Easy Vegan Green Goddess Soup with Coconut Milk

This fast, zesty, and delicious green goddess soup might just become your new favorite way to eat your veggies!

In addition to tasting great, this bright, citrusy soup also lends itself quite well to meal prepping! With six hearty servings per pot, you can make a batch Sunday night, have dinner, and have lunches handled for your workweek!

(This works especially well if there are others in your household who are less committed to eating their vegetables.)

What is green goddess soup?

Unlike green goddess salad dressing, green goddess soup is not so clearly defined.

The basic format starts with a cruciferous vegetable (usually broccoli and/or cauliflower) plus some leafy greens (spinach, kale, collard greens, Swiss chard, or in our case baby arugula, which is also in the cruciferous vegetable family).

Beyond those two key ingredients, feel free to throw in any other green veggies in your fridge and have fun with it!

What makes this vegan green goddess soup great?

A better question is what’s not to love?

Fast and good for meal prepping

First, you can make this soup pretty quickly, and with minimal effort. If you buy pre-chopped broccoli and onion, you can be extremely hands-off.

That makes it great for meal prepping, especially since it freezes well and keeps in the fridge for a workweek.

Tasty

Second, it’s really delicious!

If you’re worried that a green soup has to taste boring and must remind you of bland cabbage soup dieting days, never fear.

The zesty lemon juice with the fragrant sautéed arugula brighten up the already pleasant flavor of America’s favorite vegetable, broccoli.

In addition, the olive oil and coconut milk make this soup rich and creamy, so you won’t feel deprived.

Diet-friendly

Of course, this green goddess soup lends itself to many dietary patterns, including:

• Vegan
• Low-carb
• Gluten-free
• Paleo

Pin it for later!

Nutritious

The main ingredient, or the star of the show, if you will, is broccoli.

Broccoli packs a nutritional punch and boasts a number of health benefits. In addition, it can help reduce inflammation, improve blood sugar control, boost immunity, and promote heart health, just for starters.

You can read the full and glowing review of broccoli’s health benefits here.

The green color even makes you feel healthier just choosing to eat some!

Soups make great vehicles for onions, so feel free to add an extra one if you have another onion handy. Here’s why:

Onions can help improve heart health, blood sugar control, and even help increase bone density, as well as being a great prebiotic. In addition, they are packed with vitamin C and quercetin, both of which are powerful antioxidants.

For the full scoop on onions and their health benefits, you can read this article.

Finally, this green goddess soup also features arugula, a Mediterranean leafy green with a peppery, herbal flavor.

(If you’ve tried arugula in salads and aren’t sure you like it, know that baby arugula is slightly milder, and the sautéing process makes it milder still, but it does have a distinctive taste. Of course, you can substitute another nutrient powerhouse like spinach or kale. That being said, I think arugula is much more palatable and pleasant cooked, so I’d recommend you try it!)

Arugula is high in calcium, potassium, folate, and vitamins C, K, and A. In addition, this leafy green is packed with fiber and phytochemicals, and is considered high in cancer-fighting agents.

Zero Waste

Soups, such as this one, are a great way to use up any scraps of herbs or veggies in your fridge.

In addition, you can use broccoli stems rather than florets just fine here, which get left over from many recipes.

Serving suggestions for this green goddess soup

Honestly, this soup can stand alone as a healthy lunch.

If you’re worried about getting hungry later, you can add a drizzle of a healthy oil of your choice, such as olive oil, flax seed oil, etc.

For a more traditional pairing, try this soup with croutons or a bread of your choice, such as my vegan garlic bread. If you’re pressed for time, try my frozen garlic bread in the air fryer!

Try adding a side salad for even more veggies.

Add some protein, like deviled eggs or tofu, for instance, and you’ve got a full meal!

Garnish ideas for this green goddess soup

• Olive oil drizzle
• Swirl of cream, sour cream, or creme fraiche
• Pumpkin seeds, toasted pine nuts, sesame seeds, etc.
• Avocado slices
• Croutons
• Additional veggies like peas or arugula leaves (as pictured), or sliced cucumber
• Fresh herbs like chives, parsley, cilantro, mint, or basil
• Microgreens

Batching, storage, and reheating

This soup keeps very well in the fridge for about 5 days, and it also freezes well for several months.

For this reason, if you see an absolutely enormous head of broccoli at the store or are contemplating throwing every single vegetable in your fridge in the pot, don’t worry about it being too much for this soup.

Trust me, you’ll appreciate having tasty leftovers. I know I always do!

For easy meals, freeze the soup in individual servings in freezer-safe containers.

In order to defrost the soup, leave it in the fridge overnight.

When you’re ready to eat, microwave the soup in 60 second bursts, stirring in between, or heat over medium low in a saucepan.

