Healthy Cauliflower Soup
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Healthy Cauliflower Soup is easy to make in your crockpot, instant pot, or on the stove! This Easy Cauliflower soup is creamy and delicious!
Admittedly, I’m not a big fan of cauliflower. Sure, it’s a healthy and nutritious vegetable, but it doesn’t have much flavor on its own.
However, the lack of flavor means cauliflower is perfect to use in dishes that get their flavors from other ingredients and spices.
This cauliflower soup recipe makes a vegan-friendly, dairy free, gluten-free, keto friendly (with optional cheese) meal that tastes like HEAVEN in a bowl! It’s the perfect canvas for lots of toppings like crispy bacon, or for dunking a big piece of crusty bread!
It’s hearty, healthy and quick and easy to make on the stove or in an Instant Pot! If you have a busy schedule, you can make crockpot cauliflower soup – it’s completely foolproof. Even better, you’ll come home to a meal that’s ready to serve!
If you enjoy creamy vegetarian soups, be sure to also try our recipes for creamy potato soup and potato leek soup.
liz’s tips for healthy cauliflower soup
- Chop the vegetables ahead to save time. Chopped carrots, celery, onion, and cauliflower will keep for up to 3 days in the fridge. Just be sure to keep them in a covered container so they don’t dry out or absorb flavor from nearby foods. When you are prepping the onions, carrots, and celery, be sure to cut them into small diced pieces. This trio of veggies is known as a mirepoix, and is meant to add flavor to the soup stock/broth.
- Be sure the pot is hot before adding oil to sauté the vegetables.
- Simmer the cauliflower soup just until the florets and other vegetables are fork tender. Overcooking cauliflower gives it a bitter flavor.
- Wait until after cooking to add milk and cheese. Do not cook the milk, it will curdle.
- Use an immersion blender, regular blender, or food processor to make the soup smooth and creamy. To give the soup a little texture, you can remove some of the vegetables before pureeing the remaining soup. Then, stir them back in when you add the cheese and milk.
Ingredients
Substitutions
Olive Oil: Good substitutes for olive oil include butter, ghee, avocado oil, or any other neutral flavor of cooking oil.
Vegetables: You can use any additional veggies you have on hand in this recipe. More onions, carrots, and celery are always a good idea! We also love this Creamy Vegetable Soup! For the best consistency and texture, we recommend avoiding soft vegetables like zucchini or mushrooms.
Milk: You can use any milk in this soup recipe. We like regular whole milk but you can use almond milk, light coconut milk, skim milk, whole milk, or even heavy cream will work in this recipe.
Broth: Any broth or stock (broth and stock are the same) can be used in any soup recipe. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Cheese – We use sharp cheddar, but white cheddar, Colby or Monterey jack, or even pepper jack are all great substitutes for cheddar. If you prefer not to make a cheesy cauliflower soup, that’s fine too!
How to Make Cauliflower Soup Thicker: You can make this soup thicker if you add a little bit of flour or cornstarch. We don’t recommend it though!
Blender: You can use an immersion blender, regular blender, or food processor to make this soup creamy.
How to Make Healthy Cauliflower Soup
- Sauté onions, carrots, and celery in olive oil until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes
- Add all remaining ingredients, except milk and cheese. Do not cook the milk, it will curdle.
- Bring the soup to a boil. Allow it to boil for 30 minutes, or until your cauliflowers are fork tender.
- Once cooked, stir in milk. Use an immersion blender or regular blender to make the soup smooth.
- Stir in the cheese. Serve in a soup bowl with your favorite toppings like bacon or chives.
variations of cauliflower soup
Change the Consistency– You can make this soup thicker by stirring in a little bit of flour or a cornstarch slurry. We don’t recommend it though – it honestly doesn’t need it. For a thinner consistency, remove some of the veggies before you puree the soup and add them in afterward. You’ll find details on this in the recipe tips section, below.
Dairy Free Cauliflower Soup– This recipe can be made dairy free very easily, by swapping just two ingredients! Almond milk and light coconut milk are both great dairy milk substitutes. Instead of cheese, use nutritional yeast for that sharp, bold flavor!
