CookDiaries

A Cream of Spinach Soup that tasters will actually love! It includes plenty of fresh spinach and a few secret ingredients to keep it hearty and flavorful. It’s an excellent way to use up an abundance of nutritious baby spinach and it makes a great lunch or dinner side.

Prep10minutes minutes
Cook30minutes minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 small)
• 2 tsp minced garlic (2 cloves)
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 large russet potato (12 to 16 oz), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 16 oz. fresh baby spinach
• 4 oz. cream cheese, cut into 4 pieces and softened well*
• 2/3 cup half and half,** or more to taste
• Homemade croutons, for serving (optional, see notes for recipe***)
• Finely shredded parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

Instructions

• Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and saute 3 minutes. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds.
• Pour in chicken broth, add in potatoes, season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer until potatoes are fully tender, about 15 minutes.
• Add half the spinach, then cover with lid and let cook 1 minute to nearly wilt. Stir then add remaining half of the spinach, cover and cook 1 to 2 minutes to wilt.
• Stir in cream cheese (it doesn’t need to melt fully at this point).
• Remove soup from heat and blend with an immersion blender until soup is completely smooth.
• Return to medium-low heat, stir in half and half and warm through.
• Serve soup warm with homemade croutons and parmesan cheese if desired. Optionally you can also decorate top with a drizzle of cream if desired.

Notes

* To soften the cream cheese I remove from packaging, place it on a microwave safe dish and microwave for about 15 seconds per side, then cut into four chunks. This ensures it melts into the soup if you soften it well first.

**In place of half and half you can use 1/3 heavy cream and 1/3 cup milk.

***Homemade croutons: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut 1/2 a loaf of French bread or sourdough into 1-inch thick pieces then tear into raged 1-inch small pieces from there.

Drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil on a rimmed 18 by 13-inch baking sheet (tilt to evenly coat the pan with a thin layer), add bread cubes then toss to evenly coat. Season lightly with salt.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes, toss then continue to bake until golden brown and crisp about 5 to 10 more minutes.

Croutons and parmesan are not included in nutrition estimate as these are optional.