This recipe for creamy radish soup is a decadent way to use one of the most abundant and inexpensive root vegetables. Don’t worry about the simmer time for this recipe since the active time is only 15 minutes. The remaining time is for the veggies to soften as they hang out in creamy butter.
Let me be honest … Prepare those little red veggies in this creamy radish soup recipe; I am putty in your hands. Putty, I tell ya! Every. Time.
Creamy radish soup is a delicious and easy-to-make recipe with abundant and inexpensive radishes. This soup is a perfect blend of earthy, savory, and slightly sweet flavors that will leave you feeling satisfied and cozy on cool evenings all year.
Radish soup is a classic dish that’s been around for ages, especially in Europe during the chilly seasons. It was often made with inexpensive radishes, onions, and broth…that was it. It’s still popular worldwide, but we usually mix it with additional ingredients like potatoes, carrots, and garlic.
Key Ingredients for Creamy Radish Soup:
- Red Radishes. You can use Daikon radish, for sure. But the flavor profile will change. Give it a try, though, for a fun alternative to the traditional radish.
- Liquid. I know that’s very vague, but you’ll need either milk, broth, or wine. You can even use almond or cashew milk to be dairy-free.
- Red Onion. Using red onion packs in flavor and contributes to the beautiful pink color.
- Potato or corn. This soup will be thin without the help of starch to thicken it up. The corn adds a lovely sweetness but creates a thinner texture than the potato. You can’t go wrong with either. Bonus…your soup is gluten-free!
- Butter. Butter helps add richness and mellowness to the onion and radish bitterness.
Radish Soup Recipe adaptions:
- Add other vegetables: You can add other vegetables, such as carrots, potatoes, or parsnips, to the soup to create a more complex flavor profile.
- Adjust the spiciness: Add more chili flakes or other hot spices if you prefer a spicier soup. If you prefer a milder soup, reduce or omit the chili flakes.
- Experiment with herbs: Add herbs to the soup, such as thyme, rosemary, or sage.
- Add cream or coconut milk: If you want a more decadent soup, add a splash of cream or coconut milk to the soup just before serving.
- Garnish with fresh herbs or croutons: Add a pop of color and texture to the soup by topping it with fresh herbs or homemade croutons.
- Make it vegan or dairy-free: Use vegetable instead of chicken stock and substitute coconut or almond milk for the cream.
- Adjust the thickness: Add more stock or water if the soup is too thick. If it’s too thin, let it simmer longer to reduce and thicken.
- Use different radish varieties: Experiment with different types of radishes, such as watermelon radishes or black radishes, to change up the flavor and appearance of the soup.
Can you eat the radish greens?
Yes, absolutely! But you want only want to eat the small and tender ones. They will be coarse and gross if they get too far grown. Use them like any other green.
I like to use the radish greens for pesto (use 1/2 radish greens and 1/2 basil or spinach), braised as you would for kale or collard greens, or tossed into a smoothie instead of spinach.
Should I peel radishes?
Nah. Give them a good washing and cut off the root end. They are good to go!
How to prepare Radish Soup:
- Clean and quarter the radishes, dice the potatoes and slice the onions.
- Melt the butter in a large pot on medium heat.
- Add the veggies to the pot. Cover and let them hang out in the butter until they are soft.
- Pour in your liquid and bring it up to heat.
- Take out your immersion blender (or big blender) and blend the soup until you have the preferred texture.
- Â Pour into your dishes and garnish with green onions, fresh parsley, sour cream, and a drizzle of hot sauce.
Lower-Fat Version:
- Saute the radishes and onions together with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Add all the rest of the ingredients to the pot (be sure to use low-fat milk!) and simmer until the potatoes are tender.
- Blend with your immersion blender and serve.
Be sure to serve this soup with yogurt or sour cream (obviously, if you are vegan, get the vegan sub for sour cream. Obvs :)). No, really, you’ll be tempted to think the addition of sour cream is not that big a deal… you’d be wrong. And when it comes to my favorite little spring red veggies, I don’t want you to have a big ol’ fat Loser symbol on your forehead. Use sour cream.Â
Make-ahead/store:
- Let the soup cool down to room temperature.
- Once cooled, transfer the soup to an airtight container.
- Label the container with the date and contents.
- Store the container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- When ready to serve, reheat the soup on the stovetop or microwave.
- If the soup has thickened during storage, add a splash of milk or water to thin it out.
- For more extended storage, you can also freeze the soup. Transfer it to a freezer-safe container and store it for up to 3 months.
- Let the frozen soup thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat it on the stovetop or microwave. Add additional liquid as needed to reach your desired consistency.
Easy Creamy Radish Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs radishes rinsed trimmed, and quartered
- 1 red onion sliced
- 2 red potatoes, diced or alternately 1 cup sweet corn
- 8 tablespoons butter check notes for a lower-fat version
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 teaspoons pepper up to 4 teaspoons…taste and adjust
- 3 cups milk you can use almond milk or even broth, if you like.
- 1-3 teaspoons hot sauce most of the time I end up with 1 tablespoon.
Instructions
- Melt margarine or butter on medium-high heat.
- Add the onion, radishes, corn, salt, pepper, and hot sauce in pan. Bring the butter, onion, radishes, corn, and spices to a boil, keep at a low-boil for about 30 minutes or until the radishes and onions are soft. Be careful not to burn the butter.
- Keep the temperature on low and stir in the milk.
