This creamy, yet dairy-free and vegan roasted mushroom and cauliflower soup is warm, comforting and full of rich, earthy flavor.
If I had to come up with one of my favorite things to eat in winter and all year-round, it would be soup. Creamy and comforting, soups are an especially easy way to get in all those healthy and nourishing vegetables we could all use more of in our diets. Not to mention that they are deliciously warm and soothing any time of year but particularly so in the winter.
This cozy roasted mushroom cauliflower soup is hearty and satisfying while offering lots of rich flavor. Its savory, earthy flavor is warm and inviting on a cold winter day.
Now this isn’t the kind of bland and overly thick mushroom soup you’d find in a can, it’s a cream-less mushroom soup with lots of deep umami flavor thanks to both dried and fresh mushrooms and a velvety texture thanks to cauliflower and cashews.
How to Make Roasted Mushroom Cauliflower Soup:
The secret is a quick roast in a hot oven. Both cauliflower and mushrooms have a high water content. Roasting them first in a hot oven concentrates their flavor and gives them a rich savory note that other cooking methods would not. Both are tossed with some fresh thyme and ground coriander then drizzled with olive oil and popped in the oven to roast for about 20 minutes or until golden and tender.
In the meantime a simple mushroom broth is made by soaking dried mushrooms in water and letting them sit. Dried mushrooms have a wonderfully strong and concentrated flavor that infuses the water creating a full-bodied and earthy broth in about the same amount of time it takes the vegetables to roast.
Next fragrant garlic and chopped leeks are quickly sautéed in a bit of oil until softened to which the roasted vegetables and mushroom broth are added and then simmered together to marry all the flavors. Half the soup is pureed in the blender with a handful of cashews until creamy and smooth then pulsed with the remaining soup for a silky base punctuated throughout with bits of roasted mushrooms and cauliflower.
So creamy without a hint of cream, this roasted mushroom cauliflower soup is a deliciously comforting companion on a cold winter’s day.
More winter soups:
Vegan Roasted Mushroom Cauliflower Soup (Paleo)
This creamy, yet dairy-free and vegan roasted mushroom and cauliflower soup is warm, comforting and full of rich, earthy flavor.
Ingredients
- 8 oz/226 g cauliflower, cut into florets and thinly sliced
- 1 lb/453g shiitake mushrooms, woody stems removed and thinly sliced
- 3 Tablespoons/45ml extra virgin olive oil (divided use)
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 4-6 branches of fresh thyme, stems removed
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt (divided use)
- 4 cups/960ml filtered water
- .5 oz/14 g mixed dried mushrooms
- .5 oz/14g raw cashews (plus water to soak)
- 1 clove of garlic, finely minced
- ½ a leek (white parts only), finely chopped
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 425F. Toss the cauliflower florets on a parchment lined baking sheet with 1 Tablespoon of the olive oil, half the coriander, half the thyme and a ¼ teaspoon of salt. On a separate parchment lined sheet pan toss the mushrooms with another 1 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil the remaining coriander, thyme and another ¼ teaspoon of salt. Roast for 20 minutes or until golden and tender.
- Meanwhile in a medium saucepan bring the 4 cups of water and dried mixed mushrooms to a boil, turn off heat, cover and let sit for 20 minutes while cauliflower and mushrooms roast.
- Place cashews in a bowl of warm water and let sit.
- When the vegetables are done, heat the remaining 1 Tablespoon of oil in a large pot with the garlic and leeks and sweat over medium-low heat for 3 minutes or until softened but not browned. Add the roasted cauliflower and ¾ of the mushrooms reserving ¼ to top the soup later. Strain mushroom broth into pot and bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 mins.
- Add half the soup along with the drained cashews to a high speed blender and blend until smooth. Add in remaining soup and pulse quickly to coarsely chop the vegetables. Ladle into bowls and top with reserved mushrooms and freshly ground black pepper. Serve warm.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 243Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 375mgCarbohydrates: 11gFiber: 4gSugar: 3gProtein: 3g
Nutritional information for recipes contained on this website, such as calories, fat, carbs, etc. are only estimates and are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Sylvie Shirazi is the recipe developer and food photographer behind Gourmande in the Kitchen. For the last 10 years she’s been making eating more healthfully easy and accessible with gluten-free, grain-free, paleo and vegan recipes that are free from processed ingredients.
While making this soup I realized I was not sure what to do with the dried mushrooms I had boiled and let sit. Recipe calls for straining the mushroom broth into the soup. What happens to the dried mushrooms?
Hi Irene, The purpose of the dried mushrooms is to make the mushroom broth. Once the dried mushrooms have infused the broth with enough flavor you can discard them.