Vegan Broccoli Soup With Cashew Cream
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
- 1½cups raw cashew pieces (or whole raw cashews)
- Fine sea salt
- 1cup boiling water
- 1large head broccoli (about 1½ pounds), florets chopped into bite-size pieces and stems peeled and roughly chopped
- 1small fennel bulb, trimmed, quartered, cored and roughly chopped
- 2large stalks celery, trimmed and roughly chopped, leaves reserved for garnish
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- Torn fresh dill or parsley leaves
- Freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
- Step 1
Place the cashews in a blender along with a pinch sea salt. Pour the boiling water on top. Cover and let sit to allow the cashews to soften while you make the soup.
- Step 2
Combine the broccoli, fennel, celery, 2 tablespoons oil, 1 teaspoon sea salt and 3 cups water in a pot and cover loosely with a lid, leaving a small opening so steam can escape (this helps the soup keep its bright-green color). Bring to a boil over high, then steam vegetables over medium until they are tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- Step 3
Purée the cashews and water until completely smooth and frothy (the cashew cream should be the consistency of very loose whipped cream). Add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time, if desired to thin the mixture. Spoon the cashew cream into a bowl.
- Step 4
Working in batches if necessary, transfer the steamed vegetables and their cooking liquid to the blender and purée on high until completely smooth and frothy. Taste, and add more salt as needed. Divide the soup among bowls and top with cashew cream, celery leaves, dill, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve warm.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
RH
I reversed engineered some of this. I ran my veggies through a food processor, sautéed them in the oil and added garlic and half a jalapeño to ramp up the flavor. Used more fennel and reserved some of the fennel leaves for garnish and it came out surprisingly flavorful and quite delicious. I didn't really dilute the cashew cream too much and my family loved it.
ekaren
Could I use an immersion blender for the soup?
Parker
Doubled the recipe but only needed 1.5x the cashews. Added parsley stems to the vegetable pot. Finely blended the first half of the soup. Left more texture in the second half. Then combined. Add plenty of chopped parsley, salt and a few pinches of red pepper flakes. It did not turn out as green as the photo but will probably add the parsley to the blender next time, rather than adding at the end. Turned out very creamy and is even better the next day.
Redrockrobin
Needs garlic. Easily add a pound of silken tofu to bump up protein. Vegan broth instead of water for streaming would make flavor more three dimensional. Considering mixing in a tablespoon of ground dried mushrooms for umami. The crema is delicious.
Bob S
"Bring to a boil over high, then steam vegetables over medium until they are tender, 8 to 10 minutes." A little help, please.. Are the veggies removed from the water and steamed or left in the water and cooked over medium heat?
Jean
I added a teaspoon of corriander. Savory savory savory!!!!!
Pam
The cashew cream really made a difference for this dish. It's a bit bland otherwise. I also added some vegan pesto made with kale and basil from Trader Joe's. The combination made it really delicious!! Will definitely make this again.
debsa
Deeelish! For extra zip, added black pepper & drizzle of sherry vinegar. Cashew cream needed more salt & agree with others- you only need at most 1/4 of the cashew cream (also suggest heating it to keep it from cooling the soup too quickly). Topped it with ripe, halved cherry tomatoes for my second bowl. Amazing. Teen son threw on shredded chicken breast fillets & in the side garlic bread made with ghee, mixed dried herbs. A keeper recipe!!
Jeanette
Used veggie broth, coriander as suggested by another reviewer, and it is DELICIOUS! Flavors are perhaps subtle but luscious! Cashew cream is delish.
Isabel
I added some veggie stock and a few cloves of garlic because of the comments. My family loved this soup and thought it was absolutely delicious. Not sure why people didn’t like it...
Joyce
Cashew cream - converts easily to vegan ricotta - which is delicious for this dish and everything else you can imagine. Simply drain cashew soaking water and add one half cup of fresh water, add juice of a lemon, 2 plus tablespoons of nutritional yeast flakes and salt and pepper to taste - voila!
