Roasted Garlic Soup

Do you like garlic?  I put garlic in everything!  I put it in burgers, pot roasts, soups, chicken breasts, mac & cheese, etc. 

Even if you don’t share my admittedly ridiculous obsession with garlic, this is a really good soup!  Depending on how you prepare it, you can make it a garlic uppercut, or a smooth roasted flavor.  Oh, and hopefully you don’t mind a little butter and heavy cream? 

Read on for this great side/appetizer soup!

The Ingredients

Ingredients:

The roast:

  • ~50 garlic cloves – peeled
  • ~2 tablespoons olive oil

The sauté and soup:

  • 1/2 stick salted butter
  • 2 medium yellow onions
  • Fresh thyme – a couple of sprigs (“1 1/2 teaspoons”)
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream

The delivery:

  • Finely grated fresh parmesan cheese
  • 4 lemon slices (half a lemon)

Simple Procedure:

  1. Peel all the cloves of garlic.
  2. Preheat Oven to 350.
  3. Add ~38 cloves of garlic to a baking dish.
  4. Lightly coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
  5. Cover dish with aluminum foil.
  6. Bake for ~45 minutes until golden and tender.
  7. Melt butter in a pot and sauté remaining, onions, and thyme.
  8. Once onions are translucent, add roasted garlic and stock.
  9. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
  10. Blend and strain (if needed).
  11. Add cream (temper if liquid is still very hot).
  12. Serve with grated parmesan and a lemon wedge.

Full Procedure:

First, peel 50 cloves of garlic. Don’t use the typical smashing technique, as you want to roast the cloves whole. If you don’t know about the bowl technique, here’s a video.

Garlic Peeling Bowl Technique

Second, you need to make a decision.  Do you want the soup to have that subtle, smoky, sweet garlic flavor, or do you want a double spin-kick to the mouth?   That’s going to determine your ratio of roasted garlic to fresh garlic.

For the purposes of this recipe, I’m going to assume you want a nice blend of both, so we’re going to do ~38 roasted and ~12 added later. I recommend this for the first time. After that, adjust how you see fit!

Raw Garlic & Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Place 38 garlic cloves in small glass baking dish. Add enough olive oil to coat (lightly coat – toss them around) and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

Roasted Garlic

Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake until garlic is golden brown and tender – about 45 minutes.  Set aside.

Sautéing Onions, Garlic, and Thyme

Melt butter in heavy large saucepan or pot over medium/high heat.  Add the onions and fresh thyme and cook until onions are translucent.  

You can toss the whole sticks of thyme in for ease, but you’ll have to strain the soup later.

Combining

Add roasted garlic and 12 raw garlic cloves and cook for ~3 minutes.  Add chicken stock.  Cover and simmer until garlic is tender. It should take about 20 minutes.

Blended & Strained

If you left the thyme on the sticks, you should strain the soup.  Blend in the pot with an immersion blender, or carefully transfer it to a blender and into a second pot to finish.

Add cream and bring to simmer.  Season with salt to taste. It’s ready to serve immediately!

When serving, grate some fresh Parmesan cheese onto the surface of the soup and let it melt. Serve with a lemon wedge.

Enjoy this very unique soup! It pairs wonderfully with things that are bright and acidic.