Whether you believe in garlic’s legendary flu-fighting reputation or simply love its flavour, this creamy French Garlic Soup made with 50 cloves of garlic is pure comfort in a bowl!
Nagi's Notes
I know – 50 cloves of garlic sounds INSANE!!! But you will be so amazed, the garlic flavour in the soup is incredibly mild and mellow, sweetened from sautéing until golden in butter. There is no hint of harsh raw garlic flavour at all. It’s completely addictive and I swear it has worked wonders to cure my cold!!
PS While we don’t always use pre-peeled garlic, if there was ever a recipe where it’s encouraged, it would be this one! 🙂
50 Clove Garlic Soup
French Garlic Soup is a traditional rustic soup made by simmering a generous amount of garlic clove in a broth until it becomes sweet and mellow, without any trace of the harshness of raw garlic. There is no single way to make it, though there are some well known regional styles such as in South West France where garlic soup is finished with egg ribbons (tourin) and in Provence which is heavy on herbs and finished with a dollop of aoili.
The version I’m sharing today is a simple homestyle one that is my take on this French classic. I created it because the cold days are here in Australia and everyone seems to be getting unwell. Garlic is known for its “good-for-you” reputation, and though I can’t promise that a bowl of this soup will cure your cold, I can promise that there is no better way to consume five whole heads of garlic. And it will keep the vampires away!!
What Goes in Garlic Soup
Here is what you need. As Nagi mentioned above, you can use pre-peeled cloves to save time. However, I forbid you to use garlic in jar or tube form for this recipe!
Garlic – The star of the show. Fresh garlic only! This is one recipe where there’s really no substitute. Garlic pastes from jars or tubes have a noticeably different flavour because of the preservatives, often with a slightly sour taste. So don’t even think about it. (That’s the part when you’re supposed to say “Oui chef!”)
Onion – Essential flavour base, don’t skip it!
Potatoes – What makes the soup velvety. As they simmer, they break down and blend into a naturally creamy soup. Use the starchy kind:
– Australia – Sebago (dirty brushed / common washed potatoes), you can get it at any supermarket. Do not use the waxy kind (red potatoes, new potatoes) because they are low in starch and will not break down as much when boiling to create a creamy soup.
– US – Russet, Yukon Gold.
– UK – Maris Piper, King Edward.Vegetable stock / broth – The liquid for the soup. Tastier than water! Use low sodium, though if you’ve only got regular salted stock, just reduce the salt listed in the ingredients 1/2 teaspoon.
If you can make your own homemade vegetable stock, please do! You’ll have to increase the salt quantity by 1/2 teaspoon.
Cream – Thickened cream / heavy cream. Just enough to add richness and round out the flavours.
Butter – Unsalted, for sautéing the vegetables.
Salt – The usual cooking salt / kosher salt, for seasoning.
White pepper – I prefer white pepper here because it blends seamlessly into the soup, keeping the beautiful pale creamy colour free from little black speckles.
How To Make Garlic Soup
This is a very simple soup and if you’ve survived peeling five heads of garlic, you’ve already conquered the hardest part of this recipe. All you have left to do is gently cook the garlic until golden, simmer everything until the potatoes are tender, then blitz until silky smooth. It doesn’t get much easier than this!
Sauté the garlic in butter until light golden, stirring regularly to prevent it catching on the bottom of the pot. At this stage it should smell sweet and fragrant rather than sharp.
Add onion and cook for 2 minutes until softened. By then, the garlic should be golden.
Stir in potato and cook for 1 minute, to coat all pieces in the buttery garlic mixture.
Simmer – Add the stock, water, salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft (check with a knife).
Cream – Add the cream and simmer for another 1 minute.
Blitz and serve – Blitz with a stick blender until completely smooth. Taste, adjust the seasoning and thickness if needed or add more cream if you want a richer finish. Then ladle into bowls and I encourage you to garnish the soup with a crunchy topping – see next section.
Garnish options for Garlic Soup
I always like to garnish creamy soups with something that will bring a bit of texture. Croutons is the obvious choice (see here for recipe), or for an out-of-the-packet options, crispy fried shallots is convenient.
I’ve used panko breadcrumbs that I toasted with olive oil to make it golden and crunchy with a little pinch of salt and finely chopped parsley for a bit of colour. I like the way it can be sprinkled all across the surface of the soup so you get a bit of crunch in every spoonful – because there never seems to be enough croutons!
I’d love to hear what you think if you give it a try. And if you have any questions, please drop them below – I keep a close eye on questions for the first few days after publishing new recipes so I will be sure to answer them. Bon appétit! – JB
FAQ – 50 Clove Garlic Soup
Not at all! Raw garlic is sharp, but slowly cooking it in butter mellows it dramatically, bringing out its natural sweetness. The finished soup has a rich garlic flavour that’s delicate rather than overpowering.
Yes! Pre-peeled garlic works perfectly well and will save you a lot of peeling. The flavour is usually a little milder than freshly peeled garlic because it’s been washed and exposed to air, but the soup will still be delicious.
