Yesterday was tough, because the night before, I barely slept. And this time, it wasn’t the baby – it was my stomach!
I don’t know why, but I had near-crippling stomach cramps and aches. It felt at first like the early onset of a stomach bug, but I didn’t have any other symptoms, just stomach pains.
Needless to say, I wasn’t very hungry yesterday and in an effort to a) reduce food waste by eating all the recipes I test for the blog and b) make something easy that I couldn’t muster the energy for, I made today’s recipe.
I love when LIFE just gives me inspiration for recipes – and yesterday, I just wanted some fresh, warm, and smooth for lunch. I thought at first to drink a smoothie, but I had one for breakfast, and I wanted to pack in a ton of veggies, and I don’t have enough summer soup recipes (or soup recipes in general), so this came to mind!
I’ve never made my own zucchini soup, but I’ve always enjoyed them on menus during the summertime (they’re usually on the specials menu!), so I put my own spin on it by topping with spiralized zucchinis for crunch and sprinkling with bacon.
JUST what the doctor — err, me — ordered! It’s got a slight bit of spice from the red pepper flakes, freshness from the basil, and it’s creamy (and dairy-free!) from the pureed zucchini and onions.
If you want to make this vegan, just use olive oil instead of bacon and veggie broth instead of chicken broth! Easy as that!
Hope you enjoy this soup and here’s to silver linings (this soup was the silver lining yesterday!)
Watch our video to learn how to spiralize a zucchini using the Inspiralizer and subscribe to our YouTube channel to watch more videos:
Nutritional Information & Recipe
Creamy Zucchini Soup with Bacon and Zucchini Noodles
Ingredients
- 2 strips bacon or omit and sub with 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil instead
- 1 small yellow onion sliced
- 2 large garlic cloves chopped
- 4 medium zucchinis chop 3 of them and leave the remaining one whole
- 2 cups chicken broth low sodium (or use vegetable broth if making vegan)
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper
- ½ cup packed fresh basil
Instructions
- Place the bacon in a large pot and put the heat on medium. Let cook until crispy and transfer to a paper towel lined plate. Immediately add the onion and cook until fragrant and onions are translucent. Stir in the garlic and let cook for 2 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook for 2-3 minutes or until they start to soften. Add the broth, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper and stir. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat and then once boiling, reduce to low heat and let simmer, covered for about 15 minutes or until when you fork a zucchini cube, it mushes easily.
- While zucchini cooks, spiralize the zucchini on Blade D and trim the noodles with clean kitchen shears. Set aside.
- Pour the cooked soup mixture into a blender and add the basil and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust with more salt, if needed.
- Divide the soup into bowls, top with zucchini noodles and crumble over the bacon. Season with extra pepper and serve.
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