Variations on this recipe

Of course, as always, feel free to add any additional vegetables or herbs you’d like. Soups are very accommodating. You may consider:

• Celery
• Fennel
• Leeks
• Cauliflower
• Brussels sprouts (shaved or shredded for faster cooking)
• Fresh parsley, basil, chives, cilantro, or even mint
• Baby spinach
• Green onions
• Zucchini
• Cucumber
• Bell pepper
• Potatoes or parsnips
• Green beans
• Mushrooms

If you don’t need this soup to be vegan, you can use cream, sour cream, or creme fraiche as a garnish or blended in, in place of the coconut milk.

For a more filling soup, you can blend in some avocado at the end for nice flavor and some healthy fats.

Similarly, you could add 1/2 cup or so of cashews at the same time as you add the tahini.

To add protein, try blending in some silken tofu, or simply adding some diced tofu at the end.

If you want protein but not soy, add in some beans, like cannellini, butter beans, or chickpeas.

In addition, pumpkin seeds, either as a garnish or blended in, provide another protein-packed option.

Of course, you can always play around with your spices. The wilted arugula and lemon juice is a great combination, but you could also add in:

• Turmeric
• Fenugreek
• Cumin
• Crushed red pepper flakes

You can also add nutritional yeast if you want a “cheesier” flavor, more like a broccoli cheddar soup.

As always, if you’re out of vegetable broth, you can just use water. You will be essentially making a vegetable broth out of it by cooking all of the vegetables and spices in it.

Tips for making this vegan green goddess soup

Color

For the prettiest color, stick with green and white vegetables.

If you really want the brightest, most photogenic soup, use water in place of vegetable broth and add baby spinach for vibrant color.

Cook time

Chop your broccoli into similarly sized pieces so it cooks evenly. The smaller the pieces, the faster it will cook (but the longer you will take chopping – tradeoffs).

Leave some broth behind

Depending on how big your blender is, you may want to just use a slotted spoon to add the vegetables to the blender. Then, add just enough broth for it to blend, and leave the rest of the broth in your pot.

Texture

On that note, if you like chunky vegetable soups, you can blend as few or as many vegetables as you want (or none!) and just mix everything back together at the end.

Using up scraps

Broccoli stems work well in this recipe, so if you used all your florets for something else, this recipe will help you use up what you have leftover.

Is soup really healthy?

Yes, soups are a great way to get your vegetables!

Blending does not destroy the fiber in the vegetables, and any cooking method that gets you to eat more of them is better than eating no vegetables at all.

While in some ways eating raw broccoli can be healthier (higher vitamin C), cooking broccoli significantly enhances its antioxidant activity, specifically its carotenoid content.

Carotenoids are antioxidants that support the immune system to help prevent disease.

How is this green soup different from split pea soup?

Split pea soup is higher in protein because it uses dried split peas (rehydrated during the cooking process) as the main ingredient. It sometimes also has ham, while this green goddess soup is vegan-friendly.

This green goddess soup has broccoli as the primary ingredient, and while it does contain a cup of frozen peas, the peas are more of a supporting ingredient.

In addition, peas are technically not vegetables. They are actually called pulses, meaning they come from legumes.

For that reason, you could almost think of split pea soup as closer to a bean soup, while green goddess soup is definitely more of a vegetable soup.

Other Vegetarian Soup recipes you may enjoy

• Irish vegetable soup
• German potato soup
• Mediterranean soup
• Butternut squash rosemary soup
• Vegan spicy zucchini soup

If you found this article helpful, please consider joining my email newsletter community for new recipes delivered straight to your inbox!

Ingredients for Green Goddess Soup

Before you begin, you will need:

Edible Ingredients

• 2 heads of broccoli
• 2 cups of baby arugula
• 1 onion
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 large or 3 small cloves of garlic
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup tahini (or sesame seeds if you have those)
• 1 quart vegetable broth
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Tools and Equipment

• Knife and cutting board
• Large pot like a Dutch oven
• Blender or immersion blender
• Citrus juicer
• Prep bowls
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Can opener
• Large stirring spoon

How to make green goddess soup

1. First, wash and chop your broccoli into medium-sized florets. Include the stem pieces once they have been cut to a similar size.
2. After that, peel and dice the onion. Once that is done, peel and mince the garlic.
3. Then, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add the onion and cook for about 3 minutes or until it starts looking translucent.
4. Add the garlic and cook for another 3 minutes or so until fragrant.
5. Then, add in the broccoli and the arugula, and saute for 5-7 minutes, until the broccoli becomes bright green and the arugula has wilted.
6. After that, add in the vegetable broth and tahini and bring to a boil. (You may want to turn the heat up to medium-high and put the lid on.)
7. Once the soup comes to a boil, cook for 7 minutes or until you consider the broccoli fully cooked. Add in the peas and cook for another minute or so to heat them up. Then, remove from heat for 5 minutes.
8. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup, or scoop it into a normal blender and process until smooth. Depending on how big your blender is, you may need to work in batches.
9. Once the soup is as smooth as you want it, stir in the coconut milk, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
10. Finally, garnish with additional peas, arugula, or a drizzle of olive oil, serve hot, and enjoy!

I hope you enjoy this simple and delicious green goddess soup recipe!