When the weather cools down, it can be challenging to eat as many greens as you did over the summer. Salads simply don’t sound as comforting as a warm bowl of soup when your hands and feet are freezing!
So, this past weekend I decided to blend my leafy greens into a tasty soup. I was inspired by a soup that I tried last week when I was in downtown Kansas City, at a restaurant called The Sundry. Their soup of the day was a “spicy green soup” made with fresh arugula, along with potatoes and a splash of cream.
While they were pretty heavy-handed with the cream in the restaurant version, I thought this was a brilliant way to sneak more leafy greens into your day, especially in the colder fall and winter months. It’s not everyday that I “crave” arugula, since it’s a bit on the spicy and bitter side, but a warm, comforting soup is something I can totally get behind. Paired with potatoes, which provide a creamy texture without the need for dairy, and a splash of coconut milk for richness, this arugula soup is a delicious way to devour more veggies and keep yourself warm at the same time. The fact that you get a dose of potassium and calcium in each serving is just a nice bonus!
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Creamy Vegan Arugula Soup
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound yukon gold potatoes, chopped into 1-inch chunks
4 cups water or vegetable broth
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
3 cups fresh arugula
1/2 cup coconut milk
Freshly ground black pepper
Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, and sauté the onion and celery until tender, about 8 minutes. Add in the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about one more minute. Add in the chopped potatoes, 4 cups of water or broth, and salt and bring the liquid to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and cover to let the vegetables simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 20 minutes.
Once the potatoes are tender, add the arugula to the pot and stir until bright green, about 3 minutes. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth, taking special care to vent the blender lid. (I like to lightly cover the hole in the center of the lid with a thin dish towel so that the lid doesn’t blow off from the steam pressure.) Blend in batches if you need to.
Return the soup to the pot over medium heat and stir in the coconut milk. Season with additional salt, if desired, and black pepper and serve warm with any garnishes you like. I added an extra dollop of coconut cream (the thick cream found in a chilled can of coconut milk) and some chopped green onions.
Creamy Vegan Arugula Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion , chopped
- 2 stalks celery , chopped
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 pound yukon gold potatoes , chopped into 1-inch chunks
- 4 cups water or vegetable broth
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
- 3 cups fresh arugula
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, and sauté the onion and celery until tender, about 8 minutes. Add in the garlic and sauté until fragrant, about one more minute. Add in the chopped potatoes, 4 cups of water or broth, and salt and bring the liquid to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and cover to let the vegetables simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender, about 20 minutes.
- Once the potatoes are tender, add the arugula to the pot and stir until bright green, about 3 minutes. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth, taking special care to vent the blender lid. (I like to cover the hole in the center of the lid with a thin dish towel so that the lid doesn't blow off from the steam pressure.) Blend in batches if you need to. Return the soup to the pot over medium heat and stir in the coconut milk, which adds a nice richness to the soup. Season with additional salt, if desired, and black pepper and serve warm with any garnishes you like. I added an extra dollop of coconut cream (the thick cream found in a chilled can of coconut milk) and some chopped green onions.
Nutrition
Per Serving: Calories: 169, Fat: 9g, Carbohydrates: 18g, Fiber: 3g, Protein: 4g
Note: Although I’ve only tried this recipe using arugula, I have a feeling you could use another leafy green, like spinach , if you prefer. I think I also might add a couple carrots to the mix next time, so feel free to adapt this recipe as you like.
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Reader Feedback: Do you have any more creative ways to eat more leafy greens when it’s cold outside?
Sounds yummy! I LOVE arugula!!!
I always have that issue to when ordering soup in a restaurant, the more delicious it is, the more cream they seemed to have crammed in there. And quite honestly, it’s good, but it’s not always needed! So I love knock-off soup recipes that I can make so I can control what goes into the soup. There’s only so much cream a body can handle! It has never occurred to me to make soup out of arugula though, how unique and special.
