The most AMAZING Vegetable Soup!! Thick and creamy, loaded with tender vegetables, it tastes luxurious and rich but it’s a SUPER HEALTHY soup recipe with 90% LESS calories than the usual creamy soups!
Magic super low calorie creamy Vegetable Soup!
Though my recipe feed doesn’t exactly scream “healthy eating” by any stretch of the imagination, the more discerning may have noticed that most of my dinner recipes actually have a sensible level of calories.
I don’t often cook with cream. I control my use of butter (sometimes reluctantly). And I am pretty sure I can count the deep fried recipes on this blog on one hand.
I believe that food is for enjoying not just survival. I don’t believe in butchering great dishes of the world for the sake of drastic calorie reduction and compromising taste. I’d rather eat a smaller serving of something super tasty and bulk up on vegetables.
However, I do have a thing for creating seriously tasty, super low cal meals that are filling. I have a few friends I often brainstorm with for calorie controlled food intake ideas. (Well, they brief me on exactly what they’re after and I do the brainstorming).
This is the product of one such session – a Healthy, Creamy Vegetable Soup recipe that’s just 124 calories for a big bowl and it’s seriously delish!
Secret ingredient: Pureed peeled zucchini
This recipe is sort of an extension of my Creamy Cauliflower Soup. Which I initially used as the soup broth for this healthy creamy Vegetable Soup and while tasty, it had a distinct cauliflower flavour which was not what I was after. I was specifically trying to make a super low cal cream of vegetable soup, so I wanted the white soup broth to have a fairly neutral but seasoned flavour.
The solution? Two zucchinis in the bottom of my fridge past their used by date. Peel off the green = almost pure white flesh. I knew it would thicken the soup and add silkiness just like in my Creamy Zucchini Soup – except this soup would be white.
Bingo.
Flavour!
The soup broth is also flavoured with onion and garlic which is cooked with the cauliflower and zucchini in vegetable broth and water until soft, then whizzed up until silky smooth. Pour it into the pot loaded with even more veggies, simmer to bring it all together and this is what you end up with – a big pot of HEALTHY creamy Vegetable Soup that looks like it’s been made with tubs of cream.
I’m not going to lie to you. Is it as good as making a real Cream of Vegetable Soup made using a big chunk of butter and 1/2 cup of flour to thicken milk? And let’s add a nice swish of cream while we’re at it, and we’d be mad not to sauté the veggies for the soup in more butter, because after all, butter = flavour.
Then we must, oh we MUST serve it with big hunks of grilled cheese on toast, and don’t hold back on the cheese please, and while you’re at it, please slather the bread with butter before topping with cheese.
No, this Healthy Creamy Vegetable Soup is not “as good” as that.
But does it stand on its own as a seriously delicious soup for a ridiculously low amount of calories for a gigantic VERY filling bowl?
YES IT DOES.
I know some people would use all the calorie credits for a little sweet treat. Not me. Bring on the grilled cheese. – Nagi x
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WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Magic healthy low cal creamy Vegetable Soup!
Ingredients
- 1 medium head of cauliflower , about 600 - 700g / 1.2 - 1.4 lb (Note 1)
Low Cal Creamy Soup Broth:
- 500g / 1 lb zucchinis (2 large), peeled and cut into 1.5cm / 3/5" slices
- 1 large onion , roughly chopped (brown, white, yellow)
- 2 garlic cloves , whole
- 2 cups (500 ml) vegetable or chicken broth
- 2 cups (500 ml) water
- 1 cup (250 ml) 0% fat milk (or other milk of choice)
- 1/2 tsp each garlic powder and onion powder (or 1 tsp of one of them)
- Pinch black pepper
Soup:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove , minced
- 1 onion , chopped (brown, white, yellow)
- 2 large carrots , cut into 1.25cm / 1/2" pieces
- 3 celery sticks , cut into 0.75cm / 1/4" slices
- 2 red capsicum / bell peppers , cut into 1 cm / 2/5" pieces
- 500g / 1 lb zucchinis (2 large), peeled and cut into 1.25cm / 1/2" slices
- 1 tsp dried thyme (or other herb of choice)
- Salt and pepper
- Finely chopped parsley , optional garnish
Instructions
Cauliflower:
- For soup - Break off 1/4 of the cauliflower into small bite size florets and put aside to use in the soup.
- For broth - Break up the rest of the cauliflower into medium florets. If you have a small cauliflower, use the stem too - peel then rough dice.
