These 21 Soups Don't Need Cream to be Creamy

You don’t need cream to make a creamy soup. Instead, you can use nuts, breads, egg yolks, and plant starches to give soups a silky body and texture, no dairy required.

Here are some of our most flavorful, hearty, and, yes, creamy soups for you to enjoy—none of which require a single drop of actual cream.

Zucchini and Green Chili Soup

This green, creamy soup skips the dairy, deriving all of its velvety texture from zucchini. The tender vegetable is cooked-down and puréed with toasted pumpkin seeds, then blended with the other ingredients until completely smooth. Earthy poblano pepper brings in depth of flavor without the heat.

Harissa-Spiced Butternut Squash Soup with Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

This comforting squash soup features harissa, a bright, tangy-hot chili paste from northern Africa. Paprika adds smoky sweetness to the mix, while cumin contributes warm, earthy notes. Blooming the seasonings in oil first enhances their flavors and aromas. Toasted pumpkin seeds do double duty, adding richness to the blended soup before being used as a crunchy garnish.

Curried Broccoli and Cilantro Soup

This creamy, no-cream soup is satisfying and incredibly quick to throw together. It balances the flavors of prickly jalapeño, warming curry powder, aromatic cilantro, and earthy broccoli. Notably, the broccoli doesn’t technically have to be fresh: frozen broccoli (cuts or florets) work just as well, and don’t even require thawing before use. Use a standard blender to smooth out this soup in batches before serving, or use an immersion blender and blend straight in the pot.

Creamy, Garlicky Cauliflower and Cheddar Soup

We simmer cauliflower until completely fork-tender, then blend it for a luxe, velvety soup. A dose of garlic, smoked paprika and sharp cheddar cheese add big flavor to the backdrop of the mild, subtly sweet vegetable. Once the cauliflower is tender to breaking, add all of the cheese to the pot, then blend. An immersion blender will yield a slightly less smooth result than a conventional blender, but the flavor still will be great.

Cream-Free Tomato Bisque with Parmesan Croutons

This is our grown-up twist on that childhood favorite—a bowl of tomato soup, with a grilled cheese for dipping. Here, we created a silky bisque, but we topped it with parmesan-tossed croutons instead of serving alongside a sandwich. Rather than thicken the soup the traditional way, with heavy cream, we simmer pieces of torn bread in the tomato broth, then blend everything to produce a satisfying soup with a velvety texture. For the best balance of flavor and ease, we use canned crushed tomatoes to keep prep time to a minimum.

Thai Red Curry Squash Soup

Using store-bought Thai red curry paste adds serious flavor to this silky, rich soup while making it simple to pull together. Coconut milk, ginger and lemon grass give the soup incredible body and fragrance, as well as a touch of heat. We use firm, dense kabocha squash for the best texture, but if that isn’t available you can substitute delicata or butternut squash.

Cauliflower Soup with Brown Butter Pine Nuts

Inspired by a recipe in “Moro East”, this vegetarian cauliflower soup is silky and elegant. A touch of coconut milk adds richness and plays off the natural sweetness of the cauliflower without weighing it down. A little spice is necessary for complexity, so if you don't have hot paprika, substitute sweet paprika plus a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Carrot and Almond Soup with Mint-Saffron Yogurt

This silky soup gets its velvety texture from pureeing carrots. They’re simmered until fork-tender and blended with a surprising partner: a small measure of smooth almond butter. Tangy yogurt mixed with lemon, mint and saffron add color and freshness, brightening the carrots’ flavor and balancing their natural sweetness.

Harissa-Spiced Cauliflower-Almond Soup

Super smooth and luxuriously thick, this cream-less soup features almonds toasted in olive oil with harissa. (Use the spice blend, not the paste.) This combo serves two functions: It works as a base for the flavor-packed vegetarian soup, and as a garnish that adds contrasting texture. The nuts become supple after they’re simmered, so they puree easily with the tender cauliflower, adding richness and body.

Corn and Coconut Soup with Ginger and Scallions

For a creamy soup without an overly thick consistency, we use coconut milk to light richness. This soup is loosely inspired by Thai tom kha gai, or chicken and coconut soup. We coax signature Thai flavors—salty, spicy, sour and sweet—out of readily available pantry ingredients, like frozen corn kernels. Fish sauce lends saltiness, jalapeño brings the spice, and fresh lime juice contributes tartness. We like to toss in chunks of potatoes to create a hearty soup that’s a full meal in a bowl.

Italian Bean Soup with Fresh Pasta

This dish features wide ribbons of fresh pasta, a creamy bean broth, and fragrant herbs. If you have a piece of Parmesan rind, simmer it with the beans to release its savory flavors into the broth—just make sure to remove it before blending the soup. We use canned Roman beans here, but if you can’t find those, pintos have a similar color and texture.

