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5 from 4 votes
by Marly
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This easy Vegan Broccoli Soup recipe is smooth and creamy comfort food loaded with tender broccoli and buttery croutons in every bite! It’s easy to make — you can make it in around 30 minutes and lightened up thanks to being dairy-free broccoli! See post tips for making it gluten-free.
![Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe (1) Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe (1)](https://i0.wp.com/namelymarly.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vegan_Broccoli_Soup_03-web-800x1200.jpg.webp)
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Serve this healthy broccoli soup with Vegan Twice-Baked Potatoes or a Vegan Caesar Salad.
I absolutely love broccoli soup. I’m so pleased to say that it’s easy to make broccoli soup vegan. Yes, that’s right. This creamy soup is dairy-free. Time to do the happy dance!
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Why is This the Best Recipe?
- Potatoes have a high starch content, adding creaminess to every bite
- Broccoli florets are cooked in a broth mixture, adding flavor as they become tender
- Using a blender to make a creamy soup guarantees a bit of texture and creaminess.
Key Ingredients
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe, including substitution ideas:
- Broccoli — You’ll need one head of fresh broccoli.
- Carrots — You can use baby carrots, or you’ll need 1 regular carrot (wash and slice them).
- Potato — We’ll be adding a small red potato. You can substitute a Yukon Gold potato.
- Olive oil
- Onion — I prefer using a yellow onion because the flavor is more mellow.
- Celery — One or maybe two celery ribs will do the trick here.
- Garlic — You’ll need 4 cloves of garlic, or you can use the tender bits and the oil of this garlic confit.
- Broth — I prefer to use Better than Bouillon No Chicken Base or the Vegetarian Base because it’s a high-quality broth that will make this soup sing!
- White wine — A bit of whine wine adds so much flavor to this soup. You can substitute lemon juice.
- Nutritional yeast flakes — We want a cheesy flavor, and that comes from nutritional yeast flakes.
- Cashews — Adding raw cashews makes this soup extra creamy!
- Croutons — You can use storebought croutons or make your own with cubed bread, tossed in olive oil, garlic powder, and salt.
Ingredient Spotlight
![Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe (2) Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe (2)](https://i0.wp.com/namelymarly.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Broccoli_florets_01-web-960x640.jpg.webp)
What Broccoli is Best for Soup?
When selecting a head of broccoli for broccoli soup, look for a head with compact florets with a fresh smell. It shouldn’t have a cabbage smell. Some yellowing in the florets is fine, but it shouldn’t have big patches of yellow. You can keep your broccoli in the fridge for up to 5 days before using it.
How to Make Vegan Broccoli Soup
It’s so easy to make this vegan broccoli cheddar soup! It begins with broccoli.
- Prepare the broccoli by cutting it into bite-sized florets.
- Cook aromatics, carrots, and potato pieces in a pot with oil until tender.
- Add the other soup ingredients along with the broccoli florets and simmer.
- Cook until the broccoli is tender.
- Use tongs to remove half of the broccoli florets from the pot.
- Blend the soup at low speed for a few seconds, then slowly increase the speed.
- Add some of the reserved broccoli florets to the pureed soup.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with remaining broccoli florets and croutons.
Quick Fix Tip
To make this recipe come together even faster, you can cook the chopped carrots and potatoes in the microwave first. Add them to a microwave-safe dish, add just a splash of water, then cook 2–3 minutes, until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Allow them to cool for several minutes – until cool enough to handle. Then transfer to the pot with the cooking onions.
Marly’s Tips
Blending hot liquid: First, allow the liquid to cool a bit before blending. Never fill a blender more than half-way with hot liquid. Remove the center cap from the blender lid. Finally, place a towel over the top of the blender lid. Then you’re ready to blend.
Serving Suggestions
Transfer the blended soup to a bowl and add most of the reserved broccoli florets. To serve, ladle the soup into individual bowls and top with any remaining florets and croutons.
I love serving soup with any of the following:
- Vegan garlic toast
- Vegan Caesar salad
- A Vegan Loaded Baked Potato is great on the side
- Vegan Breadsticks
Reader Reviews
★★★★★
Simona
This is absolutely amazing!!!!! I keep coming back to it! The problem with this soup is that I can’t stop eating it. I’m not kidding!
![Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe (3) Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe (3)](https://i0.wp.com/namelymarly.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vegan_Broccoli_Soup_12-web-960x639.jpg.webp)
Vegan Croutons
Adding vegan croutons on top are purely optional, but they add so much to this vegan broccoli soup.
However, there are options if you’re looking for a low-carb soup topper! I highly recommend adding roasted chickpeas as a topping. It’s tasty and crunchy!
Note: Fresh bread may take longer to toast whereas older, stale bread will brown more quickly.
