Which Creamy Vegetable Soup is the Healthiest?
Anyone who likes soups has surely wondered which is the healthiest creamy vegetable soup out there. Particularly when it comes to losing weight (or maintaining it).
While many recipes are usually a good balance of the food groups, others are packed with calories. Thus, it’s important to take their ingredients and method of preparation into account before eating them freely.
Recipes that include cheese and even certain types of sausages are usually quite heavy. Thus, you must eat them in moderation. This is because they shouldn’t be a constant in any diet, only a sporadic option.
It’s always best to take advantage of those dishes you can make with seasonal vegetables. Mainly because the nutritional value is quite high. Also, they mustn’t have an excess of fat, carbs, and sodium.
In addition, keep in mind that the most important thing about a creamy vegetable soup is to it’s a wholesome dish made with natural ingredients. Thus, avoid the use of frozen vegetables or commercial broths.
As you can see, the healthiest creamy vegetable soup is the one you make at home and contains moderate amounts of salt and fat.
Read and Try This Easy Recipe for Creamy Lentil Soup
How to make a good healthy creamy vegetable soup?
You can replace saturated fats with other delicious ones such as olive oil and use them in small quantities. Also, use feta cheese or tofu instead of greasy cheeses, you’ll obtain a similar effect.
Furthermore, plant-based drinks, such as coconut milk, are a decent substitute for cream or cow’s milk. In turn, small pieces of fish or poultry are a better option than processed sausages.
In addition, nuts and whole-grain toast are good alternatives if you like the crunchy effect of toasted or fried bread.
Instead of cream for thickening, add potatoes. Use spices such as coriander, chives, and basil for more flavor.
A creamy vegetable soup doesn’t always need salt to taste good. In fact, there are some that don’t even need a pinch of salt added, only some herbs or spices.
Garlic, chili, lemon juice, thyme, and turmeric are seasonings you can use instead of salt.
According to experts at the Geriatric Institute, the healthiest spices are cumin, cloves, star anise, cinnamon stick, ginger, mustard, saffron, dill, and pepper.
Some healthy creamy vegetable soups
The following recipes will help you enjoy some tasty and healthy dishes and inspire you to come up with some of your own. Check them out!
Important note: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends moderation in your consumption of salt.
Creamy pumpkin soup
You’ll need the following ingredients to make this soup:
Ingredients
- 1 leek
- olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 small onion
- A medium pumpkin
- 1 potato or a ripe apple
- 6 c. of vegetable broth
- 1 natural yogurt
- Condiments: Pepper (to taste), salt, cilantro, and any other herbs you like
- Optional: Dried fruit, feta cheese, or tofu
Preparation
- First, peel the pumpkin, take the seeds out and cut it into small pieces
- Sauté in olive oil and store
- Sauté the onion, leek and chopped garlic then add the herbs, salt, and pepper
- Add the pumpkin and potato or chopped apple
- Then, add the vegetable broth and cook it for 10 to 15 minutes
- Add the yogurt and the rest of the ingredients and then blend it
- Garnish it with dried fruit, feta cheese, or tofu, and sprinkle it with basil
Check out these Three Easy Recipes for Garlic Soup
Creamy leek soup
Ingredients
- 4 leeks
- Olive oil
- 1 medium onion
- 1 natural yogurt
- 4 c. of vegetable broth
- Condiments: Pepper and a pinch of salt
- 1 medium potato or ripe apple
- Optional: Dried fruits and fresh basil
Preparation
- Wash and cut the leeks
- Cut the onion julienne style and sauté in olive oil, then, add the leeks, the potato, or chopped apple and continue to sauté
- Continue sauteing and add the salt and pepper and then the vegetable broth and cook it until soft
- Let it simmer; then add the yogurt and blend it all and then garnish it with dried fruits and finely chopped basil
Creamy vegetable soup
Ingredients
- 2 leeks
- 1 carrot
- Olive oil
- 1 large zucchini
- 2 c. of spinach
- 1 natural yogurt
- 4 c. of vegetable broth
- Condiments: Pepper and a pinch of salt
- Optional: dried fruits and finely chopped basil (to taste)
Preparation
- Sauté the leeks, zucchini, and carrot In the olive oil and cut into pieces
- Add the spinach, also chopped, salt and pepper, and continue to sauté for a bit over a medium flame
- Then, pour in the vegetable broth and cook for about 15 minutes
- Add the yogurt and blend it until you attain the desired consistency
- Garnish it with a little bit of olive oil and add the dried fruits and the basil
Whenever you can, enjoy a good cream of vegetables
Creamy vegetable soups vary according to their ingredients and each one of them has its own particular flavor and nutrients. Thus, add them to your regular diet, they’ll be a comfort to your belly.
Be sure to always eat these soups with another dish so as not to go hungry and be anxious between meals.
Consult a nutritionist to tell you what’s best for you in order to lose weight or achieve a specific goal. It all depends on the needs of your body.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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Bendala Galán, M. (2006). Hispania y la romanización. Una metáfora: ¿crema o menestra de verduras? Zephyrus. Revista de Prehistoria y Arqueología.
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Figueiredo, I. C. R., Jaime, P. C., & Monteiro, C. A. (2008). Fatores associados ao consumo de frutas, legumes e verduras em adultos da cidade de S??o Paulo. Revista de Saude Publica. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-311X2009001100007
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García, C. (2014). Procesamiento de frutas y verduras. SAGARPA.
