A smoky, delicious, creamy and healthy roasted eggplant soup flavored with the Middle Eastern spice mix, za’atar.
I love Mediterranean eggplant recipes like baba ganoush, eggplant hummus and this Persian eggplant stew, khoresh bademjan. And when I can use eggplant in one of my favorite winter foods — a Mediterranean style soup — I am in heaven.
In fact, I can’t think of a better way to showcase the amazing flavors of eggplant. This eggplant soup is free of added oils but loaded with flavor, thanks to the eggplant and za’atar, that incredibly delicious Middle Eastern spice blend. Some cashew cream — stirred in at the end — adds even more creaminess to this already creamy soup.
This is such an easy soup to make, you can stir it up while you dust the furniture, talk to your best bud on the phone, and juggle the laundry — all at the same time. The eggplant roasts itself, and the only time you need to invest is to chop up some onions and garlic and blend up the soup at the end. Oh, and I forgot — you have to squeeze a lemon.
Table of Contents
Why you will love this eggplant soup recipe
- Creamy and full-flavored. The recipe, although minimalist, does not lack in flavor. There’s so much to love here, with the cumin and za’atar packing in lots of yum.
- Easy recipe. The recipe needs just a few ingredients and it comes together so quickly!
- Healthy. If you are eating healthy, you can’t do better than this delicious eggplant soup. It is loaded with veggies and has healthy protein from the nuts.
- Vegan, oil-free, soy-free, gluten-free and can be nut-free. I made this recipe oil-free, but if you want you can add a tablespoon of olive oil to saute the garlic and onions. Or drizzle some evoo over the soup before serving.
Ingredients
- Eggplant. Use an Italian eggplant or globe eggplant for this recipe.
- Onions. White, yellow or red onions are all good.
- Herbs: garlic and fresh parsley
- Spices: roasted ground cumin, cayenne (or red pepper flakes) and za’atar
- Vegetable stock (or water)
- Lemon
- Raw Cashews
How to make eggplant soup
Place onions and garlic in pot with ¼ cup vegetable stock or water. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and let the onions and garlic simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the roasted eggplant to the pot along with roasted ground cumin, salt and ground black pepper. Add 3 cups water.
Stir in the cayenne and turn off the heat. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend until very smooth. You can also just use an immersion blender, if you have one.
Return the blended soup to the pot and add more vegetable broth or stock or water if needed to adjust the thickness of the soup to your liking. Stir in half the cashew cream.
Bring the soup back to a simmer.
Stir in the lemon juice, za’atar and parsley. Ladle the eggplant soup into bowls and stir in some cashew cream into each bowl.
Tweaks for special diets
The eggplant soup is already soy-free, dairy-free and gluten-free.
- Nut-free: Skip the cashew cream, or blend up an equal amount of pumpkin seeds to make a pumpkin seed cream.
- Low-carb: With 13 net carbs per serving this eggplant soup is already low-carb-diet-friendly. If you want to further cut down on carbs cut down to one onion. You can also stir in some extra virgin olive oil in each bowl before serving.
Top tips
- Use the eggplant skin in this soup. I used to scrape out the flesh and discard the skins, until I discovered that the deep-purple skin of eggplant has a ton of anthocyanins: compounds with terrific antioxidant effects. The skins will be blended anyway and they will also add more smoky flavor to the soup. Medium-sized Italian eggplants have thinner skins than larger globe eggplants, so use Italian eggplants if possible.
- You can skip the parsley and use other fresh herbs in this soup. Fresh basil is lovely with eggplant, or you can use fresh thyme or fresh oregano.
More tasty eggplant recipes
More creamy soup recipes
Roasted Eggplant Soup
A smoky, delicious, creamy and healthy roasted eggplant soup flavored with the Middle Eastern spice mix, za’atar.
Servings: 4 servings
Calories: 128kcal
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Instructions
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Have the eggplants lengthwise, then place them cut side down on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Roast for 30 minutes in a 425 degree oven, or as long as it takes for a fork to pierce all the way through the center without any resistance. When cool enough to handle, chop the eggplant into large pieces.
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Blend the cashews with ¼ cup water into a very smooth paste. Set aside.
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Place the onions and the garlic in a large pot with a pinch of salt and ¼ cup vegetable stock or water. Cover and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
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Add the roasted eggplant to the pot along with roasted ground cumin, salt and ground black pepper. Add 3 cups water.
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Stir in the cayenne and turn off the heat. Transfer the soup to a blender and carefully blend until very smooth. You can also use an immersion blender instead to puree the soup.
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Return the blended soup to the pot and add more stock or water if needed to adjust the thickness of the soup to your liking. Stir in half the cashew cream. Bring the soup back to a simmer and stir in the lemon juice, parsley and za’atar. Check seasoning and turn off heat.
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Ladle the eggplant soup into bowls and stir in some cashew cream into each bowl before serving. You can also sprinkle some za’atar or garnish each bowl with a sprig of parsley.
Recipe notes
- Adapted from a recipe by David Tanis in the New York Times.
Nutrition
Serving: 1bowl | Calories: 128kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 715mg | Potassium: 683mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 662IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 3mg
