Cream of Chestnut Soup (Velouté de Châtaignes) is a sublime, velvety smooth French cream of chestnut soup with wine and herbs.
Velouté de Châtaignes (Cream of Chestnut Soup)
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
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My recipe of the day is for Velouté de Châtaignes (Cream of Chestnut Soup) with Soup Swappers. Camilla is hosting this month and tasked us to do celebratory soups.
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Christmas Soups
I like cream soups at Christmastide, and when I saw that one could be made with chestnuts, and it was called Velouté de Châtaignes- oh my word that is such a prissy-butt title I just had to do it. Curiosity begs me to wonder how many will stop by just to figure out what it is?
I know I would. Being all nosy and whatnot. Don’t judge! LOL!
What is Velouté?
Velouté is the French word for velvety. Well that is exactly what you want in a cream soup, right?
More often, velouté describes one of the five “Mother Sauces” (the other four being espagnole, tomato, béchamel and hollandaise) developed by Auguste Escoffier, master of French cuisine.
By rule, the velouté will be made with stock where the bones have not been roasted, and will include equal parts butter and flour to make a roux.
I’ll be taking this out further by the addition of roasted chestnuts (the châtaignes) and serving it as a first course.
What Kind of Chestnuts to Use
In this recipe, I am using packaged chestnuts which I got at Trader Joe’s but you can use jarred ones or roast them yourself. They are not very hard to do and you can find tutorials online. I’d include those here except I am not using them fresh.
And the last time I bought fresh ones this late in the season half of them were bad which really irritated because I needed a set amount and when I went back to buy more they had sold out.
So unless I can get them around Thanksgiving I will use jarred or refrigerated in packages so I don’t need to be concerned. I have seen them in vac-packs too in Asian stores.
Chinois for Texture
This soup is strained through a chinois. Which is a conical strainer. And you don’t exactly “have to” use it, but it helps. I mean you need it to strain the soup of bits which affect the texture but perhaps you are satisfied with more rustic.
But you could also use a normal mesh strainer, but it takes a bit longer as the chinois has it done in about one minute flat.
Actually, I don’t use my chinois often, but I do keep one, but mine is also an antique version so it fits with my collection (like my hand-cranked version of what is today’s kitchen-aid mixer) and another pint sized contraption that might have been used to press olives, but uncertain.
Soup Swappers
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- Potato Leek Soup with Herbes de Provence by Faith, Hope,
Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice - Trinidadian Corn Soup by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Velouté de Châtaignes by Palatable Pastime (You are Here!)
Velouté de Châtaignes (Cream of Chestnut Soup)
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Velouté de Châtaignes

Velouté de Châtaignes (Cream of Chestnut Soup)
Equipment
- chinois
- stick blender or other blender
Ingredients
- 5 ounces bacon chopped or cut into lardons
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 leek cleaned and sliced (white and light green parts only)
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 fresh bay leaf
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup dry white wine or chardonnay
- 1 quart chicken broth
- 2 (6.5 ounces each) packages peeled and cooked chestnuts
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
Instructions
- Cook chopped bacon in your soup pot until the fat renders, then add butter, onion, garlic, celery, carrots, leek, marjoram, thyme, salt pepper and bay leaf.
- Cook until onion softens, then stir in the flour and cook for several minutes, stirring constantly.
- Add the wine and chicken broth and bring to a boil, continuing to stir and boil one minute.
- Add chestnuts (reserve a few to chop for a garnish if you like), reduce heat, cover and simmer for thirty minutes.
- Remove soup from heat, remove bay leaf from soup, and puree with a stick blender or blender.
- Use a ladle to add soup to a chinois and strain; discard any solids.
- Return strained soup to the pan and stir in the cream and nutmeg.
- Heat gently.
- Serve garnished with finely chopped chestnuts, if you like.
You have reminded me how much I LOVE chestnuts, Sue. I’ve been roasting them this month, but haven’t gotten far enough to actually do anything except peel and eat. I will!
I can’t even begin to think about what this soup must taste like! It sounds good though! One of these days, I really need to try a chestnut! It’s on my bucket list!
I need to break out the chinois I bought and have never used. This is the perfect recipe!
A perfect holiday soup Sue. Hope you have a very Merry Christmas and 2020 brings great things for you.