Creamy Asparagus Soup {Instant Pot & Stove Top}
Creamy asparagus soup is a delicious spring dish made using fresh asparagus. The perfect way to start a holiday meal or a delicious lunch or dinner.
This asparagus soup recipe is super simple to make and only requires 6 ingredients.
It is a great soup for Easter dinners because of the beautiful light green color it has from the fresh spring asparagus used in the dish.
Soup makes a great lunch or light dinner any time of the year, and incorporating fresh vegetables into a puréed soup makes all of the difference in the flavor.
In the spring we love this easy asparagus soup or a simple carrot soup, and in the summer we love a good gazpacho soup or zucchini soup. Pair it with a nice spring or summer salad like our mandarin orange salad or strawberry spinach salad and you’ll have a nice, well rounded meal!
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Ingredients You’ll Need
Here’s what you’ll need to make this spring soup:
- Asparagus – You can use green or white if you like.
- Onion – We use either white or yellow onions for this dish.
- Garlic – We prefer fresh, but bottled crushed can work too.
- Butter – You can use either salted or unsalted. If you want to keep the dish vegan, you can use olive oil.
- Chicken broth – This forms the base of the soup, but you could use veggie stock if you prefer.
- Heavy Cream – This adds the best creaminess, but milk or half and half can work too, in a pinch. You could also add a bit of fresh grated Parmesan cheese as a thickener if you choose. If you want to keep the dish vegan you can use coconut milk. It will change the flavor slightly but it is still absolutely delicious.
- Lemon juice – This adds a bit of freshness to the soup.
- Salt and Pepper – We like to use kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper.
Instructions
Our recipe has two versions: stove top and Instant Pot.
Stove Top Instructions:
Step 1 – Prepare the asparagus – Trim the asparagus stalks removing the hard white ends. Cut the asparagus spears into 1-inch pieces and roughly chop the onion.
Step 2 – Saute the onion – Next, heat a medium soup pot over medium high heat. Melt butter in the pot and then add the onion and garlic. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
Step 3 – Add the asparagus and broth, cover with a lid, and bring to a boil – Once it reaches a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until the veggies have become extremely soft.
Step 4 – Puree the soup – Use an immersion blender to puree the contents until smooth and creamy.
Step 5 – Add Cream – Once the veggies are pureed, stir in the heavy cream. You can add more broth if the soup is too thick for your liking. Finally, garnish with lemon juice, salt, and pepper and then serve hot.
Instant Pot Instructions:
Step 1 – Prepare the asparagus – Cut asparagus into 1-inch pieces and roughly chop the onion.
Step 2 – Saute the veggies – Set the Instant Pot to SAUTE and add butter, onions, and asparagus. Saute the veggies for 2 minutes.
Step 3 – Pressure cook the soup – Add the broth to the Instant Pot and then lock the lid in place.
Turn the valve to SEALING and set to HIGH pressure for 10 minutes.
When the timer goes off press cancel and let the Instant Pot do a natural release for 5 minutes before turning the valve to VENTING to release the remaining pressure.
Step 4 – Puree the soup – Carefully open the lid and use an immersion blender to puree the content until smooth. You can add in additional broth if the soup is too thick for you. Finally, mix in the heavy cream, lemon juice, salt, and pepper before serving.
Always Add Your Cream At the End
This is important: You always want to add your cream after your soup has finished cooking! This helps to prevent separating or curdling.
Stir it into your warm soup for a rich, creamy flavor.
Yes! This is a great soup to make ahead of time and store in the freezer for quick, easy lunches.
Allow it to cool completely and then store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. To reheat, first place in the refrigerator for 24 hours to let it thaw out. Once thawed, place in a pot on the stove and heat over medium high heat for 10 minutes or until warmed through.
Yes. You could add a bit of fresh grated Parmesan cheese as a thickener if you wanted to.
If you want to make it vegan, you can use coconut milk instead of cream and sub the chicken broth with veggie stock and olive oil for butter. The result will be a tasty vegan version of the soup that’s still creamy.
If your asparagus is stringy, that means it was either overcooked or some of the ‘woody’ parts were included.
The tip of the asparagus is tender and the closer you get to the bottom, the more stringy and ‘woody’ it gets. Somewhere in the middle, you will be able to tell where the asparagus begins to transition to the woody part. That is where you want to cut and discard the woody end.
