Best Vegan Creamy Broccoli Soup 🥦 You'll feel so good indulging in this healthy delicious & nutritious whole-food plant-based creamy soup. The addition of potato and fresh carrots make this thick & delish vegan cream of broccoli soup so satisfying! Gluten-free and oil-free.
I've always loved veggie soups, particularly cream soups. When my kids were young, I would frequently make a big pot of cream of broccoli or potato soup, sometimes adding homemade croutons and grated cheese. My recipe included a fair amount of butter, flour and milk. When my daughter Madison decided to become vegan, she started making her own plant-based version, combining both broccoli and potatoes, as well as carrots. It was so delicious!
Not long ago, I was browsing through a Forks Over Knives magazine and ran across a recipe for a cream of broccoli soup that caught my attention. What intrigued me was the recipe required no added fat, oil or flour. I showed it to Madison and she decided to give it a try.
It was remarkably thick, rich and creamy. We loved the texture but felt the flavor could be bumped up quite a bit and it needed the oomph of a splash of color. By adding just the right herbs and seasonings, plus the vibrant goodness and sweet flavor of carrots 🥕 Madi's updated version of this creamy broccoli soup recipe instantly became our new favorite!
Why this recipe works
- Requires only a few basic ingredients
- Whole food, plant-based, 100% vegan
- Gluten-free, no-oil or refined carbohydrates
- Simple to make
- Easy to adjust the variety of veggies to your liking
- So filling and satisfying
- It's absolutely delicious!
How to make the best vegan creamy broccoli soup
You're going to love how quick and easy it is to prepare this yummy vegan cream of broccoli soup. With a few basic ingredients, in about an hour you'll have soup!
🥦 Ingredients
- Onion - yellow
- Celery
- Garlic - fresh (preferred) or dried minced
- Potatoes - russet
- Broccoli - fresh or frozen
- Carrots - fresh or frozen
- Vegan milk - almond milk or a vegan milk of your choice
- Cannellini beans - or any white beans (canned)
- Vegetable broth
- Basil - dried (we like to use sweet basil)
- Italian seasoning - dried
- Dill weed - dried
- Paprika
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
A few basic ingredients are all you need!
Variations
The beauty of this recipe is you can prepare it fully loaded like we do, or make a basic cream of potato or cream of broccoli soup simply by omitting the additional chopped veggies. You can also add or swap out veggies you prefer, such as:
- Cauliflower
- Green Beans
- Peas
- Asparagus
- Mushrooms
- Shallots
🥕See the printable recipe card below for complete details
🥦 Instructions
Sauté onions, garlic and celery in a small amount of water. Add seasonings, uncooked potatoes, broccoli & cannellini beans.
Add non-dairy milk and broth. Bring to a boil then simmer until tender. Thoroughly puree with an immersion blender.
Sauté carrots & celery in a small amount of water. Steam broccoli florets until just tender.
Boil additional potatoes until tender. Stir in the additional cooked veggies and that's it . . . you're done!
Hey everybody, soup's on!
🥦 Equipment
- Large stove top pot (6 qt or more)
- Medium stove top pot with lid (5 qt or more)
- Skillet - medium size
- Steamer basket
- Immersion blender or high speed blender
- Measuring cup
- Measuring spoons
- Veggie peeler
- Kitchen knife
- Large strainer or colander
- Cutting board
- Long handled spoon (for stirring)
🥕Top Tips
- Keep it easy on yourself by prepping all your veggies at the same time. Since you will need to reserve about half of the broccoli, celery and potatoes, simply cut everything and set aside the extra veggies (including carrot).
- It's ok to use frozen broccoli florets and carrots that have been thawed in the fridge. I do suggest sticking with fresh produce for the other veggie ingredients in the soup.
- If you don't have an immersion blender, you can pour the soup into a high speed blender. Please be very careful when handling the hot soup while blending.
- As always, be sure to read through the recipe completely before starting.
FAQ's
Not always. In fact, most traditional cream soups, including cream of broccoli, contain dairy products like milk and butter. This recipe is 100% vegan.
Yes, absolutely! You can use most nut milks or plant-based milks. I suggest using almond, oat, cashew, soy or rice milk. Avoid sweetened, coconut or any flavored milk that might overpower the taste of this soup.
Some recipes use equal parts butter and flour to create a paste known as a 'roux', which thickens the soup as it is heated and stirred. In this recipe, we use potatoes and broccoli that are puréed with an immersion blender, creating a thick creamy consistency.
Leftover soup should be stored refrigerated in an air tight container up to three days or frozen in freezer-proof containers up to 3 months. Thaw in a refrigerator before re-heating. Soup can be microwaved in a microwave-safe container or re-heated in a saucepan on a stovetop over low heat. Stir occasionally while re-heating.
🥕Serving suggestion
This soup is so hearty and satisfying, it can be a meal in itself. Garnish with fresh basil and a pinch of paprika or nutmeg. Sometimes I like to add a sprinkle of vegan parmesan on top. You can also serve it with croutons or crackers (gluten-free if preferred).
Want more delish vegan soup recipes?🥕Here you go!
- Easy Vegan Lentil Veggie Soup
- Best Vegan Tom Yum Soup
- Easy Garden Fresh Gazpacho
- Vegan Rustic Vegetable Soup
- Great Homemade Vegan Wonton Soup
- Vegan Avocado Cucumber Soup - Chilled
very vegan 🌱 very good
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If you’ve enjoyed this recipe, please rate it in the comments below.
