Vegan Cream of Celery Soup
This vegan cream of celery 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.
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh cauliflower florets
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 large celery stalks, trimmed and thinly sliced
- 1 large white or yellow onion, diced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme or more to taste
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary or more to taste
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 1 ½ cups filtered water
- ⅔ cup raw cashews, soaked for two hours (unless using a high-speed blender)*
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- 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 celery, onion, 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 mixture to the pot of soup and stir to incorporate. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to simmer for just 5 to 8 minutes, to slightly thicken** and reduce. Taste and generously season with more sea salt and black pepper to taste. (I usually add another ½ teaspoon of sea salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper.)
- Serve warm.
- Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 4 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.
Notes
*No nuts? No problem. To keep this soup nut-free, substitute hemp hearts for the raw cashews.
**As written, the recipe yields a soup that's rich and creamy with a medium thickness. If a very thick soup is desired, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of arrowroot starch to the blender along with the cauliflower, water, etc.