Healthy Zucchini Bisque
This quick and easy Healthy Zucchini Bisque is perfect for chilly winter days!
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We were hanging out with my Mom a couple of weeks ago (she’d came up from Nashville to visit Robbie), and she was telling us about this crazy neighbor she has. Within the first month of moving into her house, this woman had filed a complaint with the neighborhood association because my mother was digging up plants in her yard.
Now to truly appreciate this story, you should know that my Mom is one heck of an awesome gardener. Her yard back in Raleigh was often highlighted on garden tours and the like. So for someone to file a complaint on a new neighbor without even stopping by to say hello…yeah, she must be best friends with the Grinch. (Oh, and these were dead plants my Mom was digging up.) In case you’re wondering, the neighborhood folks stopped by and told my Mom not to worry. Apparently this neighbor of hers likes to file complaints. Lots of ’em. She’s that neighbor.
This story really made me appreciate how lucky we are here in New York. We had a rough first go at upstate New York between a bad apartment and then several really bad contractors once we moved into our house. But one thing we did have…awesome neighbors. For the most part, you can’t really control who your neighbors will be. I guess you could buy a house in the middle of a huge field in South Dakota, but what fun would that be? We got extremely lucky and ended up with several really great neighbors.
Not too long after we moved in, one of these neighbors invited us over for dinner, and he made his signature zucchini soup. I was amazed at how he pulled so much flavor out of zucchini! We grow zucchini every summer in the garden, and we typically just grill it up with some Italian seasonings and olive oil. But a soup? With zucchini? Sure enough. And this soup was amazing. I was already asking him for the recipe before dinner was even over!
Because we associate zucchini with the summer garden and grilling on the back porch, we rarely ever buy zucchini at the store. But given that it’s still chilly outside (and our garden is definitely in hibernation mode), I broke down and picked up some zukes at the store last week. This Healthy Zucchini Bisque is an easy, go-to soup when you need to detox a bit after all of the delicious winter comfort food. Do you guys do that? My wife and I will occasionally do detox weeks where we cut out desserts and eat a bit healthier.
In general, we do a pretty good job of balancing our meals around here, but every once in a while you just need to detox a bit. And that’s where this Healthy Zucchini Bisque comes in. I do use a bit of butter for sauteing the zucchini and onions, and then I stir a bit of sour cream into the finished soup. The result is a nice creamy soup with tons of flavor. So grab some zukes and whip up a batch of this soup for lunch this week.
Do you have one of those neighbors?
Have you ever used zucchini in soup?
Healthy Zucchini Bisque
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds zucchini
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 1 medium white onion chopped
- 2 tsp garlic diced
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- {optional garnish} Parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- Wash zucchini and slice into thin slices; set aside.
- Using a large skillet or a Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add zucchini, onions and garlic; sauté until soft but not browned (~5 minutes).
- Add chicken broth and simmer for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
- Using a stick blender, blend until smooth.
- Add cream, salt and pepper; stir until well combined.
- {Optional} Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese before serving.
Looking for more healthy soup ideas? Check out these other favorites, too:
Healthy Spinach Artichoke Soup
Slow Cooker Split Pea Soup
Tomato Florentine Soup
Hi David! I usually just grill up zucchini like you, but this soup sounds really good! I do make relish using zucchini instead of cucumbers because they are much less slippery to dice up! One year we had an overload of yellow squash so I turned them into squash pickles which turned out to be very tasty! We have the best neighbors – cows! They never complain and occasionally come into our yard for a visit so we just herd them back into their pasture and make sure the farmer knows where they got through the fence. 🙂
Squash pickles?? That sounds really fun! I can’t wait to get our garden growing again this summer…and I hope it’s better than last year. We were a little busy last summer, and we didn’t tend to it like we should have. I think we’ll be busy again this summer…ahem, Robbie, ahem…but hopefully we’ll at least be outside more and I can sneak over to the garden to tend to it. And can I just say how jealous I am that you have cows for neighbors?? I’d want to go out and talk to the cows everyday. Yup, nothing would get down around here. I’m really just a big kid at heart!
This zucchini bisque is a true comfort food, it’s hard to believe it’s healthy! I love the bread bowl presentation!
I know, right? I was surprised to see how little “bad stuff” there was in this recipe! And the bread bowls? I totally stumbled across them at the store the day before I made this soup. Fate? Yes, I do think so…haha! 🙂
omg. I swear there are always that ONE neighbour in each area/vicinity. Your poor mother- That neighbour probably had a gray thumb anyway :p
Anyway this looks SO rich and hearty, you’d fool me that it was healthy too. I’m going to have two please. Or I shall complain.
I know…how come there is always that ONE neighbor?? My Mom tells me stories about this lady, and I seriously just shake my head in pure amazement. I’ll send you some of this soup…in an envelope. 🙂
this looks so comforting David, love it! 🙂
Thanks so much, Manali! 🙂
Beautiful presentation David! I like your bright pictures 🙂
Thanks, Muna! Pictures are easy when you’re working with veggies. 🙂
Oh, these neighbors! Even though we have got the good ones, we are dreaming of moving to a small province (such as Prince Edward Iland) where you can easier find a deer rather than a human being around your house:) We have some detox days/weeks too (Well does it still count when cut down on sweets and eat only ice cream, haha?). Delicious dish, David!
