How do you make a vegetable soup creamy without cream?

Cream is a fine thing, but it is not what makes most soups feel creamy. Plenty of the silkiest vegetable soups have never seen a carton. What they have is body from starch, a long enough simmer for the vegetables to go completely soft, and a thorough blend with good olive oil.

Start with flavour

Thickness can't rescue a soup that tastes of nothing. Before thinking about texture:

• Cook the onion (and leek, celery or fennel) slowly in olive oil or butter until soft and sweet.
• Season early and taste as you go.
• Use a good stock, homemade or from a cube; see vegetable stock that tastes of something.
• Cook the main vegetable until truly soft. Anything undercooked blends grainy.

The thickeners

Potato. The classic. A floury potato, peeled and diced, simmered with the vegetables, blends into a smooth, velvety body. Use just enough to thicken; too much makes the soup taste of potato and turn gluey if over-blended. Blend briefly with a stick blender or blender, not a food processor running for ages.

White beans. Cannellini or butter beans, tinned and drained, add creaminess and a mild, savoury flavour. Simmer them in the soup for a while, then blend. Lovely with courgettes, greens, squash and roasted garlic. Our page on making tinned beans taste good has ideas for the rest of the tin.

Stale bread. A thrifty trick. A slice or two of stale bread, crusts and all, torn into the pot, soaks up liquid and blends into a thick, smooth soup. It works especially well with tomato and with greens. Our page on using stale bread shows how much more it can do.

Rice. A small spoonful of rice cooked in the soup until very soft blends into a surprisingly silky texture with a neutral flavour. Good for delicate vegetables like courgette or peas.

Lentils. Red lentils collapse completely and thicken a soup beautifully, though they bring their own earthy flavour and colour.

The vegetable itself. Some vegetables are creamy on their own: squash, cauliflower, carrots, celeriac, parsnips, roasted peppers. Simmered soft and blended well, they need little help.

Blending with olive oil

This is where creaminess really comes from.

• Blend thoroughly. A jug blender gives the smoothest result; a stick blender works well with patience. Blend until there is no graininess left.
• Add olive oil while blending. A thread of extra virgin, poured in as the blender runs, combines with the starch and water into a glossy, velvety texture, much like a dressing.
• Adjust the thickness with hot stock or water, a splash at a time. Creamy soup should coat the back of a spoon but still pour.
• Strain, if you want it silky. Pushing the soup through a sieve removes fibres from things like celery or asparagus.

Be careful with hot liquids in a blender: fill it only partway, hold the lid down with a folded cloth, and start on a low speed.

Finishing touches that taste rich

• Raw olive oil, a swirl on each bowl; see finishing with olive oil.
• Grated Parmesan or pecorino, stirred in or scattered on top.
• A spoonful of yogurt, ricotta or crème fraîche, for those who like it.
• Toasted nuts or seeds, for contrast.
• Crisp croutons, fried sage or crispy chickpeas.
• A squeeze of lemon, to lift soups that taste heavy.

A few combinations

• Courgette, basil and white beans, blended with olive oil, finished with lemon zest.
• Squash and rosemary, with a little potato and grated Parmesan.
• Cauliflower and leek, with a spoonful of rice and toasted hazelnuts.
• Tomato and bread, in the style of a smooth pappa al pomodoro.
• Pea and mint, with a spoonful of ricotta.