Vegan– In addition to swapping the milk and cheese for non-dairy substitutes, using vegetable broth makes the cauliflower soup vegan.
Roast the veggies– Roasted cauliflower soup has a rich nuttiness that adds extra flavor to the broth! Just arrange the florets in a single layer on a sheet pan and roast in the oven at 425°F until they are fork tender. You could even slice and roast carrots at the same time, if you want to add more veggies to your soup.
How to serve this soup
There really is no wrong way to serve cauliflower soup. We like to serve it as a side with healthy sandwiches and salads, or with a big helping of healthy veggies.
Here are some of our favorite soup toppings:
- Crispy Bacon – Regular or turkey bacon both work!
- Chives
- Cheddar Cheese
- Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt
- Cracked Black Pepper
- Crackers
How to make this dairy free
This recipe can be made dairy-free just by substituting a few ingredients! Almond milk and light coconut milk both work well as creamy dairy substitutes. Instead of cheese, add nutritional yeast for that sharp bold flavor!
Storing Soup
How long does Cauliflower Soup last in the fridge?: This will stay good in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container
Can I freeze cauliflower soup? : You can freeze this recipe for up to 4 months. We like these containers for freezing!
When you’re ready to eat, defrost the night before by leaving this in the fridge, or take it out of the refrigerator and heat it over the stove/in the microwave.
Be aware that the fat in dairy milk products tends to separate as the soup thaws out, which is normal and ok! Just stir it up to recombine. We have a whole post on the best way to freeze soup!
Reheating: You can reheat the soup on the stove, in a pot over medium heat, or in the microwave.
Tips for blending hot soup:
You can blend this soup with an immersion blender, regular blender, or even a food processor.
Be very careful when blending soup in a regular blender. Steam can build up and cause pressure which can result in the top of the blender popping off. To avoid that, here are our tips for blending hot soup in a regular blender.
- Allow the soup to cool for a few minutes if you can. It’s best not to take this right off the stove/instant pot/crockpot and put it in the blender. Give it a few minutes uncovered/off heat to release some steam.
- Blend the soup in batches. It’s probably best to divide this in half and blend it 1/2 the batch at a time. By doing this you’re leaving room in the blender for the soup to move around.
- Remove the center cover from the blender and cover with a towel instead. Most blender tops have a removable plastic piece in the center. Take this center piece out and put a clean dish towel over the opening while blending. (You don’t want soup on the ceiling!). Doing this allows the steam to vent out and prevents pressure from building up in the blender. Make sure to hold your hand over the dish towel to avoid it from moving/splattering.
FAQ’s
When you freeze soups, they can become a bit watery after they have thawed out. This is perfectly normal; just stir everything back together to combine. If you feel like the consistency is still too thin, you can stir in a little extra cheese to thicken it up, or use a cornstarch slurry.
When cauliflower is over cooked, the flavor can become bitter. If you follow our recipe instructions as written, you shouldn’t have a problem with the soup tasting bitter.
More Healthy Soup Recipes:
Looking for other healthy soup recipes? Check out these 40+ Healthy Soup Recipes. Click here to grab our free healthy soup cookbook.
Healthy Cauliflower Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup onions diced
- 1 cup carrots diced
- ½ cup celery diced
- 6 cups cauliflower florets about 1.5 lbs
- 4 cups vegetable broth low or no salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups milk of choice dairy or non dairy at room temperature!
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese optional
Instructions
Instant Pot Directions:
- Set the Instant Pot to sauté mode for 15 minutes. Heat olive oil. While oil is heating, chop veggies.
- Sauté onions, carrots, and celery until onions are translucent. Turn off sauté mode. Make sure to scrape off any pieces of food on the bottom of the Instant Pot or you will get a burn notice during cooking.
- Pour in remaining ingredients, except milk and cheese. Do not cook the milk, it will curdle.
- Set the Instant Pot to sealing, pressure cook for 10 minutes on high pressure. It will take about 10 minutes for the pot to come to pressure before it starts to count down.
- Manually release pressure when the timer goes off.
- Stir in milk. Use an immersion blender or regular blender to make the soup smooth. Stir in the cheese. Serve with your favorite toppings like bacon or chives.
