Keto Cream of Asparagus Soup Recipe

3 bowls of cream of asparagus soup, garnished with chives and fresh dill. A few asparagus are off to the side.

4.64 from 11 votes

Keto Cream of Asparagus Soup Recipe

This easy soup makes the most of fresh seasonal asparagus with just a little cream. The garnishes make this soup truly special.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Any

Keyword: Cream of asparagus soup, keto asparagus soup

Servings:

Calories: 188.2kcal

Author: Susan Pridmore

Equipment

Chef's knife
Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot
Wooden spoon
countertop blender

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon garlic paste or minced garlic
18 ounces sliced fresh asparagus* * See note below
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups vegetable broth plus more if serving cold
½ cup heavy cream plus more for garnish
2 teaspoons freshly chopped chives
2 teaspoons freshly chopped dill
1 - 2 teaspoons sherry or use sherry wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar

Instructions

Sauté the soup base. In a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the minced garlic or garlic paste. Cook for no more than 1 minute -just long enough that it's fragrant.
Trim the stalky ends of the asparagus, and cut into 1-inch pieces. Add to the pot, including the spear tips. Lightly season and sauté for a few minutes until they just barely start to brown. This should take about 5 minutes.
Add broth. Stir in the vegetable broth, cover and simmer until the asparagus is very tender.
Purée.There are at least 2 methods you can use to purée the soup.
1. (My preferred method) Pour the soup into a countertop blender, and whirl like crazy for 1 - 2 minutes, or
2. Use an immersion blender to purée the soup. The drawback to this method is that it takes longer than in a blender, and doesn't get the soup completely smooth.
Note: I like to throw 1 teaspoon each of the chives and fresh dill into the blender with the soup, saving some for a garnish. But you can also use the herbs only as a garnish.
Finish the soup. Pour the soup back into the pot and stir in the cream. Heat back up if the soup has cooled off significantly, but don't bring it to a boil.
Season as needed with sherry (to sharpen the flavors), and additional salt and pepper. The sherry sharpens the flavors and counteracts the bitterness that asparagus can have.
Serve: Serve warm, garnished with additional chives, dill and a drizzle of cream.
If you serve this as a cold soup, which I've done a few times on a warm evening, you may need to thin it a bit with additional broth or water.

Notes

The asparagus started as two 1-pound bundles of asparagus. Once I trimmed the bottoms, and discarded them, I was left with 18 ounces of asparagus that I used for the soup. For accuracy, the nutrition calculations are based on what is used in the soup.

Nutrition