This Garlicky Asparagus Soup is creamy and cheesy and full of wonderful asparagus flavor. It also only takes about 15 minutes to make!
My take on Cream of Asparagus Soup uses plenty of garlic and some Parmesan cheese to create a delicious bowl of soup. With my time saving tips, like heating the broth in the microwave, this easy soup can also be made in just 15 minutes. So grab that fresh asparagus and let’s get cooking!
Video: Making Asparagus Soup
What Flavors Pair With Asparagus?
I already knew I loved Parmesan cheese with asparagus thanks to this easy asparagus appetizer. You basically roast asparagus for a short time, then you let it come to room temperature. Shave on large shards of Parmesan cheese, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with chunky sea salt. I just pick up the spears of asparagus and eat it as finger food.
What else do I love with asparagus? Fresh garlic! I call for four cloves in the recipe, but I’ve been known to add an extra clove or two. Sometimes I top the soup with some extra Parmesan too.
How To Prepare Asparagus
Trim the tough woody ends off of the asparagus by holding a clump of five or six spears in your right hand by their bottom ends. Grasp a few inches up the spears with your left hand. In a quick motion snap them all at once between your hands. Discard the bottom ends and repeat the process with more asparagus spears.
The SouperTip for this SOUPin15 recipe is to cut your veggies very small. If the soup was going to simmer for a long time, it wouldn’t matter how big you cut your asparagus. It would get soft for sure. But if you want the asparagus to get soft in just a few minutes, you need to chop it small.
Chop the trimmed asparagus into 1/2 inch pieces. Note that they don’t have to be even or really pretty since you’re going to purée them in the end. All that matters is that they’re small if you want the soup to be ready in 15 minutes.
How To Make Garlicky Asparagus Soup
I’ve written the instructions to make this soup quickly, so you’re doing things like chopping vegetables and grating cheese while things are heating or cooking. If it works better for you to do all the prep first or to take your time simmering things, feel free to adjust.
One of my favorite time saving tips when making soup is to heat the broth in the microwave before adding it to your pot. That way, when you’re ready to add it in, it takes very little time to reach a boil. I usually have chicken broth on hand, but you could use vegetable broth as well.
While the broth heats up in the microwave, you’ll be melting butter in a pot, chopping the onion, and adding it in. While the onion sautés, get that asparagus prepped and cut into small pieces. After adding the asparagus, mince up garlic and add to the pot along with some salt.
Now your broth should be steaming hot in the microwave and ready to add to the pot. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes until the asparagus is tender. If your Parmesan cheese isn’t already shredded, take a moment to do that now.
Use an immersion blender to puree the soup, then add in the heavy cream and let heat through. Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese.
You’re ready to serve! Garnish with chopped chives, a sprinkle of extra Parmesan, or a drizzle of cream. And of course, if you have something like this amazing Air Fryer Garlic Bread to dip in the soup, you definitely should do that.
More Veggie Soup Recipes
If you love delicious soup recipes that have veggies as the star, make sure to take a look at the following recipes too.
Garlicky Asparagus Soup Recipe
- Prep Time: 0 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
Classic cream of asparagus soup is better than ever because of the addition of Parmesan and garlic. You’re going to love it!
If you want an asparagus garnish like in the picture, before blending the soup rescue a couple of asparagus tips and then chop them. You can alternatively use chopped chives or a swirl of whipping cream as a garnish. Or both!
Yield: 7 cups
Ingredients
- 4 cups low or no-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 1 small onion
- 2 lbs. asparagus
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 oz. Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Measure the broth into a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, put a large pot or Dutch oven over low heat. Cut the butter into small pieces and add it to the pot. As it melts, peel and chop the onion. Add the onion to the butter. Stir and cover. Increase heat to medium.
- Trim the tough ends off of the asparagus as described in the blog post above. Discard ends. Chop remaining asparagus into small (½-inch) pieces. Add to the onions. Stir and cover. Peel and mince the garlic. Add it to the asparagus along with the salt. Stir.
- At this point the broth should be finished heating. Add it to the asparagus. Cover. Increase heat to high and bring soup to a boil. Reduce to a simmer.
- Cook until asparagus is tender, 2-3 minutes. While it cooks, shred the Parmesan.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Add the cream and heat through over medium heat but do not bring to a simmer.
- Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan cheese.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
This post originally appeared in June 2015 and was revised and republished in July 2024.
Regarding a question asked earlier in the feed by Jan: I use the Recipe Nutrition Analyzer, https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076. For this recipe is give 47.8 g of carbs, I cannot figure out why the carb count is so high, any ideas anyone?
Calories 1413
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 132.4g 170%
Saturated Fat 79.1g 395%
Cholesterol 422mg 141%
Sodium 186276mg 8099%
Total Carbohydrate 47.8g 17%
Dietary Fiber 20.8g 74%
Total Sugars 20.2g
Protein 40g
Vitamin D 16mcg 80%
Calcium 769mg 59%
Iron 20mg 110%
Potassium 1990mg 42%
Why do you have to heat the broth before you add it
Jean, That’s if you want the soup to be ready in under 15 minutes. You can get the broth heated up while you’re doing other things. I’m big on multitasking! If you’re not in a hurry, you can add cold broth instead. Heat to a boil and then reduce heat and cook until asparagus is tender.
