This creamy vegan broccoli cheddar soup is packed with nutrients and flavor! Made with simple ingredients, it’s a healthy and satisfying meal that everyone will love.
Here’s a plant-based soup everyone around the table will love: vegan broccoli soup! This cozy bowl is lusciously creamy and bursting with flavor. But there is no cheddar cheese or vegan dairy substitutes: just simple ingredients! The entire soup can be made in just over 30 minutes, and all the friends and family we tested it on gobbled it right up! It’s a healthy and satisfying meal that pleases just about anyone.
Ingredients in vegan broccoli cheddar soup
There are many ways to make a vegan broccoli soup using various ingredient tricks. This one is like a vegan broccoli cheddar soup, but uses no dairy cheese substitutes. How do we do it? Blended cashews help to form the rich, creamy body here: we find their subtly sweet flavor and rich mouthfeel are closer to dairy than coconut milk, which can add a strong coconut flavor. The other key is Yukon gold potatoes, which when blended help to form that velvety texture. Add a few spices and you’re golden!
Here’s what you’ll need for vegan broccoli soup:
- Fresh ingredients: Sweet onion, garlic, Yukon gold potatoes, carrots, lemon
- Frozen: Frozen broccoli
- Pantry ingredients: Olive oil, vegetable broth, raw cashews, garlic powder, dried dill, onion powder, Dijon mustard, salt
Tips for blending
This vegan broccoli soup is simmered like a traditional soup, then blended before adding back to the pot and adding more broccoli and carrots. The blending helps to make a creamy texture similar to dairy, similar to in our fan-favorite wild rice soup recipe. Here are a few tips for blending this soup:
- A high-speed blender is easiest and gets it the creamiest. It should only take a minute or so in a large high speed blender.
- A standard blender works too. It will take longer, and you may need to stop and scrape down the sides. You also may need to puree the soup in batches depending on the size of your blender. Just make sure to keep blending to get it ultra creamy.
- If there are chunks of cashews, keep blending! You’ll want the soup to be extremely smooth, so keep blending if you see any chunks.
Season to taste
One note is this soup, like any good soup, should be salted to taste. Add kosher salt and fresh ground pepper at the end of simmering until the flavor pops. If it doesn’t taste like a burst of flavor in your mouth, add a little more. This is the key to a great soup recipe.
Garnishing vegan broccoli soup
This vegan broccoli soup is tasty as is without a garnish, but we like adding a fun garnish to amp the flavors even more. If you have them on hand, combine these ingredients in a small bowl:
- 1 to 2 handfuls panko (breadcrumbs)
- 1 handful crispy fried onions (purchased)
- 1 to 2 pinches smoked paprika
- 1 to 2 pinches kosher salt
These ingredients make a crunchy, salty, and smoky garnish that tastes a bit like crumbled bacon when sprinkled across the top of this vegan soup. It’s a tasty way to amp up the flavors in this soup, especially when you’re serving it to guests! You can also use other garnish ideas: croutons, pepitas, or other crunchy salty items work well.
What to serve alongside
This vegan broccoli soup recipe is fairly filling from the protein in the cashews. However, you’ll likely want to serve it with a side or two to make it into a filling meal. We often serve it with a tofu Caesar salad, which is very satisfying. Here are a few ideas of how to serve this vegan soup:
Let us know how you plan to serve your vegan broccoli soup in the comments below! We’ve been craving more vegan recipes lately and this one has hit the spot for us here in the new year.
More vegan soup recipes
Love vegan soups? Here are a few more to try:
This vegan broccoli cheddar soup recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.
Description
This creamy vegan broccoli cheddar soup is packed with nutrients and flavor! Made with simple ingredients, it’s a healthy and satisfying meal that everyone will love.
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound Yukon gold potatoes (about 3 medium), peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 quart vegetable broth
- ½ cup raw unsalted cashews
- 2 pounds frozen broccoli florets (or 8 cups small steamed broccoli florets*), divided
- 1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 large carrot, shredded
- For the garnish (optional): panko, crispy onions, smoked paprika, and kosher salt
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute, until fragrant and golden. Add the vegetable broth, cashews and potatoes, 1 pound frozen broccoli, kosher salt, garlic powder, dill, and onion powder. Bring to a boil then reduce to a rapid simmer, and simmer about 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender and falling apart when pricked with a fork.
- When the potatoes are tender, use a ladle to transfer everything to a blender. Hold the top tight and blend everything for a minute or two until fully creamy. (This quantity just fits in a standard blender.) Return to the pot over low heat.
- Meanwhile, rinse the other 1 pound of broccoli florets under warm water until defrosted. Chop finely with a knife.
- When the soup base has been blended and returned to the pot, stir in the chopped broccoli, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and the shredded carrot. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Taste and add more salt and fresh ground pepper before serving. If desired, for a garnish mix 1 handful each panko and crispy onions with 2 pinches smoked paprika and kosher salt. Sprinkle over the soup before serving.
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Soup
- Diet: Vegetarian
Keywords: Vegan broccoli soup