Spinach-and-Cilantro Soup With Tahini and Lemon Recipe (2024)

@maria c: Cilantro stems are more tender and less woody than most herbs and actually contain a huge amount of flavor. For any recipe, not just this one, discard the bottom bruised part of the stems and finely chop the rest. No need to remove individual leaves from the stems!

The article preceding this recipe is so fatuous I'll never make this "cleansing" soup. The whole 'cleanse in the high desert for a month where I just happened to stock the freezer with homemade chicken stock and of course I never travel without tahini' vibe screams goop. Wanna cleanse? Eat some popcorn and follow it with a strong cup of coffee. That'll clean everything out.

This is a very healthy soup, but the nutritional info is wrong because it is based on TWENTY servings. Given that the recipe makes 2 qts, 20 servings would equate to approx 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp per serve!

When I use cilantro, I usually take every piece of stem out, so that I only end up using leaves to make the dish. To do that for 4 cups of cilantro seems daunting. Can one get away with only removing the larger stems for this soup?

Really delicious, dead simple to make, and surprisingly filling. I used an 8 oz bag of spinach and scaled down the other ingredients more or less proportionately--scant 5 c. stock, about 2 1/2 c. cilantro, 3 T. tahini, 4 t. lemon juice. I used probably less than 1 t salt, but I under-salt as a habit. I did make a full portion of tahini sauce. Don't skip the drizzle at the end, it really brings all the flavors together. Great recipe, it will be in my regular rotation.

So! Make it with VEGETABLE STOCK!

I find it incredible that the NYT is advocating for the non-sensical concept of a "cleanse". This has been debunked repeatedly. Nevertheless, the soup is good!

So, the second time I made this, I added a couple of Yukon gold potatoes and then pureed the lot of it.The flavor didn't change significantly and it gave the soup a more satisfying mouthfeel and finish.

Agree about the cleanse story. I have to question the judgment of anyone who takes nutritional advice from Gwyneth Paltrow. The Sunday magazine had way too much back story for this recipe.

What about mostly parsley and a few tablespoons of tarragon?

Wonderful recipe: definitely would serve this to guests in large mugs. I added 2 cups of arugula because I was a bit shy on spinach. If you can’t tolerate cilantro but would like a bit more snap, increase arugula or try watercress. Chopping the cilantro stems fine works as you will be pureeing the batch.

Would this work with frozen spinach?

This recipe is tagged as vegan, but it calls for chicken broth with no notation to substitute vegetable broth for a vegan version. I hope that the editors understand that vegan recipes include no products derived from the flesh, bones, or emissions of animals.

So, this is a tiny thing but this soup is neither vegan nor vegetarian as indicated on the recipe (i.e it has CHICKEN stock)

Made as written. WAY TOO SALTY! Used good quality low sodium bone broth. Added the salt as directed in the recipe. Tasted. The soup had the taste of seawater. Fixed by balancing with more lemon juice. Next time, I'll cut the salt in half.

i make this recipe every week now. i don’t really care about the cleanse aspect but i sub veggie broth and it’s soooo delicious and filling. the tahini sauce is heavenly and my friends eat it by the spoonful. a definite must make !!!

Exceptional; made it with frozen spinach and just put in the spinach a few seconds before the cilantro to give it time to come to temperature.

I really liked the flavor of this soup but I found it a little lacking in substance. If I made it again I would start by sauteing either broccoli chopped with their stems, parsnips or maybe potato as well as onion, to thicken the consistency a bit.

What if you want to make this soup without pureeing? Any suggested changes to the recipe?

Oh, this was great. Based on known personal taste we upped the garlic a little and doubled the tahini part. Three people pretty much drank 2 quarts or soaked buttered bread into it. We wait for it when cilantro is in season.

Made as written except half chicken stock and half vegetable stock. Neither home-made stock had salt, and I used the full amount of salt called for in the recipe and did not find it too salty.I don't know how the stylist got the tahini sauce to stay on the surface of the soup like that. No matter how gently I drizzled, it immediately sank and dispersed.The sauce is delicious! I will definitely make that again.

This was delicious. Since I was only cooking for two, I halved the recipe, but other than that I made it exactly as the recipe was written. I served it with cornbread and fresh figs wrapped with Proscuitto. My 23 year old son was grumbling at first, but once he tried it he was sold. He actually went back for seconds, so I didn't get to try it warmed up as leftovers. lol

Cooked with Martha and pryr

Add some toasted nan with smoked Gouda as a dipping bread and this is so delicious

If you’re thinking about it, definitely try this one. Ignore all the razzmatazz about cleanse and think about whether you like these flavors. I made it because I had excess spinach, arugula, and cilantro to use up.I made it with arugula and one bunch cilantro, because that’s what I had and my own frozen veg stock from nyt recipe rest just as described including the tahini sauce.A delicious flavor that I will enjoy month after month even in a warm June, like we are having in 2023.

Molly O’Neill’s vegetable broth recipe is great for this.

I didn't have enough cilantro on hand so I added a couple cups mint. Was borderline on the spinach too so added asparagus a little before adding the other ingredients. Amazing! We'll def be making this again, and perhaps with different adjustments each time. The tahini/spinach/herb combo is so nice.

A little less salt. Very yummy.

This soup is delicious and so easy. Made it with mushroom broth with added miso. Soup is very thin so added some cooked rice before blending. So so good!

We inherited two bunches of cilantro . . Our neighbor gets it confused with parsley . . So this looked pretty good. Callaloo Kallaloo was purchased instead of baby spinach, so I removed the stems and used the leaves . . .did need to cook things longer than the recipe . . .We enjoyed it. also had black tahini and used that for the garnIsh sauce. Black tahini is interesting and tastes good, but can make foods look rather unappetizing.