This lemon parmesan orzo soup is easy to make with some help from every day kitchen gadgets to help save time in the kitchen. Plus tips and tricks to get the ultimate creaminess.
Every Sunday it’s a fun game of “what kind of soup should I make tonight?”. My husband usually will suggest something (that nine times out of ten don’t get made) but it gets my wheels spinning. I think he suggested avgolemono soup but I wasn’t feeling like that and also didn’t feel like tempering the eggs. But I took that as inspiration to try out something new and created this lemon parmesan orzo soup.
Lemons and heavy cream sometimes don’t mix
Over the years I have created a lot of different meals with lemons and heavy cream. Sometimes it works out sometimes it doesn’t. What do I mean? Sometimes the lemon and cream get together and curdle. It doesn’t taste bad by any means it just looks funny and then doesn’t give the texture of what I am seeking. To avoid that with this lemon parmesan soup I tried something different. I used my Vitamix (a blender would work as well) to blend the soup together.
Additionally sometimes adding parmesan to a soup doesn’t always go well. Parmesan is a hard cheese and doesn’t exactly melt or meld into dishes without a little help whether it be whisking or blending. Since I had my blender out I used it for all of it. Because there is nothing worse than getting to the bottom of your soup pan to see all that delicious parmesan clumped together and wasted.
How to emulsify soup:
- Start with some of the soup in the blender
- Add in heavy cream and parmesan and blend (this will additionally warm the heavy cream so it’s not cold which is sometimes why it will curdle)
- Add in the lemon juice and blend more
The result is a perfectly creamy uncurled soup!
Time saving tips – use your appliances
When I am making anything with rice or orzo pasta and veggies consistency is key. What does she mean you may ask. I personally think size uniformity matters. You don’t want small grains of rice or pasta and then a huge chunk of vegetable. So in recipes like this I like my veggies chopped small. But that often takes more time.
Enter in the chopper or food processor. We use our chopper for garlic all the time or when I need fine cut veggies for a sauce but I often neglect to think about it for soup. Not today! I used my chopper for all of my veggies for the soup which not only saved me time but prevented tears when cutting onions! If you have the tools to make your life easier in the kitchen don’t forget to use them.
Here are some of my favorites time saving gadgets:
- Cuisinart 13 cup food processor with dicing attachment – makes making potato soup a breeze!
- We love this mini chopper for garlic but also can be used for veggies
- This veggie chopper is a little more manual but still would save time
This creamy lemon parmesan soup is easy to make thanks to some of my on hand kitchen appliances. And it was a new recipe to add to the collection. So if you are looking for an easy, fresh and vibrant soup be sure to try this creamy lemon parmesan soup out. Also remember, if you try this recipe be sure to rate it and leave a comment below and let me know how you like it. Or tag me on Instagram or #eatbreathelove!
Lemon Parmesan Orzo Soup
- Total Time: 35M
- Yield: 4-6 1x
Description
This lemon parmesan orzo soup is easy to make with some help from every day kitchen gadgets to help save time in the kitchen. Plus tips and tricks to get the ultimate creaminess.
Ingredients
- 6 ribs of celery, minced
- 2 whole carrots, minced or 1 c grated carrots
- 1 yellow onion, minced
- 6 cloves of garlic, minced
- 6–10 c chicken or veggie broth
- 1 c orzo pasta
- 2 medium zucchini, shredded
- 4 stems of dinosaur kale, chopped small
- juice of 3 lemons and zest of 2 of them
- 1 c grated parmesan cheese
- 1 parmesan cheese rind
- 1/4 c heavy cream
Instructions
- Zest your lemons before juicing them, reserve the lemon zest to the side
- To save time. in a food processor or chopper pulse carrots (if whole), onion, garlic and celery until minced. The veggies should be small to match the size of the orzo pasta. Remove this mixture, then do the zucchini separate (the zucchini doesn’t need as much time to cook)
- In a large soup pot with 1 TBS of olive oil sauté veggie mix (except the zucchini) from step 1 for 10-12 mins over medium low heat until softened
- In a small sauce pan cook the orzo in 4 cups of broth + the juice of one lemon. Season the broth as you bring it up to a boil with salt and pepper. Check the package for the time it needs to cook.
- While the orzo is cooking add 6 cups of broth, the parmesan rind and the shredded zucchini to the pot. Bring temperature to medium heat to cook the zucchini for 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- In a blender add in the cream and parmesan cheese with several cups of the soup.
- Next add in the juice of the remaining two lemons to the blender and blend until smooth. Add this mix back to the soup pot and turn heat down to medium low.
- Once the orzo is cooked add to the soup pot. It’s ok if there is still some broth in with the orzo.
- Lastly add the kale and lemon zest into the soup, let the kale wilt down a few minutes and serve
Notes
- This soup is also delicious with roasted chicken, alternatively you could use a rotisserie chicken to save time
- For a vegetarian option replace the chicken broth with vegetarian broth
- Prep Time: 10M
- Cook Time: 25M
- Category: soup
