This vegan creamy cauliflower wild rice soup is brimming with good-for-you ingredients yet you’d never know it based on taste. Its savory, rich, and oh-so-creamy base is made with a combination of nourishing cauliflower-cashew cream and vegetable broth.
This soup has quickly taken hold as one of my all-time favorites. It’s rich, buttery, and comforting yet brimming with nourishing, good-for-you ingredients.
Food blogger’s honor, you’d never know it was “healthy” or “good for you” based on taste.
And yet it’s packed with immunity-boosting and energizing vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.
Think: vitamin c, vitamin k, folate, copper, magnesium, manganese, selenium, fiber, vitamin a, and biotin.
To make this vegan creamy cauliflower wild rice soup, you’ll start by cooking a cup of wild rice.
I use a wild rice blend, but feel free to use whichever variation of wild rice is your favorite.
About halfway through cooking the rice, you’ll get to work on the other elements of the soup.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and then add four cups of fresh cauliflower florets and boil until tender (about 10 minutes). Set aside.
While the cauliflower boils, dice a large onion, a few carrots, and a few celery stalks. Heat a bit of olive oil in a large stockpot or dutch oven and add the diced vegetables along with a bit of dried thyme and rosemary. Sauté the vegetables for about five minutes, or until they begin to soften.
Then, add three cloves minced garlic and continue to cook for another minute, or until the garlic softens.
Next, add a quart of low-sodium vegetable broth to the stockpot, increase the heat, and bring the mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, add the reserved boiled cauliflower to a high-speed blender along with raw cashews, nutritional yeast, fresh lemon juice, and sea salt. Blend on high until super smooth and creamy.
Once the base of the soup has finished simmering, add the creamy cauliflower-cashew mixture to the pot along with the cooked wild rice.
Increase the heat to medium-low and simmer for just five minutes.
Taste and generously season with more sea salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.
Once the soup is ready, ladle it into bowls and serve warm.
Perhaps topped with a handful of oyster crackers for an extra-cozy touch…
Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for up to one month.
In fact, this is one of those soups that tastes even better on the second day once the flavors have had a chance to fully mingle and meld.
Vegan Creamy Cauliflower Wild Rice Soup
This vegan creamy cauliflower wild rice soup is brimming with good-for-you ingredients yet you'd never know it based on taste. Its savory, rich, and oh-so-creamy base is made with a combination of cauliflower-cashew cream and vegetable broth.
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked wild rice blend
- 4 cups fresh cauliflower florets
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large white or yellow onion, diced
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
- 3 stalks celery, peeled and diced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary or more to taste
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 1/2 cups filtered water
- 2/3 cup raw cashews, soaked for two hours (unless using a high-speed blender)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Cook the rice according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile (about halfway through cooking the rice), bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the cauliflower florets and boil for 7 to 10 minutes, or until fork-tender. Drain and set aside.
- While the cauliflower boils, heat the olive oil in a large stockpot or dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, thyme, and rosemary. Sauté for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables just begin to soften, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and continue to cook for another minute, or until it begins to soften.
- Stir in the vegetable broth, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, add the boiled cauliflower to a high-speed blender along with the filtered water, cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, and sea salt. Blend on high for two minutes, or until completely smooth and creamy.
Add the cauliflower cream mixture and the cooked rice to the pot of soup and stir to incorporate. Increase the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer for just 5 minutes.
Taste and generously season with more sea salt and black pepper to taste. (I usually add another 1 teaspoon of sea salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.)
- Serve warm.
Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 1 month.
- If the soup is thicker than desired after refrigerating and reheating, simply whisk in a bit more vegetable broth or filtered water and adjust seasonings as needed.
This looks SUPER DELICIOUS! I’ll be making this very soon. Yum!
Thank you! Enjoy!
This looks amazing!!! We have a nut allergy in our family. What would you suggest as a substitution for the cashews? Maybe coconut milk?
Hi, Sara! You can try hemp hearts in place of the cashews (coconut milk might work, too, but will impart a bit of sweetness). Enjoy!
Do you have a suggestion of how many hemp hearts? Want to go shopping for this and try soon. :)
Hi, Jennifer! You’ll need the same amount as you would cashews if you’re substituting shelled hemp seeds for the cashews. Most prepackaged bags should have plenty!
Cashews are a fruit! Most folks allergic to almonds walnuts peanuts etc can handle cashew .
My son has a medically diagnosed cashew allergy. I will try with the hemp hearts tonight. I can’t wait to try it after all the amazing reviews.