Amanda
I deviated a bit from the recipe--swapped leeks for the fennel, carrots for celery, and vegetable broth for water. I also used fresh parsley. It was amazing. And actually with the cashew cream I probably would cut back on the vegetable broth next time and do a broth/water mix.
Sue
One thing to consider is that "standard" grocery store vegetables vary a lot in flavor. Broccoli from a large chain grocery often tastes like almost nothing, while broccoli from a local produce market or farmer's market can be quite robust. I bet the developer used the latter.
Erin E NYC
Had one bowl exactly as the recipe was written and another with pesto added. Both great but fat content can really add up with the olive oil, cashew cream and pesto. Next time I will sub 1/2 of the water for veggie broth, add some garlic and maybe just some basil leaves into the puree. Cashew cream is surprisingly delicious, even without salt/seasoning. Either way it's excellent and will definitely remain in rotation.
Emma
Used no chicken bouillon (vegan friendly) in place of salt for an extra flavor kick, was a great easy dinner!
C&M
This was the surprise hit of a recent dinner party. Unexpectedly rich flavor and the presentation is great.
jan
Didn’t have fennel so I added a small bit of fennel seeds and just a few red pepper flakes to the saucepan. Absolutely delicious and FAST. Yum to the cashew cream too
TMCinSFCA
This was excellent. I was surprised at how much flavor the dish had and how satisfying it was, given the small number of ingredients and the fact the recipe did not start with sautéing, a step which I’ve always thought necessary to making a flavorful soup. And while the cashew cream certainly elevates the dish to something beyond the sum of its parts, the soup itself, sans cream, is surprisingly tasty on its own. I will definitely make this recipe again, as written. Highly recommended.
PeterW
I really want to try this recipe but my wife can’t stand fennel (but likes cilantro so all is forgiven). Any ideas on a substitution? Definitely garlic and onion. Maybe Kale or Chard?
Gianine
Another note. I added the broccoli later than the celery and fennel to keep the soup bright green, otherwise it would have been a lot darker
Gianine
Needs garlic and/or onion. I sautéed garlic in the olive oil before adding the vegetables. It was fantastic. I might try adding onion, as well on the next iteration. I used some veggie better than bullion, as well.
Rachel
It sounds like the cashew cream adds a lot to this recipe. Anyone made it subbing something else for the cashew cream? I like the idea of a blended veggie soup, but am allergic to tree nuts (including cashews which some people say are not actually a tree nut).
Recipes
Add micro-greens on top and cover with salt globe
emmam
This recipe is a great starting point for making a healthy, easy, tasty weeknight meal! I’m not a great cook, but I know what flavors my family likes and can usually tell when I should add a little something to suit my household’s tastes. For this recipe I added Better than Bouillon mushroom base (because I was out of vegetable base), nutritional yeast, onion powder, and garlic powder. I would’ve added fresh onion and garlic, but part of the appeal of this recipe was the low prep time.
J
This came highly recommended, and I found it low on flavor. Not sure what would improve the recipe.
Stacey
Added two garlic cloves and one shallot per suggestions, otherwise made as written. DELICIOUS and will make again.
lena kae
Made this per this recipe and found it a bit bland and uninteresting in terms of texture. The cashew cream adds a lot of calories but not taste or texture (although it’s delicious on its own.). I’m not vegan so I found a dollop of Greek yogurt preferable to the cashew cream, maldon salt and croutons add needed crunch, and chopped fresh herbs improve the taste. I liked tarragon, chives and parsley. On the upside, the soup is very nourishing and surprisingly filling.
stefanie
As written, it comes out a little bland. I used the tips I saw here of using vegetable broth instead of water and adding garlic, but it still tasted bland. So I added some onion, black pepper, sweet paprika and oregano. It really perked up. The oregano especially gave it a nice herbaceous taste. I didn’t have cashews so I added vegan feta crumbles which was fine. I’ll definitely try the cashew cream next time.
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