Creamy Asparagus and Dill Soup is a light-tasting, vegan low oxalate soup perfect for cool spring days. My friend, Sarah, a long-time vegan, shared her secret for smooth and creamy, dairy-free soups a few years ago — oatmeal! It gives the soup a smoother body and creamier texture than you can usually achieve in a dairy-free recipe. Although oatmeal also raises the oxalate level more than cream, I find it a nice change and thought I’d share the vegan low oxalate recipe with you — especially since vegans tend to have the greatest challenge of all low oxalate dieters. If you eat meat or dairy, also check out the substitutions section below. My kids like the chicken broth and oatmeal version best, while I love the grain-free vegetarian version with half and half.
Creamy Dill and Asparagus Soup
Creamy Asparagus and Dill Soup
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1 T fresh dill (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1 big bunch asparagus, chopped (about 4 cups)
1 bay leaf
4 cups water (or low oxalate vegetable stock)
1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats (optional)
juice of one lemon (2-3 tablespoons or more to taste)
1 teaspoon salt
Heat the oil in a dutch oven and add the onion and dill. Saute 3-5 minutes until the onions are translucent. Add the asparagus and saute a few more minutes. Add the bay leaves, water, GF rolled oats, lemon juice and salt. Cook the vegetable mixture over medium low heat for 20-30 minutes until the asparagus is tender. Use a stainless steel stick blender (magic soup wand!) to puree the soup in the pot while hot or let the soup cool and puree it in a blender or food processor (If your blender or food processor bowls are plastic it is very important not to put hot food in them because this leaches dangerous chemicals out of the plastic into your food). Reheat the soup if necessary and serve with lemon juice to taste at the table.
Makes about 8 cups of soup (depending on how much you let it cook down!)
Low Oxalate Info: Rolled oats (A number of unspecified brands from 11.1 – 20.4 mg. oxlate per half cup, s0 I average this and consider rolled oats to have about 16 mg. per half cup) and dill (10.5 mg./tablespoon) are medium oxalate ingredients. Asparagus (4.9 mg./half cup) and onion (3.3 mg./half cup) are low oxalate ingredients. The rest of the ingredients are very low oxalate or contain no oxalate. Creamy Asparagus and Dill Soup has about 6.8 mg. oxalate per cup (based on 8 cups per batch made with water).
Variations: My favorite variation of this soup is to leave out the oats and add 1 cup cream or half and half at the end of cooking (this reduces the oxalate content to about 5 mg. oxalate per serving). Another tasty variation is to use chicken broth in place of the water (no change in oxalate content if you use Swanson’s 100% Natural Chicken Broth or homemade chicken broth or bone broth without veggies or spices). You may also make a low fat version by leaving out the olive oil and boiling all of the veggies instead. Try serving this soup with a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt.
Picky Eater Pleaser: I like to fish a few pieces of asparagus out of the soup before pureeing it for my picky eaters to eat plain. Some kids might also like this with less dill (or no dill). Unfortunately, this soup is still hit or miss for us. Sometimes my boys wolf it down and sometimes they won’t touch it. It helps if I let them help me put the ingredients in the pot and use the soup wand
Other Diets: Creamy Asparagus and Dill Soup may also be appropriate for vegan, vegetarian, dairy-free, gluten-free (with GF oats) and controlled carbohydrate diets.
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