Before we jump into this Soup Saturday recipe, I wanted to respond to some of you that have taken issue with some of the terminologies we’ve been using since we started talking about souping. Some of you were put off by the idea that “clean eating” meant no grains, no gluten, no dairy, etc., and that this gives food groups a sense of morality that feeds into diet culture (i.e. vegetables are “good and clean”, rice and cheese are “bad and dirty”). We hear you. That wasn’t the intention, though my body does feel so much better and I have far less digestive issues when I cut those things from my diet. Do what feels right for YOU and your body.
Alright, all you vegetarians and vegans. Don’t think we’ve forgotten about you, because we haven’t. In fact, two of the EHD staff members are full-time vegetarians and we’d hate for them to feel left out of the soup club. One of the beautiful things about soup is that it is incredibly easy to experiment with. So many of these soup recipes can easily be made vegetarian or vegan with a few easy swaps (vegetable broth instead of chicken stock, beans/potatoes/chickpeas/tofu instead of meat, and cashew or coconut milk instead of cream to name a few). And vice versa, if you’d rather get your protein the caveman way, shredded chicken, turkey meatballs, or steak cubes are an easy add to any vegetarian or vegan recipe. Seasoned turkey meatballs were a caveman specialty, right?
Now that I’ve (once again) convinced you that soup is the world’s most perfect food, let’s get on with this week’s #SoupSaturday recipe. Today, we’re sharing our very first, totally vegan soup—a hearty, filling, and delicious roasted cauliflower curry. We made this soup as a vegetarian option while we were up at our recent EHD staff retreat and it got 4 thumbs up from our veggie-only staffers. This soup is inspired by and adapted from this recipe from Cotter Crunch, but adapted to fit our soup preferences. We’ve added red peppers to give it a little more crunch, chickpeas to make it super filling and get in some protein, swapped spinach for kale, and used a bag of riced cauliflower to eliminate the use of a food processor.
WHAT YOU NEED
Vegetables
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 6 carrots, diced
- 1 bag riced cauliflower (non-frozen)
- 1 bag spinach
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 1/2 a head if using raw)
Herbs & Spices
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon red pepper (more or less depending on how spicy you like it)
- 3 tablespoons curry powder
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
Oils & Canned Goods
- 3 tablespoons avocado oil (olive oil also works)
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 can coconut milk
- 1 can chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
HOW TO COOK IT
- Preheat your oven to 350F.
- Start by mixing your riced cauliflower in a bowl along with 2 tablespoons of oil, the curry powder, garlic powder, cumin, paprika, and salt.
- Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spread the cauliflower and spices mixture onto the cookie sheet. Roast for 20 minutes, stirring at the 10-minute mark to make sure everything is toasting but not burning. When done, remove from oven and set aside.
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat, and add onions and garlic. Cook onions until translucent (about 3-4 minutes).
- Add the carrots, red peppers and dried chili pepper. Cook 3-4 minutes mixing occasionally.
- Next, add the vegetable broth, coconut milk, chickpeas, and riced cauliflower.
- Bring to a boil; reduce heat and bring to a simmer. Covered, the soup can simmer for however long you’d like, but let it simmer for at least 15 minutes (so the chickpeas and veggies can soften).
- A few minutes before serving (5 or so), add the entire bag of spinach, stir in, and allow to wilt in soup for a few minutes.
- Season with salt to taste and serve (top with a dollop of dairy-free yogurt or coconut cream if you’re feeling fancy)
This soup is rich, spicy, creamy and VERY filling. The chickpeas add just enough “oomph” to keep vegetarian/vegan bellies full, while adding a decent dose of protein. It’s the perfect bowl of soup for a cold winter day, especially if you like your food on the spicier side.
When it comes to cooking my soups, I’ve been using both a tall stockpot and a dutch oven. Stockpots are thinner, taller, and made to cook stocks and broths (think lots of liquid while also fitting an entire chicken carcass…or pasta). I use my stockpot when I’m making a new batch of bone broth. Dutch ovens, on the other hand, are often made from cast iron, have thicker bottoms, heavy lids, and are made to evenly heat thicker soups and stews without burning them (they’re also great for cooking things other than soups and can usually slide into the oven depending on the handle materials).
Don’t feel like you MUST have one of each to be a successful souper! Broths can be simmered in Dutch ovens, just like stews can easily be prepared in a stockpot. But whether you’re looking for one, do-everything, budget pot or you’re ready to take the plunge into the world of serious souping, here are some of our favorite stockpots and Dutch ovens at three different price points.
Stockpots: T-Fal 12-Quart Nonstick Stockpot | Cook N Home 12-Quart Stainless Steel Stockpot | 12-Quart Nonstick Stockpot
Dutch ovens: Vremi 6-Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven | Cuisinart 7-Quart Enameled Dutch Oven | Food52 x Staub 5.5-Quart Round Cocotte
I was waiting for the Saturday soup post with eager and this cauliflower receipt delights me 🙂
Thank you, Emily, this looks delicious. I am making this tonight!
It was sooooo good! Thanks again.
P.S. I didn’t have riced cauliflower, cut myself the whole fresh one into small pieces and kept the half for the next time (like tomorrow 😉 )
You can shred it too, like cheese. I do this to make cauliflower rice.
Thanks Olya. You mean to shred with a blender? I used a knife
I love the addition of Saturday soups to your regular line up. Thank you!
