This soup is so easy to prepare and tastes better than most soups you could buy. Mild onion and anise flavored - it's awesome!
So easy and delicious. I get organic fruits/vegs delivered to my door, and my box contained fennel this week. I have never cooked with it before and decided to try this recipe. I only used 1 fennel bulb, and added cubed potato to bulk it up. I pureed some of it so that it had a creamy texture but still contained chunks of fennel and potato. I just ate 3 bowls.....I will make this again!
Read MoreI made this minus the butter and then mashed up the fennel to make the soup. It was tasty but warning that fennel is somewhat of a laxative. Good for diet lovers!
Read MoreSo easy and delicious. I get organic fruits/vegs delivered to my door, and my box contained fennel this week. I have never cooked with it before and decided to try this recipe. I only used 1 fennel bulb, and added cubed potato to bulk it up. I pureed some of it so that it had a creamy texture but still contained chunks of fennel and potato. I just ate 3 bowls.....I will make this again!
I never knew how much I loved fennel until I tried this soup! It has a delicious, mild flavor; the flavor of the ingredients are really allowed to come through.
Wow! So wonderful and unexpected! I absolutely love this soup. I made it as a starter for a fancy dinner party, and everyone loved it. The first question was 'what is in this?' It seems most people have never even tried fennel. I made 2 changes. I cubed the fennel since my bulbs were large, and I used half veg broth and half chicken broth. This is one of my absolute favorite soup recipes now!
Delicous!! And so easy! The fennel itself makes this seem like a complex blend of subtle flavors. I used chicken broth, pureed the soup, and it made a perfect, creamy comfort food. This will be a regular in my kitchen. Yummy!
Classy, not to mention quick and easy to make! I don't really like anise, but really enjoyed this soup, it also reheats and freezes well; an added bonus ;)
This is a good recipe to use with fennel that isn't super fresh and tender. The flavor was excellent, and I enjoyed it, but I think it would be wonderful with some heavy cream, and maybe even some potato. I'll try that this weekend. Thanks!
Very tasty and easy soup! I used olive oil and added some spices but even without these changes I think it would've been good. The taste of fennel is very mild.
Even though I consider myself a quite good and well versed cook, until now I had never cooked with fresh fennel. It had just never occurred to me. A friend brought me some beautiful fennel from the organic veggie co-op she uses. I just made this soup tonight. I did it just as the author said, then halved the finished product. I left half just as it was, and to the other half I added some diced onion, milk, some of the fennel leaves and extra fresh ground pepper. I pureed my version in the blender. Both are fantastic and totally different. I love the author's version for an autumn dish served hot and would go beautifully with lamb, and I think mine would be very nice as a cold soup for summer, with chicken or fish. It's chilling right now. I'm pleased to find such a simple and versatile recipe for such an interesting and underrated vegetable. I intend to make it again and again, trying different things here and there. Awesome recipe!
This could be the easiest 'fancy' recipe ever. Very delicious. Reheats well too.
Good recipe - I didn't have vegetable broth on hand, so used water, some garlic powder, parsley, basil, dash of olive oil, and a small tomato. Fennel flavor is mild as others have said. I would definitely say the butter should be reduced, likely by half.
Oh, my! I'm pretty sure they serve this soup in heaven, that's how good it is! Per other reviewers, I added some diced potato and pureed the soup before serving. Also, I double the recipe, but kept the butter amount the same and it was still rich and delicious! Finally, instead of the onion powder suggested by some, I sauteed some green onion tops with the fennel instead. This has been added to our Thanksgiving menu for this year, yum!
I made this minus the butter and then mashed up the fennel to make the soup. It was tasty but warning that fennel is somewhat of a laxative. Good for diet lovers!
This is simply the best dish I have ever made, ever! Delicious and so easy! Plus no onions so no tears! I added 4 cloves of crushed garlic, a small tin of tomato purée and some cubed potato. Swapped butter for olive oil. Sprinkled ground fennel seed on the top before serving. The result is absolutely addictive. Thank you Adam for the awesome recipe. I'm so proud of my new speciality :-)
I can't believe how wonderful this simple recipe is. I had never had fennel before, but on a whim I bought some at the grocery store, and then had no idea what to do with it. Luckily I came across this recipe and it has been one of my favorite things ever since. I vary it occasionally, my favorite is to add a few shallots, a splash of half and half, and then puree until smooth. Awesome! Thank you so much for submitting this recipe!
This recipe introduced my brother to fennel, which he has now declared "the perfect vegetable". It's a great recipe for guests.
I found this recipe very fennel friendly for one who had never cooked it before. I almost threw out the fennel bulb - thankfully checked out all recipes first. I made similar changes as others - added 4 yukon gold potaoes, 2 cans of chicken broth, and blended with a stick blender. Tastey and hearty - no hint of licorice. Will definitely make again.