I love this idea. Do you think almond milk would work in place of the coconut? I like wilting baby spinach or kale and tossing it with short pasta (plus lemon zest and oil/butter). It pairs well with tomato sauce or other toppings. I will also use fresh greens along with rice/grain and oven roasted veggies and dressing for a warm winter salad. You are right… salad is unappealing when it’s cold! My dad, for one, refuses to even eat a salad if it isn’t tomato season lol.
I was thinking the same about substituting almond milk for coconut milk since i have a sensitivity to coconut. Let me know if you tried it.
Just used almond milk instead of coconut and mine turned out great!
I just made this, and it’s good! I used an immersion blender, but I think using a real blender would make it smoother. It tastes like potato soup with a little spicy edge from the arugula. I also added double the arugula and added some leftover roasted broccoli. Would definitely make this again!
Coconut milk is so comforting in soups. Love the spicy arugula in here 🙂
Could you use sweet potatoe instead of Yukon google potatoes?
Sorry I ment gold potatoes not google…
I love arugula, so much in fact that it disappears into salads before I can use it elsewhere. However I recently made arugula pesto that was amazing, though it wasn’t vegan.
I got a huge bunch of mustard greens at the farmers market last week, and I tried this recipe with a little curly Kale mixed in (to balance out the tangy mustard), and I used yucca (cassava) instead of potatoes since I am allergic to nightshades.It took the yucca a little longer to get tender, but otherwise the recipe was very good. Thanks!
I am a big arugula fan, but it’s such a delicate green that I can’t get to hold up to bring to the office for lunch, so I usually find myself throwing away more than I eat. But that will never happen again! I made this soup and it was delightful! In fact, I’ve been taking it to work to eat for breakfast figuring that I get the energy from the carbs and also a nice punch of greens combined. I did alter one thing that I will not do the next time I make it: I had russet potatoes on hand so I used those, and although I knew it would make the soup have a gluier texture than with the Yukon gold, I was surprised just how much gluier that it got. But even with that, it’s delicious! I highly recommend this simple soup, and will definitely keep this in my rotation moving forward.
I am making this a cook up my CSA bounty and freeze weekend. Do you think this will freeze well?
I haven’t tried it for this recipe, but in my experience soups usually freeze well!
This soup turned out lovely. Wonderful taste! I did one sub as I didn’t have any celery in the house. I used kohlrabi figuring it might be even a bit more peppery. Very easy to make – will make again.
Did you use Canned or homemade coconut milk? Just curious since the canned coconut I got at Costco (taste of thai I think) is leaving a weird taste in the recipes I’m using it in.
I made this for dinner and it was delicious! Like most of your recipes, it was flavorful and filling, but guilt-free. This will be in heavy rotation for winter around here!
This is a delicious simple soup recipe. I had some purple potatoes so I added a few. Just made it for lunch and enjoyed every bit of it. There were a few strings which I am assuming is from the celery. Next time I will leave it in the blender a little longer to get some of stringness out. Thanks for showing us what else we can do with arugula. I am also going to try making a pesto as suggested by one of the reviews.
Glad you enjoyed it! Here’s my oil-free Arugula pesto recipe: https://detoxinista.com/2016/07/oil-free-arugula-pesto-vegan/
Thanks Megan! I am allergic to tree nuts so I when I make a pesto I have to leave out the nuts. Can’t wait to try your arugula pesto recipe!
Valerie I made an aragula pasto using olive oil, lemon zest and lemon juice and pumpkin seeds. I LOVE it.
I’ve made this recipe several different ways and love it. I added carrots with the potatoes. Before blending, I set aside some of the carrots and potatoes and cut them into bite size pieces. I added them back into pot of blended soup right before adding the coconut milk. I also did a non-vegan version and added cooked bacon pieces. Both were delicious. Next I’m going to try to substitute some parsnips for a portion of the potatoes.
I picked the last (tons) of the arugula from my community garden plot and had fortunately come across this recipe. Though I had read all the positive reviews, I was nonetheless skeptical. This soup was delicious and so easy to make. My picky husband even loved it. The only addition I made was some turmeric because, well, why not.
Thank you!
Truly the most amazing soup, EVER!!!! Thank you for the recipe 🙂
This has become a staple soup in my house. I love it!