Spicy Red Lentil Stew with Coconut Milk and Spinach

This soup gets its creamy texture from split red lentils and coconut milk. The lentils soften and break down in minutes, making this a practical choice for a weeknight meal. Coriander, fennel, and turmeric add complexity and warmth, while chili spice plays off the cooling coconut milk. Fresh ginger and lime juice add welcome brightness and keep the flavors vibrant.

Greek Egg-Lemon Soup (Avgolemono)

This Greek soup’s silky richness is balanced with a punch of tart lemon juice. For our version, we add starchy rice and cook it directly into the broth, adding another layer of creamy texture to the soup. We poach bone-in chicken breasts in store-bought broth (boosting its flavor), then shred the meat and add it to the soup just before serving. Grated carrots lend sweetness and color, while lemon zest deepens the citrus notes. Be sure to temper the eggs into the soup on a low heat setting to prevent curdling.

Spicy Black Bean and Coconut Soup

This smooth puree of beans and coconut milk was inspired by Nigerian frejon. It’s rich, flavorful, and happens to be vegetarian (even vegan). We blend only a portion of the bean mixture so the soup is lightly thickened, not a heavy puree. This allows us to hang onto some texture from the whole beans. If you have coconut oil in the pantry, use it in place of the neutral oil—it will add extra coconut flavor and aroma.

Chickpea and Garlic Soup with Cumin-Spiced Butter

This recipe transforms the humble canned chickpea into an elegant soup. Cumin, cayenne and garlic add a bold kick to complement the chickpeas’ earthiness, while carrots and onion add sweetness. This soup gets its creamy consistency from blended chickpeas as well as the aquafaba from the can. Before draining the chickpeas, be sure to reserve 1 cup of the aquafaba to simmer with the soup ingredients.

Creamy Fennel and White Bean Soup

We love this soup for its hearty consistency and speedy preparation. Its savory-sweet, slight anise flavor comes from the fennel, and serves as a counterpoint to the saltiness and smokiness of the crisped bacon. Cannellini beans add silkiness, but we don’t blend all of them. A portion of beans are left whole and mixed in at the end for texture. Chopped fresh chives and a squeeze of lemon juice finish it off with welcome acidity and herbal freshness.

Garnish-as-You-Like Potato Leek Soup

Creamy potato and savory leeks present a blank canvas for all manner of garnishes. We love it for its crowd-pleasing flexibility. Keep it simple for family, or for a larger gathering, double the soup and set out an array of toppings so guests can add what they like. Completely devoid of cream, this soup gets its richness from butter, its flavor from a whole head of garlic, and its creamy texture from the available starches in russet potatoes.

Potato Soup with Almonds, Garlic and Lemon

Inspired by a Greek dip called skordalia, this pantry-friendly recipe takes potatoes, garlic, olive oil and nuts, and turns them into a simple, flavorful soup. The creaminess comes primarily from the russet potatoes, but simmered almonds boost the texture and contribute much-needed depth of flavor. Add the lemon juice just before serving to make the most of its fruity, brightening acidity.

Chili Crisp Chicken and Corn Soup

Chicken breast, soy sauce, and canned corn—intrigued? We were, too. Inspired by James Ooi, founder of Little Bao Boy in Leeds, England, we developed this recipe for simplicity and flavor. It has only a half-dozen ingredients and nearly no knife work. Cream-style corn is key here: because it’s sweetened and thickened with starch, it lends important viscosity to the soup. A drizzle of chili crisp adds color and spiciness.

Polenta Soup with Kale and Parmesan

Polentina alla toscana uses coarse cornmeal to add thickness and body to the soup’s broth. We use water as the liquid, so the corn flavor is more pronounced. Make sure to use coarse stoneground cornmeal to obtain the correct texture for this dish. We add lacinato kale to our version, which is more tender than the curly-leaf variety, while also taking less time to cook. Parmesan delivers a salty, umami layer to this hearty dish.

Spanish Garlic and Bread Soup

Don’t serve bread on the side, blend it right in! This soup gets its thickness from rustic bread, and its velvety feel from a few egg yolks that get tempered into the broth. For our version of this soup, we sauté both sweet and smoked paprika with garlic and scallions, and boost the foundational flavors of the garlic and olive oil-toasted bread by using chicken broth instead of water. Be sure to give the broth ample time to simmer so the bread fully breaks down before blending.

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Allie Chanthorn Reinmann

Allie Chantorn Reinmann is a Digital Staff Writer for Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street. She’s a Thai-American chef who earned her diploma for Pastry and Baking Arts at The Institute of Culinary Education and worked professionally for over a decade honing her craft in New York City at places like Balthazar, Bien Cuit, The Chocolate Room, Billy’s Bakery and Whole Foods. Allie took her know-how from the kitchen to the internet, writing about food full-time at Lifehacker for three years and starting her own YouTube channel, ThaiNYbites. You can find her whipping up baked goods for cafés around Brooklyn, building wedding cakes and trying her hand (feet?) at marathon running. She’s working on her debut cookbook and lives in Brooklyn, NY.