I don’t recommend using garlic from jars or squeeze tubes, though. They contain preservatives that give the garlic a slightly sour, artificial flavour, which really stands out in a recipe like this where garlic is the star.
Absolutely. It tastes also great the next day once the flavours have had time to develop. Reheat gently over a medium-low heat stirring regularly until hot.
Yes! Let the soup cool completely before freezing in airtight containers for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat gently on the stove. The panko garnish is best made fresh.
Watch How To Make It
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
50 Clove Garlic Soup
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp / 50g unsalted butter
- 1 2/3 cups / 250g (50 – 60 cloves) peeled garlic cloves, roughly chopped (5 medium bulbs ~ 60g / 2oz each before peeling) (Note 1 & 2)
- 1 small brown or yellow onion (or 1/2 large), diced small
- 1.5 kg / 3.3 lbs starchy potato , peeled and cut into 2.5cm / 1" cubes (Note 3)
- 3 cups vegetable stock / broth , salt-reduced (Note 4)
- 3 cups water
- 2 tsp cooking / kosher salt , halve for table salt
- 1/8 tsp white pepper powder
- 1/2 cup thickened cream (heavy cream)
Soup Garnish
- 2/3 cup panko breadcrumbs (Note 5)
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/8 tsp cooking / kosher salt , halve for table salt
- 2 tsp finely chopped parsley
Instructions
ABBREVIATED RECIPE:
- Cook garlic 5 minutes in butter. Onion 2 minutes, potato 1 minute then add stock, water, salt and pepper. Simmer 15 minutes. Add cream, cook 1 minute. Blitz and serve hot with garnish.
FULL RECIPE:
- Sauté – Heat butter in a large heavy base pot over medium high heat until melted. Add garlic and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. The garlic should be nicely golden on the edges. Don't let it brown too deeply or it can become bitter.
- Add onion and cook for 2 minutes until softened.
- Add potato and cook for 1 minute, stirring regularly.
- Simmer 15 minutes – Turn the stove up to high. Pour in stock and water. Season with salt and pepper. Stir, then once it comes to a simmer, lower the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes (no lid) until the potatoes are soft (check with a knife). (Note 6)
- Stir in cream, simmer for 1 minute.
- Blitz – Remove from the heat and use a stick blender to blitz until fully smooth. Or puree in batches in a blender. Adjust to taste – Add water if it's too thick, salt and pepper if needed, extra cream if you want it richer.
- Serve hot in bowls with toasted panko garnish, a drizzle of olive oil and warm crusty bread. 😋
Garnish (to make while the soup is cooking):
- Mix panko, olive oil and salt in a small bowl until all combined. Heat up a small frying pan over medium high heat. Place the panko into the pan and cook stirring constantly for 3 minutes until nicely golden all over. Remove from stove, toss in the parsley and set aside.
Recipe Notes:
- Australia – Sebago (dirty brushed / common washed potatoes you can get at any supermarket. Do not use red potatoes or new potatoes. The waxy kind that you use for potato salad because they are low in starch so will not break down as much when boiling to create a creamy soup).
- US – Russet, Yukon Gold
- UK – Maris Piper, King Edward
Nutrition Information:
Life Of Jaffle
Winter soups and Jaffle seem to go together very well! He spent the whole shoot sitting patiently in the studio with us, watching every bowl of garlic soup being photographed as if he was supervising the whole operation.
By the end of the shoot, all he wanted was a few pats and a cuddle, which, of course, he got. Life is exhausting when you’re the official RecipeTin Eats taste tester in training… even if you’re not allowed anywhere near the garlic!
Truly decadent and comforting. A family member commented that it felt like a starter soup at a restaurant.
We added some crispy bacon to the topping of panko as well. And I just need to watch the cooking of the garlic a little more as we did get a hint of bitter like was warned about.
Thank you for your comment Jaelynn! Like a restaurant, you’re a true chef!
Just like anything I seem to make in my “big pot” this soup gets better with age. I used chicken stock because that’s what I had, added some cheese and nutmeg bc why not! Also messed around with different panko combinations the next day – strongly recommend adding some aleppo pepper!
That sounds amazingly good! Thanks Krystal!
Have not made this recipe BUT. Could I ask the obvious question. Wouldn’t this soup be so garlicy in taste. Or does the frying in butter ease it.
Just made this for lunch. I just knew it it would be fantastic as I often roast whole bulbs of garlic for other things (eg. Yoghurt marinade for lamb with cumin and corriander). I wasn’t disappointed. Added bonus was I had all the ingredients on hand, and always have loads of garlic as the local Asian supermarket sell large nets of garlic for just a few AU dollars. I didn’t tell my other half what was in it (made it while she was out) as I knew she would be wary of the ’50’ cloves. She loved it. Thanks so much for yet another great recipe x
Hi Andrew, yes it does. Roasting the garlic in butter gives you a milder and sweeter taste. The soup is not garlicky at all. 🙂
EVERYONE loves the soup. It is just perfect for this cold night.
