Creamy Cauliflower Soup
on Feb 04, 2024, Updated Jul 08, 2024
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Creamy cauliflower soup is a luscious, thick and flavorful soup to warm up with on a cold night! Sautéed veggies, cauliflower, garlic, Italian seasoning, and parmesan cheese are puréed into a luscious, but healthy soup. Serve it with warm crusty bread and enjoy this cozy and easy to make soup!
Looking for more soups made with cauliflower? Try this slow cooker broccoli cauliflower cheese soup and this curried butternut squash and cauliflower soup!
This post has been updated since it was originally published on 3/21/2014
Why you’ll love it
Thick and creamy soup – If you love a thick and creamy potato soup, then you’ll absolutely fall in love with this creamy cauliflower soup. It has an almost identical consistency and similar flavor, but less carbs.
Vegetarian soup – Looking for a flavorful vegetarian soup? This cauliflower soup is the answer! Thanks to the generous amount of garlic, Italian seasoning, nutmeg, fresh thyme, and parmesan cheese, this soup doesn’t lack in flavor.
Easy to make – Cauliflower soup is a one pot, stovetop soup and it can be ready to eat in just over 30 minutes. The only kitchen tool I recommend for this soup is an immersion stick blender. However, you can use a traditional blender as well.
The ingredients
- Olive oil – butter can also be used.
- Shallots, carrots, celery, garlic – The veggies/aromatics that give the soup lots of flavor.
- Italian seasoning – A blend of dried herbs that often include
- Nutmeg – for the best flavor, I recommend grating fresh nutmeg. You can buy it whole and use a microplane zester to grate it.
- Cauliflower – I used a whole head of cauliflower and broke it down, but if you’re short on time, buy pre-cut cauliflower florets.
- Vegetable broth – Use low sodium to keep the soup from being too salty.
- Fresh thyme – Sprigs of thyme add a great fresh herb flavor to the soup.
- Parmesan cheese rind – This is optional, but adds a wonderful cheesy, salty, nutty flavor to the soup.
- Milk – The recipe calls for whole milk, but you could also use half and half or 2% milk.
- Parmesan cheese – Gives the soup a salty, nutty, cheesy flavor.
How to make creamy cauliflower soup
Sauté the shallots, carrots, and celery in a large heavy bottomed pot over medium-high heat. When the veggies are tender add in the garlic, Italian seasoning, nutmeg, salt and pepper, and sauté another minute.
Add the cauliflower florets into the pot and stir everything together. Pour in the vegetable broth and drop in the parmesan cheese rind and sprigs of thyme.
Stir everything together and bring the soup to a boil. Once boiling, lower the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes or until the cauliflower is tender.
Remove the thyme stems and the parmesan cheese rind. Use an immersion stick blender to purée the soup until it’s smooth.
Stir in the milk and parmesan cheese and taste for seasoning. Add additional salt and pepper if needed. Serve the soup topped with fresh thyme leaves and any other toppings you’d like.
What to serve with cauliflower soup
- Crusty bread, garlic bread, or serve the soup in bread bowls.
- Pear and blue cheese salad
- If you’re serving the soup as a side dish, it would go great with this Italian chicken and vegetable skillet.
- Steak salad with sweet potatoes, feta and cranberries
- Add toppings to the soup such as, croutons, cheese, fresh herbs, bacon or pancetta, or roasted chickpeas.
Substitutions and variations
- Instead of parmesan cheese use a sharp white cheddar cheese. Gruyere cheese would also be delicious.
- If you don’t have vegetable broth, chicken broth can be used instead.
- Add in a couple potatoes for a thicker, creamier consistency.
- Swap whole milk with half and half for a more luscious soup. On the flip side, substitute with 2% milk for a lighter soup.
- Fresh thyme can be substituted with 1-2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley.
Storage and leftovers
Once the soup has cooled, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. To reheat the soup, microwave until hot or warm it in a saucepan on the stove over medium-low heat.
Freezing – Once the soup has cooled completely, put it in a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost the soup in the fridge overnight and then reheat using one of the methods listed above.
More Soup Recipes
Did you make this creamy cauliflower soup? I’d love if you’d leave a recipe rating and review below.
It is hopefully going to be getting chilly here soon! It is September and still around 85 degrees everyday… And I cannot wait to make this soup! Thank you so much, and I will let you know how it goes!
Yay! Thanks Abby, I hope you love it! We had snow this morning, but will be in the 80’s again this weekend…crazy Colorado weather for ya!
These are really gorgeous soup pictures! And I feel like I’m going to be eating soup for a while still – it just snowed for me yesterday! I love cauliflower and bacon combo :) Pinned!
Thanks Chelsea! I’m a big fan of the cauliflower bacon combo as well!