Chilled Zucchini Soup With Lemon and Basil
Updated Oct. 12, 2023
- Total Time
- 15 minutes, plus optional chilling
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 5 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 2pounds zucchini, trimmed and roughly chopped
- 2cups basil leaves (about 2 ounces), plus more to serve
- 1cup roasted cashews (5 ounces), plus ¼ cup chopped roasted cashews to serve
- 6tablespoons lemon juice (from 2 lemons), plus more if needed
- 3garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 2tablespoons white (shiro) miso
- 2cups vegetable stock
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- Ice cubes (optional)
- Extra-virgin olive oil, to serve
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
376 calories; 28 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 16 grams monounsaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 27 grams carbohydrates; 5 grams dietary fiber; 9 grams sugars; 11 grams protein; 1022 milligrams sodium
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.
Powered byPreparation
- 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
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Cooking Notes
Dianne
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.
Laurel Touby
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.
ANewMexican
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.
tom
This is a delicious soup and I actually liked the slight crunch of the toasted cashews..I did add crumbled feta cheese when serving to increase the protein. A worthy addition to the cold soup roster
Lee
Start with the toasted cashews and half of the broth to make a cashew cream, then add the rest of the ingredients if you want a creamy soup. Or just use your own home made cashew cream to taste.
Roberta
This was delicious with my garden zucchini. I added in 1/2 avocado for some additional creaminess.
Caitlin
There is no way this soup will become creamy or silky. Flavor was good but def not silky no matter how much i blended.
Janey
I started in the food processor, which took all ingredients in one batch, but couldn't get it creamy enough. Moved to the Vitamix (in 2 batches) and it has exactly the texture I wanted. More dirty dishes, but don't think I'd have gotten the ingredients to mix properly if I'd started in the blender. Had a sample bowl - think it'll be fabulous once chilled! (P.s. Mine isn't as green as the photo either, even though most of my zukes had very dark skins. Oh well - tastes great!)
JeffreyT
I'd suggest macadamia nuts or pistachios.
David
I can eat pretty much any nuts other than cashews. I'd appreciate any suggestions as to what would be a substitute most in keeping with this dish. Thanks.
ThatBob
This was better than expected, actually quite delicious. I made it with half raw zucchini and half leftover zuke that had been grilled with olive oil, salt and pepper. Used plain water in place of veg broth, and three tablespoons pesto, which I had to use up, instead of fresh basil. Kept everything else the same and blended it all in a Vitamix. I wouldn’t say is was creamy, but it was smooth enough to be thoroughly enjoyable. Would def make it again when zucchini gets out of hand.
Meg
If you eat dairy, you could try something like a bit of sour cream or creme fraiche to add the creaminess I imagine. Silken tofu could be nice as well, and/or an avocado. If you don't mind the added step of having to cook, blending in some peeled boiled potatoes could be an option as well, though that defeats the purpose of it being basically no-cook.
banana
The flavor of this was good and I wanted to like it, but the texture is a far cry from creamy or smooth. Lengthy efforts to purée never quite rid it of its grittiness, a texture not unlike cream of wheat. I wonder if using raw instead of roasted cashews and peeling the zucchini would make a difference. I've been eating it with crumbled feta cheese and a little salsa macha.
Dave
Fantastic! Easy to make and wonderful on a hot night.
D. A.
Thoughts on swapping cashews for soft tofu in this recipe? Thanks!
Laura Zucker
This was more like a basil soup with lemon, as these were the dominant flavors. The texture was fine, but my husband thought it was weird and we ended up tossing the rest of the batch. Still searching for a good chilled zucchini soup.
Connie
Super easy, refreshing soup to make during this recent heatwave. After reading comments on the gritty texture, I soaked the cashews in broth while prepping other ingredients. Blitzed everything in a Vitamix and ended up with a creamy texture. Used Thai basil because it’s what I had and really appreciated the less sweet, slightly spicy note. Topped with toasted pepitas for extra crunch. Of note, this yielded A LOT of soup for me—maybe closer to 6 servings.
uppergolf
Followed the recipe but found the soup way too salty. I used TD organic vegetable broth and cashews along with the miso. The recipe says to add 2 tsp salt. I only added 1.5 and found the soup undrinkable. I will try again without the added salt and maybe use unsalted cashews
Melissa :)
This was a little weird tasting but gourmet! Not what I was expecting. I used my Nutribullet and prepared in batches. Adding creme fraiche made it creamy.
Donna U
Has anyone tried this heated?
Lamar
I made the recipe as directed and agreed with others that it was a bit grainy. Took a page from Julia Moskin’s Best Gazpacho recipe and pushed the soup through a strainer with a spoon. Also blended in some olive oil. Thought it was a lot creamier, smoother, and better like that. Would be good with some homemade croutons on top.
Marge
Same problem -- my food processor didn't have enough wight to blend all the ingredients together. Wish I had read the notes below first. I'd suggest re-working the recipe a bit. Even though it wasn't smooth it was still very good.
amber
This was fantastic. So easy, fresh and delicious. Made it exactly as written.
Julua
I added red wine vinegar and more lemon. I could not get a silky texture despite blending the cashews and broth to start. I gave up and added chia seeds as well to boost protein content. I think full fat yogurt would be a great addition to this as well as the suggestion if adding feta. Probably will not make again as soup but would be good as a dressing for pasta or potato salad.
rb
OK so I whipped this up late summer cold soup love it - but I thought it was too chunky even after extensive blending. I ended up straining it at the end (following the NYT gazpacho recipe) and like it much better thinner. THEN what to do with the chunky zucchini blend leftover?? Made a white bean hummus (added tahini, more garlic, can o beans) and it's real good.
Virginia
I halved the recipe and still needed to make in two batches. If you use the entire amounts, you will need to make it in three or more batches unless you have a restaurant-size food processor or blender. Very refreshing soup!
I Cook
This is delicious. As we have a heat wave coming up this weekend, I do not have to cook. I'm wondering if I can freeze it. I would think so. I am going to try it with one serving just to see what happens. I used pistachios instead of cashews since I don't like cashews and it worked perfectly well. Absolutely delicious.
SK
Delicious! Light and zesty. Having read the comments about texture I steamed the zucchini and the garlic cloves for about 5 minutes to soften them and also bring out their flavors/sugars. Blended on the highest setting for a minute - the consistency was smooth, not at all gritty (to my taste) and it’s so flavorful. If it weren’t so filling we surely would have eaten it all in one go. The only downside: using stove, then waiting for the zucchini to cool a bit before blending.
Todd
This was delicious! It all fit in my 8 cup/2 quart vita-mix. Needed more than 2 hours to chill--more like six hours. Very refreshing on a hot day!
Gail
After reading the other comments I decided to mix all the ingredients except for the zucchini in the blender. I then used half the blended mixture to process half the zucchini and then followed the same procedure with the remaining half. There was no way it would all fit in a home sized blender or food processor. I ended up using both appliances and made quite a mess but it was delicious. Not creamy, nice texture though.
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