Cheesy Vegan Broccoli Soup
This creamy cheesy vegan broccoli soup made with almond milk and nutritional yeast is easy to make with one pot and a blender.
How to Make Dairy-Free “Cheesy” Broccoli Soup
When I was in high school, I used to love Campbell’s Broccoli and Cheddar Soup made with skim milk. As I no longer eat dairy, the days of afterschool cheesy broccoli soup are long gone.
So how can we achieve that creamy, dreamy, cheesy flavour without the dairy? Nutritional yeast, of course! Seriously, thank goodness for this stuff. It’s a life saver in a vegan kitchen and adds the cheesy component to this delicious broccoli soup. I always keep some on hand for adding a cheesy component to all sorts of different recipes.
Easiest Vegan Broccoli Soup
This soup is so easy to make and can be ready in less than 30 minutes, making it a perfect weeknight dinner option. You can always make it ahead too and store it in the fridge for a few days, it’s actually even better the next day. It’s creamy, flavourful and rich, but still low calorie and packed full of nutrition.
Nutritional yeast is typically fortified with B12, making a wonderful addition to a plant-based diet. If you’re unsure of what nutritional yeast, I have a whole post about that you can read here. Broccoli as you’ve probably heard is a nutritional powerhouse and it’s the star of this delicious, vegan recipe.
I love enjoying this soup on a rainy, Sunday afternoon but because it’s so easy to make, it’s a great meal anytime! It’s just a bowl of comfort and when served with a toasted piece of sourdough bread, perfection.
More Broccoli Soup
For variations of this recipe, I also have a vegan cream of broccoli soup and a Cheesy Vegan Broccoli Potato Soup you can try,
More Vegan Soup Recipes
Loving this creamy broccoli soup? You’ll love these recipes too:
Curried Lentil Soup // Easy Vegan Minestrone Soup // Healthy Kale and Cauliflower Soup // Spicy Vegan Black Bean Soup // Vegan Sweet Potato Corn Chowder // Vegan Chickpea Vegetable Chowder
Vegan Cheesy Broccoli Soup
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This creamy, flavorful soup is so easy to make I love it for a quick, cozy weeknight dinner. It keeps well and the flavors improve the next day so its great for meal prep too. Paired with a piece of fresh crusty bread, it’s the ultimate vegan comfort food.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium white onion, diced (approx. 2 cups, 300 g)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 4 cups of vegetable broth
- 6 cups broccoli, chopped in bite-sized pieces (420 g)
- 1 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- In a large soup pot, cook the onions in the olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often. To make it oil-free, you can cook the onions in 2 tbsp of water or broth. Add more as needed if the pan starts to dry out.
- Add the garlic, salt, pepper and dijon and cook for a few more minutes.
- Add the vegetable broth and chopped broccoli.
- Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for about 15 minutes, or until broccoli is tender.
- Turn off heat and stir in nutritional yeast and lemon juice.
- Either scoop all the soup into a blender and blend to your desired consistency or for chunky broccoli soup, remove about 1/2 of the soup and puree, leaving the rest behind. You can also use an immersion blender right in the pot if you like.
- Pour the blended soup back into the pot. If it’s too thick for your liking, stir in some extra broth or unsweetened almond milk to adjust the consistency.
- Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Makes 4 large dinner-sized portions or 8 sides.
Notes
I updated this recipe in February of 2019. The original recipe called for half unsweetened almond milk and half broth for the liquid but I decided to change it to all broth. You can try it with half and half if you like, both ways are good. You can also just stir in a little plant milk at the end for some extra creaminess.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6th of recipe
- Calories: 127
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 435 mg
- Fat: 5 g
- Carbohydrates: 13 g
- Fiber: 5 g
- Protein: 8.5 g
I love Cream of a broccoli soup and this is one of my go to recipes that I return to over and over again! So tasty!!
I love this recipe and have made it on numerous occasions- thank you
Just wondered if it still tastes as good if you freeze it ?
Hi! I’m very interested in making this recipe but was wondering if frozen broccoli could be substituted for fresh? I imagine the textures might be different, but was interested to see what your thoughts might be. Thanks!
Hi! I think you could yes. I would either thaw the broccoli in the fridge first, then drain off any excess liquid before proceeding with the recipe. You may still need to reduce the broth a bit to account for the extra moisture. If you make it straight from frozen broccoli, I would start with 2 cups broth and slowly add more as needed. Let me know if you try it!
This has been my go to soup for going on 4 years now! I like to throw (minus the oil) in the ip for 3 min, with the natural release. I too omitted the non dairy milk, and used potatoes/white beans for some added nutrients/creaminess. Thanks for the delicious recipe!
Amazing! Good to know, I’ve never made this one in the Instant Pot. Thanks for the feedback and review!
This soup is one of my staples, thanks for remaking this classic soup!!
Love this recipe! I’ve been making it for a couple of years now, it’s foolproof. Great to give to non vegans to “convert” them! It’s so easy and tasty. Only thing that I always forget to check whether i have it before I make this is the lemon juice. Don’t skip it as it makes ALL the difference. Well done Derryn.
You’re so welcome! Glad you enjoy it! Thanks for the message and review.
DELICIOUS. I added some vegan cream cheese to it too!
So very glad to hear that! And that sounds awesome!
I’ve just recently become vegan and beforehand I didn’t really even cook. It’s a whole new world to me. Until yesterday i’d never even heard of nutritional yeast. Having been quite a cheese fan, I was fully expecting to be less than excited about the substitute. I’m really surprised at how good it’s just turned out while also being fairly simple to make. Thanks a bunch!
You are so very welcome. I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this! Happy Cooking!! And welcome to the world of nooch 🙂
My new go to soup. So many fewer calories than with cream and cheese…. and every bit as tasty! I use my immersion blender to puree the broccoli instead of pouring into a blender. Works perfectly!
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed it. I love this recipe too!
SO delicious!!! I pureed more than 50% just out of personal preference. I used an immersion blender. This soup is so so so good – and this is coming from a non-vegan! I also cut the oil down to 2tsp and made 5 servings at 3.4f/19c/17p for anyone interested. 🙂
Awesome! Thanks so much for your feedback and providing the macros.