This hearty, vegetable-loaded Cauliflower Soup is rich, thick, and creamy! With tender bites of cauliflower and a luxuriously flavorful soup base, even your kids will be hooked on veggies!
Pair this heartwarming soup with a light and crunchy side salad like Panzanella salad or Olive Garden Salad.
Cauliflower Soup
We love a good creamy vegetable soup, but this soup is an ode to cauliflower — one of the most versatile and beloved veggies around!
While there is still a good amount of other veggies in this soup, cauliflower is the star here and a low-carb replacement superhero. Instead of relying mainly on potatoes to bulk up this soup (we only use 1 cup in this recipe), we’re using an entire head of cauliflower instead!
And the tender bites of cauliflower are so good in this soup, you won’t even be missing those extra carbs!
Shortcuts
Cauliflower Soup Shortcuts
This soup recipe requires a bit of chopping, but below I’ve got a few shortcut ideas to help save some time in the kitchen.
- Pick up mirepoix (also sometimes called soup starter). Most stores sell pre-chopped mirepoix (a French phrase for diced onion, carrot, and celery) in the produce section. If you’re in a hurry, grab that fresh-chopped mirepoix or you can even use frozen mirepoix–found near other frozen veggies in the store.
- Use jarred garlic or a garlic press. Instead of mincing your own garlic, you can use jarred to save time. Alternatively, a garlic press gives you fresh-minced garlic in a fraction of the time that hand mincing requires.
- Cheese: If you have a food processor with a grating attachment, you can have freshly grated cheese in a flash!
- Prep ahead of time. Not a shortcut per se, but I’ll often use a less-busy day to chop up a bunch of veggies ahead of time for the week. Store the onion, celery, and carrot in a container separate from the cauliflower and enjoy how simple cauliflower soup can be to make with the heavy prep work out of the way! (I don’t recommend chopping the potatoes ahead of time since they have a tendency to brown and change texture.)
Cauliflower Soup Tips
- Make sure to dice the potatoes and cauliflower into small pieces (1/2-inch dice for potatoes, bite-sized pieces for cauliflower) so they can cook through in the indicated time listed in the recipe. Larger chunks of either veggie will need to simmer a lot longer and will further reduce the broth. The soup is also less pleasant to eat with overly large chunks of veggies!
- Cut veggies generally the same size for even cooking; if some pieces are a lot larger than others you’ll have some mushy and some crisp veggies in this soup.
- For the ultimate thick, creamy, and best cauliflower soup, make sure to use whole milk, not a milk substitute or lower-fat milk.
Cauliflower Soup Tips, Continued
- I recommend freshly grated cheese; pre-grated cheese has a cellulose coating that results in a greasier/clumpier soup that can turn grainy. You’ll also want to make sure to use a sharp or extra-sharp Cheddar cheese–this makes a big difference to the overall flavor. Plain Cheddar will leave this cauliflower soup tasting flat.
- Seasoning as you cook. Seasoning with salt and pepper as you cook helps the flavors permeate the soup. If the soup tastes flat, it may just need a pinch more of salt and/or pepper. See “quick tip” below.
- The better the stock used, the better this soup will taste. Bonus points for homemade stock, but a good store-bought stock will also reward you with a deeply flavorful soup. We love Swanson® chicken stock best! (Not sponsored)
Quick Tip
Not all salts will season the same (you’ll need more or less depending on the salt used). I use fine sea salt in this recipe.
Cauliflower Soup FAQs
The fix may be as simple as adding a touch more salt and/or pepper — it’s amazing how these seasonings can bring flavors to life!
You can also add a pinch more thyme and oregano.
If you’re still after more flavor, try topping the soup bowl with extra cheese and some fresh herbs like thyme or chives. Top this cauliflower soup with bacon for another great flavor add.
To avoid bland Cauliflower Soup in the first place, be sure to use a good quality chicken stock, sharp or extra sharp (not mild) Cheddar, and generously season as you cook!
