"Cheezy" Broccoli + Kale Soup
This cheesy broccoli + kale soup packs a whole lot of green goodness into one small, slurp-able package. Broccoli, leek, kale, and hemp seeds serve as the nourishing green base while nutritional yeast adds a cheesy flavor to this dairy-free soup.
Servings: 4 -6
Ingredients
- 4 small heads broccoli, de-stemmed and chopped into 1-inch pieces (you should have approximately 8 cups of florets)
- 1 large leek, thoroughly cleaned, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
- 1 head of lacinato kale, de-stemmed and chopped
- 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cups plain, unsweetened almond milk, divided*
- ¾ cup hemp seeds
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 ½ - 2 teaspoons large grain sea salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- Optional: dash of cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Spread the broccoli florets and leeks over the large baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil.
- Roast the broccoli and leeks in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until just starting to turn golden and brown.
- While the broccoli starts to roast, spread the lacinto kale over small baking sheet. Drizzle with ½ tablespoon olive oil and massage oil into kale.
- Roast the kale in the oven along with the broccoli for 5-7 minutes or until just barely turning golden.
- While the veggies are roasting, add 3 cups almond milk, hemp seeds, nutritional yeast, garlic, paprika, turmeric, salt, and black pepper to a high-powered blender. Blend for 1-2 minutes or until smooth.
- Heat a dutch oven or large stock pot over medium-low heat. Add the almond milk soup base to the pot.
- While the soup base starts to cook, add the broccoli, leeks, kale, and 1 cup almond milk to a very high-powered blender or food processor and process until as smooth as possible. This will take 10 minutes or so -- patience is a soup-making virtue!
- Pour the blended broccoli mixture into the pot and whisk into the almond milk mixture.
- Add in a pinch of cayenne if desired, and simmer for 15 minutes.
- You may need to use an immersion blender to get the soup as smooth as desired.
- Serve and enjoy.
- Refrigerate leftovers.
Notes
*Double-check the ingredient list on your plant-based milk. Some brands (e.g., Califia) add "flavors" to their unsweetened plain milks that impart an undesirable sweetness in savory recipes. If you can't find a plant-based milk that's free of "flavors", I recommend using filtered water instead.