Thank you for this easy to follow recipe. Very yummy 😋
Just made this for lunch. I just knew it it would be fantastic as I often roast whole bulbs of garlic for other things (eg. Yoghurt marinade for lamb with cumin and corriander). I wasn’t disappointed. Added bonus was I had all the ingredients on hand, and always have loads of garlic as the local Asian supermarket sell large nets of garlic for just a few AU dollars. I didn’t tell my other half what was in it (made it while she was out) as I knew she would be wary of the ’50’ cloves. She loved it. Thanks so much for yet another great recipe x
You are welcome! Thank you for the feedback ♥️
Thank you Bonnie!
Thanks for the amazing recipe! This tasted delicious and was easy to put together. Looking forward to doing it at scale when hosting sometime.
Thank you for your lovely report on the soup! I appreciate it!
This is the best soup i have had in ages, so creamy and delicious. Thanks so much for sharing
Thanks for the feedback Rachel!
Hi Chef JB. The Chinese lady in my local Asian Store told me to soak the garlic cloves in water for a few hours, or preferably overnight. The skins then just rub off easily. She wasn’t wrong.
Hi Merilyn, that is also a good peeling technique, I’m glad it worked for you. 🙂
When I was in the Czech
Republic years ago with my son, we ordered garlic soup & tripe soup in a little roadside family restaurant & both were delicious. I’ve since tried to replicate them at home but never had the same flavour.
Both were creamy, delicate & very satisfying, I’m now going to make yours as it looks delicious.
Do you know how to make the tripe soup? I’d love that too.
Thank you.
Thank you for sharing your story Lucia, I hope you like this version.
Lovely soup, followed recipe to the letter but falls short of leek and potato soup.
Thanks for the feedback Brian!
OMG … this soup is amazingly good.
Thank you so much!!!
Made this soup today, very smooth and delicious served with French baguette, Yum
Perfect! Thanks Tania!
What’s the best substitute for cream to make this dairy-free please? Or should I just leave the cream out entirely? I usually sub with coconut cream in a soup, but I don’t think that would work so well here
Flora has a plant based cream at Coles/woolies. There’s also an oat one at Woolies. Haven’t tried them myself but hopefully that helps!
Thanks Natasha 🙂 I completely forgot about those! I haven’t tried them yet, either, but there’s no time like the present!
Hi Lisa, you can also use lactose free cream 🙂
Oh yeah, this soup was good! Even ‘The High Command’ said it was “OK”, high praise for a Southern Country Girl.
(Did a blog post about the whole procedure and yeah, I linked back to this site.)
Despite the Grand and Glorious mess I made, I’ll do this recipe again.
Cheers!
Thank you for the high praise!!
Jaffle is adorable! What a sweetie!
Not sure if this is common knowledge, but if you somewhat aggressively rub/roll each clove of garlic between your hands(like if you were trying to roll out a long rope of dough, but with more pressure) the skins peel off wayyyy easier than if you just jump right into trying to peel them
Hi Adeline, Thanks so much! Jaffle is certainly enjoying his new role as chief taste tester! I’m aware there are quite a few different ways to peel garlic, some easier and faster than others. For the recipe, I chose a method that would work for everyone and be easy to describe and follow, regardless of experience or the type of garlic they’re using. Thanks for sharing your technique though, I’m sure it’ll be helpful for other readers too! 🙂
Hi Jaffle, Clare forgot to add a rating (humans eh?). It is, obviously, a five, however, why is JB doing a dish we can’t eat? He, Nagi and Clare should always do recipes we can test – after all, you are the official tester and so am I at my place. Lots of licks Jaffle – Mac
Haha thank you Mac! I’m so happy to receive a message that is addressed directly to me! – Jaffle
Thanks JB – magnicent! Also, your way of peeling garlic saved me a lot of time – it is great! Jaffle is getting very big and is obviously already a natural food taster. All the best to you and the team.
Thank you for the kind word Clare!
Absolutely delicious. So smooth and velvety. I didn’t change a thing. Peeling the garlic left my fingers a bit sore but so worth it. Recommend brushed potatoes. The best winter soup ever 😋
Thanks Carla, I hope your fingers recovered quickly 🙂
Love this soup made it for the whole family
Thank you Vicki!
Thanks JB. The way he looked at you! So adorable 🐕🤗. That is what I first saw 🤭. But seriously, that soup looks easy to cook and yummy too, save for the garlic peeling which I usually don’t enjoy. We don’t have Pablo here (Uganda). But will try it with other bread. Cheers.
Thank you for your kind words Annette ♥️ I hope you get to make the soup soon.
Made this last night immediately after seeing the title… Yes yes yes!!! So so good JB!! Thank you. Made it with pre-peeled garlic which saved a lot of time. Will definitely be on the winter menu rotation moving forward.
Thank you for the feedback Jason! 🙂 I’m glad you like it!