Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup
This cauliflower soup recipe is the BEST! Roasted cauliflower makes it taste amazing, and a little butter (instead of cream) makes it luxuriously creamy.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 1, 2024
Behold! Lusciously creamy, yet cream-less, cauliflower soup. This cauliflower soup recipe will absolutely satisfy your craving for warm, creamy soup—no cheese required.
I know “cauliflower soup” might not sound super appealing if you’ve never had it before. Trust me, it can be so delicious! Today, I’m sharing my favorite cauliflower soup recipe, and I can’t wait for you to make it at home.
My friend Tessa introduced me to cauliflower soup a few years ago. I loved it so much that I developed my own recipe for my cookbook, Love Real Food.
As the temps and leaves have dropped this fall, I’ve had a hankering for warm, creamy soups. So, I thought I’d share a slightly simplified version of my cauliflower soup for everyone to enjoy. Let’s make some!
Why You’ll Love This Cauliflower Soup
This soup calls for basic ingredients but yields amazing flavor. If you have a head of cauliflower in the fridge, you probably have everything else you’ll need.
This cauliflower soup is the perfect accompaniment to salads and sandwiches. This traditional cauliflower soup will go with just about any other fall or winter flavors, including butternut squash, Brussels sprouts, and greens like arugula and kale. It’ll warm you up without weighing you down!
This soup freezes well for later. This recipe doesn’t yield a ton (about 4 medium bowls), but if you have extra, just freeze it!
This creamy soup is special diet-friendly. It’s gluten free as written. Check my recipe notes to learn how to make this soup vegan/dairy free by using cashews instead of butter.
How to Make the Best Cauliflower Soup
1) Roast Your Cauliflower
Behind that creamy beige exterior, you’ll find loads of irresistible roasted cauliflower flavor. Roasted cauliflower is key here—cauliflower develops caramelized notes with a greater depth of flavor as it roasts in the oven.
2) Build Flavor
Once your roasted cauliflower is almost done, you’ll sauté onions in a soup pot until tender, then add garlic and vegetable broth. Then, add your roasted cauliflower and simmer the mixture on the stove for about 20 minutes to meld the flavors.
3) Add Butter for Creaminess
You’ll transfer the contents of the pot to a blender and add butter. Butter is an easy way to add mega creamy, luxurious flavor and texture without any cream (I borrowed this technique from my butternut squash soup). If you’re like me, you always have butter in the fridge, but rarely heavy cream!
4) Blend Until Completely Smooth
I recommend blending this soup in a stand blender, rather than an immersion blender, because stand blenders yield the creamiest results. Fortunately, the ingredients used here are fairly soft, so even an inexpensive stand blender should work well (I used my fancy Vitamix, affiliate link). The final texture, in my opinion, is absolutely worth dirtying the blender bowl for.
5) Season with Nutmeg and Lemon Juice
We’re using small, subtle amounts of nutmeg and lemon juice here. You probably won’t be able to pinpoint them while you’re sipping your soup, but they offer a certain je ne sais quoi factor. They take this soup from great to fantastic!
6) Sprinkle Something Fresh on Top
I tried garnishing my soup with fresh parsley, green onion and chives. I loved them all and couldn’t pick a favorite, so use whichever you have on hand!
Watch How to Make Cauliflower Soup
Please let me know how this recipe turns out for you in the comments! I really love hearing from you.
Having a moment with cauliflower? Here are some more of my favorite cauliflower recipes on Cookie and Kate:
- Roasted Cauliflower (Four Ways!)
- Mediterranean Cauliflower Rice
- Lemony Roasted Cauliflower Risotto
- Parmesan-Crusted Cauliflower Steaks with Marinara
- Roasted Cauliflower and Farro Salad with Feta and Avocado
Craving more soups? Don’t miss the other eight soup recipes in Love Real Food! You’ll also find quite a few more soups here on the blog.
Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup
This cauliflower soup recipe is the best! Roasted cauliflower makes it taste amazing, and a little butter (instead of cream) makes it luxuriously creamy. Recipe yields 4 bowls of soup.
Ingredients
- 1 large head cauliflower (about 2 pounds), cut into bite-size florets
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- Fine sea salt
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 4 cups (32 ounces) vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or more if needed
- Scant ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- For garnish: 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, chives and/or green onions
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. If desired, line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup.
- On the baking sheet, toss the cauliflower with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil until lightly and evenly coated in oil. Arrange the cauliflower in a single layer and sprinkle lightly with salt. Bake until the cauliflower is tender and caramelized on the edges, 25 to 35 minutes, tossing halfway.
- Once the cauliflower is almost done, in a Dutch oven or soup pot, warm the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened and turning translucent, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds, then add the broth.
- Reserve 4 of the prettiest roasted cauliflower florets for garnish. Then transfer the remaining cauliflower to the pot. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce the heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes, to give the flavors time to meld.
- Once the soup is done cooking, remove the pot from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes. Then, carefully transfer the hot soup to a blender, working in batches if necessary. (Do not fill past the maximum fill line or the soup could overflow!)
- Add the butter and blend until smooth. Add the lemon juice and nutmeg and blend again. Add additional salt, to taste (I usually add another ¼ to ¾ teaspoon, depending on the broth). This soup tastes amazing once it’s properly salted! You can also a little more lemon juice, if it needs more zing. Blend again.
- Top individual bowls of soup with 1 roasted cauliflower floret and a sprinkle of chopped parsley, green onion and/or chives. This soup keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for about four days, or for several months in the freezer.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my cookbook, Love Real Food.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Use cashews instead of butter. Soak ¼ cup cashews for 4 hours, then drain and rinse them (if you have a high-powered blender like a Vitamix or Blendtec, you can skip this). Add the cashews when you would add the butter.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Absolutely delicious! I used a yellow onion instead of red and added a chicken bouillon cube for extra flavor. Omitted the nutmeg. It came out perfect!
