The last few rainy and cold days here in Chicago had me craving soup! What’s your favorite soup on a rainy day? It has been ages since I had a good bowl of broccoli cheddar soup so I thought I would recreate a recipe I could share here. Rather than doing a traditional broccoli cheddar with cheese and milk, I made a vegan version which is just as creamy and delicious. The secret to the creaminess in this version is canned coconut milk and pureed potato and carrot. You won’t even miss the cheese!
One recipe makes enough for 5 large filling bowls of soup. To serve, I topped each bowl with a few croutons and a sprinkle of smoked paprika. Mmmm…. I enjoyed some of the leftovers for lunch at work and thought the flavor only got better with time.
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This vegan cheddar broccoli soup is a big bowl of comfort food for the rainiest of days. Serve it up with some crunchy croutons and a sprinkle of paprika.
Ingredients
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced (~6.5 oz)
- 1 large russet potato, peeled and cubed (~10 oz)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
- 3 small heads of broccoli, chopped (18.5 oz, 5 cups chopped)
- 3 cups vegetable broth or water
- 1 (15 oz.) can full fat coconut milk
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- Salt and ground black pepper, to taste (start with 1/4 teaspoon each and adjust as needed)
- To serve: croutons, smoked paprika, vegan shredded cheese
Instructions
- Fill a saucepan with 1″ water and add steamer basket. Bring to a boil and add the carrots and potato to a steamer basket. Cover and cook until fork tender, about 10-15 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and allow to cool off for a few minutes.
- Meanwhile, add the olive oil and onion to a large pot. Saute for 3-5 minutes or until onion is translucent and tender. Stir in the broccoli, broth, and milk. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the yeast, paprika, and soy sauce to the food processor with the carrots and potato. Puree until smooth and stir into the pot with the broccoli. Cook for 7-10 minutes or until mixture is starting to simmer. Stir in the red wine vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Pour about 1/2 of the soup into the same food processor and blend until smooth OR use an immersion blender to puree some of the soup. (I still like to leave some broccoli pieces whole).
- Once soup is hot, divide into bowls and top with croutons, paprika, vegan cheese or whatever other toppings you have on hand.
Sahily says
April 5, 2017 at 3:45 amit must taste amazing . can’t wait to try it!. question can I leave out the nutritional yeast? I’m not vegan but I like to find ideas to introduce veggies to the family and this seems one they will like. thanks for sharing
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Dietitian Debbie says
April 6, 2017 at 1:04 amHi Sahily!
The nutritional yeast is the ingredient that give the soup its “cheesy” flavor so it might be a bit bland without it. Since you aren’t vegan, it might be good with just a bit of shredded cheddar cheese melted in towards the end of cooking. I haven’t tried it with the cheddar so you’ll have to let me know what you think if you make it!
Kim says
August 27, 2017 at 8:06 pmCould you use lite coconut milk in this recipe instead of the full fat?
Dietitian Debbie says
August 28, 2017 at 12:08 amYes, you an easily use lite coconut milk instead of full fat.
Ashley says
March 30, 2019 at 11:59 pmThis soup is really good! However I’m only vegetarian so I enjoy dairy, and I felt like I could taste the coconut milk in the end (I hate coconut anything so maybe it was just in my head). Have you ever tried it with just regular milk? If so, would you substitute it with the same amount of milk as the coconut milk?
★★★★★
Dietitian Debbie says
April 6, 2019 at 11:30 pmThanks Ashley! I haven’t tried it with regular milk, but I think you could totally substitute it with the same amount of dairy milk as coconut milk and it would work.