This was a nice soup, something different. Next time I will cook the fennel in my cast iron skillet first so that it browns more. I halved the butter and it worked perfectly.
I grew some fennel for the first time and didn't know what to do with it. Tried this recipe since it was quick and easy. I was really surprised how good it was. I used chicken broth and then topped with a few green onion-really good. I might try adding potatoes and other root vegetables in the future, maybe even pureeing everything with cream but the recipe is good just as is.
So easy to make! And it tastes is simple and yummy. I was worried it was going to taste like black licorice (which I am not a fan of) but it just barely had a hint of it and it was good.
I really enjoyed this soup! Mild and tasty, and so simple! I added the fennel leaves and small areas of the stalks. Even more delicious that way! Might benefit from 1 or 2 more seasonings, but not sure what....
Great recipe, but instead of veg broth I used chicken, and while simmering I added a whole unchopped garlic clove. just before serving I added a little chopped shallot as well. Yummy and pretty too.
Quite nice. This was my second time cooking with fennel. I added a pinch of dried herbes de Provence. I also used freshly ground white pepper. This has a nice peppery taste. It's delicate.
I thought this soup was excellent, but would make some suggestions. I have never cooked with fennel and the ones I bought at the store were huge. I only bought two and thought it was plenty. I also did not realize the greens at the tops are too tough even if cooked, so just cut it down to the bulb. I did quarter my bulbs as instructed in the recipe but found it to be too big of pieces for a soup. I would advise cutting them into smaller pieces to make the soup easier to eat. I thought the 1/4 cup butter was the right amount because I had to brown so much fennel for the recipe. I agree with others that potatoe would make a nice addition to the fennel.
Delicious! Even the huz loved it. Four stars instead of five only because I altered the original recipe. Used olive oil instead of butter to saute. Coarse chopped fennel bulbs instead of only quartering. Added whole cloves of garlic and cubed yukon gold potatoes. Used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth. Used an immersion blender to thicken the soup but left some big chunks of fennel, potatoes, and garlic. Yum.
Easy and delicious! I used gee instead of butter,and added 3 cloves of garlic and about 1/2 of a wholecauliflower and puréed it with my wand. I can’t believe how yummy and creamy it is. Cauliflower makes it creamy like potatoes, but without all the starch and many more vitamins.
I saw very skeptical, but this was so delicately flavored and delicious. I look forward to more fresh fennel next spring so I can make it again!
This is the best soup Fennel soup I have ever had the pleasure of trying! It's beautiful. It's light yet there is so much flavor going on. It's a perfect winter soup, comfort food, anytime soup. It's a must try for anyone that loves a good taste.
Great easy soup for spring or fall. We did add (yellow new) potatoes and after the first bowl topped with green onion. This recipe would also be easy to modify and add other ingredients, such as root vegetables.
I sautéed the fennel with onions and garlic, added bulgur wheat, and crushed red pepper. Very good, will try with potatoes next time. I made this a second time with potatoes and used Emerson blender and it was amazing!!! It has become one of favorites and made often in our house.
I've never had fennel before so this was a wonderful surprise treat for me. It oozed sophistication with just the right amount of beauty when plated. After reading reviews, I decided to add 2 medium potatoes to the soup which in my eyes puts this recipe at 5 stars. The potatoes added a slight richness and creamy texture once pureed. Without the potatoes, I feel the recipe is still good and worthy of 4+ stars. Used the 1/4 cup smart balance spread to cut calories and it was still buttery and delicious. Fresh cracked sea salt and pepper with a dollop of sour cream on the soup before serving... So tasty!! Next time I will also garnish with scallions or fresh chopped parsley on top of sour cream. I'm a fan of fennel now :) Thanks!
i still cant believe how good this recipe is! i boil some chicken and use the chicken broth. its the easiest recipe in the world!!
Really great simple soup. First time trying fennel and I love it. Added German baby potatoes and it came out perfect.
Simple and quick. Added potatoes, used chicken stock and blended as suggested by many reviewers. Great suggestions. I added chopped green onions as serving time. Bacon bits would be another good topping.
Found this recepie when looking for something to do with the fennel I purchased. Excellent soup! Very easy to prepare.
I was out of vegetable broth so I used chicken broth instead. I'm not a fennel fan at all but I loved this soup! It was quick and so good the family cleaned the pot! Will make it again for sure.
I used a bullion base for the broth and an additional teaspoon of a spicy seasoning. I blended the soup. Love the smooth and rich flavors.
