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up close of a ladle full of creamy Cauliflower Soup in the pot
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Cauliflower Soup

Roasted Cauliflower Soup is SO creamy, healthy, easy to make and bursting with flavor - you won’t believe it’s low fat and low carb without any cheese or cream!  Most importantly, you won’t believe how delicious this Cauliflower Soup is.  It’s loaded with curry roasted cauliflower with nutty caramelized flavors, onions, garlic and my secret ingredient - fennel!  It’s guaranteed to satisfy your warm creamy soup cravings – without ANY guilt!  This Roasted Cauliflower Soup is also freezer friendly and reheats beautifully for stress free dinners or lunches throughout the week.
Course Soup
Cuisine American
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 6 -8 servings

Ingredients

Roasted Cauliflower

  • 1 large head cauliflower (approx. 8 cups) chopped into florets
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon yellow curry powder *
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Cauliflower Soup

  • 2 tablespoons butter may sub olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large white onion chopped
  • 1 bulb of fennel chopped**
  • 2 cups chopped celery
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
  • 1/2 tsp EACH dried basil, dried parsley, dried oregano, salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • Pinch -1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • Milk as needed to thin (use broth if freezing)

Instructions

Roasted Cauliflower

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking tray with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Add cauliflower to prepared baking tray and and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with seasonings. Toss until evenly coated, then spread out into a single layer.
  • Roast at 425 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until starting to char on the edges. (I use this time to chop the onions, fennel and celery.)

Soup

  • After the cauliflower has been roasting 10-15 minutes, melt 2 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon olive oil in a Dutch oven/soup pot over medium-low heat. Add onions, fennel, and celery and cook until translucent and tender, stirring often, about 10-15 minutes (we are sweating the vegetables- they will not turn golden).
  • Increase heat to medium high and add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Sprinkle in flour and cook for additional 2 minutes, stirring often.
  • Reduce heat to low and add chicken broth and all seasonings. Reserve about ½ cup roasted cauliflower for garnish and add the rest to the soup.
  • Bring to boil, then reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes or until thickened.
  • Puree desired amount of soup with an immersion blender or working in batches, puree in blender, taking care to let smoke escape or it will explode (I leave a corner open and cover with a paper towel). I find my blender gives a smoother, more desirable consistency.
  • Stir in a little milk or half and half if needed to reach desired consistency. Taste soup and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
  • Garnish soup with reserved roasted cauliflower, and option freshly chopped parsley and roasted pepitas.

Notes

*Fennel: DON'T SKIP!  Fennel is crucial to the flavor of this Cauliflower Soup. If you aren’t familiar with cooking fennel, most grocery stores carry it or specialty produce stores such as Sprouts, Whole Foods, etc. definitely do.  Look for plump, round fennel bulbs as opposed to flat elongated ones because those won’t be as sweet. We want just the bulb for our Cauliflower Soup recipe, so chop off the fennel stalks at their base, where they join the bulb. You can discard the stalks and feathery fronds or use the fronds as a salad garnish.

Can Cauliflower Soup be made vegetarian, gluten free and dairy free?

EVERYONE needs the pleasure of slurping this velvety soup. As written, it is not vegetarian, gluten or dairy free, but with a couple easy swaps, it can fit everyone’s dietary needs:
  • Gluten Free Cauliflower Soup: use gluten free flour.
  • Vegetarian Cauliflower Soup: substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth.
  • Dairy Free Cauliflower Soup: thin soup with chicken/vegetable broth instead of milk and use oil instead of butter.

HOW TO FREEZE CAULIFLOWER SOUP

If you know you are going to freeze your  Cauliflower Soup, then thin your soup (if needed) with chicken broth instead of milk.
  1. Cool. Cool Cauliflower Soup completely before freezing.
  2. Package:  Transfer soup to a freezer safe container.  You can use sandwich size plastic bags for individual soup portions, quart size bags or freezer bags.  To easy fill these bags, place them in a container that you can wrap the top around the edge of – for example, place a sandwich size bag in a mug then cuff the edges around the mug.  This keeps the bag open and prevents it from collapsing when you are pouring in your Cauliflower Soup. Squeeze out any excess air then seal and label.
  3. Freeze. Freeze Cauliflower Soup for up to three months
  4. Defrost/Reheat. The easiest way to thaw your soup is in your refrigerator overnight then reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave.