How can you not love zucchini? It has a beautiful subtle buttery flavour when cooked. It’s low carb. It doesn’t cause problems for my Irishman’s IBS. It’s easy to grow.
Repeat after me… ‘Zucchini is YUMMY!’
I first made this soup for lunch at my Dad’s place just before we went into COVID lock down.
It was the beginning of autumn so I still had masses of basil in the garden. They were practically giving away zucchini at the farmers market. And I had some chicken stock that wouldn’t fit in the freezer.
It felt like the universe was telling me to make a zucchini soup. And so I did.
Zucchini Basil & Feta Soup
Ingredients
- 1 kg zucchini (courgette) about 8 small
- 2 cups chicken or veg stock
- 1 large bunch basil
- 100 g feta
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Slice zucchini into coins about 1/2cm (1/4 inch) thick. Place in a medium saucepan with the stock and a big pinch of salt.
- Cover and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until zucchini is tender.
- While the soup is cooking separate basil leaves. Discard the stems. Dice or crumble the feta.
- When the zucchini is cooked remove the pot from the heat. Add most of the basil leaves to the pot (keeping a few to serve). Puree carefully using a stick blender. Or leave the soup chunky.
- Taste and season with more salt if needed. Divide between two bowls. Scatter over the feta chunks and the reserved basil leaves. Finish with a good drizzle of peppery extra virgin olive oil.
Nutrition
Variations & Substitutions
no stock – water is fine. Be prepared to add more salt and possibly a little grated parmesan (actually if you have some parmesan rinds floating around the fridge you can add them to the pot).
Keto / ultra low carb / low FODMAP – replace half the zucchini with baby spinach (add at the same time as the basil).
dairy-free – replace feta with chunks of avocado, roast almonds, roast walnuts, roast pine nuts, cooked chickpeas, poached eggs or chopped pitted olives or dairy-free pesto.
different cheese – shaved parmesan, ricotta or goats cheese will work.
more substantial (carb lovers) – serve with crusty bread or add cooked pasta, chickpeas or white beans.
more substantial (low carb) – more feta, nuts or avocado, cooked chicken.
different vegetables – broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus or eggplant (aubergine), kale, spinach, chard or collard greens.
more fancy / for entertaining – serve with little almond breads + butter. If you want to be really fancy serve with pesto or feta AND pine nuts.
Waste Avoidance Strategy
zucchini – will keep for 2 weeks or longer in a plastic bag in the fridge. To keep it even longer, cook sliced zucchini in a little butter until just soft then store in an airtight container in the fridge.
chicken or veg stock – freeze it.
basil – make basil oil by packing washed and dried leaves in a clean jar and covering with extra virgin olive oil. Or you can freeze the leaves, they’ll wilt but will still be delicious.
feta – keeps for months unopened in its packet. Or can be frozen.
extra virgin olive oil – keep it in the pantry.
Problem Solving Guide
bland – more salt! Next time use smaller zucchini – the larger ones tend to be more watery. Also consider a different type of stock.
too dry – overcooked omelette. Next time get it out earlier. For now a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil will help.
no stick-blender – use a spoon to crush the cooked zucchini and serve a chunkier soup. Finely dicing the zucchini at the beginning if you prefer. Or carefully transfer to a food processor or blender to blend the soup – being super careful not to overfill and cause an explosion.
too watery – add some finely grated parmesan or almond meal (almond flour) to thicken things up.
Prepare Ahead
Yes! Just cook as per the recipe but keep the feta and extra basil separately. If I’m making it for my Dad I just store everything together. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or can be frozen. To serve, bring back to simmer and top with basil, extra basil and extra virgin olive oil.
Add to my Old Favourite Recipes
Hi Jule
Have a pot currently on the boil- why do you discard the basil stems? Usually I’d chuck it all in. TIA Ciara
My basil from the garden can have quite stalky stems but you know they’d probably cook down and be fine.
Next time I’ll try your simple chuck it all in approach!
Didn’t have a kilo of zucchini, so padded it out with carrots. Oregano instead of basil. Added a tin of white beans and some leftover pasta to make a kind of minestrone, and it would have been pretty scant without them.
Good to know Mark
How did the oregano go as a basil substitute?
Enjoyed this and so easy, I still had lots of zucchini and basil in my garden. I was a bit dubious with the lack of ingredients but had a pleasant surprise. I didn’t have lovely home made stock like Jules. Just used Massel chicken stock powder and one parmesan rind. I initially didn’t add salt because I thought stock powder would have enough. But I decided it add some chilli salt and used soft creamy Meredith goats feta and it was delicious. Thanks again Jules.
Awesome Rachel
Love!
I did not have enough basil in my garden I added fresh oregano, tarragon and spearmint. Yummy.
Omitted the olive oil still velvety texture and rich flavor.
A winner
So lovely to hear from you Susanne! And also so glad you enjoyed the soup. Brilliant idea to add a combo of herbs. Yum
This was so simple and yummy Jules! I used cilantro instead of basil as it was what I had, looking forward to using basil next time. I also added some spring onions but know if wound have been great without them. So appreciate how you keep things simple and therefore doable, and we can change up as we like. Yum!
Excellent Laura!
This looks so good, Jules! Thank you for adding a Keto option in the ‘Variations and Substitutions’.
You’re welcome Hannah!
Funny, I’m not too big on zucchini and not big on soup, but this sounds absolutely wonderful. I wish I had some fresh basil because I could easily sub this soup for the Everyone Happy Nachos, especially since we bought a rotisserie chicken today. I might try to do this with dried basil.
Curious to hear how it goes with dried basil if you try it Susan 🙂
Dried basil does not work! I put a bunch in for cooking the squash and ended up removing most of it, then putting in more for blending. I basically tasted nothing but the squash. Next time I would use some fresh cilantro, since that is readily available with good quality. Plus, it seems appropriate because I used Mexican squash (which tastes just like zucchini) – once again the more readily available ingredient here. Next time I would also make less of the soup because it was too much for our appetites. The other thing I did to it was to sauté some mild Italian sausage to put in the bottom of the bowl.
I’m not surprised Susan – I never bother with dried herbs. But thanks for sharing 🙂
And I’m not surprised the servings were too big if you added sausage (can imagine it tastes brilliant!)