Thanks a bunch!🥕
Recipe
Best Vegan Creamy Broccoli Soup
Equipment
- Large stove top pot (6 qt or more)
- Medium stove top pot with lid (5 qt or more)
- Skillet - medium size
- Steamer basket
- Immersion blender or standard blender
- large strainer or colander
Ingredients
- 1 C yellow onion diced
- 1 C celery diced (reserve half)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- ¼ C water
- 5 C potato russet - peeled and cubed (reserve 2 cups)
- 4 C broccoli small florets - reserve half
- 1 carrot peeled & cut into rounds
- 2 C almond milk or a vegan milk of your choice
- 1 15 oz can cannellini beans drained & rinsed
- 2 C vegetable broth
- 2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon sea salt add more to taste if desired
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
Instructions
- Place onion, ½ C celery, and 3 cloves garlic into 5 qt. or larger pot.
- Place over medium heat.
- Add water, one tablespoon at a time to keep veggies from sticking.
- Continue cooking for about 5 minutes.
- Add seasonings, 3 C potatoes, ½ C broccoli, beans, rice milk, and broth.
- Cover pot. Raise heat to high. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until potatoes are tender.
- Once potatoes are tender, use immersion blender to thoroughly puree soup.
- In a separate pot, steam remaining broccoli, celery and carrots until just tender, or sauté in a skillet with a small amount of water. Add additional water as needed, Don't let the veggies burn.
- Place remaining 2 C potatoes in a stove top pot. Cover with water (about 2 inches above potatoes) and place over high heat. Place lid on pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to med-high and simmer for 7 - 10 minutes until they can be easily pierced with the end of a knife. Remove from heat and drain.
- Add remaining broccoli, celery, carrots and potatoes to soup. Continue heating on low for an additional 5-10 minutes.
- Remove from heat and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
These are estimated values generated from a nutritional database using unbranded products. Please do your own research with the products you're using if you have a serious health issue or are following a specific diet.
Lori
Anyway to make this in a slow cooker for those of us who are cooking challenged and down right lazy? I love food. Hate to cook. Trying to be healthy and eat non processed. hmmmm... I need to be rich and hire someone. lol
Connie Edwards McGaughy
Haha Lori, I know, wouldn't it be fantastic to have a personal cook? I think you may be able to do the first step of this recipe in a slow cooker (the ingredients that will be blended together). For the second step (cooking the add-in veggies) you could steam the carrots, celery and broccoli together in the same pot. The potatoes would still need to boil separately. Hope that helps!
Kathy
It sounds delicious. Do you have an Instant Pot version?
Connie Edwards McGaughy
Hi Kathy! Full disclosure - I have owned an Instant Pot for a couple years, but have yet to take it out of the box.😂 I know, I'm a dinosaur!🦕 The veggies in this recipe are cooked in a few different batches, and I'm not sure what the proper method would be to achieve the same result with an Instant Pot. I would love it if an experienced IP user could figure it out and share it with the rest of us! (wink wink!)
Connie Edwards McGaughy
My favorite soup of the year. This thick & creamy soup is chock full of fresh veggies & fabulous flavor.
Kathryn
I made this soup today.. I’m so proud of myself because it came out delicious!!!
Thank you so much for this delicious soup recipe!
I will definitely be making it again!!!!
Connie Edwards McGaughy
Yay Kathryn! I'm proud of you too and so happy you love the soup! It's been my favorite dish during the pandemic. Honestly, I could have it every week. Thanks for sharing!💚🥕
Kathleen todd
Why is the sodium so high
Connie Edwards McGaughy
Kathleen - holy moly I'm so glad you caught that! I've no idea why the software calculated it so high. I fact checked the sodium in one tsp of salt, which is 2,325 mg. The recipe specified 2 tsp, so with 8 servings, the total sodium from salt should have 581.25 mg per serving.This gave me an opportunity to rethink the quantity of salt in the recipe, which I decided to cut in half. As my mother always said, you can add more if needed, but you can't take it out once it's in the soup. Thank you so much for calling it to my attention! 💚🥕
Alison
Yum! Connie, this looks soooo delicious and your photos are beautiful!! I love broccoli soup and.its SO great to find one that has no "cheese"! I mean dont, get me wrong I love a good vegan " "cheese" but where theres broccoli theres always "cheese"!! So its refreshing to find one that is creamy, chunky and cheezeless! And not to mention low cal!!
its a win win recipe! I can't wait to try it. I do have a question though. Could I do this in the slowcooker? or pressure cooker? Thanks so much!!
Connie Edwards McGaughy
Hi Alison! Oh I'm so glad you find this recipe to be appealing! One of the things I love so much about it is the ingredients don't compete with each other in flavor. All of the veggies & herbs shine through quite harmoniously. I know what you mean about broccoli & cheese. I'll admit, I do enjoy a nice rich cheddary cheese sauce with broccoli, but not in this soup. It's perfectly wonderful just as it is. I have not attempted to make it in either a slow cooker or pressure cooker, but I can imagine it would be doable. I cook the veggies in four separate batches, since I like to add diced celery, carrots, broccoli & diced potato to the creamed soup. It adds great texture, color and flavor from the individual veggies. You might need to prepare those separately from the slow-cooked or pressure-cooked ingredients, or perhaps, if you want an entirely creamed soup, you could cook and puree everything together. Love to hear if you give it a go. Thanks a bunch & happy cooking!🥕