Roasted Asparagus Soup

This refreshing roasted asparagus soup is pretty, delicious, and perfect for many occasions. Guests will love this as a soup course with a larger meal. It’s also an amazing soup to cook up on the weekend with your family or just for yourself.

I have always been excited to see asparagus in the grocery store in the spring! I’m not sure about the rest of the country, but here in Florida, we have it year round now, with the stalks just getting skinnier and fatter depending on what time of year it is. I usually steam asparagus, but now I’ll add this soup to my fresh asparagus repertoire.

Before beginning the soup, you will need to soften the raw cashews. If you are unfamiliar with soaking or boiling cashews for thickening vegan dishes, I’ll share with you this super easy method. Boil an amount of water that will cover the amount of cashews you are using (without the cashews, just the water in the pan.) Turn the heat off under the saucepan. Then drop the cashews into the boiled water. It’s okay to leave the pan on the hot burner. After 15 minutes remove the cashews from the water. Some people recommend soaking cashews for hours, or even overnight. You can also actually boil the cashews. I like this boiled water method better because the cashews can soak unwatched and it only takes 15 minutes!

When I made this soup, after roasting the asparagus, onion and garlic, I placed all three on a cooling rack for five minutes before adding them to the blender. If you have a nice blender that can handle hot contents, this cooling step isn’t necessary.

This recipe is adapted from one at Fat Free Vegan. I found that the recipe makes only 2 soup bowls of soup. So, if you need more than that, you can double or triple the recipe. This will take a few blendersful of ingredients, doing it in stages, but would be worth the time. Once all of it is blended, just heat it up in a dutch oven or soup pot, rather than a saucepan. If the soup is part of a larger menu, this version of the recipe can serve four, in cups or cup-sized bowls.

Depending on the width of the stalks of your asparagus, cut each stalk to six or seven inches long. For a thin stalk, seven inches is perfect. But for a thicker stalk (1/2-inch diameter or more), 6-inch length will ensure that you don’t have a hard-to-chew fibrous stalk left on the end.

If you like a creamier soup, just add the optional vegan butter and plant based milk during the final heating.

You might also enjoy Warm Asparagus Walnut Salad or this Garden Tomato Soup.

Print Recipe

Roasted Asparagus Soup

A delightfully fresh soup, perfect for brunch or entertaining and a great weekend soup for the family or for one.

Course

Main Dish, Soup

Cuisine

French

Keyword

asparagus, black pepper, cashews, garlic, lemon, orange, plant based milk, vegan butter, vegetable broth, vegetable stock, yellow onion

Prep Time

5 minutes

Cook Time

25 minutes

Servings

soup bowls

Ingredients

• 2 pounds asparagus ends trimmed
• 3 cloves garlic peeled, stem end removed, left whole
• 1/4 large yellow onion sliced
• 2 cups vegetable broth, or your favorite vegan broth
• 12 cashews whole
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
• salt to taste
• zest of one lemon or one orange
• 2 teaspoon vegan butter (optional)
• 3 tablespoon plant-based milk (optional) I use oat milk, but any plant based milk will work

Course Main Dish, Soup Cuisine French Keyword asparagus, black pepper, cashews, garlic, lemon, orange, plant based milk, vegan butter, vegetable broth, vegetable stock, yellow onion Prep Time 5 minutes Cook Time 25 minutes Servings soup bowls Ingredients 2 pounds asparagus ends trimmed 3 cloves garlic peeled, stem end removed, left whole 1/4 large yellow onion sliced 2 cups vegetable broth, or your favorite vegan broth 12 cashews whole 1/4 teaspoon black pepper or to taste salt to taste zest of one lemon or one orange 2 teaspoon vegan butter (optional) 3 tablespoon plant-based milk (optional) I use oat milk, but any plant based milk will work

Instructions

1. Prepare your raw cashews by soaking or boiling. (See instructions above the recipe.)
2. Preheat oven to 450 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Place the trimmed asparagus spears on the baking sheet. Roast in the oven for about 10 minutes.

   
4. Remove the asparagus from the oven, rotate on the pan using a spatula (for even cooking). Place the onions and garlic cloves evenly around the baking sheet over the asparagus.

   
5. Roast the vegetables another 10 minutes or until the asparagus is very tender when tested with a fork (check the bottom of the stem). Remove from the oven if you see very much browning on the vegetables.

   
6. While the asparagus is roasting, put 1/2 cup of the broth, all of the cashews, and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper into the blender. Blend until smooth and leave the mixture in the blender.
7. Once the asparagus is done roasting, choose a few of the spears that still look nice to use for a garnish. Remove the tops (two to three inches) of those stalks and set aside.
8. Cut up the remaining asparagus, garlic and onions into pieces about one inch long or so, no need to be exact. Add all to the blender.
9. Add the remaining vegetable broth to the blender, also, and blend all ingredients on high until perfectly smooth.
10. Pour the blended soup into a large saucepan. Add salt and more pepper to taste and heat thoroughly. If you want a creamier soup, at this point add the vegan butter and plant based milk.
11. Once heated, pour into individual bowls and sprinkle with fresh lemon zest or orange zest. Garnish each bowl with the reserved asparagus heads. Serve hot.

Recipe Notes

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