Sounds so delicious! Is there a way to make this without a high-speed blender?
Thanks, Chrissy! You really need a blender that will be able to break down the cauliflower, cashews, etc. to a silky smooth consistency otherwise the texture of the soup will be off. A food processor won’t cut it (not designed for that kind of blending) and a hand blender will struggle with the cashews.
I really wanted to make this but didn’t have any cauliflower or rice, so I used broccoli and quinoa instead. It was so good! This is my new favorite soup!
So glad you enjoyed it, Hazel!
I just finished making this soup on a chilly Sunday afternoon. It’s utterly delicious! I grew up with my mother’s wild rice soup made with cream and chicken stock. I’ve never found a good vegan recipe until now. I can say with confidence this tastes just as good as my mother’s soup. I hardly made any substitutions — I did use white miso in place of the salt to give the cauliflower cream a little extra body. Thank you once again for another delicious recipe. I would love to see more wild rice recipes in the future. Perhaps a wild rice burger?
Happy to hear you enjoyed it, Shari! Tastes as good as your mother’s wild rice soup?! I’ll take it. Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts and adjustments—means so much!
This is now our favorite soup! Even my three year old was slurping it down. I added mushrooms and some kale but otherwise followed the recipe. Delicious!
Thrilled to hear you and your family are enjoying the recipe so much, Anne! Love the idea of adding mushrooms and kale, too.
Really creamy and satisfying, I’ll totally be making this again!
So glad you’re enjoying the recipe, Courtney! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your feedback—means a lot.
This was absolutely fabulous. Oh so creamy. I could see using it for many applications like a potato chowder or the cream of mushroom soup I used to love. Wild rice was perfect and I loved that the other vegetables maintained their texture. Thank you!
So happy to hear you’re enjoying the recipe, Laura! Also, love the idea of using the base to create a potato chowder—going to have to play around with that one!
This was sooooo yummy! It made the house smell like pot pie while it was simmering and the flavor was so delicious. Had multiple non-vegan friends over when I made it and they could barely believe this didn’t have cream or non-vegan stock in it! Five stars!!!!!
So glad you and your friends enjoyed the recipe, Erin! Warms my heart to hear it. Thanks for taking time out of your day to come back and share your feedback and rating—means a lot.
Loved this recipe!! So delicious.
So happy to hear it, Hannah! Thanks for letting me know!
Sooo good! Hearty and satisfying. Love that this uses ingredients I don’t tend to eat (yeast, cashews, cauliflower).
I made this completely as is. Added a tad extra cauliflower
So glad you enjoyed it, Lauren! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your feedback and rating—means so much!
This is the best vegan soup I’ve ever made. I made it in my instant pot.
Wow! What a compliment! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts, Sara. Also, wonderful to know that it works in the instant pot!
I made this over the weekend and have been enjoying leftovers all week! :)
So glad you’re enjoying it, Lindsey!
Hi there! Can we use oat milk instead of cashews to thicken? I can’t do cashews or almonds and this looks amazing!!!!
Thanks kindly,
Hi, Cait! You can try that but I have a feeling it won’t be quite as thick. Another option would be to sub hemp hearts for the cashews (will impart an earthier flavor but should be similar texture wise). Hope this helps!
Thank you so much Ashley! Can’t wait to experiment :)
Super delicious! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe. We recently became vegan after 25+ years of being vegetarian and this soup makes me excited to see what other vegan discoveries we will be making! Love the flavors, the chewiness and the hearty feeling of eating this soup!
So glad you enjoyed the soup, Sharon! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts—means so much. Best wishes to you for a joyful and healthy transition to the vegan lifestyle! xo
Four stars for great taste! I cannot figure out what I did wrong.—so minus one star for user error!! My soup was very thin—not thick and hearty. I soaked my cashews longer than 2 hours and used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth—those are the only things I did differently. Might try again…I was definitely going for thick. 😕
Hi, Kathy! Thanks for sharing your feedback. Strange it turned out thin for you. It should be quite thick. Mine is usually so thick that after chilling, I have to add more liquid upon reheating. To thicken it up, you can always simmer uncovered to reduce it or even create a slurry with a bit of the soup and flour (or arrowroot) and whisk it in to thicken it up. Hope this helps!
My family loved the soup! I skipped the rice and I used a hand blender to purée soup at the end( instead of leaving it chunky). So delicious!
This was so, so delicious. I can hardly wait until lunch tomorrow to have some leftovers. Uses more pots than many soups, but it’s worth it. Thanks for a great recipe!