Broth:
- Place cauliflower for broth in a large pot. Add zucchini, onion, whole garlic cloves, vegetable broth and water. (Note 2)
- Place lid on, bring to boil then adjust heat so it's simmering energetically. Cook for 15 minutes or until cauliflower is soft.
- Transfer to blender (Note 3), add garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and milk. Place lid on, place tea towel on lid and hold down very firmly, then whizz to puree soup, starting on low then getting faster.
- Remove lid. Marvel at super low cal ultra creamy soup broth.
Soup:
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic, cook for 1 minute. Then add carrots and celery, cook for 2 minutes.
- Add thyme, capsicum and zucchini. Cook until softened, around 2 minutes.
- Pour in soup broth. Adjustment consistency with water to achieve desired thickness. Add reserved cauliflower.
- Simmer 5 minutes to bring flavours together. Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve, garnished with parsley. Or splurge your calorie credits on a piece of grilled cheese to dunk into the soup!!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
A familiar sight: a furry head peeking around the bench to check out if anything of interest (to him) is going on in the kitchen….. In this case, no, just raw cauliflower!
Delicious and nutritious! Love this, so versatile too as different veg can be added.
I was amazed at how creamy the “broth” came out! My only caveat is this recipe is dreadfully under seasoned. I added salt, onion powder, black pepper and a healthy shake of Tony Chacere Cajun seasoning. Delish!
Just made this. Didn’t have any capsicum, so a couple of chillis went in. Yum.
I’ll be making this again
Nagi is a genius….never thought that cauli & zucchini wld make such a creamy base 4 a soup…I added pumpkin & kumera pls the other ingredients as those veges are so cheap at the mo…mid winter…..added some cumin seeds & cumin powder as well…Nagi is my all time fav ….:)
So easy! So delicious!! I also added 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast- YUM!! Thanks once again Nagi- that’s why you are our favourite!!
This recipe is AMAZING! The creamy soup base has the texture of potato soup which I found very comforting and was absolutely delicious. I did add a grilled chicken breast, but next time I think I will skip that and add some baby bellas instead. I will be having this at least once a month for sure. Bravo
this recipe is disgusting
For a change, followed the recipe exactly 😄. OK, one really tiny tweak – used fresh thyme instead of dried (tripled the amount).
And yes, use a blender for the broth for a really creamy base. A stick blender won’t result in the same consistency.
Absolutely great! Added to my regular rotation.
I have to watch my sodium so used low sodium broth and didn’t add any salt, but added cayenne pepper and some shredded chicken breast. It is delicious! Just an fyi for anyone else who’s salt restricted.
Hi Nagi! I am thrilled to discover your WONDERFUL recipes today. I love all of the time intensive explanations, as well! I cannot wait try all of these. Your Website is NOW my Favorite cooking Site !!! I LOVE your photos and quips on Dozer..He looks like such a SWEETHEART !!!!
This recipe did not dissapoint! My only tweak (yes, here we go) was to add some cooked chicken breast to make it more of a full meal. But it’s still low cal and delish! Thanks. Now I plan to use this creamy base for other soups.
After many times making the original version I decided to try and make a mushroom version. Added microwaved mushrooms to the broth and mushrooms instead of zucchini in the soup. I looked terrible but tasted amazing!
This recipe is incredible!!! So healthy and yet so creamy and delicious. Everyone in the family loved it. Much better than the chicken version on this site IMO.
I don’t usually comment on recipes, but this one is fantastic! I made a few additions (one can of beans and some brown rice medley) to make it more hearty. I was going to add some spinach but there was no more room in the pot.
Very nice recipe chef 👍👌👏. I made it yesterday afternoon, I added 1 avocado to the broth, I enjoyed it later in the evening with your artisan bread yammy 😋. Thank you for your effort 🌹🌞😎
This is REALLY GOOD! In standard fashion, the garlic was quad quantity and added some yellow squash as well, but all else exactly as written! I weighed all my ingredients and calculated on My Fitness Pal as well and the calorie count is surely accurate for a HUGE (2.5 big ladels!) serving! Plan to freeze in solo cups for individual serving later. Thank you!
This is an amazing soup and soup base! I could eat several variations of this everyday! If anyone has other spins on this, please share!
Holy S***!!!! This is amazing!!! Thank you!!!! Finally a creamy dish that’s good for me!!!! Go go go go Keto!!!!! Whoop!!!
Amazing soup. If you’re scared of cauliflower like I was, don’t be. Also, we needed more salt and pepper but it was awesome.
Nagi you are a genius with this soup base, you can manipulate the liquid to create any type of cream sauce substitute!! I can not thank you enough for this recipe, TOTAL game changer 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