This healing and nutritious thirty-clove roasted garlic soup is full of anti-inflammatory, antibiotic and gut-loving properties. It’s a great soup for colds and flu or if you need to give your gut a little care. This recipe is paleo, gluten-free and vegan-friendly.
Thirty-Clove Garlic Soup
When I first received Lee Holme’s book Heal Your Gut, this was the first recipe I bookmarked. I love garlic for both its health benefits and the flavour, and I was intrigued by a recipe that used so much of it.
To my surprise, the garlic flavour in the soup wasn’t overpowering at all. I think mainly because the cloves are roasted first, which mellows out the garlic and makes it sweet and nutty. All I can say is this soup is freaking delicious!
Garlic and onion are the main ingredients in the soup, and although I think it’s lovely on its own, you can turn it into a more substantial meal by adding chopped-up carrots or pumpkin, broccoli, some chicken or strips or fish.
Make a large batch and use as a base for stews and vegetable braises too. It’s also AIP friendly, simply omit any chilli and if you’re following strict AIP, omit cumin too; use coconut oil instead of butter.
Here is what Lee says about this soup in her book Heal You Gut, “Garlic is one of the most powerful medicinal foods. Its anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, antibiotic and antiviral properties make it an incredibly important ingredient in the defence against digestive assaults of all varieties. Load on garlic’s goodness with this bold and flavourful soup.”
I’ve bookmarked a few other recipes to cook and I’ve been reading through all the insightful gut health info in the book. I was familiar with Lee’s eBook version of Heal Your Gut and her online program but it’s really nice to have the book in printed form. It’s full of great tips and knowledge, a multi-phase gut healing program, meal plans and gorgeous recipes. Check it out when you get a chance.
Notes For Making Roasted Garlic Soup
Below is the original recipe from the book, which I followed pretty closely except that I made a smaller batch. I used 2 bulbs of garlic instead of 3 and less stock, apple cider vinegar etc, but kept the cumin and turmeric in the same amounts because I love those spices.
I roasted the garlic for 30-35 mins as I think my oven is a little hotter and it looked like it would burn, I recommend keeping an eye on that part as burnt garlic goes a bit bitter and you want soft, golden brown, sweet garlic. I also cooked my soup for about 15 minutes, instead of 30, simply because I was short on time. It turned out great anyways.
I will definitely make this garlic soup again. It did feel very comforting and healing when I was eating it – garlic, turmeric, coconut milk – all the good stuff!
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Ingredients
- 3 bulbs garlic whole, unpeeled (heads of garlic, should yield about 30 cloves)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter can be ghee or coconut oil
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 1 litre vegetable stock or chicken broth (35 fl oz. / 4 cups)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 60 ml apple cider vinegar 2 fl oz. / 1/4 cup
- 1 tablespoon Tamari or coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs such as oregano thyme or sage (optional)
- sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
- 60 ml coconut milk 3 fl oz. / 1/4 cup (optional)
- Fresh herbs to serve (I used coriander/cilantro)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 175 C / 345 F.
- Slice 1-cm (1/2-in) off the top of each garlic bulb to expose the cloves, then place cut side down on a baking tray. Drizzle with the olive oil, then roast for 45 minutes (I did mine for 30-35 minutes as they were getting to brown). Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins into a bowl of a food processor or a blender. I add some of the stock or broth and then whizzed for a few seconds. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add the stock or broth, turmeric, cumin, vinegar, tamari, lemon juice, blended garlic and broth, and herbs, if using, then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low-medium, then simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes (the original recipe says 30 but mine worked very well in 15, in case you’re short for time).
- Finally, I added the coconut milk and stirred through. Taste for salt and add a little more if needed. My stock was salty enough that I didn’t need to add any more but I did add some chilli and cracked pepper. I garnished my soup with fresh coriander.
This is beautiful! I make a roasted garlic soup but I’m loving your addition of the turmeric! Will be trying this soon! Thank you!
