We had our first touch of fall weather a couple of mornings ago. A very slight coolness first thing in the morning air. Of course, it was gone too quickly and replaced with warmer, rainy, humid weather. But it was enough to say fall is coming or as close as we get to fall here in Florida anyway.
That ever so slight crisp, coolness in the air was enough to put me in the mood for soup and I've had this Creamy Vegan Mushroom Spinach Soup on my mind for a little while now. Just waiting for the right time to test it out. So, with the signal of fall's impending arrival it was time to do it.
I love this soup. It's creamy yet still light, flavorful, and loaded with veggies. The best kind of soup if you ask me.
Cream based soups are usually heavy and loaded with dairy, but not this one. Cauliflower replaces the dairy and lightens the whole soup up. Yes, cauliflower really is one of the most versatile little veggies out there and makes a fantastically light and creamy base for so many delicious, vegan sauces and soups. And because it doesn't have an overwhelming flavor, it won't take away from any other flavors.
The mushrooms and spinach are the stars of this soup. To keep the mushrooms prominent in this soup, I sliced them rather than dicing them up. I also made sure the spinach was bountiful and not so small it disappeared among the mushrooms and creamy cauliflower. That's the truly awful part of those canned soups, the pieces are always so small it's hard to tell they're even in there. That's definitely not the case with this soup.
Overall, I'm very happy with how this soup came out and I hope you give it a try. And if you do try it, I'd love to know what you think. Leave a comment and be sure to snap a picture and tag it @weelittlevegans on Instagram so I'll be sure to see it!
Recipe
Creamy Vegan Mushroom Spinach Soup
Ingredients
- 1 medium cauliflower, chopped into even size pieces
- 2 cups plain unsweetened almond milk
- 1 ½ cup vegetable broth I used homemade.
- 8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 3 cups spinach, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Add cauliflower, almond milk, vegetable stock, salt, pepper, and onion powder to a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Continue to simmer until cauliflower pieces are soft, about 15 minutes.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms and garlic. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Sauté until mushrooms are lightly browned, 5-10 minutes. Add spinach and toss to combine with mushrooms and garlic. Sauté just longer enough to wilt the spinach, about 1-2 minutes.
- Pour cauliflower and liquid into blender and blend until very smooth. Return mixture to sauce pan and taste. Add additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Add mushrooms and spinach to cauliflower soup and stir to combine. Warm over medium heat if needed. Serve with bread if desired.
John Bridgman says
I was not able to click on the stars to give a rating but I was trying to give it 5 stars.
Not only was the recipe a perfect match for what I had in the fridge/pantry and was hoping to use, but the result was really good. Only change I would have made is cutting the mushrooms up a bit smaller - my mushrooms were pretty big and so the slices were as well.
One thing to watch out for - apparently cauliflower-based cream soups are more sensitive to seasoning than full cream soups. I added a few tablespoons of curry paste which turned out to be too much and made the soup a bit salty. My problem though, not the recipe.
Melissa says
Hi John! Thank you so much for trying the recipe and sharing how it turned out. I'm thrilled you enjoyed the soup! I'm not sure why you weren't able to give a star rating. I will look it to that and fix the problem. I was able to update your rating from my side so it should show the 5 stars you intended. Thank you again for your feedback!
Josee says
I made this recipe but used onions and sauted them with the mushrooms instead of using onion powder. I also added several dashes of worcestershire sauce and cayenne to jazz it up a bit. Very good base recipe to build off of!
Melissa says
Thank you for sharing the feedback and what changes you made. So glad you enjoyed it!
Chris says
I know this is an older recipe but I made it last night and it came out great! It was so creamy it looked and tasted like it was made with cream and butter, but was vegan and healthy instead. 🙂 I happened to use unsweetened soy milk instead of almond because that's all I had and it still worked great.
Melissa says
I'm so happy you like the recipe! Thank you for the feedback.
Paolo says
Saved and looking forward to cooking this tomorrow night! Veganized of course.