So glad you’re enjoying the recipe, Vivian. Also, happy to hear it’s worth the extra pots—I think so too! Happy cooking to you!
If I want to make this tonight and don’t have time to soak cashews can I boil water and let it sit for say a 1/2 hour?
Hi, Sue! Yes, that will be sufficient. And truthfully, if your blender is strong enough, you can skip the soaking altogether if you’re really in a pinch. Hope this helps and enjoy!
I just made this soup for the second time this month – it’s THAT good. Easily one of the best soups I’ve had in recent memory. I can’t believe it’s vegan! So hearty and comforting with all its creamy richness. I didn’t change anything – followed the recipe exactly as stated. Easy and nutritious – thanks for sharing!
This soup was SO delicious. Loved it so much that I ate it for lunch and dinner yesterday, and am looking forward to having it again for dinner tonight! It reminds me of the filling of a chicken pot pie, but so much better. I am normally a little apprehensive to try out vegan substitutes for creamy/cheesy sauces as I find they just never taste the same but this one was incredible, you really can’t tell the difference! Thank you Ashley!
I found this recipe & decided that I had to make it immediately. Once it was finished, I couldn’t believe how amazing it was! The only change I made was using Trader Joe’s 21 seasoning salute instead of the thyme and rosemary. Easy and delicious- thank you Ashley!
My entire family loved this- including my 5-year-old who does not do soups! Hard to believe this has no cream, butter, or flour in it!
So happy to hear you and your family are loving this recipe, Kristen! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts. Means so much.
My husband is obsessed with this soup. It’s so good! I didn’t think it was going to end up creamy but I let it simmer a little more and it was perfection. 😍
So happy to hear you and your husband are enjoying the soup, Kate! Thanks for taking time out of your day to come back and share—means a lot!
Absolutely yummy!’it was easy to make, and just delicious! I added 1 package of frozen Edamame and about a cup of frozen corn to give it a little more protein, crunch and make it more chunky. That’s just me. It’s awesome without too!
So glad you’re enjoying the recipe, Janet! Love your ideas for additions, too. Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts!
My hubby described it as “excellent” and my daughter had no complaints! So win win for this delish, flavour-filled soup.
So glad you and your family are enjoying the recipe, Karina! Thanks for taking the time to let me and others know. :)
This soup looks amazing and I’m going to be making it this upcoming weekend, can’t wait! Was curious to know, where did you purchase the white soup bowls from? Thanks!!
Thanks, Ashley! Surprisingly, I found the soup bowls at Whole Foods of all places. They were tucked into the tiny kitchenware section at our local WF. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
This was amazing. Creamy and hearty, tasted even better than the real thing!
So glad you’re enjoying the recipe, Allie! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts and rating—means so much.
Super delicious! Sometimes my kids will complain about veggies in soup being to big or crunchy so I sautéed them a bit and then gave them a quick spin in the food processor just to make them a little less noticeable in the soup. The only other modification I made was to substitute about 1/3 of the water for plain-don’t get vanilla or sweetened- cashew milk. The soup had a really creamy and hearty consistency and I would have guessed there was potato in it if I hadn’t known otherwise. The flavor reminded me of a vegan “chicken” pot pie that I make and I may even cut up some tofurky or chicken and bill it as chicken pot pie soup as fall rolls around, since it tastes kind of like a Thanksgiving side to me ( I think it’s the combo of the rosemary and thyme, but it totally worked for me! I doubled the recipe and we had tons of leftovers so I froze it. It heated nicely and I had some for dinner last night and lunch today (even though it’s like 100 degrees here right now)! I can’t wait to make this in the fall with some warm French or sourdough bread on the side. This recipe is a winner for sure!
veggies being *too big
Ahh, so appreciative of this feedback! Thanks for taking time out of your day to share your adjustments, tips, etc. So helpful for me and for others, too. Happy cooking! :)
Turned out so fabulous. I used coconut oil instead of olive but oh my how delicious
Happy to hear you’re enjoying the recipe, Tiffany! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your rating and adjustments. Means so much!
I made this and it is AMAZING! When I first dumped everything into the pot I was kinda salty bc it wasn’t as thick as your picture. And then it thickened up REALLLL quick. Have faith and be patient! This seriously was so delicious. I will be making this a TON over winter. Thank you for the recipe!
So glad you’re enjoying the recipe, Taryn! It does thicken up quite quick, doesn’t it? Thanks for offering your encouragement for others considering the recipe and for coming back to rate the recipe, as well. Happy cooking!