The only reason I made this was I received a fennel in my bountiful basket. I actually wasnt sure what it was at first. Anyways, I thought I would try this. It was awesome. My family loved it and there were no leftovers. I did add a few potatoes like others had and blended some of it to make it creamy.
I really didn't expect something so simple to be so good!! Made a smaller portion, added a dash of garlic powder, and blended at the end with a little bit of leftover mashed potatoes to thicken it up a bit. My friend who's very picky was impressed!
Delicious! Even the kids liked it with a rustic bread for dipping. I pureed it in my cuisinart before serving, otherwise I followed the recipe exactly, cutting off the tops of the fennel totally. (I'd never cooked with it before.)
I admit I don't have much experience with eating fennel. With that said, this soup is okay. It gets stars for being very easy to make. I did not like the look of the soup and did what others did by blending it. It looks more appetizing now.
Easy to make and excellent flavors! I added one large potato, cut into small pieces, at the time of adding the broth (I used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth)...I also added a 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder at this time. I cooked the soup until the potato pieces were tender, then blended about half the soup to a puree and poured the puree back into the soup pot. I then stirred in about 1/4 cup of heavy cream and topped the soup with some fennel fronds before serving.
Yum. Followed the suggestion to add potatoes and to puree. Turned out great. I'll admit I was pretty skeptical about the fennel I received in my co-op box, but after trying this soup I would buy it outright. Love this soup!
What a great recipe---minimal ingredients, easy to fix, and a very sophisticated, mild taste. If you like fennel at all, this is very tasty. Definitely something I'll use again.
i found this soup to be very bland. it definitely needs onions and more oomph. it was too late to add onions, so i added white wine at the end, and served it w/ a garnish of toasted pine nuts.
I loved this recipe. Have made it a few times. Today I mixed it up and made it with coconut oil vs butter. Sauted with garlic. Omitted the chicken stock and just added water, a dash of sea salt and red pepper flakes....WOW...AMAZING!
This recipe was delicious but it needed just a minor adjustment. I sautéed some potatoes with the fennel and then put the entire pot of soup in the blender and left it just a little chunky. I would definitely recommend this soup!
This is a really solid recipe. Instead of quartering the fennel bulbs, I removed the tough core from each and sliced each bulb into strips about a centimeter wide or so. I sautéed this, a few diced tomatoes, and some chopped garlic in a whole stick of butter for a while until the fennel pieces reached the consistency of a cooked onion. This recipe is really solid in its own right, but also lends itself well to experimentation with spices and other ingredients!
An exceptional and simple delicious recipe! It’s amazing how well fennel stands on its own.
Such a nice buttery taste, I really loved it... added full fat yogurt, onion and garlic powder.
I followed a reviewers suggestion and pureed this soup and it was delicious and elegant!
It really is simple to make and there is no need to throw in extra flavorings. The fennel bulb has ample interest and texture on its own. I would be glad to serve this at a dinner party. Next time, I will add some potatoes to make it a little hardier.
I followed some of the other suggestions: added some diced potatoes, blended about 1/2 of the soup to create a more creamy mixture. I also added about 3/4 of a lb of sauteed loose mild Italian sausage at the end for extra flavor. A great meal, easy, cheap and tasty.
What a surprise, a great surprise. Like othee reviewers i added garlic powder, diced potatoes and i hand mixed the soup to break down most of the fennel into liquid, leaving some chunks.
Very tasty. I like to tinker with recipes so I added some basil. Right before serving, added dry fried garlic and dry fried red onion.
this was awesome! the only change I made was to add some diced potato on the advice of other reviews. Spectacularly easy and delicious!
So I guess if I was going to have eat fennel, this is how I would prepare it again. This recipe has a nice way of combining the butter and fennel flavors to make a fair to mediocre soup. I find the taste of fennel in general very challenging anyway. I received some of it in my CSA box. This the recipe I tried. It is creative and transitions fennel from my occasional ingredient to a main dish. Honestly this is not a recipe that I would prepare often but a good one nonetheless.
I really enjoyed this. I never used fennel before, and am amazed at the results of this fennel soup. Will definitely make this again.
Yumm!! I love how simple this recipe is, and how quick to make too. It's also a bonus for me that it's milk- and cream-free. It makes a cheap meal! The taste was delicious - creamy and fragrant - we thoroughly enjoyed it. I blended the soup a bit just before serving, with an immersion blender, but left some chunks of fennel. It was pretty wonderful with sourdough bread and butter!
This is a really simple, delicious soup option. The fennel really is so mellow. I used olive oil instead for a non-dairy version, but I'm not sure I got the proportions right, because it was pretty oily. I really don't think you need a lot of oil - just enough to keep the fennel sauteing for 10 min. I'm interested in any additional spices or veggies that people have added in.....thoughts?
