Low-Fat Soup Recipes: 8 Comforting Bowls Under 5 g of Fat

Soup is the most forgiving thing you can cook on a low-fat diet. Nearly everything that makes a bowl taste rich — long simmering, aromatics, starch from potato or lentil, a squeeze of acid at the end — costs almost nothing in fat.

The two places fat does creep in are predictable: the oil you start the pan with, and the cream you finish it with. Both have straightforward replacements, and once you know them, most soups on a menu can be rebuilt at home for a fraction of the fat.

Eight bowls below, all under 5 g of fat per serving. Most freeze well, and several are better on the second day.

If you want one soup to start with rather than eight, the low-fat tomato and basil soup has its own page with the method written out in full.

Two of the recipes on this site now have photographs and their own pages: the low-fat tomato and basil soup and, for after, the warm berry compote.

---

1. Classic Chicken and Vegetable Soup

The one to know by heart. Skinless breast keeps it lean, and the flavour comes from simmering time rather than from fat.

Fat: 2.8 g  ·  Calories: 215  ·  Serves: 6  ·  Prep: 15 min  ·  Cook: 40 min

Ingredients

• 400 g skinless chicken breast
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 celery sticks, sliced
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1.5 litres low-sodium chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 100 g small pasta or rice (optional)
• Salt, pepper, chopped parsley
• Cooking spray

Instructions

1. Mist a large pot and soften onion, carrot, and celery over medium heat for 6 minutes.
2. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
3. Pour in the stock, add chicken, bay leaf, and thyme, and bring to a gentle simmer.
4. Simmer 20 minutes, then lift the chicken out, shred it with two forks, and return it to the pot.
5. Add pasta or rice if using and simmer until tender. Season, finish with parsley.

---

2. Creamy Tomato Basil Soup (No Cream)

Blended potato does what cream does — thickens and softens the acidity — for a fraction of the fat. This is the recipe that convinces most people the swap works.

Fat: 1.6 g  ·  Calories: 175  ·  Serves: 4  ·  Prep: 10 min  ·  Cook: 30 min

Ingredients

• 2 tins (800 g) chopped tomatoes
• 1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves
• 700 ml low-sodium vegetable stock
• 1 tsp sugar
• Large handful fresh basil
• 2 tbsp evaporated skim milk (optional)
• Salt, black pepper, cooking spray

Instructions

1. Soften onion in a misted pot for 5 minutes, add garlic for 1 minute.
2. Add tomatoes, potato, stock, and sugar; simmer 25 minutes until the potato is completely soft.
3. Blend until smooth — a stick blender is easiest.
4. Stir in torn basil and the evaporated milk if using, season, and serve.

---

3. Lentil and Carrot Soup

Cheap, filling, and nearly fat-free. Red lentils break down on their own, so no blending is required unless you want it smooth.

Fat: 1.9 g  ·  Calories: 240  ·  Serves: 5  ·  Prep: 10 min  ·  Cook: 35 min

Ingredients

• 250 g red lentils, rinsed
• 3 carrots, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1.2 litres low-sodium vegetable stock
• Juice of half a lemon
• Salt, pepper, cooking spray

Instructions

1. Soften onion and carrot in a misted pot for 6 minutes.
2. Add garlic and the dry spices and stir for 30 seconds until fragrant.
3. Add lentils and stock, bring to the boil, then simmer 25-30 minutes until the lentils collapse.
4. Stir in lemon juice, season, and thin with a little water if it has gone very thick.

---

4. Butternut Squash and Ginger Soup

Roasting the squash first concentrates the sweetness, which is what makes this taste far richer than its fat content suggests.

Fat: 1.4 g  ·  Calories: 160  ·  Serves: 4  ·  Prep: 15 min  ·  Cook: 45 min

Ingredients

• 1 kg butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 onion, quartered
• 3 cm fresh ginger, grated
• 2 garlic cloves
• 900 ml low-sodium vegetable stock
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• Salt, white pepper, cooking spray
• Chopped chives to finish

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200C / 400F. Spread squash and onion on a lined tray, mist with cooking spray, and roast 30 minutes.
2. Tip the roasted vegetables into a pot with garlic, ginger, stock, and nutmeg.
3. Simmer 10 minutes, then blend until completely smooth.
4. Season carefully — squash takes more salt than you expect — and finish with chives.

---

5. Minestrone with Small Pasta

A whole meal in a bowl. The beans and pasta do the filling; the parmesan usually responsible for the fat is replaced by a much smaller amount, grated finely so it goes further.