Stored properly (in an airtight container) this soup will stay good for 3-4 days in the fridge.
I don’t recommend freezing it, because of the milk and cheese in it. The milk solids will separate as the soup thaws, resulting in a grainy texture that often separates.
If you want to get as much use as possible from your cauliflowers, use the leaves as a side dish! Replace spinach, kale, or chard with cauliflower greens in a stir-fry-type dish (like this Chicken Stir Fry).
We create a roux (butter and flour) to thicken this soup nicely. We add whole milk to the roux and finish it off with some Cheddar cheese. Once we’ve got this mixture finished, we pour it into the simmered veggies and it thickens everything really nicely.
This cauliflower soup has no cream but does contain milk. If sensitive to lactose, try using Lactaid’s whole milk which will work perfectly in this recipe!
For a lower calorie Cauliflower Soup, you can replace the whole milk with 1% milk. Note that the result won’t be near as rich and creamy, but you’ll be saving some calories and fat.
Reheating Leftovers
Reheating a creamy soup made can be tricky; we want to avoid separation and a grainy texture. To reheat, add the leftover Cauliflower Soup to a pot and slowly increase the heat while stirring frequently. Don’t boil the soup or reheat it at a high temperature; this can cause the ingredients to separate.
If the soup has thickened too much for your liking, add a splash more of chicken stock to thin it out as it warms through again.
Quick Tip
Looking for a vegetarian cauliflower soup? This recipe can easily be made vegetarian — simply swap the chicken stock for vegetable stock!
More vegetable-packed soup recipes
- White Turkey Chili with ground turkey
- Sweet Potato Coconut Curry Soup with chickpeas
- Easy Tomato Soup with canned whole tomatoes
- Vegetable Soup with bowtie pasta
- Broccoli Potato Soup with Cheddar cheese
Cauliflower Soup
Equipment
- Large pot
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter divided
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 3/4 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced gold potatoes
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 head chopped cauliflower
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 cups whole milk see note 2
- 1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese see note 3
- Fresh thyme optional
- Hearty buttered bread for serving
Instructions
- Combine oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Once butter is melted, add in the onion, carrots, celery, potatoes (see note 4). Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 8–10 minutes or until onion is golden. Add in the minced garlic and stir for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until fragrant. Add dried thyme, dried oregano, salt, and pepper. Mix through.
- Add in the cauliflower and chicken broth. Mix. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium-low or to a gentle simmer, barely bubbling at edges. Cover the pot with a lid and simmer for 10–15 minutes or until veggies are tender and a fork can pierce cauliflower and potatoes easily.
- In a separate small pot, melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Once melted, whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually add the milk while whisking continuously. Continue cooking over medium heat until the mixture thickens slightly, about 5–6 minutes, making sure to keep it just below boiling. Once thickened, remove from heat and stir in the cheese until melted.
- Reduce soup heat to low. Pour the milk and cheese mixture into the pot once the veggies are tender. Stir through. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper as needed, I typically add another 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. If you'd like the soup to be creamier, you can add 1–2 cups to a blender, blend and return it to the soup.
- Serve soup. Top bowls with additional cheese and fresh thyme if desired. Serve with hearty buttered bread and enjoy!
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just had a bowl and it is delicious. Did not
blend it for we all like chunky soup and I did
chop the veggies small.
Easy to make and did not change one thing.
So happy to hear this! Thanks Nan! 🙂
Made this soup today and it is really good! I took 2 cups out to puree to have a nice creamy consistency for the base, and left the rest as is for texture. I did this before adding the cheese sauce. I used a block of Cracker Barrel sharp cheddar and shredded it. It turned out delicious and very flavorful. Nice to have a great recipe like this that not only tastes great, but is very nutritious. 5 Stars!! Thank you so much!!
Delish! I am so happy to hear this! Thanks Sarah! 🙂
This is a new family favorite! It’s just starting to get cold here and this soup will be on regular rotation!
So glad to hear that! Thank you for the comment and review 🙂