Garlic soup is a very tasty way to take advantage of the health benefits of garlic. It’s SO much better than taking a garlic pill! To make it even healthier, add some sautéed mushrooms to the finish soup. See the Garlic Mushroom Soup Recipe.
On one of our trips to New Orleans, Bobby and I ate at Bayona, owned by Chef Susan Spicer. I had a rabbit dish that was absolutely delicious as were all of the other dishes that were eaten at our table that night. So you can imagine how excited I got when one of my cooking shows did a short segment on Bayona’s Garlic Soup. I immediately looked it up on the internet and bookmarked it to make one day. Well, that day has come.
But – as some of you may already know – I’m not very good at following a recipe, so the soup I ended up with tasted different from Bayona’s but just as good (if I do say so myself). How different? I have no idea and may never know because the soup below is so good that I can’t think of making it any other way.
Bobby’s comment after a few bites of this soup – “I could eat this soup once a week.”
A Garlic Lover’s Dream Meal
*See Kitchen Notes for more information.
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. butter
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 large heads of garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
- 1 apple, peeled and chopped
- 1 qt. homemade chicken broth or canned chicken broth
- 1 herb bundle of 5 parsley stems, 4 sprigs fresh thyme (tie together with string)
- ¼ tsp. salt or to taste
- ½ cup half and half
- 1/4 tsp. fresh-ground white pepper
- Chopped fresh parsley for topping
- In a large pot, heat the oil and butter over low to medium-low heat. Add the onions and garlic. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and beginning to turn brown, about 25 minutes.
- Add the apple and continue to cook, covered, for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the stock and herb bundle. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer about 15 minutes.
- Remove the herbs. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or regular blender.
- Add pepper and salt to taste. Add the half and half and bring back to a simmer, stirring. Remove from heat.
- Serve topped with chopped parsley.
What I change from the original recipe:
- Omitted the bread. It called for 1/2 loaf French bread in the soup, probably for consistency. The consistency of this soup was perfect without it.
- Added the apple.
- Cut way back on the salt.
- Cut back on the amount of half and half.
- Used white pepper instead of black pepper – that does make a difference to me.
- Added the parsley which really complemented the others flavors in the soup.
To get the full burst of flavors, make the day before and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Great sides to serve with soup – herb bread and then grilled cheese sandwiches with the leftover herb bread for the leftover soup.
If you like this soup then you obviously are a garlic lover like we are; therefore, here are some more garlic rich recipes to try.
The bread is in this soup recipe for the flavor. Plus, you left out the bay leaf. We had this many times in Austria and the recipe isn’t the same without the bread and the rest. It’s also great tweaked and without the apple. Depends on your taste buds but this isn’t quite right. I have tried many recipes and the Susan Spicer recipe is closest to what that wonderful soup was in Austria.
Thank you for your comment! I’ve tried it with and without the bread, and my family and I prefer it without. Have never tried the Austria version, but would love to.
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Oh wow, garlic soup – amazing!
My boyfriend is obsessed with garlic, he absolutely loves it (when it comes to kissing time – lucky me) I will have to cook this – it looks delicious and he will adore it!
Love your blog, the recipes are so fool proof and I love your writing 🙂
I really need to try this soup, MJ – the combination of garlic with fennel and apple sounds amazing and so unique. Plus, all the wonderful benefits of garlic. I’m also in a very soupy mood this week after being sick for days… Thanks so much for sharing…
This looks really great! I will definitely give it a try.
I am a garlic lover. I like the combination og garlic and apple. I’ll definitely try it. Thanks.
I just made this soup. At the last moment I discovered that I did not have yellow onions, so I had to use dried ones and an extra apple. And I used 1/2 cup of milk, because it was a little thick, and I wanted it to look lighter, like yours :-). It was really tasty and perfect for a cool day like today! Thank you so much, MJ!
I really love your site :-).
The way you make those substitutions you don’t sound like a rookie to me! Great going! Thanks SO MUCH for letting me know how you liked it and your substitutions! This kind of information helps us all. Thank you also for the kind comments about my site! It does my heart good! 🙂 I look forward to continuing to cook with you!
This sounds like a fabulous soup! I feel like making it tomorrow for lunch. I probably can use milk instead of half and half, right?
Absolutely you can use milk instead of half and half. The dairy is just used as a binder so 1/4 cup would probably work so it doesn’t get too thin. Please let me know how you like it! We love it! Hope you’re having a great evening!
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I’ve never had garlic soup, but it sounds delicious. I saw it yesterday and linked to it on Facebook. It sounded like just the thing I would enjoy, but I haven’t had a chance to make it.
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I was craving garlic soup the other day, even though I had never had it. Out of the blue, I thought a creamy garlic soup sounds good. I’m so glad you’ve done the work so I don’t have to create a recipe. 🙂
apple and garlic are always a good idea. Heck! Garlic is always a good idea in and of itself! As someone who regularly goes through 2 heads of garlic a week (i’m lucky i have the friends i do!), i approve 😉
Yum! I pinned this to try. I’ve never had it before but I’ve heard of it.
