Creamy-Yet-Vegan Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Soup Recipe
During the fall and winter months making soup is a weekly occurrence in many households. There's just nothing that tops sitting down to a warm bowl of soup on a cold winter night. The beautiful thing about soups is that they're easy to customize to any sort of dietary restrictions you or someone in your family may have. Perhaps the most common swap is to use a broth made of vegetables instead of one made of chicken or beef. There are many vegetable broth options available, or you can easily make an umami-packed homemade batch. For creamy soups, adding plant-based milk is the solution that makes no compromise in terms of texture or flavor.
Wellness coach and recipe developer Miriam Hahn brings us this creamy-yet-vegan roasted garlic cauliflower soup recipe and says, "There's some sort of magic that happens when you roast cauliflower. It caramelizes and the taste transforms to nutty and buttery, which is a night and day difference compared to steamed cauliflower. In this soup, I'm also making crispy chickpeas that act as our croutons to finish off the blended soup with some crunch, and adding roasted garlic to bring in more caramelized goodness."
Gather the ingredients for creamy-yet-vegan roasted garlic cauliflower soup recipe
To make this recipe, hit up the produce aisle for garlic, shallots, and cauliflower. "Try and find a large head of cauliflower because we're going to be reserving some of the roasted cauliflower for topping," Hahn shares.
Then you'll need canned chickpeas, vegetable broth, nutritional yeast, and soy milk. Check your spice and condiment cabinet for avocado oil, salt, pepper, garlic granules, onion granules, and cumin.
Step 1: Preheat the oven
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Step 2: Cut the garlic bulb
Cut off about ½-inch of the pointed end of the garlic head.
Step 3: Dress the garlic for roasting
Brush the garlic head with 1 teaspoon of oil and salt lightly.
Step 4: Wrap the garlic in foil
Loosely wrap the garlic in foil and place in the oven. Roast for 30 minutes, then let it cool.
Step 5: Prepare the vegetables for roasting
Combine the cauliflower and shallots with 2 tablespoons of oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
Step 6: Roast the vegetables
Put on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes.
Step 7: Dry the chickpeas
Lay the chickpeas on a clean dish towel and roll another dish towel on top of the chickpeas to dry them and remove the skins.
Step 8: Season the chickpeas
Add the dry chickpeas to a bowl with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, ½ teaspoon salt, garlic granules, and onion granules.
Step 9: Roast the chickpeas
Put the chickpeas on a baking sheet and roast for 30-40 minutes or until crispy. Remove from oven and let them cool.
Step 10: Squeeze the garlic cloves from the shell
Remove the garlic from the oven and squeeze out the garlic cloves.
Step 11: Add ingredients to a blender
Reserve about ½ cup of the cooked cauliflower for topping and add the remaining cooked cauliflower, roasted garlic cloves, broth, remaining salt, remaining pepper, nutritional yeast, and cumin to a blender.
Step 12: Return blended soup to pot and add milk
Blend until smooth, pour the mixture into a large soup pot, and add the soy milk. Warm up for 5 minutes on low heat.
Step 13: Add toppings and serve
Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the reserved cauliflower and crispy chickpeas, and serve.
How can I customize this vegan cauliflower soup recipe?
There are many ways to customize this soup recipe. Like all blended soups, you can feel free to add in some other vegetables to the roasting pan. "I am a big fan of using up vegetables that are about to go bad and blended soups are a good way to do this. If you have carrots, red peppers, or onions that are on their last leg, chop them up and add them to the pan. You can just adjust the amount of broth to accommodate more volume in the soup," Hahn explains.
For the creaminess, we're using soy milk, but you can use a variety of other plant-based milks like almond, oat, cashew, or flax milk. Just be sure to use the unsweetened versions.
If you enjoy a bit of spice, you can add red pepper flakes or a pinch of cayenne pepper to give your soup some heat. Alternatively, you can drizzle some hot sauce or chili oil on top when serving.
What pairs well with this vegan cauliflower soup?
If you're enjoying the soup for lunch you might find it to be plenty, as the crispy chickpeas offer some protein to make it more filling. For dinner, you might want to supplement the soup with other selections. Soup and salad go hand-in-hand, so any type ranging from a green salad with sliced raw vegetables and a simple vinaigrette to a more elaborate sweet potato panzanella salad, or hearty bean salad work well.
Pairing soup with a protein source is a nice option too. To keep things vegan choose veggie burgers (either store-bought or home-made), grilled tofu, maple sesame tofu, seasoned tempeh, or a slice of lentil loaf, all of which will be delicious with the caramelized cauliflower.
Sandwiches are a breeze to throw together and make a great partner for soup. This vegan chickpea salad sandwich, a vegan grilled cheese, or a tofu egg salad would all be a satisfying accompaniment to the soup.
- 1 bulb garlic
- 4 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon avocado oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided
- ½ teaspoon pepper, divided
- 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
- ¼ cup diced shallots
- 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 teaspoon garlic granules
- ½ teaspoon onion granules
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- ½ cup soy milk
- chopped parsley
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Cut off about ½-inch of the pointed end of the garlic head.
- Brush the garlic head with 1 teaspoon of oil and salt lightly.
- Loosely wrap the garlic in foil and place in the oven. Roast for 30 minutes, then let it cool.
- Combine the cauliflower and shallots with 2 tablespoons of oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.
- Put on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes.
- Lay the chickpeas on a clean dish towel and roll another dish towel on top of the chickpeas to dry them and remove the skins.
- Add the dry chickpeas to a bowl with the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil, ½ teaspoon salt, garlic granules, and onion granules.
- Put the chickpeas on a baking sheet and roast for 30-40 minutes or until crispy. Remove from oven and let them cool.
- Remove the garlic from the oven and squeeze out the garlic cloves.
- Reserve about ½ cup of the cooked cauliflower for topping and add the remaining cooked cauliflower, roasted garlic cloves, broth, remaining salt, remaining pepper, nutritional yeast, and cumin to a blender.
- Blend until smooth, pour the mixture into a large soup pot, and add the soy milk. Warm up for 5 minutes on low heat.
- Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the reserved cauliflower and crispy chickpeas, and serve.
| Calories per Serving | 380 |
| Total Fat | 19.1 g |
| Saturated Fat | 2.2 g |
| Trans Fat | 0.0 g |
| Cholesterol | 0.0 mg |
| Total Carbohydrates | 41.7 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 12.4 g |
| Total Sugars | 9.4 g |
| Sodium | 928.4 mg |
| Protein | 15.8 g |