Crockpot Directions:
- In a sauté pan, heat olive oil. While oil is heating, chop veggies.
- Sauté onions, carrots, and celery until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. (This step is optional, but adds flavor)
- Add all ingredients into the crockpot, except milk and cheese. Do not cook the milk, it will curdle.
- Set the crockpot to cook for 3 hours on high, or 6 hours on low.
- Once cooked, stir in milk. Use an immersion blender or regular blender to make the soup smooth. Stir in the cheese. Serve with your favorite toppings like bacon or chives.
Stove Top Directions:
- In a large pot, heat olive oil. While oil is heating, chop veggies.
- Sauté onions, carrots, and celery until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes
- Add all remaining ingredients, except milk and cheese. Do not cook the milk, it will curdle.
- Bring the soup to a boil. Allow it to boil for 30 minutes, or until your cauliflowers are fork tender.
- Once cooked, stir in milk. Use an immersion blender or regular blender to make the soup smooth. Stir in the cheese. Serve in a soup bowl with your favorite toppings like bacon or chives.
Made this soup as directed and used coconut milk. It is amazing. After cooking it stovetop, I put the soup in my vitamix and added the milk and cheese. My husband was thrilled and said it was restaurant quality. We sprinkled some basil on the top when served. Thank you so much for these amazing recipes ❤️
I’m looking forward to making this! Is there a protein you could recommend adding to it?
We have lots of different protein options on our site in the dinner category: https://thecleaneatingcouple.com/category/lunch-dinner/ otherwise I’d recommend our baked Chicken Cutlets!
This was outstanding! I served it at a luncheon yesterday, and everyone raved about it. I followed your recipe exactly, and chose organic half-and-half to make it creamy. I did not use the cheese, and it was still fabulous. I sprouted my own broccoli sprouts and then dehydrated them and turn them into a powder, then sprinkled it on top along with some fresh sprouts as a garnish. Delicious! I can’t wait to try more of your recipes!
One of my favorite, most made recipes, in my weekly rotation, can’t get enough of it. So easy, which is one of my favorite things about all Liz’s recipes and so delicious.
I had some cauliflower I needed to use up so decided to give this a try. It was really good and my husband had 2 bowls which is a huge compliment. Thank you for another easy and delicious recipe!
This has got to be one of the best soups I have made in years and I make a lot of soup. I roasted the cauliflower in the oven and it came out great. I will definitely be making this again & again!!
So glad you liked it!
Made this for dinner it was amazing
Made for dinner last night and the soup was delicious. Did the instant pot version. Hubby had seconds and took some for lunch today. Passed the leftovers to my parents who have been sick this week. I know they will enjoy. Will definitely make again.
HI! Can I use heavy cream as my milk choice?
Sure!
Delicious alternative to potato soup. Even my kid liked it!!
Absolutely delicious! Made last weekend and making more this coming weekend. Followed recipe exactly. Great flavor, and so easy to make.
Another great recipe from the Clean Eating Couple! This soup was quick to make on a busy weeknight (with the help of pre chopped cauliflower) and will be a new staple in our house! It really put me in mind of potato soup so a great alternative!
So easy to make. I did the crockpot version and followed the recipe exactly. So much flavor.
Made this tonight. A couple modifications – I used chicken stock (4 cups) and vegetable stock 2 cups – primarily because I had so much cauliflower that I needed more broth.
I sautéed the veggies in a chipotle infused olive oil and also add 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper.
Delicious!!!
Thanks for the recipe.
Made this tonight. A couple modifications – I used chicken stock (4 cups) and vegetable stock 2 cups – primarily because I had so much cauliflower that I needed more broth.
I sautéed the veggies in a chipotle infused olive oil and also add 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper.
Delicious!!!
Thanks for the recipe.
We can’t get enough of it! I received the recipe in my inbox last night and thought what the heck, I have everything I need. It did not disappoint!! I did add a bit more carrots and switched out vegetable broth for chicken. It was quick, it was easy, and it is delicious. We served over ground turkey with some chives on top, then for lunch today I had it with some extra cheese and bacon. Will definitely repeat!!