Simple, creamy vegan broccoli soup is healthier than its dairy-filled counterpart without sacrificing any delicious richness! Nut-free and oil-free options included.
This smooth and creamy broccoli soup doesn't use any dairy at all. But it's still filling and satisfying. You can even make it oil-free and nut-free, if needed!
Jump To:
Recipe notes
The secret to creamy, vegan broccoli soup without any dairy is a mix of cashews and white beans.
Cashew cream is an absolute wonder for adding creaminess to soups and dips without any dairy. This recipe starts with a modified version of my garlic cashew cream sauce. You just blend up soaked cashews with veggie broth to make a creamy mixture.
Let that sit in the blender while you saute fragrant garlic and onions with sweet carrots in a little bit of olive oil. You can water fry, if you prefer oil-free.
Now, add broccoli, white beans, and spices to the pan, and top it off with the extra broth.
Bring that to a boil until the veggies and beans are soft, then blend the soup up until it's nice and creamy.
Now is the secret to a truly creamy, velvety soup: let it sit, covered, for a few more minutes. Then, blend again.
Stir in the cashew cream, season to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice, and you are ready to dig in.
Substitutions (includes oil-free and nut-free options)
For nut-free, use raw pumpkin seeds or raw sunflower seeds instead of cashews. Or, replace the cashew cream with ¾ cup of full fat coconut milk. You will taste the coconut milk, so only choose that option if that's a flavor you enjoy.
For oil-free, sauté the onion and garlic in water instead of oil.
This soup doesn't contain potatoes, but if you don't want to use white beans, you can use an equivalent amount (about 1 ¾ cups) cooked, diced yellow potato instead of the beans.
If you don't have lemon juice handy, add rice vinegar or red wine vinegar instead for acidity. The acid really helps balance out the other flavors in this soup, so I don't recommend omitting it completely!
Storage directions
Leftovers will keep for three to five days in the fridge or up to six months in the freezer.
To warm up the soup from the fridge, run it through the blender if it has separated. Then, warm it on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Thaw frozen soup in the refrigerator overnight, then run it through the blender and warm it back up in a pan on the stove or in the microwave.
Creamy Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup cashews - soaked for 15 minutes in hot water, then drained
- 3 cups vegetable broth - divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic - minced
- 1 cup minced sweet onion
- ½ cup minced carrots
- 12 ounce bag of frozen broccoli florets - or 3 cups fresh broccoli - Reserve a handful to steam or saute for garnish, if you like!
- 1 15 ounce can white beans - drained and rinsed
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- salt and black pepper - to taste
- lemon juice - to taste
- extra steamed broccoli - for garnish
Instructions
- In your blender, combine the cashews and ¾ cup of the vegetable broth. Puree until smooth, and set this aside. Leave it in the blender, so you can blend again just before adding it to the pot.
- In a soup pot, heat the oil on medium-high heat, and add the onion, carrots, and garlic. Cook until the onion turns translucent, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the remaining broth along with the broccoli florets, white beans, and spices to the pot. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the beans soften, about 10 minutes.
- Now, you have two options. If you have an immersion blender, use it to blend the soup until it's completely smooth. If you don't, then let the soup cool and transfer it in batches to a regular blender, blending until totally smooth. This might take longer, depending your blender, so just be patient, and keep going until the soup is totally smooth. Transfer back to the pot, if you used an upright blender.
- Simmer the soup again, covered, for 5 minutes, then blend again, like in the previous step. Stir in the cashew cream; season to taste with salt, pepper, and lemon juice; and serve.
Equipment
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Frequently asked questions
Yes! Transfer the cooled soup to a freezer safe container, and you can freeze it up to three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, and blend before warming and serving.
You sure can! Instead of making the cashew cream, use ¾ cup to 1 cup of full fat coconut milk.
Absolutely! Either use the coconut milk substitution listed above or sub in raw pumpkin seeds for the cashews.
Yes! The only oil in this recipe is used to sauté the garlic, onion, and carrot. You can water sauté instead.
swathi
Delicious, thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop, pinning and tweeting.
Becky Striepe
Thank you!
Sophia | Veggies Don't Bite
Love!! My kids adore broccoli so we do a creamy soup with it too, and it is devoured! I love using white beans to replace some of the cashews for extra creaminess and a lower fat result. I use them in a few of my sauces and they are amazing! This looks divine!
Becky Striepe
Thank you, Sophia! You're so lucky to have kids who love broccoli. That's definitely still a work in progress with Darrol!
Liz
I made this tonight for dinner and it was delicious! I ended up using black beans instead of white because that's what I had on hand, but it still tasted great! (Just turned brown instead of green, which is not as pretty). Highly recommend the recipe for a quick, tasty meal!
Becky Striepe
Thank you so much, Liz! And I appreciate the tip on other beans - that's always good to know!
Jeff McIntire-Strasburg
Thank you so much, Becky - I'll definitely whip some of this up, and let Riley know that his "Aunt Becky" created it especially for him!
Becky Striepe
I'm delighted!! I hope he loves it as much as I loved making the recipe for him!
Hannah Teson
Oh oh oh, I LOVE the video! I had been using Bloglovin' to subscribe, and I think something funky happened because I wasn't getting updates. I have like SO much to catch up on here. I'm looking forward to watching the rest :)
And obviously the soup looks amazing. I miss broccoli!
Becky Striepe
Thank you so much, Hannah! I wonder what happened with Blog Lovin. Thank you for telling me - I need to look into that!
Cadry
Cream of broccoli soup was always one of my favorites in my pre-vegan days. This looks so simple and delicious. And I bet the beans in it make it very filling in addition to being creamy.
Becky Striepe
It is super filling, you're right! A bowl was perfect for lunch with a little side salad.