This Soupe Au Pistou or Provencal Vegetable Soup is refreshing, healthy and delicious. Great for lunch or light dinner.
Soupe Au Pistou
I don't know about you, but I'm a soup person regardless of the season.
Although in winter I love the coziness of thick and hearty soups with beans and split pies.
In summer though, I prefer lighter soups, the ones that incorporate lots of seasonal vegetables and are easy on the waistline.
One recipe that is absolutely perfect for when it's warm outside is French Pistou Soup. It's a very versatile French dish and many places prepare it differently.
You can use any garden veggies that you have on hands, top the soup with a pesto-like sauce, which is "French Pistou" and call it Soup Au Pistou.
Low Calorie Veggetable Soup
Today, I'll show you my version of this incredible easy, low calorie veggie soup. It's delicious and absolutely needs to be on your spring and summer menu.
For my Pistou soup recipe I've made a different kind of pesto. Despite that basil is a most commonly used pesto ingredient, this time I used dill, garlic and olive oil.
I think it turned out refreshingly delicious.
If you don't have dill, you can use other herbs or greens, such as parsley, spinach or arugula.
If you want more French-inspired soup recipes, try my Easy French Onion Soup. It's amazingly delicious!
Related Recipes
Recipe
Soupe Au Pistou
Ingredients
For the soup
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion minced
- 1 medium carrot diced
- 1 medium potato diced
- 1 medium parsnip diced
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 1 medium zucchini diced
- 1 large tomato diced
- 4 cups vegetable broth* see Note 1
- 1 c frozen green peas
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 4 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese if not vegan
Instructions
To make Pistou Soup
- Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrot and sauté for 4-5 minutes until onion is translucent.
- Stir in potatoes, celery, parsnip, tomato, zucchini and continue sautéing for 3-4 more minutes.
- Add broth, salt and pepper and cook for 10-15 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Soup should be quite thick.
- Add frozen peas and cook for 3 more minutes.
- Ladle soup into the bowls, top with a tablespoon of dill pesto and sprinkle with grated Parmesan if desired.
To make dill pesto
- In a small bowl, mix together chopped dill, garlic, olive oil and salt to taste.
Notes
Nutrition
Iryna Bychkiv is the founder and writer of the culinary website Lavender & Macarons, where she shares clean, European-inspired recipes that are delicious, easy to prepare, and made with wholesome ingredients. Iryna loves creating meals that are simple yet healthy and unique, including vegan and vegetarian recipes.
Iryna is also a freelance writer for MSN and Associated Press Wire.
Shelley says
Greetings from Scotland! One of the first recipe of yours I tried was this soup and it was absolutely delicious! Thank you. I was recently home in the US visiting family and had gone vegan since seeing them 3.5 years ago. They were worried what to feed us and I made them your red bean stew…oh my gosh that was a huge hit with everyone, even the meat eaters went back for more! My family are farmers and hunters and love their meat, so to have a meal without meat and to enjoy it so much you ask for seconds, that is a major big deal! So thank you for that, you made a vegan meal that my family is still raving about. Your mushroom lasagna looks and sounds lush too, so is on my list to make as the weather cools down as are your pierogi’s…I had not considered making them vegan before but now I cannot wait to try. It will need to be while we are on holiday to have the time needed, as there are only two of us and the rest can be portioned out and frozen. 🤤 Thanks again for your glorious recipes, they really are amazingly delicious! 💖
Iryna says
Shelley, thank you so much for your kind message! It made my day! I'm so happy you liked my recipes and I appreciate a 5-star rating! Finding a recipe that meat-eaters will enjoy is challenging sometimes and I'm glad that one of my recipes was a hit with everyone. Thank you again and I hope you'll get a chance to try my other recipes too:)
Genevieve says
I enjoyed the recipe, but this site has too many ads! The mobile version is totally unusable.
Iryna says
Hi Genevieve, thank you for your feedback! User experience is very important to us so we'll review our ad placement and see if we can make any changes.