Potato and Cauliflower Soup (Oil-Free)

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Creamy and satisfying, this cozy Potato and Cauliflower Soup is a blended soup that is made of wholesome ingredients like onion, garlic, potatoes, and cauliflower. With less than 10 ingredients, one pot, and one blender (or immersion blender), you too can make this incredible soup that’s great with lunch, dinner, or even just a snack to warm you up after a walk in the cold.

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THIS SOUP—Potato and Cauliflower Soup—is so good, I made it twice in a row. I REALLY enjoy slurping down a double serving of this meal for over half of last week and I’m deciding if I want to potentially annoy my partner by making it again.

I live for soup in the cooler months (which, let’s be honest, is like half the year in Illinois). I actually enjoy soup year round as it’s a low calorie and easy way to pack in more veggies and also hydration, since soups have a lot of water!

Soup is also very filling, though this potato cauliflower soup is fairly light. So I’d personally add beans (like sliced veggies with my butter bean hummus or spinach artichoke hummus) or a side (like a sandwich or my kale sweet potato salad).

But a nice bowl or cup of this potato and cauliflower soup is the perfect thing to warm you up. Add extra garlic and lemon (and maybe some ginger, turmeric, and extra black pepper!) if you’re feeling under the weather.

Ingredients

See the recipe card below for the full ingredients list (with amounts) and instructions.

• Sweet or Yellow Onion: Sautéed diced onion adds a lot of flavor.
• Minced Garlic: And so does garlic!
• Cauliflower Florets: I prefer raw cauliflower for this recipe so I can chop it up myself and get extra sulforaphane goodness, but feel free to use frozen (2 pounds).
• Gold Potatoes: Gold potatoes are excellent in soup, and you don’t even need to peel them!
• Unsalted Vegetable Stock or Low Sodium Vegetable Broth: Make your own from vegetable scraps or use a store bought stock.
• Nutritional Yeast: This adds a lot of flavor when our soup is finished, but it also helps thicken it too!
• Lemon Juice: I love the brightness a little lemon juice gives this potato and cauliflower soup.
• Fresh or Dried Thyme: This is my favorite herb to garnish this soup. A generous hand with the garnish adds a lovely flavor to our cauliflower potato soup.
• Yellow or White Miso Paste: This takes the place of salt, and I recommend dissolving your miso paste in 2-3 tablespoons of warm (not hot) water, since putting it directly in steaming hot soup can kill the fermentation benefits. Let your soup cool a little bit before stirring in the miso.
• Black Pepper: Season with black pepper and of course any other spices that you like. I always recommend fresh ground black pepper over buying ground. The flavor is completely different in my opinion. I started using an electric pepper mill because with a mild disability in my hand, I have a hard time using a manual one. It’s become very useful!

Substitutions

• Onions: If you don’t have fresh onions, you can use 1 tablespoon of granulated onion.
• Garlic: Similarly, if you don’t have fresh garlic, you can use 1 ½ teaspoons granulated garlic. If you have jarred minced garlic, use 4 teaspoons.
• Cauliflower Florets: This is cauliflower potato soup, so the cauliflower is pretty important. You can definitely use another vegetable such as broccoli, though it will make your soup green!
• Gold Potatoes: While red potatoes will definitely work, they might make your potato cauliflower soup pink! That would be a fun experiment… I would not use russet potatoes as they can become gluey in soup.
• Unsalted or Low Sodium Vegetable Broth: If you’re not watching your sodium, feel free to use any veggie broth you like. Better Than Bouillon is quite delicious and I do miss it a bit, hah.
• Nutritional Yeast: While this does add some thickness and flavor to our soup, if you can’t have it, don’t worry about it. Feel free to omit.
• Fresh or Dried Thyme: Use any herbs you like here. Oregano is also nice, but I liked thyme the best for cauliflower potato soup.
• Yellow or White Miso Paste: I love the flavor of miso paste but there’s another reason I use it instead of salt. Per Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org, the soy in miso has a protective effect so the sodium in miso paste will not affect us negatively. Please feel free to omit or use a pinch of salt if that is what you prefer.
• Black Pepper: For more spice, try crushed red pepper flakes! Use any other spices you like in your potato and cauliflower soup.

How to Make Potato and Cauliflower Soup

1. Using powdered onion and/or garlic? Please do not cook these as described in steps 2 and 3. Add them when you add the vegetable broth.
2. Cook the onion: Start by sautéing your onion in large nonstick pot (my favorite is All Clad Nonstick, safe and high quality) over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. When the onion starts to stick, add a tablespoon of water and stir, scraping the bottom of the pot with your heat safe spatula. Repeat this process for 5 minutes until the onion becomes translucent.
3. Cook garlic: Add the garlic and sauté for another minute, stirring frequently and adding a tablespoon of water when needed.
4. Add the cauliflower, potatoes, and broth: Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer, covered, for 5-7 minutes until the potatoes and cauliflower can each be pierced easily with a fork. If you need to cook them a bit longer, do so. Remove from heat.
5. Blend the soup: If you have an immersion blender, add the nutritional yeast if using and carefully blend the soup in the pot until smooth. If you are using a countertop blender, wait 5 minutes for the soup to cool a little and use oven mitts to carefully transfer the hot soup to the blender. If you have a 64 ounce or larger blender container, you *should* be able to fit the soup in one batch (I have a 64 ounce blender and I can). If not, you may have to blend in batches. Add the nutritional yeast and carefully blend until smooth, making sure to place of kitchen towel on top of the blender lid to prevent hot steam from hurting you.
6. Season and serve: Add the lemon juice to the soup and some dried thyme if you wish. Ladle the cauliflower potato soup into bowls and serve with dissolved miso (whisk 1-2 teaspoons miso paste into 2-3 tablespoons warm water per bowl), fresh cracked black pepper, and fresh or dried thyme.

Expert Tips

• More Flavor: If you feel the soup needs more flavor, add it! I wanted to keep this soup very neutral. One tip I have is to add a no salt seasoning blend you enjoy (I really like Kirkland Organic No Salt Seasoning Blend). Another good option is to add thyme and other seasonings when you add the veggies and broth.
• Lemon Juice: Don’t add the lemon juice until you are done cooking. Excessive heat can dull the lemon flavor.
• Add Protein: Try adding white beans (either before or after blending) to this soup for satiety. You could also serve the blended soup with baked tofu, tempeh, or roasted chickpeas (all coming soon!).
• Other Veggies: You can also add other veggies! Most other veggies (except parsnips) will change the color, but if you don’t care about that, go ahead and add whatever you like.

Serving Suggestions

While this soup IS satisfying thanks to the potatoes, for me it is not a full meal (I am a volume eater). I like to serve this potato cauliflower soup as a side with lunch or dinner, though it could also work well as a snack. It’s excellent alongside my Portobello pizzas, too.

Soup and salad is one of my favorite pairings. This cozy soup would go perfectly with my kale sweet potato salad.

But when I’m feeling a little rushed to put dinner on the table or a little tired, I often serve this cauliflower potato soup alongside sliced veggies (cucumber, bell peppers, celery, carrots, sugar snap peas) and hummus, such as my butter bean hummus or spinach artichoke hummus.

Potato and Cauliflower Soup Recipe

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