You won’t believe this creamy soup is vegan. Loaded with flavor, this vegan broccoli soup is healthy and easy to make!
A few weeks ago, I was trying to figure out what to make for the food tasting I was doing at Dreyer Farms. I stopped into the farm to chat with our awesome CSA director Dawn and she asked me to make something with the Elmhurst nut milks they sell at the farm, a vegan soup perhaps. I said yes and then panic struck as I climbed in my car. Vegan? Me? Self pep talk followed and by the time I pulled into my driveway I had decided on vegan broccoli soup… with cashew milk.
I also decided on Lebanese eggplant soup and curried squash soup. I figured if one was a disaster, I still had two to serve. I knew the squash soup would be good because I’d made it before. But I was a little less certain about the eggplant soup and this vegan number. And so I began…
I followed the same basic recipe I use for any cream based soup, but used water instead of chicken stock and swapped in the cashew milk for cream. I also subbed olive oil for butter. I then added nutritional yeast, a secret weapon I had learned about from two other farm friends in a video they did a few weeks earlier. I cautiously sprinkled some in. Hmmm. Nothing. I then poured some in with no restraint, stirred and tasted. It was good. Really good.
The true test came when the household carnivore walked in from work. I grabbed a spoon and gave him a scoop, half expecting him to spit it across the kitchen due to its lack of animal products. Much to my amazement, he liked it. When I laughed, he asked why and I replied that the soup was vegan. I consider his disbelief a victory. This, my friends, is vegan soup that is rich, flavorful and satisfying. I highly encourage starting with the amount of yeast the recipe calls for and then adding more until you get the “cheesiness” you like. The nutritional yeast also balances out the flavor of the cashew milk.
Love broccoli? Try these:
- Broccoli and cavatelli
- Broccoli pasta with sausage and Parmesan
- Charred broccoli salad with white beans
- The best broccoli cheddar soup
- Oven-roasted broccoli
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 4 cups chopped broccoli (florets and stalks)
- 1 medium Yukon gold potato, coarsely chopped
- 4 cups water
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ tsp. thyme
- 1 cup cashew milk
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast, or more to taste
- Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add the onion, celery and garlic and cook about 5 minutes. Do not brown. Add the broccoli and potato, stir, and cook another 2 minutes. Add water, bay leaf and thyme and bring to a boil. Season well with salt. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes or until broccoli and potato are tender.
- Remove the bay leaves. Puree the soup using a stick blender or in a blender or food processor. Return to the pot and stir in the cashew milk and nutritional yeast. Season to taste with salt.
Hi there, 1/4 what of nutritional yeast? Thanks
Hi Lindsey – 1/4 cup – thanks for catching this – I’ll fix it!
The four cups of broccoli what would that be in grams.