This yellow squash and pea soup is a cold, creamy bowl for Full GAPS, made with homemade chicken meat stock rather than milk or cream. The squash gives it a soft yellow base, the peas bring a little sweetness, and onion and garlic keep it savory. A few reserved peas go on top just before serving. They stay distinct from the blended soup, giving each spoonful a small bite of pea.
Between homeschooling and my second shift, I pay attention to when a meal needs me in the kitchen. A chilled soup puts the cooking earlier in the day instead of right at serving time. That is the useful part here. You can make the stock ahead, cook the vegetables when you have a stretch at home, and let the refrigerator do the chilling. It is still a homemade meal, but the last step is ladling it into bowls.
The batch makes four servings. It uses four yellow crookneck squash and a full pound of green peas, with a little of that same pound reserved for the topping. There is no separate pea mixture to make and no dairy to introduce. Cook the vegetables until tender, blend to the texture you like, and serve the soup completely chilled.
The Ingredients That Make It Creamy
Start with six cups of homemade chicken meat stock. This is the stock made from raw meaty chicken, not a carton or a pot of bare bones. Having it ready changes this from a stock-making project into a straightforward vegetable soup. Measure the finished liquid into the soup pot, including the fat that belongs to your homemade batch.
The stock gives the vegetables something savory to cook in. Soft cooked squash and peas make the blended soup creamy without dairy. Its color can lean more yellow or more green depending on the size of the squash and how smoothly you blend. Small soft bits are welcome if you like a lightly textured bowl.
Use four yellow crookneck summer squash, cut into pieces about one inch thick. The narrow neck and wider end will give you different shapes. That is fine. Aim for a similar thickness so a large piece does not stay firm while everything around it softens. This is yellow summer squash, with tender skin, rather than a hard winter squash such as butternut.
Cut one large onion into chunks and peel six garlic cloves. You do not need a fine dice for either because they will cook in the stock and be blended later. The onion should soften enough to lose its firm bite, and the garlic should mash easily after simmering. Their job is to season the whole pot without covering the mild squash and peas.
Save A Few Peas For The Top
Measure one pound of fresh or plain frozen green peas for the whole recipe. Take one or two handfuls from that measured pound and set them in the freezer. The rest goes into the pot. Keeping the topping within the original amount matters, especially when you use the recipe card to make a larger batch.
If you start with frozen peas, choose a bag containing peas without a sauce, starch coating or added sweetener. Keep the reserved portion frozen while the soup cooks and chills. If you start with fresh peas, freeze the handfuls you have set aside. You are saving a small topping, not preparing an extra pound of peas.
Add those reserved peas only when you serve the soup. The small peas thaw quickly against the cold soup and on the spoon. A few scattered over each bowl are enough to show the difference between the creamy base and the whole peas. Do not blend the garnish into the pot or add it while the soup is still hot.
Simmer Until The Squash Is Soft
Put the chicken meat stock, sliced squash, onion, garlic and remaining peas into a pot with room for the vegetables and liquid. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. You want gentle movement around the vegetables, rather than a hard boil that tosses them against the sides of the pot.
Cook for twenty to thirty minutes. Check a thick squash piece with a fork. The fork should go through the pale center easily, and the yellow edge should have softened along with it. Test an onion piece as well. It should be soft and translucent, not crisp in the middle. The clock helps you know when to check, but the vegetables tell you when to stop.
At this point the pot still looks like stock with vegetables in it. The peas are visible, the squash holds soft pieces, and the onion is less opaque than it was before cooking. Thoroughly softened vegetables give you a creamy blend. If a thick piece still resists the fork, give the soup a little longer at a gentle simmer and check again.
Blend And Chill The Soup
My blender is the Ninja BN801, which is not for hot liquids. Let the cooked soup cool completely before putting it in the pitcher. Divide it into smaller containers to cool, then refrigerate. Allow extra time for this part. The twenty-to-thirty-minute simmer is followed by cooling and chilling before the soup is ready to serve.
Blend the cooled soup in batches, staying below the pitcher’s maximum liquid line. Each batch needs both vegetables and stock. If you put mostly liquid into one batch and mostly squash into another, they will look different until you combine them. Return the blended batches to one container and stir so the texture is even throughout.
You can leave small soft pieces or blend it more smoothly. For a lightly textured soup, stop when the vegetables have broken down and there are no firm chunks. For a smoother bowl, continue until the color is even and the onion and garlic are no longer separate pieces. In either case, the soup should move off a spoon easily. It is creamy soup, not a stiff squash mash.