I love anything with roasted garlic, and I can’t wait to try this out. The Indian type spices will be perfect for cold rainy spring days!
Do u know what the serving size and carb count per serving?
Not sure on the carb content (I would look at garlic and onion as your main carb sources here) and the portion size depends on whether you’re having this as the main dish or as a side/starter. I usually have it as a little side/starter and it’s about a cup.
Can this soup be frozen?
I would say yes.
I made this with brocolli and spinach added too, beautiful! Also if you wrap the cut garlic in tinfoil and throw it in the oven it still roasts without browning or burning. Thanks for the recipe!
The title says 30 (thirty) Clove Garlic & Onion Soup, but your recipe only uses 3. Is this an error?
3 garlic bulbs is 3 heads of garlic, so each one usually has about 10 cloves (I’ve clarified!)
Thought the apple cider vinegar was a bit overpowering. Definitely a bold flavor- if I made it again I would look for something to balance the acid.
I made this tonight, absolutely delicious! So much flavour!
Thanks, Marie. Glad you liked it so much. Irena
This is the most delicious and easy to make soup! Thank you!! Excited to try your other recipes:)
Thanks, Patty
My friend is waiting for results for the COVID-19 test. She has a horrific cough and fever. I made a triple batch of this and added some cayenne for a bit of a kick. She LOVED it. The next day, she was feeling better. The soup (I’m calling it a soup-tonic) along with lots of prayer…..thank you. Just a suggestion: if you don’t love lemon you might want to put less. If you don’t mind it, follow the amount. I also added organic chicken drumsticks and then took off the meat and chopped it up.
Absolutely delicious. I made this for my vegan wife and holistic therapist daughter. Both thought it absolutely delicious and packed with goodness. We are all recovering from flu and wanted something natural, nutritious and healthy. I used 40 cloves of purple garlic, instead of 30 and made rustic bread croutons on the side.
Thanks, Ian. Glad you enjoyed it and I hope you all recovered from the flu 🙂
Hi,
Can you make ahead and freeze this Antibiotic Garlic soup? It sounds wonderful!
Yes, it freezes well.
Absolutely delicious! I added a lot more cumin. I’m not a vegan or special [insert diet name] but I loved this soup. I’d like to keep this around for a standard part of my diet but I know I’ll be too lazy to do this weekly. Perhaps I’ll keep it as a treat once in a while.
Thank you!
Thanks, Brian, glad you enjoyed it.
I was handed an enormous number of garlic clove heads a couple days ago. This recipe was GENIUS! I added double the herbs and spices you suggested. It is perfect with crusty bread drizzled with olive oil. I skipped the vinegar and coconut milk, and it was still the hit of my very non-vegan household. Keep publishing these recipes! Brava, diva!
That sounds amazing, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Irena 🙂
Like you, I just love garlic and grow about 100 head a year. Not much left now but harvest is about end of July so can make this recipe then.
However, I am not seeing how you get 30 cloves in 3 heads of garlic. Mine produce 4 cloves/head on average. Now perhaps you use the soft neck variety that have lots of teeny cloves arranged in concentric layers. I grow hard neck variety.
Think the recipe should specify how much garlic is recommended, perhaps by weight? Or size of garlic head? Using 30 cloves of my garlic would send us to the moon as it is so powerful an herb.
So good! We made it using a leftover broth from our dinner last night and added noodles, sweetcorn and chicken. Thanks for a fab soup base recipe 👌
Hi Gab, that sounds amazing! Irena 🙂
So so good! I had some lemongrass chicken dumplings in the freezer which I threw in at the end. Flavour explosion
Made this recipe twice so far specifically for relief from diverticulitis flair up. Tastes great and offered some relief. Thank you so much for posting!
Thanks, Elyse. Good to know it was somewhat helpful to you.
I made this today and it was absolutely delicious!
So healthy as well!