Last Updated on January 4, 2026
Pea and Courgette Soup with Fresh Mint – Low Calorie, 5:2 Diet Fast Day Summer Lunch:
Soups and summer cookery have never seemed to sit together very happily for me. And that has been a challenge because diet soups have been the cornerstone of many of my intermittent fasting meal plans. But I’m pleased to say I’m now a convert, and this low-calorie diet soup made with peas, courgettes (zucchini if you are in the USA or Italy) and a handful of fresh mint made a perfect summer lunch.
When I was at University, I used to spend my summer holidays working in a frozen food factory. Students were generally put to work in ‘quality assurance’, which meant we got to check each batch of frozen vegetables, making sure the temperature was right, anything diced or sliced was the right size, and the vegetables were good quality (we even got involved in taste testing for certain buyers). It was the best casual labour job in the factory, for most of the time.
If we ran out of fresh vegetables to process, we’d move across to the packing warehouse and help over there. And one of our tasks was to make minted peas. That involved a large tub of something green and slimy, smelling of toothpaste that you might have thought had come out of a horror movie, being dispersed over the frozen peas as they were packed. Then we had to cook them up and taste them to check that the mix was right. It’s taken a long time for me to be able to face eating mint again…and even now I really don’t like minted peas as a vegetable option. But this Pea and Courgette soup makes the best of seasonal vegetables, benefits from just a little fresh mint and is completely different to the heavily minted peas that we used to make in the 1970s and 1980s.
Low Calorie Fresh Pea, Courgette and Mint Soup for 5:2 Diet
Ingredients
- 100 g Fresh Peas
- 2 Small Courgettes Diced
- 1 Shallot finely diced
- 1 teaspoon Marigold Bouillon or similar
- 2 teaspoons 0% fat Greek Yoghurt
- 1 teaspoon Olive Oil
- 1 handful Fresh mint finely chopped
- 700 ml Water
Instructions
- Soften the shallot in the oil for 8 minutes or so over a low to medium heat
- Stir in the diced courgette and cook for a minute or so
- Pour in the water and stir through the bouillon or stock cube. Bring to the boil then add in the peas
- Cook for 2-3 minutes, then add in the mint, saving two sprigs for a garnish
- Cook for a further minute, then blend with a stick blender
- Adjust seasoning, adding salt and pepper as necessary
- serve with a teaspoon of greek yoghurt in each bowl, garnished with a fresh mint sprig
This pea and courgette soup is very quick to prepare and uses peas and courgettes, which are in season at the moment, and which those lucky enough to have a garden may just have a glut of at the moment. I’ve found that by adding courgettes (zucchini), the whole soup is lighter, fresher and rather lower in calories than a regular pea and mint soup. Perfect for a 5:2 fast day lunch – or for that matter, for lunch on one of those very hot summer days when you just don’t want to eat anything too much. You can eat it cold if you like, although I prefer this pea and courgette soup hot, with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt.
Now, this is actually a great 5:2 diet recipe for me; I love soups but was looking for something a lot lighter than the sort of soups I made for the 5:2 diet throughout winter and spring. Somehow, when the sun is shining outside, spicy tomato and lentil soup just doesn’t seem right! This one has around 90 calories for a bowlful, including a nice spoonful of zero-fat Greek yoghurt.
It’s vegetarian, as well as using very seasonal ingredients. A perfect low-calorie summer soup!
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Ohh what a fun job! I worked at a coffee shop in college making lattes, lol, not nearly as exciting. The soup looks tasty, too!:-)
it was hard graft, but very very well paid. We worked an eight hour rotating shift with 2 out of three 12 hours x 2 at the weekends. But the pay was better than any other job (before that I’d been waitressing too). And I paid my way through uni that way!
Looks perfectly lovely for summer meals.. for lunch. even for breakfast.. hmmm i am going to market — will pick up zucchini and try this!
it is genuinely delish:)
Fresh peas are a wonderment here..This sounds good, but finding the peas makes me think it might be good with split peas..dried. The mint ,I am sure, is delish!
do you have frozen peas? or if not, canned petit pois – probably both would be better than dried split peas!
Yumm, I love the sound the sound of this one!
Janie x
it’s really easy and was actually suprisingly good (I can never quite believe it when my cookery WORKS)
You could have used a Slica to chop everything here.
This looks absolutely delicious – in contrast with the mint peas of your factory days! – and I love the inclusion of the rather fantastically delicious sounding marigold bouillon! Yum! Thank you for the inspiration!
I have got such BAD memories of making those minted peas. The whole factory used to smell of toothpaste. Though in some ways it was better than when we did frozen chopped onions!
The job sounds like a very interesting experience.. . . . I love your recipes – they always sounds delicious and give me motivation to cook 🙂
I’ll try to remember to come back next week! It’s a lovely linky – I really enjoy finding new blogs!
Thanks for this, I have an allotment and have a glut of courgette/marrow at the moment and my kids don’t like them, i’m going to try the soup and see if I can sneak it passed them and say it’s pea soup. fingers crossed
I think it should work, the courgette makes the texture a bit lighter than peas by themselves…
I’ve just made this out of season (frozen peas) but still tasted great. I used sage as I didn’t have mint and half fat creme fraiche instead of yogurt, yummy. Can’t wait to make this in summer from garden grown ingredients, thanks
frozen peas are wonderful things! I think they DO taste just as good. Sage of course, is more seasonal at this time of year!
Just made this in my soup maker but had to double the ingredients as its takes 1600ml but double joy!! One batch for the freezer and one for now. Its delicious. Thank you.
Made the soup it was delicious, but what is the calorie/kilojoule count?
you can find the nutritional value if you scroll down through the post. 92 calories for a large normal size portion (around 500ml)
Just made this recipe in my soupmaker, using frozen peas and one of many of the courgettes from my garden As well as first frying to soften the onion as usual, this time I softened the courgettes as well. Pehaps not enough dried mint to make it minty but was still delicious. One of my best soups. On to the next batch!!!
glad you enjoyed it! I use fresh mint rather than dried, but to be honest, I don’t want to overwhelm with a lot of mint so I probably err on the cautious side. So much cooking is personal taste isn’t it!