This looks delicious, but for those of us outside the US, can you give us weights? I have no idea how much a “bag” of cauliflower or spinach is! Thanks
Same! I made this soup today – so tasty! But I think I had too much cauliflower and not enough liquid. Still delicious tho 🙂
The recipe specifies “not frozen” and Trader Joe’s sells riced cauliflower in a 12-oz bag in the fresh (cold) produce section. As for spinach, TJ’s sells baby organic spinach in a 6 oz bag. These are the net weights of the products. Hope this helps.
I’m excited to make this soup!
But I’ve been wanting to comment on how much I like the new Rooms and Shop sections of the site. We’re building a small cottage for my mom to live in and it’s been really helpful having those resources in an easy to find way. Thank you, team EHD!
I am wondering if you might add a printable version of the recipes? There is a lot of scrolling past ads and things which is fine when i’m Doing the read through of the whole post, but for following it for cooking it’s a bit tricky. Loving these posts! Thanks!
Thank you!!! Love the vegan option and just so delicious and beautiful. A big loaf of freshly baked organic bread? DONE
Could you please let me know which brand and kind of curry powder you used and liked best? I am really enjoying your soup recipes and its fun trying some new things. Thank you so much!!
Thank you Emily! I absolutely LOVE soups – esp. in the winter! They make you feel all warm inside when it’s chilly or rainy, and are such an awesome, easy one dish dinner (or lunch!) I can’t wait to try this recipe. I also had to SECOND the Dutch Oven. It is literally one of the hardest working elements in our kitchen. It can do EVERYTHING – from browning meats to making chili’s. We actually bought a 6QT at Target for IDK maybe $50 or so about 6 1/2 years ago and it was literally one of the best purchases we ever made in the kitchen.
I love this addition to your blog! Thank you!!! x
I just made this soup and it’s delicious! I am on soft diet recovering from dental implant surgery, so I puréed it…nice change of bland?
Could you add your bone broth recipe to one if your soup posts. Also, your sources for bones.
Thanks for the soup recipes?
LOVE THIS!!! I cannot get enough of these soup posts, Emily. You expressed assurances early on in these recipe postings that you were going to stay in your lane (design), but I say swerve all over the information superhighway! Lifestyle, recipes, parenting, whatevs – I love hearing from you. These recipes are so fun! Thank you for posting them.
I made this today, and added shredded chicken to my bowl and left as is for my vegan husband and son. So warm and cozy and filling on this drizzly Seattle night.
This looks delicious! Vegan in laws in town next week and I’m thinking of making this. How many servings does it make?
I love Emily’s (and company’s) posts on design. I’m glad this post attempts to address the complex issues around food and labeling “clean eating”, diet culture, etc. I don’t think it quite “gets there” though. And with so many reliable, trusted, scientific-based, educated resources (such as nutritionstripped.com, thefoodmedic.co.uk, deliciouslyella.com) that offer solutions and pathways to healthy, plant-based living in a responsible way, I don’t know why branching out in this area is necessary or positively contributes to the field.
I agree–having a link to a printable version of these recipes would be great!! I love trying your soups and am going to be trying this one next, but it’s so nice to be able to print it out and save it when I like it.
Thanks!
Great soup for picky husbands who think dinner has to include meat! Whole family loved it.
I’m old-school and keep a binder of printed out recipes that I find online. I cut and pasted this recipe into a blank document, and that worked for me. And, I made this for dinner tonight! Except I used turkey bone broth (made from the frozen/defrosted leftover bones when I roasted some cut turkey pieces last week). I used 2 Tbl of curry powder instead of 3 so the intensity wouldn’t scare my kids. I’m trying to reduce my family’s meat consumption but not cut it out, and this recipe was perfect. I bought a small, gorgeous multigrain baguette and toasted it for the kids to eat with this soup. All soups go down easier with them if I treat them with bread. I’m not about wholesale elimination of ingredients but just more mindful eating. This is a keeper in my recipe binder!
Ha agreed! I made a lentil detox soup last night for dinner and while my husband was grateful for a hearty dinner, it wasn’t until I brought out the multigrain baguette that he got excited. I actually think he exclaimed “What? BREAD? Now I’m excited.” Ha
Hi Emily, what type of container do you use to transport your soup to work with you for lunches? Thanks!
Your attempt here to address the undertones of disordered eating and restrictive dieting feels like it falls massively short. I don’t see that there was much reflection on the feedback you’ve received. It reminded me a bit of when a white person is told that they’ve committed a racist microaggression and the response is, “But I didn’t MEAN to be racist, so you can’t be mad at me–I intended well.” Sometimes the ways we buy into systems feel invisible to us, so it benefits us to pay attention when people are calling our attention and awareness to assumptions and norms we hadn’t considered before. I’m certainly not saying diet culture is equivalent to racism, and I hope that didn’t feel too dramatic–I’m just pointing out that there seems to be a defensive response that appears to avoid really considering the critiques offered by some of your readers. My two cents!
I appreciate these posts! I feel like since this isn’t a food blog these recipes must actually be good – they’ve risen to the top! I also like your clean eating approach though…. I didn’t read all the commentary. I feel so much better when I restrict the same aspects from my diet. When I think back to when I wasn’t listening to my body- I remember years of feeling bloated and not even realizing it. I just felt uncomfortable in my body. Cutting back on grains and dairy has helped immensely. So, thanks for the shoutout to a mindful diet and thanks for sharing hearty soups and not just broth with vegetables in it. Though that can be great too!