Wonderful soup! I love how cauliflower makes a creamy soup without cream. I replaced the lemon with 1-2 tsp orange zest (finely grated) and maybe 1/4 cup of orange juice. I think the orange goes really well with the cauliflower.
Love , love this soup! After I made it a few times I began experimenting and instead of nutmeg I now add curry! It is a delightful variation!
Hi Sue, curry sounds very tasty.
Made this soup today. Followed the recipe exactly. So delicious and creamy@
Made this today. Pretty easy to do. Substituted my own homemade stock, used a vidallia onion instead of a red, added an extra clove of garlic, and added lemon zest at the end; just because I waa short a bit on the lemon juice–snd it seemed a good idea at the time. The end result: scrumptious! Thanks for the recipe.
This turned out great! I used an immersion blender because I don’t have a regular blender and it was still great. Obviously not as smooth as in the picture but tasted great! Love that it doesn’t call for cream
Made this today. Pretty easy to do. Substituted my own homemade stock, used a vidallia onion instead of a red, added an extra clove of garlic, and added lemon zest at the end; just because I short a bit on the lemon juice snd it seemed a good idea at the time. The end result: scrumptious! Thanks for the recipe.
Made this today. Pretty easy to do. Substituted my own homemade stock, used a vidallia onion instead of a red, added an extra clove of garlic, and added lemon zest at the end; just because I waa short a bit on the lemon juice–snd it seemed a good idea at the time. The end result: scrumptious! Thanks for the recipe.
Absolutely delicious! Made as described, and I was blown away by how good it was.
Looking for a healthier cauliflower soup, I came across this recipe. Make this as written and we loved it. A definite keeper!
Mahalo for sharing.
Friend who studied at the Culinary Institute said that this soup belongs on a quality restaurant menu – 5 stars. Thank you for recipe
Hi Grace, thanks for sharing your friend’s endorsement! I’m glad you and your friend enjoyed it.
Bit less salt
This is the BEST soup! I made it and took to work and my coworkers made of fun of me for eating cauliflower. I made them try it and now they can’t stop talking about this soup. It’s mine and my husbands favorite. I used chicken broth and omitted the nutmeg. I’m sure the original recipe must be as good. I double this recipe because you must have leftovers!
Such an easy and delicious soup. Couldnt believe how thick and creamy it. A definite hit
If I use dill as my fresh herb, do you think I should omit the nutmeg? Thanks in advance!
Hi Heidi, yes, I would. Dill and nutmeg are contrasting flavors I don’t think would work well together.
Excellent soup! I’m not a fan of vegetable broth, so I used chicken. Also used salted butter, so no extra salt in the soup. And only had a yellow onion on hand, yet it was still a hit! Truly tastes like a soup at a high end restaurant! Thanks so much for sharing!
Love it. Was sceptical about the benefit and faff of roasting, but it makes it a totally different soup. And the lemon balances out the roasted flavour beautifully. Added a bit of butter at end as suggested but didn’t really notice difference so you could easily drop that to keep it healthier.
Absolutely delicious!!! I used a yellow onion because that’s what I had on hand. I also roasted 2 Serrano peppers from my garden, along with the cauliflower. It gave the soup a nice, but not overpowering, heat. I felt like it needed “something”, so I threw in about 5 roasted Roma tomatoes that I had in the freezer. I didn’t add the nutmeg, but I did add extra lemon juice. Will definitely make again!!!
I made this soup multiple times, but it’s always delicious. Thank you for the recipe! I used yellow onion and instead of blending it in batches, I used an immersion blender. It made the process much easier!
Excellent recipe, I made it last week and my guests absolutely loved it. Would definitely recommend you try this it’s so simple.
ive made this so many times, I can’t believe I waited so long to give it a 5 star review! delish.
This is a keeper! The creaminess is over the top. Instead of the 2 tbsp of butter I used cottage cheese hoping to up the protein amount. Wonderful soup. Thanks for sharing such a top shelf recipe. I’m in for any vegetable that is roasted.
Very good! Found this to be an easy recipe to make. Very creamy.
Found it too thick like baby food. Will use more stock in future.
OMG! The best soup ever! Please follow all the measurements because it really makes a big difference! I love this soup! This soup is next level! Thank you Best for the autumn/winter time! ❤️
Hi Pri, thank you so much for taking the time to comment and rate the recipe. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This is a perfect soup recipe—I have made it many dozens of times since I first came across it, and it has never failed to come together as a delicious soup, impressing and delighting even people who shockingly claim to “not like soup.”
I always make it with purple cauliflower from the farmers market when it’s available, and perhaps it’s just the extra zing the rich aubergine color gives the presentation, but I find that version to be even tastier. For garnish, I often keep it simple with a drizzle of either a lemon olive oil or an extra sharp traditional Spanish olive oil, and I find a pinch of smoked finishing salt complements the roasted flavor well.
Make this soup as soon as you can!
Hi Wayne, I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I have never made it with purple cauliflower, but am intrigued by the color!
Easy and delish.
This soup was amazing! I followed the recipe mostly but swapped out the veg stock for chicken bone broth and added a Pecorino Romano rind, lessening the need for more salt. Served with fresh parsley and homemade sourdough croutons. Will surely make this again, but double the recipe so there are leftovers : )
Hi Elissa, I love the idea of adding a rind to it, and sourdough croutons are a great accompaniment. As long as you have a large pot or dutch oven, this easily doubles.
This recipe is scrumdillyoushus!!
The best