The flavor of broccoli rabe, also known as rapini, is described as being slightly bitter and spicy. The bitterness can be reduced by blanching the food before grilling. If desired, serve with lemon wedges squeezed over the top. It tastes great when paired with thick crusty bread and grilled Italian sausages.
| Prep Time: | 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 40 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 onion, finely diced
- salt to taste
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste (Optional)
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 pinch ground nutmeg
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream (Optional)
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream (Optional)
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest (Optional)
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper (Optional)
Instructions
- Melt butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add minced onion and salt; cook and stir until onion is soft and golden, about 10 minutes.
- Pour chicken broth and water into the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer 15 minutes.
- Place asparagus pieces in simmering broth. Cook, stirring occasionally until asparagus is just tender and still bright green, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Use an immersion blender to blend soup until smooth, about 3 minutes.
- For a finer texture, strain soup through a mesh strainer. Return strained soup to the pot and place on the stove.
- Turn heat to low. Season with cayenne pepper, black pepper, and nutmeg. Adjust salt to taste. Whisk 1/2 cup cream into soup.
- Place 1/4 cup cream, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and lemon zest in a small bowl. Whisk until frothy and slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
- Ladle soup into bowls. Drizzle a spoonful of Parmigiano-Reggiano-lemon cream on top of each serving and swirl to form a random design.
- Sprinkle with a pinch of lemon zest and cayenne pepper, if desired.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 187 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 11 g |
| Cholesterol | 52 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 10 g |
| Sodium | 60 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 15 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Takes longer than an hour. Amazing. Second try I didn’t really change anything.. i just added the fried Parmesan crisps. Recipe is somewhere here.. They go in last second as floaters.
I make all of Chef John’s recipes: fabulous. Thanks you Sir. With this one the only change I make is to save out a number of the asparagus tips from the blending process, add them back in later for accent and interest.
Delicious! I took another reviewer’s advice about simmering the tough ends in broth for 30 min. It does add flavor. I omitted the cayenne only because I forgot it. I added more parm because I like parm & I like that it thickens the soup. Otherwise I followed the recipe. As I live alone I cut the recipe in half. Sorry I did that. Next time I’ll make the full batch. I did have to use my upright blender as my immersion blender wasn’t doing the job. I would definitely make this for my friends if any of them liked asparagus.
Last asparagus season, I cleaned and froze whole spears of asparagus. I used some for this soup. I used about 1 3/4 lb asparagus, chopped into 1-2″ pieces, and I didn’t use the lemon zest. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. It is delicious, and even better after it sits a day or two. Thank you!
This soup was a LOT easier than I thought it would be and it was DELICIOUS! I shared with a friend who also loved it. I’ve made it a few times since and every time I make asparagus I can’t help but think of this soup!
I didn’t strain the soup. My wife and kids still ate a double batch in two days. Makes a great side to toasted cold cut sandwiches.
I absolutely love asparagus but get tired of always grilling it. This was so refreshing and simple to make, it’s become a go to recipe for me.
no changes came out perfect
This recipe is okay. I cut the recipe to 3 servings and it barely made 2 half bowls of soup. I would also recommend reducing the amount of lemon zest. It overwhelmed the taste of the asparagus.
I followed the recipe and took Tennessee’s advice regarding simmering the hard pieces of asparagus that are usually discarded by others. Delicious! My wife was pleased and so was I as she is the cook in the house. She did say she’d like to try adding sweet potatoes to it to thicken it up and add more flavor, so I’ll have to give that a try next time. Thank you for the recipe!
Absolutely love it. Used milk instead of cream.Added a clove of garlic. Great!
I made this recipe for my weekly did
Delicious! I didn’t sieve it, still came out creamy and mostly smooth!
Delicious! I need to find a different way to strain it, perhaps with a food mill. But super delicious!
My wife’s favorite soup that I make!
I am not a big fan of soups and when I took my daughter to a fancy restaurant she ordered a bowl of asparagus soup and she insisted I try it and it was love at first taste. I love asparagus and I went to allrecipes and decided to try this recipe. I added 1 jalapeño with the diced onion and that is the only change I made. This recipe is Fantastic and every bit as good as the one we had at the restaurant, and yes, I will be making this often. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
so disappointed. The 2 cups of water ruined what could have been a creamy soup. It was thin… didn’t coat a spoon and lacked flavor. so disappointed.
Yes, I would recommend this soup to my friends. Yes I made some changes. I used half chicken stock and half vegetable stock. I did this because I did not have enough chicken and vegetable stock, but together I had enough. This was excellent soup and I got lots of praises for making it. Friends and family wants me to make more. I have enjoyed all of Chef Johns recipes that I have made. Thanks Chef John for the recipe and the video instructions .
I sautéed the pinion in butter, added the broth, then the asparagus. Blended it and just added salt and pepper to taste. It was PERFECT.
I saved all the asparagus tips and added them at the very end, so there would be some pieces throughout. Easy to make and I like the texture, though I found it to be pretty flavorless; even had trouble tasting the main ingredient. Soups always seem to taste better a day or two later though. I added diced mushrooms and didn’t do the cream topping, though next time I might add lemon zest directly to the soup. And I might experiment with other herbs too.
I stuck to the recipe on this one, and it was very good.