If you like potato soup—or you're not sure what to do with a big head of cauliflower—then you are going to LOVE this creamy cauliflower soup recipe!
It's might be the most perfect soup recipe ever.
This incredible cauliflower soup tastes a lot like baked potato soup, but instead of being high glycemic and loaded with dairy like most creamy soups, it's actually low glycemic and totally dairy-free! This soup is actually vegan, but no one has to know your secret.
If you're craving warm comfort food that's delicious but still healthy, then this one's for you.
Cauliflower Soup Benefits
This cauliflower Soup is low-carb, loaded with nutrients, and comforting all around. Cauliflower is a nutritional powerhouse loaded with:
- Vitamins, especially vitamin c, vitamin k, vitamin b6, folate, pantothenic acid (B6)
- Minerals, especially potassium and manganese
- Protein! Surprisingly, cauliflower contains a good amount of protein for a vegetable
- Fiber to keep you feeling full and keep your digestive system healthy
- Hydrating water
This creamy cauliflower soup is one of those soups that everyone loves and asks for the recipe. It strikes the perfect balance of being filling but not heavy on digestion!
Beyond its nutrition praise, cauliflower is also a healthy kitchen's secret weapon for delivering velvety textures to vegan and dairy-free dishes.
This Cauliflower Soup Recipe Is:
- Low-Carb
- Healthy
- Delicious
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-Free
- Grain-Free
- Vegan if made with veggie stock
- High in protein if made with bone broth
- Perfect for a crowd
- Easy to make ahead
- Make with all-natural ingredients
Try cauliflower soup tonight, no one will even know it's healthy 😉
You can also find dozens of more delicious soup recipes here.
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Creamy Cauliflower Soup
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Simmer, Blend
- Cuisine: American
Description
This velvety cauliflower soup recipe is loaded with nutrition and easy to digest. Use veggie stock to keep it vegan, or use bone broth to add filling protein to this soup. We love it as a light lunch or as a starter or side with dinner. If you love it, please leave a star rating in the comments below to help other readers in our community.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large leeks, root and tough dark green tops removed, cleaned and medium chopped
- 2 stalks celery, cleaned and medium chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 large head of cauliflower, cleaned, green stem & leaves removed and cut into 2-inch florets
- 1 quart (4 cups) vegetable stock (or low sodium chicken stock/bone broth if preferred*)
- 3 cups purified water or more stock (more or less liquid as needed)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 ½ teaspoons red wine vinegar
- about 1 tablespoon fine sea salt, more or less to taste
- about 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper, more or less to taste
- finely chopped chives for garnish
Instructions
- In a large soup pot or dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the leeks, celery, and a big pinch of salt and sauté until soft, about 5-6 minutes.
- Add the garlic, stir, and cook another minute until very fragrant, being careful not to burn the garlic.
- Add the stock, 2 cups water, 2 teaspoons sea salt, ½ teaspoon pepper and the bay leaf, then bring to a boil.
- Add the cauliflower florets and turn the heat to medium; simmer 30 minutes until the cauliflower is fork tender.
- Discard the bay leaf. Puree the soup with a hand blender, or in small batches in a high-speed blender or food processor until very smooth. Add the pureed soup back to the pot and stir in vinegar and ½ to 1 cup more stock or purified water (depending on desired texture.)
Caution: Be very careful when pureeing hot liquid in a blender or food processor as hot liquid expands. Never fill the blender or food processor more than ¼ full with a hot mixture. Work in very small batches until all of the soup is pureed.
- Garnish with fresh chopped chives and a few dashes of hot sauce if desired (Cholula is my favorite). The chives really make the soup amazing. Chopped parsley or raw pumpkin seeds are also great additions.
- This soup can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight glass container for up to 3 days. It also freezes well.
Notes
I’ve been asked if this soup is great with frozen cauliflower florets. I have to admit I’ve never tried it but I do think it would be great. I’ll update here if I ever try it (or let me know if you do, I would love to know!)
For the cauliflower: cut away the leaves and green part of the cauliflower stem, but use the white part of the stem–it’s just as good as the florets.
For the leeks: first chop, then clean. Leeks tend to have a lot of dirt inside, so this is one veggie that you first chop then clean. Be sure to rinse them well so you don’t end up with dirt at the bottom of your soup.
