Recently, I was the lucky recipient of an enormous amount of gorgeous organic cilantro. After making cilantro pesto, I still had a lot of cilantro left. (At this point, I’m confident that only people that love cilantro are still reading!) With the remaining cilantro, I made some scrumptious Cream of Cilantro Soup. It’s definitely comfort food.
Cream of Cilantro Soup
Ingredients
- 2 bunches fresh cilantro, use leaves and tender stems
- 2 TBSP butter
- 2 large cloves garlic, minced or pressed
- 32 ounces chicken broth or vegetable broth
- 1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
- 1 pint sour cream
- 1 tsp smoked paprika (optional)
- 1⁄2 tsp salt
- 1⁄2 tsp cayenne
- 1⁄2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp granulated onion powder
- 1 cup defrosted frozen corn
- 1 cup cooked and mashed potato
- 1/3 cup cooked and crumbled bacon (omit for vegetarian)
Instructions
- Puree cilantro in food processor or blender with a little broth.
- Heat butter in a large saucepan, on medium heat. Stir in garlic.
- After about 30 seconds, stir in pureed cilantro.
- Whisk in the broth and cream cheese. Cream cheese in soup will breakdown faster and blend better, if it's been frozen and defrosted.
- When the cream cheese is combined thoroughly into the broth, whisk in the sour cream and all the spices.
- Simmer for 10 minutes and add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer another 10 minutes.
- Garnish with sliced green onion, cilantro leaves, and red pepper flakes. Serve with tortillas or crusty garlic bread.
- Note: If you want to thicken the soup, you can always use a cornstarch slurry, or more mashed potatoes, cooked pureed rice, pureed corn, or my favorite Lundberg rice cakes put through the processor.