Broccoli Nutrition Explained
Broccoli is a healthy vegetable to include in your diet. First and foremost, broccoli is low in calories but high in fiber and nutrients.
Dr. Joel Fuhrman refers to low-calorie, highly-nutritious foods as nutrient-dense. In fact, he created a scoring mechanism called ANDI to rate the nutritional density of foods, and broccoli has a highly nutritious ANDI rating!
Is broccoli soup healthy?
Broccoli is in the cruciferous vegetable family and is therefore super healthy. That makes broccoli soup a healthy option to add more fiber, essential vitamins, and minerals to your everyday diet!
Easy Vegan Soup Recipes
Yes, you love this vegan broccoli soup, but now you’re ready for even more easy vegan soup recipes. I’ve got you covered:
Vegan Red Beans and Rice
90 mins total
Vegan Split Pea Soup
50 mins total
Vegan Carrot Ginger Soup
40 mins total
Vegan Potato Soup
50 mins total
![Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe (8) Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe (8)](https://i0.wp.com/namelymarly.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Vegan_Broccoli_Soup_09-web-800x1200.jpg.webp)
I hope you love this vegan broccoli soup as much as we do!
![Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe (9) Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe (9)](https://i0.wp.com/namelymarly.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Top-12-Easy-Vegan-Recipes-eBook_2020-cover-600x450.jpg.webp)
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Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup
This creamy vegan broccoli cheese soup is a healthy soup cleverly disguised as comfort food. It's delicious all the way to the sourdough croutons.
5 from 4 votes
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Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes
Resting Time: 5 minutes minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 386kcal
Author: Marly McMillen
Ingredients
Broccoli Soup
- 1 head broccoli
- ½ cup chopped carrots
- 1 small small red potato , not peeled, washed and diced (1 cup)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion , peeled and diced
- ½ cup chopped celery
- 4 cloves garlic , peeled and minced
- 4 cups water
- 4 teaspoons Better than Bouillon No Chicken Base**
- ¼ cup white wine (sub lemon juice)
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
- ½ cup raw cashews
Croutons
- 2 cups cubed bread (see note)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
For the Broccoli Soup
Prepare the Broccoli: Rinse the broccoli. Then cut the crown away from the stems. Cut the crown into bite-sized florets. Cut branch stems into small, bite-size pieces. Discard the main stem. You should have around 4 cups of florets and small stem pieces.
Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrots, and potato pieces. Sautee until the vegetables are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add garlic and cook for about a minute longer.
Then add water, bouillon, wine, nutritional yeast flakes, cashews, and broccoli florets/pieces. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Simmer for 20 minutes until broccoli is tender. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Use tongs to remove half of the broccoli florets from the pot.
Blend the soup: Remove the center cap from your blender lid. Fill the blender only halfway. Secure the lid on the blender and top with a kitchen towel. Blend on low speed for a few seconds, then slowly increase speed to create a creamy soup. Transfer to a bowl. then repeat with remaining ingredients from the pan. Add about 3/4 of the reserved broccoli florets to the pureed soup, leaving some to place as a topping.
Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with broccoli florets and croutons.
For The Croutons
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
To make croutons, place bread cubes in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder, salt, and freshly ground pepper. Toss to coat all the bread pieces.
Spread coated bread cubes on a prepared baking sheet, spreading evenly across the pan. Try not to crowd them too closely together. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Note: Fresh bread could take a little longer to toast whereas older, stale bread will brown more quickly.
Recommended Equipment
Blender
Soup Crocks
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Notes
Regarding Vegetable Broth: You can use 4 cups of vegetable broth, but I find a great variety in the quality in store-bought vegetable broth which is why I recommend the Better than Bouillon. It delivers a high-quality broth that has the best flavors.
Quick Cook Method. If you want the vegetables to cook faster, you can place chopped potatoes and carrots in a microwave-safe bowl. Add just a bit of water, and heat for 1 to 2 minutes. This will help them get tender more quickly. Leave them to sit in the microwave until they’re cool enough to handle and then transfer to the pot with the rest of the soup ingredients.
Bread for Croutons. Use whatever bread you prefer, or you can try sourdough bread or even gluten-free bread.
Make this Dish Gluten-free. Simply use gluten-free bread for the croutons.
Make-ahead Tips. Make this soup the day before serving and simply reheat it in the pot or microwave. This soup can be stored for up to 3 to 4 days in the fridge.
Freezer Tips. Transfer prepared soup to a freezer-safe container. It can be kept frozen for up to 3 months. To serve, transfer to the fridge the night before to allow it to thaw. Then cook in the microwave or in a pot until heated through.
Calories: 386kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 1280mg | Potassium: 985mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 3677IU | Vitamin C: 143mg | Calcium: 124mg | Iron: 3mg
The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a rating below then tag @namelymarly on Instagram and hashtag it #namelymarly. I love seeing your creations!
Enjoy!