Vegan Cauliflower Cheese Soup (Gluten-Free)

This vegan cauliflower cheese soup is creamy, indulgent, and gluten-free. Easy to make and cheesy in taste, you won't even notice there's no dairy.

You can use a hand blender for this, but if you want to make the soup extra-creamy then I'd recommend using a larger blender. It might mean more washing up, but I feel like it's worth it for this recipe.

Want more cheesy vegan recipes? Check out this baked cauliflower cheese and easy cheesy pasta sauce.

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Is this soup healthy?

There's a lot of good stuff going on in this soup. Cauliflower is absolutely packed full of vitamins and minerals, and I love its diversity in the kitchen.

In one serving of this recipe you’ll find:

• Calories: 267 kcal
• Protein: 12 grams (24% of RDA)
• Fibre: 8 grams (33% of RDA)
• Vitamin C: 86 mg (104% of RDA)

Not bad for beige food, eh?

Why is there no vegan cheese in this recipe?

Despite all the great plant-based products out there, vegan cheese still has some way to go in my personal opinion. The best ones tend to be a little on the expensive side, and so it feels like a waste to throw them into a soup.

I prefer to build the flavours myself, which also helps to avoid the taste of coconut oil that's so common in vegan cheeses. Saying that, feel free to add in vegan cheese if you want – even just as a topping when serving.

How to make vegan food taste cheesy

There are several ways to make vegan food taste cheesy, but the most common is to add nutritional yeast or 'nooch'. This magical ingredient comes in the form of a flaky yellowish powder and lends a cheesy umami flavour to dishes.

Nutritional yeast is a good source of vitamin B12, and one of many weird vegan ingredients to play around with in the kitchen.

Salt is another important flavour for imitating cheese, and I also add Dijon mustard and cider vinegar to this soup for some sharpness. The cashew nuts and plant-based milk help to make it creamy.

Is cauliflower good in soup?

Cauliflower is a great ingredient for making soup. Low in calories and full of fibre and vitamins, its subtle taste means you can easily build flavours around it.

When cooking with cauliflower, I'd always recommend including the core and leaves. These are just as good as the florets and it'll result in less food waste – win-win!

Which plant-based milk is best for cauliflower soup?

It's no secret that I'm an oat milk fan, and it's what usually ends up in my cooking. Here's my take on some of the options:

• Oat milk: My go-to plant-based milk. A good, versatile all-rounder that usually doesn't curdle.
• Cashew milk: This recipe already uses cashew nuts, and so creamy cashew milk would work well.
• Soya milk: This is also a decent all-rounder, and would work well (it might curdle when added to the hot soup, but you're going to blend this one anyway).
• Coconut milk: For the same reason that I don't use vegan cheese in this recipe, I would avoid using coconut milk.
• Rice milk: I haven't experimented much with rice milk, but reckon it would be slightly too sweet here.
• Almond milk: I've always found almond milk to be a little overpowering, so unless you like the taste I'd avoid it.

Note: If you need to ensure that this recipe is 100% gluten-free, use a plant-based milk that is certified or labelled as such.

How to make vegan cauliflower cheese soup

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan before adding the chopped onion and leek. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 8-10 minutes.

Once the onion and leek have softened, add the chopped garlic and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Next, add the cauliflower and potato and stir well for 2-3 minutes.

After 2-3 minutes, add in the veg stock, Dijon mustard, cider vinegar, cashews, nutritional yeast, bay leaves, and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potato cubes are soft.

Turn off the heat and stir in the plant-based milk. This will help to slightly reduce the temperature before blending. Remove the bay leaves and then transfer the soup to a blender, doing this in batches if necessary (don't overfill).

Blend until smooth and creamy. It's perfectly fine to use a hand blender here, it just won't be as creamy as in a larger blender.

Once blended, return the soup to the pan and bring to a low simmer. Add the spinach and cook for a couple of minutes until it has wilted.

At this point you can adjust the seasoning and flavours to suit your preferences – more salt if it tastes bland, more nutritional yeast for extra cheesiness, more mustard and/or vinegar for added sharpness.

Once the spinach has wilted, turn off the heat and serve.

Serving suggestions

• Plant-based crème fraiche
• Chopped fresh parsley
• Chopped fresh chives
• Sliced spring onions
• Grated vegan cheese (or this 4-ingredient vegan parmesan)
• Toasted pine nuts or pumpkin seeds

Recipe FAQ

Variations and tips

• Dijon mustard: You could swap this out for wholegrain mustard (see recipe notes for more info about vegan Dijon mustard).
• Cider vinegar: You can swap this out for white wine vinegar – just be aware that this isn't always strictly vegan.
• Wild garlic: This is an excellent replacement for spinach, and is usually found around March/April in the UK. If you're like me and into that sort of thing, check out these recipes for wild garlic pesto and wild garlic soup. 
• Blending: It's perfectly fine to use a hand blender, but if you want to achieve the creamiest possible soup you'll need a larger blender. It's a bit of extra washing up, but I feel like it's worth it for this recipe.

More vegan recipe ideas

If you liked this recipe, you may also enjoy:

• Baked Vegan Cauliflower Cheese
• Easy Vegan Pea and Mint Soup
• Vegan Scotch Broth (Scottish Barley Soup)
• Pinto Bean Soup with Chilli and Lime
• Celeriac Soup with Apple, Lemon & Thyme
• Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup
• Broccoli, Potato & Tarragon Soup
• Cumin Roasted Cauliflower

You can also check out my full list of vegan soup recipes.

Full recipe