I’d be all about moving somewhere with deer as my neighbors! I mean deer wont invite you over for zucchini soup, but I would totally still be game! Of course, if you want to move down and be my neighbor here, then I can have someone to offload extra food onto…uhh, I mean taste-test. 🙂
Your poor mom! Her neighbor sounds hideous! Thank goodness you have good neighbors with delicious zucchini soup recipes! I’ve never thought to make soup with zucchini. It’s a perfect combo that brings a summer veg into the winter for this yummy soup!
Tell me about it, Rachelle! Usually neighbors are nice…at least when you first move in! But every neighborhood has that weird house, right? Anyways, let’s forget about the neighbors and make delicious soup and stay inside! It’s cold out there… 🙂
WOW! I am in love with the presentation. Healthy and super delicious recipe!
Thank you so much, Kushi! 🙂
My philosophy is that if you can see your neighbors, you should move. Having said that, I’m a pretty neighborly guy … it’s just that I want to see them by choice rather than every time I look out the window. Although if you were my neighbor, I’d constantly be coming over with an empty breadbowl, asking to borrow some soup.
I like your logic, Jeff! But don’t you live in the middle of Chicago? It’s kinda hard to get away from neighbors in the middle of a city. But don’t you worry…if you showed up at my door with a breadbowl, then I’d gladly take it from you and close the door. 🙂
What a big city can’t offer in privacy, it makes up for in anonymity. Also, I live several stories up, with a view of cityscape. Thick walls; never hear a peep. It’s the only way to survive. Of course you doneed go anywhere near the windows without kevlar. It is Chicago, after all.
Perhaps just keep a big pot of hot soup on the stove instead? And then throw that in their face if someone tries to accost you. (Yes, I just said accost.)
This zucchini bisque sounds interesting. I grow zucchini in our garden as well, but have never thought of making soup with them. I am going to have to try this.
This bisque is super delicious, Dawn…the only bad thing is I want soup in the winter but the zucchini grows out of control in the summer! Maybe make a batch in the summer and freeze it? 🙂
I love everything about this recipe except the chicken broth! I think I can replace it with vegetable broth.
And on the neighbor part, I totally agree with you David that it’s hard to find good neighbors.
Detox is something that we never really care to do, but your post is very inspiring and I think I will want to start including that into my lifestyle. 🙂
Oh, you could definitely use veggie broth instead if you want to make this recipe vegetarian! It’s totally a delicious and healthy soup for the chilly winter months. Thanks, Puja! 🙂
What a lovely bisque! I’ve never tried zucchini bisque but this sounds delicious and I need to learn gardening from your mom.
Oh, I need to learn gardening from my Mom, too, Linda…haha! I can handle my own in the garden, but flowers and landscaping is a whole other story. 🙂
Our neighbor called the cops on us for not taking in our garbage cans on time. The poor cop was so embarrassed. It was when I had a newborn and I could tell that he was pissed to even be at our house reporting the complaint.
Good neighbors are priceless, especially those who make excellent bisque. I’m SO making this next week. We’ve been in a dinner rut, and this is going to help!
Wow. Just wow. I can only imagine the look on that cop’s face. And I’m guessing these neighbors don’t get a nice holiday gift, huh? Haha! But good neighbors? Well those are indeed priceless! I saw we make a big batch of this zucchini bisque…and finish it off with some of your chocolate donuts, mmmkay? 🙂
The soup looks awesome!!
As your ex-neighbor, I must agree, it was a nice neighborhood!
Thanks so much, SueAnn! The neighborhood isnt the same without you, but I take it that you are settling in to the new place well…especially since i see that you are back out here on the interwebs! 🙂
This one just looks outstanding Dave! Zucchini soup? Never thought of it or that, like you said, you could get so much flavor from it.
I could never live in a place that had HOAs. To be subjected to others whining or complaints for ridiculous things would drive me mad. #WolfpackNeighborFree
You can totally get a ton of flavor out of zucchini in soup form…who would have known?? And yes, if I had my choice, I would be like Dorothy and have cows for neighbors. 🙂
Love how light and fresh this looks, and bread bowls are so much fun. Great recipe!
Thanks so much, Mary! And I totally agree…bread bowls are the best! 🙂
Courgette (as well call them) soup is a recent favourite in our house. We love it so much that we are going to grow courgettes this year, just so we can use them all up by making loads of soup!
I am loving the serving in a bread bowl too.
You know, most of our terms/words are similar enough, Dannii…but how did courgettes come to be called zucchini over here in the States?? Haha! Who cares what they’re called…let’s make soup! (And be careful…those courgettes grow like wildfire!)
Haha – nope, I sure don’t have one of “those” neighbors – but a few years ago, someone called The Code Enforcement Dept as those officers were around handing out tickets like they hand out beads at Mardi Gras! I had a friends old car in my driveway and they ticketed me for that too even though it looked fine and spiffy! So – I guess I do have one of “those” neighbors – just dunno who… 🙂
As for zucchini soup – dude – never have I ever feasted on anything like this before! Simply stellar!
Wait…they ticketed you for having a car in the driveway? What the heck?? As long as it wasn’t on blocks, then who cares! Heck, even if it was on blocks, it’s all good unless you have neighborhood rules that say you can’t have a car on blocks. Ah, rules. I love ’em and I hate ’em. Why can’t we all just eat soup and be happy?? 🙂
I think I could publish a book with just zz recipes. This one sounds like a keeper, but will make it this summer when they are going strong. Our favorite recipe to use lots of zz is the impossible pie. It is very healthy, also. Thanks for the new one.
Thanks so much for your comment, Nonie! I love that you call zucchini zz. 🙂 This recipe is definitely a keeper…and the best part is that it’s great for those zukes that get too big overnight! Thank you for your support of my site!