This is amazing. Ive made this soup twice in a week. That’s how great it is!
Happy to hear you’re enjoying it so much, Claire! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts and rating. :)
I’ve made this three times already this fall. It is my favorite soup recipe! I love that it is hearty and filling, but still vegan. I think it yields even more than posted though, because when I refrigerate or freeze, I inevitably have to add more stock to it since it thickens so much. Which is fantastic – makes it go further.
So glad you’re enjoying this recipe so much, Mary! Thanks for taking time out of your day to come back and share your thoughts and rating—means so much.
This soup is so delicious!! Sending the recipe to everyone I know!
So glad you’re enjoying it, Mackenzie! And thank you for sharing the recipe with others—means a ton.
I tried it on my vegan daughter and family. They loved it so that November 3rd I am going to make it for our yearly soup night where all friends bring a different soup.I am sure it will be a hit.
Thrilled to hear that your family enjoyed it, Donna! Can’t wait to hear how it goes over at the yearly soup gathering—how fun!
So delicious! I only used a head of cauliflower and didn’t use the 1 1/2 cups of water to make the cream sauce. The cream sauce is so yummy I was eating that by itself. So glad I have another meal to add to our monthly rotation!
Oh. My. GAH. This soup is unbelievable. Absolutely delicious. This is my first time using raw cashews and nutritional yeast. I’m experimenting with vegan recipes on occasion. This could convert! Thank you.
Awesome, awesome feedback. Thanks for taking the time to share, and so glad you’re enjoying!
I don’t think I’ve ever commented on a recipe before, but this soup is too good not to comment. Delicious, creamy, and rich. I’m on Daniel Fast, so I substituted farro for the rice, and. 1/4 cup gluten free oats for the yeast. The soup turned out thick & creamy.
This is, by far, the best soup I’ve ever made and has become my go-to for intimate fall and winter gatherings. It is perfect for meal train recipients and is fantastic comfort food despite being dairy-free. I’ve actually only ever used frozen riced cauliflower to make it, but I have never been disappointed in the results. Thank you SO much for this recipe — it is a treasure!
So happy to hear you’re enjoying it so much, Liz! Thanks for taking time out of your day to share your thoughts and substitutions. Very helpful for me and for others, too! Happy holidays!
Hands down the best soup I’ve ever had. Thank you for the amazing, healthy recipe!!!
Happy to hear you’re enjoying it so much, Casey! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your rating and thoughts—means so much.
I’ve made this several times now and it has become one of my go to soups that is hearty enough to be served not only for lunch, but also for dinner! I have even froze it, which turned out fine after thawing and mixing well.
Happy to hear you’re enjoying it, Judanne!
This soup was INCREDIBLE!! So creamy and delicious, my whole family loved it. Thank you! Will definitely make again.
So glad you and your family enjoyed it, Caroline!
I can’t believe how delicious this is! Looking for something to make for dinner tonight and had everything on hand. So creamy and satisfying.
So glad you’re enjoying the recipe, Megen! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your experience and rating—means a lot to me and is helpful for others wanting to try the recipe, too.
I’ve made this 3 times already. I adore it. I cannot believe how accurate it is and this is coming from a Minnesotan who grew up on the original with heavy cream, etc. Thank you so much for this. I add mushrooms to it. It’s my absolute favorite. This cauliflower cream is unbelievable.
Shawn, this feedback warms my heart—thank you for sharing your thoughts and rating. Thrilled to hear how much you’re enjoying the recipe!
I’m excited to try this recipe! My schedule is very busy and often times I’m not able to make it home until after 9pm. I do a lot of crockpot meals so my kids aren’t waiting for me to finish dinner, could this also be done in the crock?? Luckily, I’ll be home in plenty of time not to worry about it tonight. Interested in your thoughts for the future. Thanks!
Hi, Kenzie! That’s a great question. Without testing it myself, I don’t feel comfortable recommending the crockpot because of the various components (especially the creamy cauliflower-cashew base—it has to be blended before adding), but I’m sure there’s a way to make at least part of it in the crockpot. I’d be happy to test it the next time I make this soup and report back.
I just made this in the instant pot and it came out perfect!! Use the sauté function and soften the veggies, add the rice (uncooked) and veggie broth. High pressure for 5 minutes, I let it sit for 10 min before doing a quick release. In the blender I mixed the cashew cream ingredients and then added that to the instant pot. Soooo good and definitely saved some time and dishes! Will be making this on repeat for sure :)
Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful to have this feedback documented, Lindsay! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your how-to and tips for making this soup in the instant pot.
