Healthy Asparagus and Spinach Soup

Healthy dairy free asparagus and spinach soup recipe! Made without cream packed with vegetables and lots of flavor. Vegetarian & vegan.

Asparagus Soup without Cream

There are a few variations you can change up when it comes to this. You could use kale instead of frozen spinach, chicken broth instead of vegetable, and even other veggies could be added. Use those that would cook rather quickly like asparagus does. Celery, bok choy, peas and cubed squash would be good choices.

When it comes to produce we don’t always have a huge selection since we live in a smaller town. Many times I have a recipe in mind and have to swap things out depending on what is in season and reasonably priced. That is why I like to discuss alternative choices, because I’m right there with you from time to time.

Asparagus Soup with Leeks

This is another choice you could dice and add into the mix here. Remember that all of these are somewhat delicate. What I mean by this is it doesn’t take very long at all for them to get tender. That is why if you make this as an easy Ninja Foodi recipe (or any other brand of pressure cooker) it only takes one minute! I think that is perfect timing.

If you like your ingredients really really soft you can adjust as needed after you release the pressure. That is easy to do with the saute function. Just lift the lid, test, and if you want everything more tender set to saute and let it boil for maybe 1 more minute longer. That should be all you might want or need.

Everyone has different preferences as far as texture is concerned so I like to add tips to cover all my (your) basis. If you love super super smooth I would suggest our dairy free butternut squash soup instead.

Dutch Oven Soup

I will explain how to make it on your stovetop too though since everyone has one of those. The cook time is much longer, that is for sure. I do like making dutch oven recipes though because cast iron is my jam. I do like this one with an enamel coating on the inside though. Makes it easier to clean and much prettier for sure.

Once you prep everything there isn’t much to it. Typically everyone wants their onions softened so sauteed with a bit of olive oil or butter at the beginning will get that done. This is how to cook frozen asparagus just enough to get it defrosted. I prefer fresh but that isn’t always available.

From there you just throw everything in. On the stovetop you’d want to set your kale or spinach leaves aside though. In an Instant Pot everything gets thrown right in since the cook time is so fast. In a pot you want to add those last or else they would get way too soft and not the right texture.

Fennel Soup

Below explains the stovetop version. If you wanted to make a healthy Crockpot soup you could do so on low for a few hours until ingredients are tender too. You can print recipe below but here is a quick step by step to see what I am talking about before you get to prepping.

• Chop all your vegetables including fennel bulbs, removing fennel fronds and cut into bite sized chunks.
  • if you’re adding kale make sure to remove all the stems and cut into very large bite size pieces
• In a dutch oven on your stovetop:
  • Cook on medium heat and add your olive oil.
  • When hot add onions and saute for 5 minutes to soften. (
    • if you want to add meat, I would use ground spicy sausage or kielbasa half moons, do so now and cook until it is no longer pink.
• Add fennel, garlic, asparagus and saute for 1-2 more minutes on high heat.
• Pour in your vegetable or chicken broth, add dill, salt and pepper and lemon juice. Stir.
• Bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes or until vegetables are as tender as you’d like.
• Add fresh spinach leaves or kale and submerge into liquid.
  • Cook for 5 more minutes so they can get tender.

Serve with air fryer croutons and/or parmesan cheese on top. In total it takes about 30 minutes total, not too bad for a healthy soup with fresh produce.

Soup with Frozen Spinach

Looking for other vegetable soup recipes after asparagus and spinach soup? We have a bunch of them with and without heavy cream in them. As a dairy free version you can always use coconut milk instead. Our butternut squash soup with coconut milk and pumpkin soup with canned pumpkin are great examples of that.