Fat: 2.2 g  ·  Calories: 255  ·  Serves: 6  ·  Prep: 15 min  ·  Cook: 35 min

Ingredients

• 1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks, all diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 courgette, diced
• 1 tin (400 g) chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin (400 g) cannellini beans, drained
• 1.3 litres low-sodium vegetable stock
• 80 g small pasta
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 100 g green beans, cut short
• 1 tbsp finely grated parmesan per bowl (optional)
• Salt, pepper, cooking spray, fresh basil

Instructions

1. Soften onion, carrot, and celery in a misted pot for 8 minutes.
2. Add garlic and oregano for 1 minute, then tomatoes and stock.
3. Simmer 15 minutes, then add courgette, green beans, cannellini, and pasta.
4. Cook 10 minutes more until the pasta is done. Season and finish with basil and, if using, a light grating of parmesan.

---

6. Split Pea Soup with Lean Ham

The traditional version relies on a fatty ham hock. Lean gammon or turkey ham gives you the same smoky depth without carrying the fat into the pot.

Fat: 3.4 g  ·  Calories: 280  ·  Serves: 6  ·  Prep: 10 min  ·  Cook: 60 min

Ingredients

• 400 g dried split peas, rinsed
• 150 g lean gammon or turkey ham, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 celery sticks, diced
• 1.5 litres low-sodium stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• Salt, plenty of black pepper, cooking spray

Instructions

1. Soften onion, carrot, and celery in a misted pot for 6 minutes.
2. Add split peas, ham, stock, bay leaf, and thyme.
3. Bring to the boil, then simmer partly covered for 50-60 minutes, stirring occasionally so it does not catch.
4. Remove the bay leaf. Blend half the soup for texture, or leave it rustic. Season generously with pepper.

---

7. Chicken Tortilla Soup

The strips go in the oven rather than the fryer — the single change that takes this from a heavy bowl to a light one.

Fat: 3.8 g  ·  Calories: 290  ·  Serves: 4  ·  Prep: 15 min  ·  Cook: 30 min

Ingredients

• 300 g skinless chicken breast
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tin (400 g) chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin (400 g) black beans, drained
• 200 g sweetcorn
• 1 litre low-sodium chicken stock
• 2 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 2 corn tortillas, cut into strips
• Lime wedges, coriander, cooking spray

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 200C / 400F. Spread the tortilla strips on a tray, mist lightly, and bake 8 minutes until crisp.
2. Soften onion in a misted pot for 5 minutes, add garlic and spices for 1 minute.
3. Add tomatoes, stock, and chicken; simmer 20 minutes, then shred the chicken and return it.
4. Stir in beans and sweetcorn and heat through.
5. Serve topped with the baked strips, coriander, and a good squeeze of lime.

---

8. Miso Vegetable Noodle Soup

Fifteen minutes start to finish, and the lightest bowl here. Good on the days when appetite is small but you still need to eat something warm.

Fat: 1.1 g  ·  Calories: 195  ·  Serves: 2  ·  Prep: 8 min  ·  Cook: 10 min

Ingredients

• 1 litre low-sodium vegetable or dashi stock
• 2 tbsp white miso paste
• 100 g soba or rice noodles
• 150 g pak choi, sliced
• 100 g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 carrot, cut into ribbons
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• Soy sauce to taste

Instructions

1. Bring the stock to a simmer with the ginger; do not boil it hard.
2. Add noodles and mushrooms and cook 4 minutes.
3. Add carrot and pak choi and cook 2 minutes more, until just tender.
4. Take the pot off the heat, then whisk the miso with a ladle of the broth and stir it back in — boiling miso dulls the flavour.
5. Top with spring onions and a little soy sauce.

Two swaps that make almost any soup low-fat

Start the pan without oil. A tablespoon of olive oil is about 14 g of fat, and in a soup it is doing almost nothing you would notice. Cooking spray, or simply a splash of stock in a hot non-stick pot, softens onions just as well. This one change is usually the difference between a 3 g bowl and a 10 g one.

Thicken with starch, not cream. A blended potato, a handful of red lentils, or a portion of the soup itself put through a blender all give you body without dairy fat. Evaporated skim milk, stirred in off the heat, covers the last of it when you want a genuinely creamy finish.

Making them last

All eight freeze except the noodle soup, which goes soft — freeze that broth on its own and add fresh noodles when you reheat. Cool soups quickly, portion them into single servings, and label them with the date and the fat per serving; that second number turns the freezer into a planning tool rather than a mystery.

Where to go from here

For the rest of the day, the companion pieces are low-fat breakfast ideas and 15-minute low-fat lunches. If a soup is the starter rather than the meal, one-pot low-fat dinners covers the same equipment and the same washing-up.

The free 20-recipe collection is a printable PDF with fat per serving stated on every recipe, across eleven cuisines.

And for the full system — 120 recipes sorted into recovery phases, a 5-week plan and its shopping lists — there is the Pancreatitis Diet Cookbook for Beginners.