Roasted cauliflower soup is nutty, cheesy, creamy, and delicious. Ours is an easy and naturally vegan recipe you can make with a few simple ingredients and a blender.
The secret to making the most flavorful soup is roasting the cauliflower with garlic, onion, and herbs before blending it with veg broth.

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Homemade soups are one of the best ways of incorporating more veggies into one's diet because they are easy to make and taste delicious.
When it comes to fall and winter veggies, cauliflower is hard to beat; a homemade roasted cauliflower soup is one of our favorite cozy meals.
It has a creamy, buttery texture and a mellow nutty, and cheesy taste, although there's no cheese in it.
Over the years, we developed a simple method for making the best soup with the least effort. That's what we call the "bake and blend" method. First, bake the veggies in the oven, then blend them with vegetable broth (both immersion or regular blender work).
Roasting the veggies in the oven (as opposed to cooking them on the stovetop) is not only a lot easier since you can put the baking tray in the oven and forget it. It also produces a richer flavor thanks to the browning and caramelization that happens at high oven temperatures.
With cauliflower soup, for instance, we roast the cauliflower with onion, garlic, thyme, and a drizzle of olive oil. As the veggies get tender and brown in the oven, they become a concentration of flavor; blend them with vegetable broth, and your soup is ready.
Ps. Want to make the soup extra creamy without using butter? Add a microwaved potato to the blender. The potato's starch will make the creamiest soup you've ever had!
Ingredients
Cauliflower
Pick a large white cauliflower head to make an off-white colored cauliflower soup. You can use both the cauliflower florets and stem.
You can use purple, orange, or green cauliflower to make the soup more colorful.
Garlic, onion, and thyme
We roast crushed garlic with the peel to protect the clove from burning, chunks of onion and fresh thyme leaves off their stem.
Roasting those veggies in the oven makes the richest cauliflower soup ever. The garlic and the onion get soft and caramelized to perfection. The thyme infuses everything with its pleasant aroma.
Remember to discard the garlic peel before tossing the roasted garlic cloves in the blender.
Olive oil
We use extra virgin olive oil to help the cauliflower, garlic, and onion roast and caramelize in the oven without burning or getting overly dry.
We recommend extra virgin because it tastes better (fruitier and nuttier) and is richer in antioxidants than any other oil. Antioxidants make the oil stable at high temperatures, preventing it from burning.
Salt and pepper
Sea salt or kosher salt for taste. We add it to the veggies before roasting them. Freshly ground black pepper for a fragrant peppery aroma.
Nutmeg
Nutmeg is optional, so if you don't have it in your pantry, go ahead and make the soup without it.
However, for us, a cauliflower soup wouldn't be complete without it. Nutmeg has a cozy, autumny flavor, with mild notes of clove. You'll only need a small amount to make this cauliflower soup exceptional.
If you are thinking of buying nutmeg, then we recommend getting the whole nutmeg that you can quickly grate at home as you need it. It'll last you longer than ground nutmeg without losing its aroma.
Vegetable broth
You can make your own or use store-bought veg stock. We prefer it to the chicken broth so that vegans and vegetarians can enjoy this recipe too.
Creamy ingredient
We have two favorite ingredients to make this cauliflower soup recipe extra creamy and velvety. They are butter (dairy-free or regular butter) and potato.
Potatoes are great to add creaminess to soups because they have a mildly earthy but mostly neutral flavor and are rich in starch.
When blended, the starch in the potato binds with the cauliflower making this soup the creamiest, even creamier than soup made with butter.
To use potatoes in a soup, you must first cook them till soft. You can microwave a large potato whole, pierced with a fork and with the skin on, for 5 to 10 minutes.
Alternatively, boil it whole with the skin on, for about 30 minutes, until soft throughout. Then peel it, and add it to the blender.
Heavy cream (regular or dairy-free works, too) - add about ½ cup or more to taste.
Garnish
We like to garnish our cauliflower soup with homemade croutons, roasted chickpeas, or a parmesan gremolata made with grated parmesan cheese, lemon zest, and finely chopped fresh parsley.
The recipe is gluten-free as long as you don't add croutons.
Instructions
Step 1: Bake
Preheat the oven to 410°F or 210°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Rinse the cauliflower, dry it, and chop it into chunks. Add crushed garlic with the peel, chopped onion, fresh thyme leaves picked off their stem, salt, black pepper, and olive oil.
Toss the veggies, spread them on the baking tray, and bake for 30 minutes. Discard the garlic peel before blending the veggies.
Step 2: Blend
You can blend this cauliflower soup with an immersion or regular blender. The immersion blender will produce a coarser soup; the regular blender will make a velvety smooth one. They are both delicious.
Note: If you make the soup with the potato, remember to microwave it for about 7 to 10 minutes or boil it for about 30 minutes, until soft throughout.
Immersion blender
To a dutch oven, add the roasted veggies, 2 cups of vegetable broth, grated nutmeg to taste, and butter or cooked and peeled potato.
Blend for a couple of minutes until your reach your desired texture. Then, add more vegetable broth to reach your desired consistency.
Note: we like our cauliflower soup with 3 cups of vegetable broth.
Regular blender
Add the roasted veggies, the vegetable broth, grated nutmeg to taste, and the butter or cooked and peeled potato.
Blend at high speed until you reach your desired texture and consistency. Add more vegetable broth if necessary.
Note: we did this in a large Vitamix blender jug, and it all fit in perfectly; however, if your blender is smaller, you might have to blend the soup in batches.
Step 3: Warm up and serve
In a dutch oven or large saucepan, simmer the soup on medium heat for a couple of minutes to warm it up. Taste and adjust for salt, pepper, and nutmeg before serving it in a bowl.