I love garlic and have had garlic soup but never made it – delicious! Thanks for linking up to my v-day blog hop! 🙂
I just tweeted this soup as one of my favorites from Sunday Night Soup Night! Thanks for linking up and hope to see you again soon 🙂
Thanks Debbi!
I’ve never heard of garlic soup, but what a great idea! I’m amazed at how creamy it looks too. Pinned it! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe with Sunday Night Soup Night! I’ll be hosting weekly through fall and winter, so I’d love to see you again with your next soup/stock/chowder recipe.
Love this soup..apples in it is unusual!
I really like the addition of apple, perfect garlic soup. very true I’d rather have a huge bowl of garlic soup than take a pill, lol
What a perfect meal with the herb bread. I would so want to be invited over for that warm and comfy meal! Thanks for sharing, this recipe looks so tasty. I love garlic!
Mmm… Garlic breath, how I love thee… Two heads of garlic is right up my alley. Beautiful soup – And I simply adore the addition of an apple!
I need this soup now! I’m sick so this soup could not only be comforting, but help me too. I love the use of an apple too… great idea. Now if you only had delivery service. 😉
hey mj! thanks for visiting my blog and i hope you can make something using achuete/annatto seeds soon! keep me posted! 🙂
i’m definitely doing this soup soon. you had me at garlic. hahaha cheers!
You know, I don’t think I’ve ever made garlic soup. I certainly add garlic to soup but have not used it as the starring feature… that’s shameful 🙂 What a beautiful soup MJ – I’m particularly smitten with the apple in this warm bowl as well as the fresh parsley… so flavourful! Yum – I think I must make this one!
So I’m fascinated by the apple and see that that’s something you changed. Why did you add the apple? Texture, filler, flavor?
And that amount of garlic sounds delicious (I’m a garlic fanatic). I’m definitely going to need to give this recipe a shot.
Oh, wow..I could eat (or drink..in a mug) this soup every day too! I love that you added an apple to add some sweetness to the garlic and onions. This soup is now on my Fall and Winter menu..maybe even a Thanksgiving starter..in shot glasses with a slice of apple on the rims!
That said, I hope you try the pumpkin gnocchi and creamy mushrooms..it was so good I ate it for every meal yesterday. Feeling bloated, but so worth it! LOL
I definitely didn’t expect to see an apple in the ingredients. How interesting! I’ve never had garlic soup but your photos and description sounds awesome… I want to try it!
Hehehe, garlic is a very subjective ingredient to me; sometimes I like it and sometimes I just don’t, because of its smell 😛
Looks so delicious! I have been wanting to make garlic soup with the egg in it.. mmmm
The egg certainly sounds interesting!
You added apples! I love that! Soup looks absolutely delish!
Wow! I have all the ingredients. May need to make this soon as I’m battling a nasty cold! Garlic sounds so good!
I love garlic soup, MJ…I could have it everyday! Haven’t tried it with apple though…but it sounds good!
this soup looks great – you know I love ALL garlic recipes!! Can’t wait to try and btw I love your section “kitchen notes” – great idea!
Wow – the soup is AMAZING! I have to say – as soon as I started reading it – I said, aloud, “Apple!” The idea of adding the apple was GENIUS!
Absolutely LOVE! Hope you are well!
Looks delish! Love the apple addition. It’s cold and snowy up here … perfect soup weather. Can’t wait to try it.
This does sound delicious, garlic is an all time favorite of mine. I have made a garlic soup but it had a clear broth. The addition of the apple is interesting too. Going to give this a try. Thanks!
Beautiful shot of the soup and I love the settings. Have a great week to you, MJ!
Ooo this sounds GOOD! I love garlic I could never have too much. And I just might be able to execute it! 🙂 I’m excited to give this a try!
I hope you have a good start to your week!
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MJ…this soup looks SO GOOD! What a perfect way to stave off a cold! And the bread in the background looks perfect for dipping! I’m looking forward to trying this!
This really intrigues me. I’ve never had garlic soup before. Bookmarking this for later!!
PS I love rabbit too!
I think I saw a garlic soup recipe last year and I’ve been meaning to try it ever since – thanks for the reminder, and yours looks so good! I learned a fabulous tip recently for when your cooking with lots of garlic – if you place the whole bulb (or bulbs in this case) in cold water and bring to almost boiling point then you can just pull back all the skin so easily and the cloves literally just slide out of the skin too! If the garlic was clean then in your case you could probably heat them in the stock to maximise the flavour!
Lovely soup – definitely something for a friday night though I think – wouldn’t want to inflict my breath on people after this, although cooked garlic is never too strong actually 🙂
Thanks for the method on peeling a head of garlic!
Wow, never heard about garlic soup, but here in Piedmont we have a typical recipe that involves a loooot of garlic 🙂
I’d love to try it!
I never had a garlic soup and I think I should change that soon-
thank you for this great recipe!
What a great soup for garlic lovers!
Two whole heads of garlic!? It must be one great soup!