Your asparagus soup is FABULOUS! I made it exactly as you stated, using my fresh home grown asparagus.Very quick, easy, delightful, beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe
Alice, I’m delighted that you liked it so much. Thank you for letting me know!
This soup is unbelievable. I do have leftovers though. Can they be frozen?
I’m actually not sure. It is dairy-based and sometimes dairy doesn’t freeze well.
Hi Christine, I tell you that I really love what you share day by day to start, you explain them very well without any doubt, have you tried adding concentrate to some soups? and I hope you continue this way and much support from Spain, we also know you here
Can soneone give the keto nutritional values for the asparagus Parmesan soup? Thank you.
Can cocoanut milk be used in this recipe?
I think you probably could but I’d be concerned about the slightly sweet flavor not tasting right with the savory asparagus, Parmesan and garlic.
Delicious. I eat the ketogenic diet. This was perfect. My first meal of the day was this soup. I followed completely all the ingredients and directions. I did put the soup in the Vitamix after it was finished due to those with texture issues. I added half slice avocado in my one cup is soup and used 1/2 ounce pork rinds for crunch factor. Thank you. Absolutely delicious!
I love these types of dishes, easy and simple with a great result at the end, thanks for sharing this wonderful dish really, an excellent job on your part, I did and I love it, I will definitely repeat it again, keep it up And regards
To make a light version, Instead of cream, try adding Marzetti light vegetable dip, you only need a spoonful or 2 to thicken soup up with, can use with any veggie soups. Also I have made delicious asparagus soup with canned (cheapest) asparagus.
Take 1/2 cup onion,
3 pods of fresh garlic crushed and minced ( or gourmet garden in a plastic bottle I keep in the freezer I use about 1 tablespoons)
1/4 cup bell pepper,
saute in butter til transparent (can add 1/2 cup bacon and or diced ham chunks, if you want it meaty)
then add 2 cans (drain off 1/2 of the water in the can) of Asparagus spears,
1 cup of chicken broth,
cook til Hot, 5 min,
take emulsifier and blend it all together,
add the 1 spoonful at a time to taste of the Marzetti light vegetable dip…you can add chicken broth, water or milk to taste and depending on how thick you want your soup. I put Garlic butter croutons in the top of mine for a crunch.! The last asparagus soup I made I added a little left over canned peas, 1/2 cup of rissotto, and some sprinkles of bacon. YUM
I made this with a combination of fresh asparagus and leftover roasted asparagus that I’d seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, and a squeeze of fresh lemon. All of those flavors worked perfectly in this simple, beautiful soup. Thanks for the great recipe!
So happy you liked it, Melanie> I love the idea of roasted asparagus in there. Yum!
I am guessing the photo was made with white asparagus. It can be made with either. White tastes better in my opinion.
Nancy, NO it was made with green asparagus. But I think the yellow of the chicken broth and the white of the cream diluted the green color down to a yellow.
Christine – your asparagus soup is delicious! The garlic adds great flavour. It’s a beautiful green colour & as you said, so quick to make. My husband & I loved it & I will definitely make it again.
Thank you, Lesley! It is pretty, isn’t it? So happy you guys liked it.
This may be a silly question, but do you use 2 lbs of asparagus before cutting the tough ends? Or start with 2 lbs, trim the ends and use what’s left. Just want to make sure :)
Brianna, No, it’s not a silly question. It has to do with how people write recipes and how they are meant to be read.
The general difference is between:
2 lbs. trimmed asparagus
2 lbs. asparagus, trimmed
For the first one, you weigh it after trimming the asparagus. For the second, you weigh the asparagus before you trim it. That is, the information after the comma is preparation instructions that you do after you have already gotten out the specified amount.
In the case of this recipe, I’ve written:
2 lbs. asparagus
And then in the instructions section it tells you to trim it. That’s therefore like the “2 lbs. asparagus, trimmed” example. In the ingredient list, you get your whole untrimmed asparagus and weigh it. Then later when following the instructions, you trim it.
Hope that helps!
I’m an asparagus grower – this looks awesome – have some cooking using some of my frozen asparagus. Thanks
Was looking for a recipe ever since our cruise where I fell in love with asparagus soup! This ones perfect no more searching! Made this soup for dinner and it was delicious! There was plenty left over as it was just my husband and I. We loved it!
How does yours look so creamy yellow? By the time I puréed the asparagus in, the soup was green.
We are right in the middle of Michigan asparagus season – this soup is right up my alley!
This sounds absolutely delicious … and so simple, too! Love it!
Garlic is one of my favorite things to pair with asparagus, and this looks perfect with the addition of Parmesan too!