Serving suggestions
We have three favorite toppings for this roasted cauliflower soup:
1. Roasted chickpeas or crispy air fryer chickpeas.
You can make them easily with canned chickpeas, salt, olive oil, and optionally a spice of your choice (paprika, curry powder, garlic powder).
We like them with cauliflower soup because they add crunch and healthy plant protein to the meal.
2. Homemade croutons or air fryer croutons.
Crispy little cubes of toasted bread seasoned with olive oil and other spices, croutons are perfect for soup because they add crunch and flavor.
3. Parmesan gremolata.
Gremolata is an Italian condiment with chopped parsley, lemon zest, and garlic. In this parmesan gremolata, we substitute a couple of tablespoons of grated parmesan for garlic; then, we mix it with some freshly chopped parsley and a bit of lemon zest.
Sprinkle this delicacy on top of your roasted cauliflower soup to add zesty, savory, and cheese notes from these three delicious ingredients.
Storage
Store cauliflower soup in the fridge for up to 3 days in an airtight container. Reheat in the microwave for 2 minutes or in a small saucepan on the stove.
You can freeze this recipe for up to 6 months. Let it cool down completely, transfer it to a freezer-friendly container, and freeze it. Thaw it in the refrigerator over a few hours or in the microwave. Do not freeze multiple times.
Questions
Thick up cauliflower soup by blending in a large boiled or microwaved potato. The potato's starch will act as a natural binder making the soup velvety and extra creamy.
We recommend eating fresh cauliflower soup within three days of making it, provided you store it in the fridge in an airtight container.
If you want to store it for longer, we recommend freezing it.
We recommend adding homemade croutons, crispy roasted chickpeas, fried tofu, or parmesan gremolata made with chopped parsley, lemon zest, and grated parmesan.
More soup recipes
Are you looking for more creamy and delicious soup recipes? Check out our:
- Roasted sweet potato soup
- Easy tofu soup with seasonal variations
- Delicious zucchini soup
- Roasted eggplant soup
- Earthy Tuscan soup with white beans
- Creamy roasted butternut squash soup
- Nourishing and tasty lentil soup
- Delicious red lentil curry
More cauliflower recipes
For more cauliflower inspiration, check out our:
- Roasted cauliflower
- Delicious cauliflower pasta
- Air fryer cauliflower
- Cauliflower salad with creamy dressing
- Mediterranean-inspired cauliflower lentil salad
- Cauliflower rice with parsley and lemon
- Red pepper pasta with roasted cauliflower
Recipe
Cauliflower Soup
Equipment
- Blender or immersion blender
Ingredients
- 1 large cauliflower (about 1.7 pounds or 770 grams)
- 1½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 large onion white or yellow
- 5 sprigs thyme only the leaves, no stem
- ½ teaspoon salt or more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pinch grated nutmeg
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 potato (boiled or microwaved) or 2 tablespoons butter
TO GARNISH
- Roasted chickpeas
- Homemade croutons
- Parmesan gremolata mix 2 tablespoon grated parmesan, 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon lemon zest
Instructions
BAKE
- Preheat the oven to 410°F or 210°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.Rinse the cauliflower, dry it, chop it into chunks, and add it to the baking sheet.Add crushed garlic with the peel, chopped onion, fresh thyme leaves picked off their stem, salt, black pepper, and olive oil.
- Toss the veggies, spread them on the baking tray, and bake for 30 minutes. Discard the garlic peel before blending the veggies.In the meantime, cook the potato. To microwave it, pierce it with a fork and microwave with the skin on, for 5 to 10 minutes. Alternatively, boil it whole with the skin on, for about 30 minutes, until soft throughout.
BLEND
- Regular blender/high-speed blenderTo the jug of your blender, add the roasted veggies, 2 cups of vegetable broth, grated nutmeg, and cooked and peeled potato (or butter).Blend for a couple of minutes until your reach your desired texture. Then, add more vegetable broth to reach your desired consistency.Note: we did this in a large Vitamix blender jug, and it all fit in perfectly; however, if your blender is smaller, you might have to blend the soup in batches.
- Immersion blenderTo a dutch oven, add the roasted veggies, 2 cups of vegetable broth, grated nutmeg, and cooked and peeled potato (or butter).Blend for a couple of minutes until your reach your desired texture. Then, add more vegetable broth to reach your desired consistency.
WARM UP AND SERVE
- In a dutch oven or a pot, simmer the soup on medium heat for a couple of minutes to warm it up. Taste and adjust for salt, pepper, and nutmeg before serving it in a bowl.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
- Add roasted chickpeas or air fryer chickpeas on top for extra crunch and protein.
- Add homemade croutons or air fryer croutons for extra crunch and flavor.
- Sprinkle with parmesan gremolata that you can make mixing parmesan, lemon zest, and parsley.
Video Recipe
Notes
Nutritional Values
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Anonymous
It was an okay soup. It is filling and healthy but it doesn’t really have a lot of taste. I added some other spices but still a bit bland. Wouldn’t make again.
Laura Heath
Thinking of making this and wondering: If one is using potato in the recipe, why not chop and roast it with the other vegetables?
Nico
Hi Laura,
Thanks for your message 🙂
Yes, you can try baking the potato with the cauliflower.
It might have a different cooking time, though, taking longer than the cauliflower (what you don't want is burnt/overcooked cauliflower and hard/undercooked potato).
Also, I noticed that the potato is easier to blend when boiled, steamed, or microwaved. The soup gets creamier this way, even with an immersion blender.
I hope this helps 🙂
Nico
Marta
Splendid!
Louise
Thanks Marta! I'm happy you liked the soup. Cheers, Louise