Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Roasted Garlic

Toss cauliflower florets and whole garlic cloves with olive oil, then roast and puree. It's the base for a creamy, thick and comforting creamy cauliflower soup. If you are a garlic lover, the smell of the roasting garlic is heavenly. It's dairy-free and easily made vegan if desired. Any extra freezes beautifully for another day.

A healthy option to add to your diet, cauliflower is loaded with vitamins, minerals, fiber and disease-fighting phytonutrients. It is a member of the cruciferous vegetable family including broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, and bok choy. And cruciferous vegetables have been linked in studies for reducing the risk of cancer.

Why You'll Like This Recipe

• Make it to suit your needs with or without dairy, or vegan.
• Creamy, delicious, and lots of veggies.
• Leftover soup freezes well.

Recipe Ingredients

Roasting cauliflower brings out the sweet quality and caramelizes the flavors. For this cauliflower soup recipe, I’ve pureed it along with leeks, carrots, garlic, celery and herbs for a tasty and satisfying soup.

For your shopping list:

• Cauliflower: a large, fresh head of white cauliflower.
• Garlic: you'll need a whole, fresh head of garlic. Big flavor booster as roasting garlic sweetens the flavor.
• Cooking fat: I use extra virgin olive oil, but you could use avocado or a healthy neutral oil (pass on standard vegetable oil).
• Leek: from the onion family, adds lovely flavor. Chop off the dark green part and use just the pale green and white portion.
• Carrot: for sweetness and part of the classic vegetable base for soup.
• Celery: to complete the classic mirepoix combination of onion, carrot, and celery, adding a slightly saltiness and bitter flavor balance.
• Thyme: use either fresh or dried. For dried use a third of the amount of fresh.
• Broth: low or no sodium broth, chicken or vegetable.
• Liquid: use canned coconut milk for non-dairy, heavy cream, half and half, or a combination.

Please see the recipe card for exact measurement, salt and pepper.

Chef's Tip: Buying Cauliflower. The most common color of cauliflower is white, although you will find orange, green and purple varieties. When buying cauliflower, choose heads that are firm and white with no brown spots or areas. Heads wrapped in a layer of green leaves are more protected. Cauliflower will last in the refrigerator about a week.

Substitutions and Variations

• To add umami flavor, use a little sweet white miso paste.
• Swap white onion for the leek.

Recipe Instructions

Trim any outer leaves then cut the core from a head of cauliflower. Break the head into small florets., trimming any extra stem. Scatter the cauliflower into a large baking dish and add whole, peeled garlic cloves. Toss with olive oil and roast until tender when pierced with the tip of a paring knife and edges are starting to brown.

While the vegetables are roasting, cook the leek, carrot, celery, and thyme slowly in a large pot like a Dutch oven to coax out their sweet flavors.

When vegetables are done roasting, add cauliflower and broth to the pot and simmer until flavors have blended and all vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Puree with coconut milk, heavy cream, or half and half, in a food processor or blender, then adjust seasoning and serve.

Serving Suggestions

For garnish, I thin basil pesto down with a little coconut milk and swirl it into the soup, then drizzle with drops of golden olive oil.

If you are vegan or dairy-free, make the pesto without Parmesan cheese. it will be more like the French version of pesto called pistou.

Serve creamy cauliflower soup alone with garlic toast for lunch or pair it up with a hearty salad for a more substantial meal. For creative salad ideas read this article on e

Here's a handy chart for how long food lasts in the refrigerator and freezer, from the FDA.

More Soup Recipes

For more soup recipes check out the soup recipes archive page .

⭐️Did you Make This?

If you make this recipe, please comment and let me know, and if you loved it, please give it a 5 star rating. They really help other readers.

📖 Recipe

Creamy cauliflower soup with roasted garlic

Sally Cameron

This thick and creamy soup will remind you of potato soup. Make it as thick or thin as you prefer by adding more coconut milk, crean, half and half or broth. For garnish, add a swirl of thinned basil pesto and a drizzle of olive oil. For a vegan soup, use vegetable broth and pesto made without Parmesan. For an over-the-top finish, sprinkle with Maldon smoked sea salt when serving.

5 from 1 vote

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Soup

Cuisine American

Servings 4

Calories 158 kcal

Equipment

• ▢
  Large soup pot like a dutch oven
• ▢
  Large casserole dish for roasting cauliflower and garlic
• ▢
  blender

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 large head of cauliflower about 2 ½ pounds
• ▢ 1 head garlic cloves sepaerated and peeled
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ▢ 4 tablespoons olive oil divided use
• ▢ 1 cup thinly sliced leek white or pale green part only
• ▢ ½ cup chopped carrot
• ▢ ½ cup chopped celery
• ▢ 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• ▢ 3 cups low or no sodium broth preferably homemade, chicken or vegetable
• ▢ 1 15 ounce can coconut milk or heavy cream or half and half

Would you like to save this recipe?

Never lose a recipe! We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later.

I agree to be sent email.

Instructions

 

Roast the Cauliflower

• Pre-heat oven to 400°F. Cut the outer green leaves and core from the head of cauliflower. Break the head into small florets, trimming stems as needed. Add florets and garlic cloves to a bowl and toss with 3 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour vegetables into a large rectangular baking dish. Roast until florets are tender when pierced with the tip of a sharp paring knife and edges are starting to brown, about 30 minutes. You may want to stir half of the way through.

Cook the Other Vegetables

• While the cauliflower is roasting, cook the leek, carrot, celery and thyme in a large pot with last tablespoon of olive oil over medium-low heat, covered, until tender, about 10 minutes.

Simmer Together

• When the cauliflower is done roasting, add to the pot of vegetables and add broth. Bring to almost a boil, then turn heat down and simmer for 10 minutes.

Puree the Soup

• Pour vegetables into a food processor or blender and puree with coconut milk until smooth. Taste and add additional salt and pepper as desired. Serve hot. See post for garnish notes.

Notes

Extra soup keeps covered and refrigerated for a few days and can be made ahead, then heated. Leftovers also freeze well for 2-3 months. Be sure to label and date the container. 

Nutrition

Calories: 158kcalCarbohydrates: 8gProtein: 1gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 10gSodium: 463mgPotassium: 157mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 3111IUVitamin C: 6mgCalcium: 42mgIron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was with a comment and leave a star rating!