Creamy Garlic Cauliflower Soup

Creamy Garlic Cauliflower Soup is creamy, velvety, and healthy. This vegetarian soup is ready in just 45 minutes with a handful of simple, wholesome ingredients and a few simple steps. With its rich garlic flavor, easy preparation, and compatibility with all kinds of meals, this cauliflower and garlic soup recipe is a keeper. It's one of the easiest and tastiest soups ever.

Serve cauliflower soup on its own with bread for dipping, for a hot lunch with a side salad or sandwich, or for dinner as a side or first course before the big entree. It's perfect for busy weeknights when you are craving a bowl of cozy comfort food but fancy enough for a special occasion.

Why You'll Love this Creamy Garlic Cauliflower Soup

• The caramelized flavor. With just a few ingredients, this creamy cauliflower soup is loaded with flavor. And the key to the most amazing flavor is caramelizing the vegetables. The combination of caramelized cauliflower, garlic, and onion not only enhances the flavour, but it also gives the soup a gorgeous, golden colour.
• It’s naturally vegetarian. The recipe for this creamy cauliflower and garlic soup is vegetarian, and can easily become vegan by swapping only two ingredients — keep reading for details!
• Ready in under an hour. It takes only 45 minutes from start to finish to get this rich, savory soup on the table — only ten of which is active preparation. Plus, everything is made in one pot so clean is up quick too.
• One of the best ways to eat cauliflower! If your kids or other family members aren’t generally fans of raw, steamed, or sautéed cauliflower, this soup may be just the trick you need to get them to eat this cruciferous vegetable. Take a chance and surprise yourself. They might even ask for seconds!
• It's healthy and low in calories. The main ingredient in this garlic cauliflower soup is cauliflower — and a head of cauliflower only has 150 calories so that pretty much speaks for itself. The remaining calories come from a portion of half and half and Parmesan cheese which distributes into the entire pot of soup. In fact, an entire cup of this soup has about 120 calories.

With minimal prep and simmering time, the flavors combine perfectly to create a seasonal soup that you can serve as a side or main dish at all kinds of occasions.

Ingredient Notes

To make delicious Creamy Garlic Cauliflower Soup, you will need the following ingredients (full measurements in recipe card below):

• cauliflower - if you’re short on fresh cauliflower or on a time crunch, frozen pre-cut cauliflower florets will work. Add to the pan straight from frozen — you may have to slightly increase the amount of time it spends in the pan to bring it up to temperature and caramelize.
• olive oil - you can substitute any neutral plant-based oil, butter, or ghee for the olive oil.
• onion - white or yellow varieties will yield the best flavor in soup!
• garlic - whole cloves of garlic will give this recipe an intensely delicious flavor — definitely necessary for flavoring otherwise-bland cauliflower, but you can adjust the number of cloves based on your preferences.
• vegetable stock - any type of stock would be a suitable swap, but using an animal-based one like chicken stock or beef stock will revoke the vegetarian status of the dish.
• half and half - to make this already-vegetarian recipe vegan, you can swap the dairy half and half with coconut, almond, or cashew cream. You can also reduce a plant-based milk to thicken it and add it in place of the dairy version.
• Parmesan cheese - for a vegan option, substitute with a vegan Parmesan-style alternative, ground roasted pine nuts, or flaked nutritional yeast.
• salt and pepper

Optional Toppings

Serve this salad with your favorite soup toppings. We topped ours with:

• fresh herbs (try thyme or rosemary or both!)
• Parmesan cheese
• a drizzle of cream
• a drizzle of olive oil

You will also need measuring cups and spoons, a large stockpot, and an immersion blender (or food processor or stand up blender).

How to Make the Best Creamy Cauliflower Soup

1. Caramelize vegetables. Heat olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add cauliflower, onion, and garlic and sauté until the vegetables have caramelized, roughly 15 minutes.

1. Add stock. Pour in stock and reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the cauliflower florets are soft and tender.

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3. Puree. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth. You can also transfer the soup to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. You may need to add some water to get it going in the blender. Then, pour the soup back into the pot.

4. Add cream. Stir in the cream and Parmesan cheese and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
5. Serve. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add toppings if desired, and serve immediately.

How to Serve

Serve this creamy cauliflower and garlic soup with crunchy bread, croutons, or crackers for major dunking. You can also serve this soup with some classic soup sides for a more filling meal. Some of my favorites are:

• Grilled Cheese Roll Ups
• White Bean Salad
• Baked Sweet Potato Wedges
• Pepperoni Pizza Rolls
• Classic Coleslaw
• Pigs in a Blanket

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Storage and Freezing Instructions

How to Store

Once the cauliflower and garlic soup has cooled to room temperature, transfer it to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days. 

How to Reheat

Reheat leftover cauliflower soup in a pot on the stove over medium-low heat until warmed through, or in the microwave in 30-second intervals until warm. You can also reheat it in the crockpot according to the appliance’s instructions.

How to Freeze

Transfer the cooled soup to a freezer-safe airtight container or freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Release the frozen soup from the container by allowing it to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, or by dunking the container in a warm water bath. Then, reheat it as usual.

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• Coconut Curry Pumpkin Soup
• Pinto Bean Soup (Sopa Tarasca)
• Acorn Squash Soup

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