This is really delicious! I used sweet potatoes, because I am sensitive to regular potatoes and used an immersion blender. I added a tablespoon of coconut butter instead of the coconut milk. This soup is creamy and very satisfying. Love it and will make it often.
I just made this in my Instantpot! I followed all of Megan’s steps but just sauteed’ everything in the Instantpot instead of the stove. After adding the stock and potatoes, I cooked for 6 minutes on high pressure. After that, I just followed Megan’s steps of adding in arugula then blending. Turned out perfect. This is the best healthy soup recipe around. Thanks Megan!
This was so good! I used red potatoes because that’s what I had and my arugula from my garden. It was very tasty and very satisfying with great serving size!
If you were to place this into a mason jar, how long would it last in fridge?
In my experience, most soup will last 4 to 5 days in the fridge!
This was a great soup. I added carrots to it, as you said you sometimes do, and I think that they overpowered the arugula, even though I added a cup more than it called for…We really didn’t taste it at all. It tasted like a delicious potato/carrot soup, but that’s okay, because we like potato soup. Thanks for the recipe!
I made this soup today and it is simply delicious! A nice way to use up the extra arugula I bought a couple of weeks ago before it goes bad as I am not desiring arugula salad every day as I once was. Btw, I went ahead and dumped the entire can of coconut milk into the soup since I didn’t want it going to waste. It still tastes great and evened out the saltiness from adding a pinch of more salt than I should had. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
This is a great recipe. I’d probably use almond milk next time in place of coconut milk. I used an arugula/spinach mix and my husband loved it. It reminded me of a pea soup and though bacon bits would be a wonderful addition. However to keep it vegan, I used umebashi (dried plum) and the saltiness of the ume was the perfect compliment to the soup. Nice work!
Awesome thank you! I added a few carrots and used gals spinach and absolutely loved it! Also used light coconut milk. So good!
Very nice. Can this soup be frozen for future use
Yes, in my experience almost all soups freeze very well!
By the way I added chives and mint leaves which really gave it a great flavor
Would this work well with spinach? Thank you!
I made this recipe just as directed (i.e., no modifications), and it was great! My family liked it, too. I will be making it again. Great way to use arugula if you want something other than a salad. Yum!
Loved it—burned through my arugula that was on the edge of fresh…such a delicious way to avoid waste.
This is a great recipe, I’ve never made a soup with arugula, but I love the taste of it so this soup sounded perfect. Was super easy to make, I didn’t have a blender so I used a hand blender and just did it right in the pot. Can’t wait to dig in!
This soup is my new favorite! It was simple to make, a great way to eat lots of arugula and absolutely delicious. My husband also loved it but decided to add basmati rice to it and that worked really well.
I love this soup and have made it several times. I always add an extra 1/2 pound of potato to thicken it without having to add much of the coconut milk.
I was a little nervous about this, having never made soup from scratch before, but it’s delicious! I had so much arugula that I had to find a use for and this was the perfect solution. I swapped out the coconut milk for almond milk, and used an immersion blender, which was fantastic. I also used white potatoes because I couldn’t get Yukon golden ones. Overall, really happy with this recipe! Now I just need to figure out what to do with the excess celery 😅 a shame they wouldn’t let me buy just 2 stalks of it!
When my friends left their summer home in mid-Maine for the season they said to take as much arugula as I wished. I followed the recipe with two exceptions: This arugula had a lot of mature leaves, few baby leaves. I removed the thick stems. I dislike coconut flavor except in Asian dishes or desserts so I substituted 1/3 cup Country Crock Plant Cream that is partly made from coconut but doesn’t taste like it at all. Using an immersion blender made it easy to smooth out and everything blended beautifully, including the unpeeled potatoes.
This was a very successful recipe. My family and friends liked it. I froze enough arugula for several more batches this winter.
Delicious recipe! I accidentally added the whole can of coconut milk – it was delicious but slightly sweet. I will be making this again and again. I love your weekly detox plans (I have done the fall and winter ones so far) and adore your recipes. Thank you!