- Heat until hot but not boiling.
- Use an immersion blender or transfer (carefully!) the soup to your blender and blend the soup until creamy.
- Serve warm with sour cream.
Video
Notes
Lower-Fat Version:
- Saute the radishes and onions together with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
- Add all the rest of the ingredients to the pot (be sure to use low-fat milk!) and simmer until the potatoes are tender.
- Blend with your immersion blender and serve.
Wow! I tried this after ending up with a lot of radishes from the grocery store. I didn’t have potatoes or corn but it still came out creamy and absolutely delicious!
That is a great question and I have never tried serving it cold. I imagine it would be tasty. If you try it…let me know!
Hi! Can this radish soup be served chilled? Thank you.
What a pleasant surprise. Thank you for the wonderful recipe.
I ended up with six pounds of radishes and decided to give your recipe a try. Yum! I love the pale pink color and the blended texture.
My *personal* opinion is that 8 tablespoons of butter is far more than needed. I was hesitant to reduce the amount since I wanted enough liquid to simmer the vegetables in. Next time I will try a variation of the “lower fat” fat version by sautéing the onion, boiling the radishes and potato in water, draining, and then adding the milk and a couple tablespoons of butter to the pot.
Thank you!
I had a couple of questions before I made this soup… Your answers were excellent… So – I went ahead and made it. Nellie – this is delicious! I followed your directions exactly as written… So good. My husband is very picky – and he LOVED it… Many who left comments about the color – are right – it is also pretty!
Your recipes are wonderful… many, very unusual… all delicious, easy and economical! Thank you for another winner! This will also be for “company”… Great!
You can absolutely use red potatoes. Any potato will be just fine. I would peel them, however, so that when you blend the soup it’s nice and creamy. Sweet corn can come frozen, as well. I would recommend going with that for the nice texture. Canned, although fine, won’t have as nice of a fresh texture but totally fine in a pinch. Let me know how it turns out! And yay for your family loving them…that’s high praise!
I am so anxious to try this! I have a question:
I am planning to use the “red” potatoes. Should they be peeled? I am wondering if the red skin should remain on the potato because they may add to the beautiful color? And, if I try it another time, using the sweet corn – does that mean corn on the cob? Or can i use canned or frozen corn, instead?.
Thank you Janel for such unusual and delicious recipes… I have tried several of your recipes and every single one of them have been hits with my family!
Thank you for coming back to comment. I will go in and update the recipe to be more clear and easy to follow. Wow…most potato soup is pretty dang tasty so to say it is better is high praise indeed!
I never thought I would ever like radishes. First, I wasnt sure if by boil it meant ” add water”. So I did. Then drained before adding milk but I’m not sure if that was what I was supposed to do. I also only added half he butter and no sugar. It didnt really need it. I also did not add any pepper because my kids wont eat it. So I had to adjust the re ipe a bit for me, but that said- I liked this better than my dad’s potato soup
Oh wow…how clever to use those greens! So many take the greens and toss them when they are so incredibly useful. Kudos! And I am so glad to hear that you are enjoying the soup. If your library posts the recipe…let me know and I’ll share it on my social. Have a great week and stay safe and healthy!
I should start out by letting you know , we are in the middle of the Corona virus and our local health stores are donating their extras to neighborhood libraries then distribute throughout towns. Lol… When I saw the posting on Facebook through the library that turnip and radish greens were going To be given away in two pound bags I was so excited! I love dehhydrating the greens and putting them in smoothies, soups, stews, anything really but it’s not wasteful that way. I let the librarian know that I would take any and all extras that were left behind. What I didn’t realize is there was baby radishes and turnips still on the greens – walnut size and smaller. Following your recipe without the hot sauce and adding whole milk and no pepper was heavenly. I made some homemade multi grain rolls and had those in the freezer, this is delicious. I’m going to be posting your recipe on our library site. Incidentally, I got a phone call the very next day after I picked up one bag for myself and 1 bag for my daughter wink wink, the library had asked if I would be intrested in the last 4 bags. Needless to say I have been dehydrating and making soup since last Thursday and NO WASTE!! I took the stems from the greens that were left over and used to those for vegetable stock. Very impressed with the or soup thank you so much.
Thank you for coming back and commenting! I’m going to adjust the recipe to start with 2 teaspoons with up to 4 teaspoons. Totally a taste thing, I’m sure. Isn’t it the prettiest color :). So fun!
Well, I made two pots of this soup. The first one I thought had too much pepper. 4tsp is a lot! So I made a second bat h without pepper at all. That way I could tone it down a bit. If making this soup, I would recommend that you add pepper and taste and adjust to your liking. If you have a sensitive mouth, don’t go for all 4 teaspoons on your first go! Other than that, the soup is soooo pretty! Comes out a light pink and it’s such a rare colour for a soup! I’m freezing this and will have plenty of it this winter when radishes are no longer in season :)
Right!?! I completely agree about it. You dont know you like radishes until you have this soup ;). YOu are so welcome and thank you for taking the time to comment on the recipe!
Oh..my..goodness!! I thought this recipe would be a fun experiment but really expected it might not be for me. Was I ever wrong! This is SO good – I’m trying to not eat the whole lot tonight! It has just a hint of nice heat and tons of flavor. Can’t wait to try the mushroom and cauliflower soups. Thanks for such a great recipe.
Isn’t it! There’s just something better about having food that is pretty!
It is such a pretty color