Vegan Broccoli and Cheese Soup
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Like a big, cozy sweater, this soothing soup will help you get through the long winter. It combines my love for broccoli and cheese sauce, while doing without the dairy-based cream or cheese. This is a bit of a fussy soup (think weekend, not weeknight) as it involves a few homemade components (cheese sauce, soup, and homemade croutons), so you’ll need an hour start to finish. If you can make the cheese sauce the day before, that’ll help streamline things!
This soup is adapted from my 2011 version. The cheese sauce is lightly adapted from my cheese sauce in Oh She Glows Every Day.
Yield
8 cups (2 litres)
Prep Time
30 Minutes
Cook time
30 Minutes
Total Time
1 Hour
Ingredients:
For the cheese sauce:
- 1 1/4 cups (190 g) diced peeled yellow or red potatoes*
- Heaping 1/3 cup (55 g) diced peeled carrots*
- 2 tablespoons (6 g) nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons (30 mL) refined coconut or grapeseed oil**
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (37.5 mL) water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 mL) fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 medium (4 g) garlic clove
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 mL) white wine vinegar
For the soup:
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium (350 g) onion, diced (2 heaping cups)
- 3 medium (13 g) garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup (120 g) chopped celery
- 5 to 6 cups (350 g) chopped broccoli florets
- 1 1/2 cups (225 g) chopped Yukon Gold potatoes (about 2 medium)
- 3 cups (750 mL) low-sodium vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons (6 g) nutritional yeast
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5 mL) fresh lemon juice, or to taste
- Fine sea salt, to taste (I use 1/2 teaspoon)
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 1/2 teaspoons to 3 teaspoons (7.5 to 15 mL) chickpea miso, to taste***
For topping:
- Pan-Fried Garlic Croutons (use gluten-free bread if necessary)****
- Smoked or sweet paprika
- Fresh minced parsley
Directions:
- For the cheese sauce: Place the potatoes and carrots in a medium pot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes, until fork-tender. Drain.
- While the potatoes and carrots are simmering, add the nutritional yeast, oil, water, lemon juice, salt, garlic, and vinegar into a high-speed blender and set aside.
- Chop the onions, garlic, celery, broccoli, and potatoes for the soup and set aside.
- When the simmering potatoes and carrots are fork-tender, drain them and add to the blender. Blend the cheese sauce until smooth, then transfer to a bowl.
- For the soup: In a large pot, sauté the oil, onion, and garlic over medium heat, stirring frequently. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes.
- To the pot, add the celery, broccoli, and potatoes and sauté for a few minutes more. Now, add the broth, nutritional yeast, cayenne pepper, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Cover and simmer over medium heat for about 13 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are fork-tender. Turn off the heat and let the soup sit for a few minutes. Add the chickpea miso.
- Carefully transfer the soup into a blender (you might have to do this in two batches). Blend until smooth and place back into the pot.
- Set aside 1/4 cup (60 mL) of cheese sauce for garnish. Add the rest of the cheese sauce into the soup and stir to combine. Adjust seasonings to taste if desired.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and swirl in a tablespoon of the reserved cheese sauce into each bowl. Top with Pan-Fried Garlic Croutons, paprika, and parsley, if desired.
* To cut down on cooking time, be sure to dice the potatoes and carrots very small.
** Refined coconut oil doesn’t have a coconut flavour, which is why I love it in the cheese sauce. Grapeseed oil also has a neutral flavour, but if you don’t have either you can probably get away with a light-tasting olive oil.
*** I love chickpea miso, it’s light in flavour and often soy-free (be sure to check the label, though). If you can’t find chickpea miso, any light or white miso should do the trick! I like a full 3 teaspoons of chickpea miso in this soup, but depending on the flavour of your miso you might prefer a bit less.
**** Instead of bread-based croutons, you can top this soup with my Roasted Chickpea Croutons.