Healthy Spinach Soup Recipe
Vibrant Spinach soup is a breeze to make and packed with nutrients. Cream cheese makes this soup creamy and also adds flavor to it. This soup is the best way to get your daily dose of greens in a delicious way.
This Spinach Soup Recipe is a great way to include spinach in our diet. Look at the vibrant rich color of this Spinach Soup. It not only looks refreshing but also is very light and delicious.
Except for the green color, you could hardly get the strong taste of Spinach in it. So a spinach hater like my daughter who runs away at the sight of greens finished a big bowl of it in just 10 minutes.
I am not kidding here guys, this Spinach soup really tastes fantastic. It is refreshing, and creamy but not very rich on the palate.
There are no other vegetables like potato or zucchini, which are generally used to give the soup a body. There is only 100% spinach. It takes less than 30 minutes to make it.
Wondering if Spinach Soup is Healthy For You?
There is no doubt that Green leafy vegetables are loaded with dietary fiber and should be included in our daily diet. But many don’t like the taste of Spinach. I am also one of those who don’t like Spinach unless it is prepared in certain ways. This Spinach soup is definitely one of my favorites.
Spinach soup is healthy and filled with nutritional benefits. Spinach is not cooked for too long in this recipe, so it does not lose any nutrition.
Another ingredient here is cream cheese, which I am sure would worry you. Even though cream cheese is high in calories, it is packed with good saturated fat. And 20 grams of cream cheese is barely 50 calories.
This soup is loaded with iron, dietary fiber, good fat, and a lot of other nutrients.
There are so many ways you can use spinach. I have used it in pasta – Creamy Spinach Pasta, another soup – Red Lentil Soup With Spinach, used it as a stuffing in chicken – Mushroom Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast, delicious appetizer – Creamy spinach stuffed portobello mushrooms.
Ingredients
This doesn’t call for a lot of ingredient, making the spinach shine through.
- Spinach – Fresh spinach always if you can get hold of it. Baby spinach will also work.
- Cream cheese– Full-fat cream cheese. Sour cream will also do in a pinch.
- Onion, garlic
- Butter– You can use Olive Oil too, but I feel Butter adds more flavor to it.
- Vegetable Stock – Use very good quality low-sodium vegetable stock. Unless you would like to keep this vegetarian, substitute it with low sodium chicken stock.
- Jalapeno – For little heat and flavor. But it’s optional.
- Parmasen- Freshly grated parmesan as a topping. It kind of brings together all the flavors.
How To Cook Spinach The Right Way For This Recipe?
Technically we are just blanching the spinach here, not boiling it. The blanching process is nothing but cooking spinach in boiling water for 20-30 seconds and immediately plunging it into ice water to stop the cooking process.
This method of cooking not only retains the nutritional value of spinach but also keeps the vibrant green color intact.
Helpful Tips
- As we are already using blanching the spinach, after adding it to the soup don’t cook it for too long.
- Cream cheese, parmesan, and stock has salt in it. So add more salt at the end only if required, because spinach as a veggie requires less seasoning.
Can We Use Frozen Spinach Instead?
While this Spinach Soup recipe calls for fresh Spinach, you can certainly use frozen Spinach instead. Frozen SPinach usually comes in handy when you run out of fresh Spinach leaves. However, it will not have the same freshness or vibrant color.
While using frozen Spinach leaves, completely thaw it and squeeze as much liquid as possible before adding it to the pan.
Store
You can safely freeze spinach soup for up to 2 months. Cooked spinach keeps well when frozen so do not worry on that front. Just thaw the frozen soup before reheating.
You may refrigerate this for up to 3 days and no more as this has onion in it. Reheat in a microwave or on the stovetop. It might loose its vibrant colour a bit upon reheating.
Serve With
This is best served with either bread like this No-Knead Rustic White Bread , Cheesy Garlic Bread , or with any meaty sides Lemon & Thyme Roast Chicken or Rosemary Lemon Chicken Thighs or Easy Grilled Chicken with Buttermilk Marinade.
Creamy & Healthy Spinach Soup
Ingredients
- 2 pound Fresh Spinach Leaves
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- 1 small Onion
- 1 tablespoon Garlic Minced
- 1 Jalapeno Sliced
- 2.5-3 cups Low Sodium Vegetable Stock warm
- 4 ounce Cream Cheese at room temperature
- ¼ cup Freshly grated parmesan Cheese (more to sprinkle on top)
- ½ teaspoon Salt (Adjust as per taste)
- ¼ teaspoon Freshly grated black pepper (Adjust as per taste)
Instructions
- Bring a big pot of water to boil. Meanwhile, in another bowl keep ice cold water ready.
- Add cleaned Spinach leave to the pot of boiling water. Cook briefly for around 30 seconds.
- Then immediately remove from hot water and plunge Spinach for the ice bath.
- Let the spinach sit in ice bath for 5-6 minutes. Then drain it in a colander and keep aside.
- In another soup pot, melt butter.
- Add minced garlic and chopped onion. Saute for 1-2 minutes. Let the onion soften and raw smell of garlic is gone.
- Add one chopped Jalapeno ( Deseed it if you don't want the heat). Cook for 30 seconds.
- Stir in blanched Spinach and warm vegetable stock. Let it cook for around 1-2 minute.
- Switch off the flame. Add cream cheese. Using an immersion blender blend until it is smooth and creamy.
- Stir in Parmesan cheese. Check seasoning and add more salt if required.
- Serve warm topped with more grated parmesan and sprinkle freshly cracked black pepper
Video
Notes
- To retain vibrant green colour, avoid overcooking spinach after adding it to the pot. Using warm stock reduces the cooking time.
My husband loves this.
can you please send me the link for the video?
The link to the video is right at the top of the page. Feel free to ask if you are not able to play it.
This soup is AMAZING!!! I wish I would’ve made a double batch. Quick question – does this freeze well?
Thank you, Karolina. This freezes very well.
Excellent .didn’t blanch spinach…worked fine.
first of all, you are so darn cute.
second, what do you think about using feta instead of parm? i have the former and not the latter…i figure, if spanakopita is anything to go by, the tastes should work. just not sure about texture.
love your blog and am excited to make some of your tasty recipes.
Thank you ** blushing
Thank you for sharing! Do you have a preferred Vegetable Stock recipe you’d recommend for the soup?
that would work as well.
This soup is amazing! I made 2 batches in 2 days before deciding to double the recipe!!