought all the ingredients last night, except I forgot the tarragon.. damn! the union square whole foods is far too crazy to venture back into, so my soup making has been postponed.. now the anticipation has built even more!

    Reply

  38. This soup sounds delish!

    Though, not gonna lie, the real reason I’m commenting is because I really want to know more about this “Absolutely Avocados” book in your stack of lovely books!

    Reply

  40. JOY. Ok, soup is great. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY!!! I can’t even stand that you are in love with East of Eden, too!!!! Your copy looks as well loved and several-times-read as mine. I read it the first time the summer before high school and have read it nearly every year since. My copy has all of my favorite parts/passages underlined (so like…most of the book) and ev.er.y time I read it I have to read the “timshel” passage twice in a row, it is so powerful. I totes named my parents’ dog “Steinbeck”. No bigs. (Ok, nerd freak out over.)

    Reply

  41. Yes, I too know that kitty toe hair is a real thing. It is fun to tickle…but only if kitty is not sleeping when you try it. I love this photo of your cat…even though his handsome face is hidden.
    Can’t wait to try this soup…it looks yummy.

    Reply

  46. I don’t know how you feel about the movie version of “East of Eden,” it’s the first time I ever saw James Dean act. If you’ve not seen it, you MUST. His acting is just shockingly good. I was floored. And I’m a picky creature, not wowed by histrionics. It hurt SO good.

    And the actress who plays his romantic interest, her voice is forever burned on my brain, so even when she’s 70-something and acting today, I IMMEDIATELY recognize it and hear her cry out “Cal!” *sigh*

    I should read that pup.

    Kitty toe fur drives me crazy w/happiness. So many kitty details are excruciatingly charming. Hurts so good. =)

    (oh, yeah, the food looks great, too. =) Husband adores zucc, and it’s near planting time!)

    xoxoxo!

    Reply

  47. Seeing Tender in your stack made. my. day. I LOVE Nigel Slater. Can we be friends? Seriously, though. I live in Santa Barbara and I would bring you homegrown friendship tomatoes and make Thai food for you. I feel like we could be bffs.