Wow I've never actually had fennel before and when I first smelled it and tasted it I thought of those Italian cookies. My family has a farm share and we get veggies every week and this week included fennel. This soup is so simple yet amazing! I too added the potatoes and it took a bit longer to cook to soften both produce.
We made this using chicken broth instead of veggie and added onions, potatoes and fresh parsley. Made for a great hearty soup. Will try again and probably "tweak" again, lol, that's just what I do :)
Surprisingly good. Didn't want to let some fennel bulbs I had bought go to waste so decided on trying this one out. Simple and flavorful.
I have to say that this smelled terrible while it was cooking, but I am glad that I did not throw it out before trying it. I did not actually eat it until the following day, so all the flavours had time to meld together overnight. I followed the directions and did not make any changes or additions to the ingredients, although I did scale the recipe down to 2 servings and I pureed it. I thought it was a great pureed soup!
I followed the direction of others and added 2 potatos and a leek. I also added the sourcream, then pured the soup. It is very good.
This soup was awesome. Super easy and delicious. I added red pepper flakes and some cranks of my "all-seasoning" spice grinder for flair, but the fennel becomes a fabulous texture and is so delicately flavored, the butter from cooking the fennel makes the soup feel just a little decadent. Next time I want to add some fish or shrimp, that would be awesome. It was a hit with my boyfriend who calls fennel "the sausage vegetable".
NICE RECIPE. I'M NOT A BIG FAN OF FENNEL, BUT MY HUSBAND IS , SO I MADE THIS FOR HIM. HE LOVED IT. NICE FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT. I FOLLOWED IT EXACTLY.
Fabulous! I wasn't sure when to put the potatoes in, so found a recipe for fennel and purple potatoes, saw that they recommended cooking the fennel for 5 minutes before adding the potatoes and cooking for about 15 minutes more in the broth. I used plenty of Himalayan sea salt and pepper. I think I will add red onion next time when I'm cooking the fennel, but it was easy and wonderful just like this..
When I tasted it, I felt like a Lord. It tastes classy, if that's even possible.
Dee-licious! Very easy, followed the recipe nearly to a T, although I seasoned the soup immediately after adding the broth (light garlic powder, salt, black pepper) and used a hand blender to cream it up a bit. One pot, few ingredients and fast for an impressive soup!
Absolutely delicious! The simplicity of this recipe lets the rich fennel flavor come through! My husband and I have quite a few fennel in the garden, and now we have the perfect recipe! Thank you Adam!
Seriously, this was some of the best soup I've ever had!!! I was worried about the fennel being too stiff (since I'm used to chopping it in smaller pieces), and so I cooked it about 20 minutes longer than suggested in the vegetable broth. Browning it first in butter gave it an amazing taste! And, when I had the soup, it was the most amazing taste! I also LOVED the texture of the fennel, which was almost like the heart of an artichoke (another texture I love). This soup is a keeper, and I will definitely be making it again!!! Many thanks!!!
I added diced potato and chopped roasted and skinned chestnuts, and then pureed the soup. Excellent. If I make it again, I will add another herb in addition to bay leaves.
I love fennel so was sure I'd love this recipe. I followed the recipe exactly but found it to be very bland.
Delicious and so easy, this recipe is very flexible. With only one fennel bulb, Benecol instead of butter, and chicken stock instead of vegetable broth, the onion and fennel cooked in the broth, it was totally tender and so tasty!
Very mild flavor. The anise flavor over powers the Fennel tremendousely.
I gave it a three-star because me and my family weren't crazy about it. I did put it in the blender and made it smoother and added sour cream at the table but won't make it again.
What a great recipe---minimal ingredients, easy to fix, and a very sophisticated, mild taste. If you like fennel at all, this is very tasty. Definitely something I'll use again.
We loved this! Made with two large bulbs from our CSA and the listed amount of broth. Perfect for a cold central NY night while we await election results. I puréed it, too and my wife marveled at how creamy it seemed. Definitely a keeper.
This is a super recipe! I added one garlic clove and two celery stalks to the soup, I also blended the soup when it was finished. In addition to the fennel sprigs, I served the soup with a dollop of light sour cream and a some chopped green onion. Perfection!
I used it as a jumping point when working with a Fennel Bulb that came with my Misfits box order. I did not make it as listed but it is probably excellent that way too! I had only 1 Fennel Bulb so I filled out with 2 large yellow squash. I also didn't have vegetable broth but had chicken. I made a sort of Roux paste with 2.5TB cornstarch added to the melting butter then whisked to a paste then slowly incorporated the broth (this takes 20 seconds from start to finish on my gas stove). 20 minutes later I used a stick blender to partly blend it.