I have recently started cooking some vegan dishes. This soup today caught my eye and I had a couple of questions. What is the purpose of nutritional yeast?.. can you substitute something else.? I noticed one person used Gluten free oatmeal.
I too am gluten free and starting to cut out meat products.
The soup looks wonderful and I am anxious to try it.
Hi, Josephine! So glad the soup caught your eye. The purpose of the nutritional yeast is flavor. It adds a savoriness and almost cheesy quality to the overall flavor of the soup, and it’s very important for this reason. There really isn’t a substitution for it, but it is naturally gluten-free so you should be all good on that front. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
This soup is amazing! Thank you :)
Can you make this in a crockpot?
Hi, Shelly! I’m sure there is a way to make at least part of it in the crockpot, but you’ll definitely need to prepare the cauliflower-cashew cream sauce on its own (since it needs to be blended). Since I haven’t tested it myself, I’m not sure about times for the crockpot and whether or not it will work for certain though. If you give it a try, I’d love to know how it goes!
Are you kidding me with this recipe?!?!?!?!? Holy cow this is amazing. So creamy it’s really hard to believe it’s vegan. I added a bunch of roasted garlic cloves mashed up. I cant wait to fool my mom with this soup. You knocked this one out of the park!
This is the kind of feedback that makes me smile! Thanks for taking the time to share this, Michelle. Means so much to know you’re enjoying it!
I just make this and it’s delicious…thank you for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed it, Vicky! Thanks for taking time out of your day to come back and share your thoughts and rating—means so much.
Good flavor but mine came out super thin! Was good but really wanted a thick, creamy bowl of soup!
Hi, Katlyn! I’m so sorry to hear that the soup came out thin for you. It’s typically a very thick and creamy soup. Did you happen to change anything in the recipe? Did you let it simmer and reduce to thicken at the end?
Is there an estimated calorie per serving count?
Hi, Holly! So glad you’re enjoying the recipe. I don’t calculate nutrition information for my recipes, but there are some great online calculators that you can simply drop the post link into and it will populate the information for you. Hope this helps!
This soup was amazing! My 3 year old loved it too! Will definitely make again. Thanks you!
So glad you and your family enjoyed it, Jen! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts and rating—means so much.
Hey may I use regular white or brown rice instead of wild rice? I am from India we wild rice is very expensive.
Hi, Sree! Brown rice should work ok in place of the wild rice, the soup may just come out a bit starchier. Enjoy!
i don’t have nutritional yeast. Is it ok yo just leave it out or will it affect the recipe?
Hi, Crissy! Unfortunately, omitting it will affect the flavor of the recipe. The nutritional yeast adds depth of flavor and a subtle “cheesy” quality.
This is one of my favorite soups hands down! Even my man loves it and he’s picky about veggie soups. It’s filling and creamy and makes amazing leftovers. It’s been on repeat all winter! I’ve made it with both the Whole Foods Wild Rice blend and ALL wild rice. I know the all wild rice version is a bit more nutritious, but it’s also a bit less filling. Something about the blend seems to make the perfect texture. Thanks for creating this!
So glad you’re enjoying it so much, Lindsay! Thanks for taking the time to come back and share your thoughts and feedback. Great to know about the wild rice vs. wild rice blend—I honestly would have thought the opposite (with regard to how filling either option is)!
This soup iS OUTRAGEOUS!! We all love it. So creamy and satisfying, yet healthy. And it doesn’t taste healthy!
So glad you’re enjoying it, Carol! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know—means a lot to me and is helpful for others, too.
I just had to come here to leave you a comment because this is hands down the best soup that I’ve ever had…no exaggeration! It’s literally my new obsession, I’ve made it twice so far & I cannot get enough! So good! Thank you SO much for sharing!
-Madi xo | http://www.everydaywithmadirae.com
So, so glad you’re enjoying the soup, Madi! Thanks for taking time out of your day to come back and share your sweet feedback—means so much.
Fantastic soup!! I followed almost to the letter….I find it hard to stick to a recipe entirely! I added a 1/2t smoked paprika to spices as I love the flavor so much, added 1/2 diced orange bell pepper to sauteed veggies and served soup on top of rice instead of adding in. Just a texture preference. Cannot wait to try more of these recipes!
Glad you enjoyed it, Ali! Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback and additions—very helpful for me and for others, too.