Keep it refrigerated until completely chilled. Stir before ladling, especially if it has settled while standing. Then divide it among four bowls and add the reserved peas. Their fresh, sweet bite works with the mild squash and the smooth base.
Where This Soup Fits On GAPS
Yellow summer squash and green peas are included on Full GAPS. Plain frozen vegetables can be used without starch, sugar or other added coatings. This version belongs on Full GAPS, with whole green peas and their skins, plus the reserved chilled topping. Use the Full GAPS placement for the complete bowl.
The chicken stock recipe gives you the homemade base to prepare ahead. That stock is used across Intro and Full GAPS. Here, it becomes a chilled vegetable soup with its own Full GAPS ingredients and texture.
The soup is dairy-free as written, so there is no cultured dairy to add or replace. It gives you a vegetable-rich Full GAPS option alongside the meat stock. Because vegetables provide its body, it does not fit No-Plant GAPS. Choose a different soup when your current approach calls for a different set of ingredients.
Make Room For The Chilling Time
Plan this as a cook-ahead soup. The stock can be ready beforehand, but the soup still needs time to become cold after the vegetables cook. Keep the reserved peas separate and add them to the bowls at serving, so the topping does not disappear into the blended base while stored.
Store the cooled soup covered in the refrigerator. Stir it before serving so any settling vegetables and stock fat return to the mixture. If you freeze portions for later, leave headspace in the containers, thaw them in the refrigerator and stir before serving. Keep the pea topping separate so you can add it to each bowl when you are ready to eat.
If the timing is the part of GAPS cooking you want help organizing, the planned Soup & Stew Recipe Card Deck will give you more soup options to place alongside your stock-making routine. You can find release details in the WFLI shop. This recipe is a useful reminder to plan for chilling as well as cooking.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Use Frozen Peas?
Yes. Use plain green peas without sauce, starch or added sugar. The whole pound includes the one or two handfuls reserved for the topping. Leave that small portion frozen until serving.
Does This Soup Have Cream In It?
No. The soft squash and peas give the blended soup its body. The only liquid is homemade chicken meat stock. There is no milk, cream, yogurt or coconut milk in this recipe.
Should It Be Completely Smooth?
That is your choice. A lightly textured version keeps small soft vegetable pieces; a smoother version blends the vegetables more thoroughly. Both use the same ingredients. Check tenderness before blending so any pieces left in the soup are soft.
How Soon Can I Serve It?
The vegetables simmer for twenty to thirty minutes, then the soup needs to cool completely before blending in the Ninja and be fully chilled for serving. Plan to cook it earlier, rather than starting half an hour before lunch. The card’s cook time covers the simmer, not the chilling.
Can I Make A Larger Batch?
Use the card’s scaling control to increase all five ingredients together. Reserve a proportionate amount of the measured peas for the topping, and blend the cooled soup in batches. More soup needs more room in the pot and refrigerator, even when the ingredient ratios stay the same.
Equipment For This Soup
You need a roomy pot, a wood chopping board and knife for the vegetables, a glass measuring jug for the stock, and a scale for the peas. I use Le Creuset stainless cookware and the Ninja BN801. Keep the blender for cooled soup, and have covered containers ready for the chilling step. A smaller pot is fine only if the ingredients fit with enough room to simmer.
For another creamy vegetable soup served hot, Creamy Celeriac Chicken Soup uses a different vegetable base and includes chicken meat. Choose that one when you want a warm chicken soup instead of a chilled bowl.
Chilled Yellow Squash And Pea Soup Recipe
Chilled Yellow Squash and Pea Soup for Full GAPS
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Reserve the topping. For the four-serving batch, take 1-2 handfuls from the measured pound of peas and keep them in the freezer. The remaining peas go into the soup. Reserve a proportionate amount when scaling.
- Prepare the vegetables. Slice the yellow crookneck squash into pieces about 1 inch thick and cut the onion into large chunks. Peel the garlic cloves.
- Simmer. Put the chicken meat stock, squash, onion, garlic and remaining peas into a roomy pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes until a fork passes easily through a thick squash piece, the onion is soft and translucent and the garlic mashes easily.
- Cool before blending. Divide the cooked soup into smaller containers and refrigerate until fully cooled. Do not put hot soup in the Ninja BN801.
- Blend in batches. Put cooled stock and vegetables into the Ninja pitcher, staying below its maximum liquid line. Blend smooth or leave small soft vegetable pieces. Combine the batches and stir for an even texture.
- Serve cold. Keep the soup refrigerated until completely chilled. Stir, divide into four bowls and scatter the reserved peas over the top. They thaw quickly as served.
Notes
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