Yes! Allow it to cool completely and then store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. To reheat, first place in the refrigerator for 24 hours to let it thaw out. Once thawed, place in a pot on the stove and heat over medium high heat for 10 minutes or until warmed through.
How to Get a Brighter Green Color?
If you want a really bright green soup, you can add in one cup of spinach or parsley to the soup. Once you puree the soup, it will develop a nice green hue.
How to Make it Ahead of Time
Soup is always a great make ahead meal! Here’s what to do:
For the refrigerator: First, let it cool completely and then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5 to 7 days. To reheat, place in a pot on the stove and heat over medium high heat for 10 minutes or until warmed through.
For the freezer: – Allow it to cool completely and then store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. To reheat, first place in the refrigerator for 24 hours to let it thaw out. Once thawed, place in a pot on the stove and heat over medium heat for 10 minutes or until warmed through.
Looking for More Soup Recipes?
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- Instant Pot Vegetable Soup
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Creamy Asparagus Soup
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Asparagus, trimmed
- 1 Onion , thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons Butter
- 5 cups Chicken broth
- 1/2 cup Heavy Cream
- 1-2 Tablespoons Lemon juice
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions:
- Trim the white ends from the asparagus. Cut asparagus into 1-inch pieces and roughly chop the onion.
- Set Instant Pot to SAUTE and add butter, onions, and asparagus. Saute for 2 minutes.
- Add broth to the Instant Pot and lock lid in place.
- Turn the valve to SEALING and set to HIGH pressure for 10 minutes.
- When the timer goes off press cancel and let the Instant Pot do a natural release for 5 minutes before turning the valve to VENTING to release the remaining pressure.
- Open the lid and use a stick blender (immersion blender) to puree the content until smooth. Note: At this point, if the soup is thicker than you prefer you can add more broth until it is the desired consistency.
- Pour in the heavy cream, stirring to fully combine.
- Add the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy!
Stove Top Instructions:
- Cut asparagus into 1-inch pieces and roughly chop the onion.
- Heat a medium pot with butter on the stove over medium high heat.
- Add asparagus and onion and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add broth, cover with a lid, and bring it to a boil.
- Once it reaches a boil reduce it to a simmer and let cook for 20 minutes or until vegetables are extremely soft.
- Remove pot from heat and use a stick blender to puree the contents until it is smooth.
- Stir in cream. Note: At this point, if the soup is thicker than you prefer you can add more broth until it is the desired consistency.
- Add lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
This post originally appeared on Real Housemoms where we are contributors.
Recipe needs more pizazz. Need to proof the recipe. Instructions say “lock list in place.” Should be lid.Should have pic for instant pot, not stove top.Sorry to be critical.
Hi Sandra, I always appreciate someone catching my typos :). I hope you enjoyed the soup. When I want to pep mine up a little more I add some extra lemon juice.
This soup is really delicious! I made it this evening for dinner and served it with a crusty bread. So good. The lemon is the key to giving it a little extra zest. So good, for sure a keeper recipe. Thank you for sharing this!
This looks so good! I love that the ingredient list is so simple! What a great way to use a beautiful bunch of asparagus!
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
I have to tell you , I made the Creamy Asparagus Soup in March, it is really delicious soup…I added one cup of shredded mild cheddar cheese. It was really good soup. Had more asparagus, decided to make it again last weekend. This time I added 8 oz. of cream cheese. I used my immersion blender until it was all smooth. Oh my, how great that is. Of course, I have leftovers, packaged for future meals. I am a widow so I get to eat it all. Of course my addition adds calories!!
I’ve made this soup twice in the last couple of weeks. It is so fabulous! I add a tiny bit of hot sauce to my serving for a slight kick but other than that, I make the recipe exactly as listed. 10/10 recipe.
My husband and I “LOVE” this recipe, we make a big batch and freeze it! Thanks for sharing your recipe it’s the best we’ve ever had! So creamy and yummy😋😋😋😋😋😋❤❤❤
do you freeze it with the cream in it? Does it turn out ok?
Yes, Joanne. It still tasted awesome!
This soup was UH. MAZE. BALLS. We topped it with some crispy bacon and we are now going to make this recipe every week for the rest of eternity. So fast and simple and SO DELICIOUS.