Fat Free Beetroot Soup Recipe

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A beetroot soup brimming with flavour is possible if one combines onion, garlic, beetroot, and stock. To make such a soup fat-free (and alcohol-free), however, would likely require some extra flavours. Vegan soup can be prepared with just water and seasoning rather than stock, but it's mainly limited to fat-free vegan cuisine . The aim of this soup is health ultimately rather than gourmet flavour, but part of a healthy recipe is to be a desirable recipe to consume. With its few extra flavours, the already tasty beetroot soup is indeed a yummy, nutritious, guilt-free soup suitable for most dietary requirements.

My recipe brings in extra flavour, which is found in the addition of leek and carrot to the soup as well as a topping with fresh herbs and lime juice. Making a leek and carrot soup was such a memorable taste sensation, so I decided to make a beetroot soup that had the best of both beetroot soup and carrot-leek soup. Without any added fat, meaning no stock or olive oil, seasoning the soup is important. By adding pepper and salt initially at the cooking stage, the salt slightly increases the cooking temperature while the pepper is quite harmonious with the other vegetables. Then, seasoning to taste is done at the blending stage to make the soup a desirable savouriness. Despite the reference recipe using garlic, I found garlic was entirely optional, but if wanting to experiment with added garlic as an immune booster, then one or two teaspoons of crushed garlic at the cooking stage is relatively harmless but extra healthy. It may not complement the lime juice garnish as well as a garlic-free recipe, but could be a new taste sensation.

With its topping of lime juice, designed to be thoroughly stirred into the served soup, that addition was not affected by the extra carrot and leek ingredients. Unfortunately, lime squeeze is not a great idea; instead, fresh lime is really important, as it creates a taste sensation by accentuating the strong beetroot flavour as well as making the dish very fragrant. It significantly improves the soup's flavour without using added fat. So, rather than a dour two- or three-ingredient soup, the recipe is still a mainly beetroot-inspired affair but wonderfully accentuated with several other harmonious flavours.

While beetroot is known to be expensive, the price of a medium to large beetroot can be between $1-1.50 in Australia. The Australian beetroot season is traditionally wintertime, so generally during winter the quality increases while the price lowers. Therefore, late autumn to early spring is a useful time to try this recipe, especially as most of the other ingredients are also winter root vegetables and bulbous vegetables.

Ingredients (Serves 2-4 mugs or small bowls): Ingredients can be doubled or tripled for more soup.
Two cups of water - to be added to a saucepan. and an extra cup of cold water for blending.
One medium beetroot peeled (optionally) and chopped into small pieces.
A quarter of a medium to large brown onion, peeled and chopped into small pieces.
One small carrot, peeled (optionally) and chopped into small pieces.
A cup of chopped, thoroughly washed leek, tail end, top end, or a bit of both ends.
A quarter of a lime to squeeze on the soup
An (optional for garnish) sprig of continental parsley, finely chopped; stems can be omitted.
Five thorough grinds of black pepper.
A teaspoon of salt and extra salt to taste.

Method
1. Boil two cups of water in a saucepan.
2. Add all the chopped vegetables to the saucepan.
3. Add a teaspoon of salt and the recommended five thorough grinds of black pepper.
4. Bring to a gentle boil so the mixture can be seen as bubbling at the top, place the lid on the saucepan, reduce heat by at least 50 percent as the lid creates extra temperature, and allow to boil, seeing bubbling at the top of the saucepan, for 25 minutes.
5. Switch off the heat, but let the mixture cool on the stove for a further ten minutes.
6. Transfer to a heat-proof container like a sturdy plastic jug for immersion blending, or alternatively, if using a tall saucepan, immersion blend in the saucepan or in a blender of choice.
7. Using the last cup of water, add it to the saucepan to catch any remaining mixture and add it to the container/blender, or if choosing to blend in the saucepan, add it to further cool the mixture. If using an immersion blender, blend on a low setting, and once pulverised, blend on a higher setting. Using a few tasting spoons (which implies three or more teaspoons), taste the soup, and add salt gradually to taste. After each addition of salt, taste the soup, and if necessary, add further salt. That way, the soup won't be seasoned excessively; rather, it will be seasoned to one's liking.
8. Transfer to a bowl or mug of one's choice and top with a little bit of optional finely chopped continental parsley, and then squeeze some fresh lime juice on top. Stir the fresh lime juice into the serving of soup, and it is now ready to serve and consume.

While it seems a bit basic, I realised I should mention that cleaning the blending and cooking equipment nice and early on or prior to serving is surprisingly useful because beetroot stains carpets and other household items, etc.

Photos







Note all photos used in this review were courtesy of the review's author in April 2025.

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