Zucchini Yogurt Chilled Soup

A bowl of yogurt soup with zucchini, olive oil and mint. Bowl is shown on some rustic surface.

This Mediterranean Zucchini Yogurt Chilled Soup is a great light dinner option or a starter on hot days. It provides a refreshing, low carb and high protein option!

Course Side Dish, Soup

Cuisine Albanian, Mediterranean

Keyword chilled soup, cold soup, zucchini soup

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 20

Total Time 25

Servings serving

Calories 266kcal

Author Sonila

Ingredients

1 cup Greek Yogurt, unflavored
⅓ cup cold water (if yogurt is too thick)
0.5 zucchini
1 garlic clove
0.5 tsp salt
5 fresh mint leaves
1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

Wash, dry and slice zucchini.
Zucchini slices can be fried (traditional method), grilled or baked. Each method takes a different amount of time, but whichever you choose it still won't be more than 20 minutes. Sprinkle light salt over zucchini slices. Even if I'm preparing the soup for just one, I always cook a lot more zucchini than needed for the soup. So fill the tray up. Bake at 350-375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, flip halfway through. Note - use parchment paper or aluminum foil on the baking dish.
Let the zucchini cool on a wide dish. If you fried the zucchini, place paper towel on the plate to absorb the extra oil.
Smash garlic, salt and 1-2 mint leaves on a garlic mortar and pestle.
Mix yogurt with water. Then add garlic, salt and mint mix. Give it a thorough mix. Then add olive oil and mix it again. Finally add zucchini slices and garnish with mint. You can sprinkle some more olive oil on top as well.
You can serve right away or you can let it chill in the refrigerator for about half an hour for all the flavors to meld together.
Serve with some bread or as a starter for a bigger meal.

Video

Notes

Prep time will vary on what method you use to prepare the zucchini. If you fry it, you'll have the zucchini ready in about 10 minutes max and then you just prepare the soup later. If you bake or grill zucchini, you'll spend more time. However, you can also prepare zucchini ahead of time and let it chill in an air tight container in the refrigerator and just use it to make the soup when it's dinner time.
Taste - if you are familiar with Mediterranean cuisine, chances are you'll love this cold soup. If this will be the first time you'll try it, then be flexible with garlic and mint first, go slow and you can always add. For me that I grew up with cold yogurt soups in the summer time, this is a soup that I crave especially on hot summer dinners. However, I'm aware that it is an acquired taste for people who are not familiar with these types of food:). Let me know what you think about it after you try it.
Back home we used to prepare a bowl of this cold soup for 4 people, but the instructions above are for 1 serving only. Even if you are making this for one person, take advantage of when you're cooking the zucchini to make a full tray of it, not just one serving.

Nutrition