You’ll need between 7 & 8 cups of liquid to make this soup and can use all stock or a combination of stock and water. If you use water, consider adding a vegetable bullion cube to the simmering soup.
Adding a small amount of liquid after pureeing will help avoid the baby-food texture. Add more or less liquid depending on the texture you prefer.
A Vitamix or other high-speed blender will turn this into a very smooth soup, but a food processor or hand blender will work, just be patient.
*Chicken stock/bone broth is of course not vegan, but if you prefer it or are indifferent it’s great to use here and adds protein to the soup.
Keywords: Cauliflower Soup, Cauliflower Soup Recipe, Cauliflower Recipe
Sufiyya
Absolutely amazing.
This is my go to recipe for this soup every time and I’ve been making this for years. Perfect for the autumn and winter time of year in England, UK.
Thank you Elizabeth.
★★★★★
Elizabeth Rider
Hi Sufiyya, Glad to hear it! I love this one, too. Thanks for stopping by to let us know. ~E
restaurantthatdeliversnearme.website
Thanks for the creamy cauliflower soup recipe.
Steve Sinclair
I make a soup every week for an over 50's keep fit group.Just made the cauliflower soup and it was an overwhelming success. The addition of the leeks and celery was inspirational, it added a sweetness and creamy taste and lifted the soup to a new hight! Congratulations. Great recipe, easy to make and fantastic delicious soup. Thank you from here in England.
★★★★★
Frank
How many calories per serving for vegan version?
Cathy Kubitz
Nice soup but I would definitely cut back on the salt in future recipes. Even my husband, a salt fanatic, agreed it was too salty for him as well.
★★★
Beverly Glassey
OMG!!!!!!!!! This recipe IS TO DIE FOR!!!!!!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!! The perfect combination of flavors! You would think it has heavy whipping cream or some type of creamy base but it doesn’t! It’s low carb too! ❤️ I am sharing this on my social media channels and have already told so many people about it! I added a hint of Stevia just because I like things sweet. I am going to try making some of your other recipes. Thank you so much for this awesome recipe!
★★★★★
Cindy
This is over the top delicious and so satisfying! I loved the hint of leek flavor. Perfect fall weather soup!
★★★★★
Elizabeth Rider
Cindy, this cauliflower soup recipe is one of my favorites, too! Glad you like it 🙂 ~E
Emma
I stumbled upon this recipe when searching for "leek soup" to use up the 2 leeks I had (and not much else!)... unfortunately I didn't have cauliflower, but turns out this also works really well with broccoli 🙂
GardenBar
Wow this recipe is really nice.
Jett Danger Mannings
Hi, by stalk of celery, is that a whole grpup of them? Or two individual branches/ribs?
Elizabeth Rider
Hi Jett, I mean individual ribs. ~E
Carol Balsillie
Great! I used frozen cauliflower, no oil, and used my instant pot! Yummy!
Elizabeth Rider
Hi Carol, thanks for sharing this great idea. Glad you like it! ~E
Jeanette
I accidentally left the bay leaf in the soup when I puréed it in my Vitamix. Is that ok, or do I have to toss this soup? 😏
Elizabeth Rider
Hi Jeanette, that is totally ok! Bay leaves are usually discarded because they are a little tough in texture and strong in flavor, but totally save and ok to blend in and eat. Let us know how it tastes, maybe this is a better method 😉 ~Elizabeth
Carol Balsillie
This was so good! I made it in the Instant Pot. Saute setting to begin. I used frozen organic cauliflower. I didn't have any vinegar so I omitted that and the garnish. It was still yummy!
Elizabeth Rider
Hi Carol, ooh, great idea! Thanks for letting us know and stopping by to comment. ~E
Tracyx
YUM!
Astrid Van Der Linden
Thank you 😉 so delicious & creamy !! I blended in some basil & it was amazing too.
Joan Ramler
This couldn't be better. We've made it twice now. Bonus that its super low fat and full of veg.
Lauren Cameron
Yum!! This made some delicious soup! I am on a mission to learn to cook with produce I do not normally use or eat, and this week it was leeks! I also had a whole head of cauliflower I needed to use, so this recipe was perfect! 🙂 And I love that it is vegetarian/vegan!!