Vegan Southwestern Cauliflower Soup (Instant Pot or Stovetop)

Ivory cauliflower florets, sautéed aromatics and mild green chiles cooked in vegetable broth and blended until the vegetables become part of the broth, this soup is creamy without a lick of cream. Southwestern cauliflower soup is a delicious quick and easy recipe you’ll make again and again!

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“Cauliflower is nothing but a cabbage with a college education.” ~~ Mark Twain, via Food Lover’s Companion.

An elegant head of cauliflower tucked in our fridge crisper drawer inspired this simple silky-rich vegan soup. For color, contrast, and crunch, we give each bowl finishing sprinkles of toasted pumpkin seeds, sliced green onions, and cilantro leaves.

This healthful soup is more brothy than thick. If you prefer a thicker soup, you’ve got a few options. One is to include peeled potato chunks along with the other vegetables. You could also add cooked white beans–not only will the beans give this soup a creamier texture, they’ll bump up the protein ration. And the easiest way to give your velvety pureed cauliflower more body is to reduce the vegetable broth from 5 cups to 4.

If your kitchen sports a couple of worthy time-saving tools, you can make this soup in half an hour. A pressure cooker, stove-top or the electric Mealthy or Instant Pot, and an immersion blender, are the best speed tools I know for smooth creamy soups.

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Know that you can make this soup without a pressure cooker. And of course you can puree it in a regular blender. Without those time-savers, it will just take a little longer. You’ll find directions for both pressure cooker and stove-top Southwestern cauliflower soup in the recipe card below.

Make this soup your own–this easy recipe offers plenty of riffing possibilities. One day sub in cauliflower’s cousin broccoli. Another, add a sweet potato and a carrot along with the cauliflower and season the soup with curry powder instead of cumin.

To make this soup in your pressure cooker, sauté the aromatics first, then add the caulflower, chiles, and broth. Lock the pressure cooker lid in place and bring to high pressure. Maintain the pressure for 6 minutes, then quick-release the pressure. With an Instant Pot, you turn the top dial to vent, for a stovetop pressure cooker, place the pot under cold running water until the pressure valve drops.

As I mentioned, a hand-held immersion blender (Affiliate) makes it easy to puree creamy soups. Really, especially if you make a lot of soups like we do at our house, an immersion blender is a very handy kitchen gadget, in my mind practically essential. Simply stick that wand in the cooking pot and whir until you’ve got smooth, creamy, no muss no fuss, lickety-split soup. All you do is keep moving the hand blender up, down, and around the pot until no chunks remain.

I mean, have you ever tried to liquefy hot soup in a regular blender jar? Don’t try to puree the whole batch at once, it’s just about impossible to hold the lid on tight. The heat/steam pushes the lid off, the hot soup splatters everywhere, on your clothes and all over the kitchen counter. You have a big cleanup situation. If a jar blender is all you have, be safe–blend in small batches, transferring the pureed soup to another pot as you go.

More amazing creamy soups made easier with an immersion blender:

• Red Velvet Beet Soup
• Creamy Garbanzo Bean Soup
• Hearty Potato Soup with Leeks, Garlic and Parsley
• Spicy Cashew Spring Greens Soup
• Mexican Chayote Chile Soup
• Curried Carrot Soup

Make it a fabulous week–get in the kitchen and cook a quick and delicious soup!

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4.84 from 6 votes

Vegan Southwestern Cauliflower Soup (Pressure Cooker)

Once you have this simple creamy yet cream-less soup in your recipe repertoire, you’ll be making it over and over. For a more protien-rich soup, add 1 3/4 cup white beans, 1 (14-ounce) can, rinsed and drained. Cooking times based on pressure cooking. Recipe includes instructions for regular cooking too. Makes about 8 cups soup.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Course: Soup

Cuisine: Pressure Cooker, Vegan

Keyword: cauliflower, Instant Pot, pressure cooker

Servings: 6 servings.

Author: Letty | @lettyskitchen

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion , chopped
• 1 clove garlic , minced
• 5 cups vegetable broth (see note)
• 1 head (1 1/2 pounds) cauliflower, broken into florets
• 1 (4-ounce) can diced mild green chilies
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• fine sea salt , to taste
• 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions , for garnish
• 1/4 cup shelled pumpkin seeds , toasted, for garnish

Instructions

• Heat the olive oil over medium flame, in a pressure cooker or soup pot. (see note) Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion has softened, about 5 minutes. Add the vegetable broth, cauliflower, chiles, cumin, and white pepper.
• Lock the pressure cooker lid in place and bring to high pressure. Maintain the pressure  for 6 minutes. Quick release the pressure: With an Instant Pot, turn the top dial to vent. For stovetop pressure cooker, place under cold running water.
• For regular stovetop cooking, cover and simmer until the vegetables are soft, about 25 minutes.
• Puree the soup using an immersion blender or in a blender jar. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish each serving with cilantro, green onions and pumpkin seeds.

Notes

• Keep it easy--use instant vegetable bouillon dissolved in hot water for broth.
• Be sure to sauté the aromatics, the onion and garlic, in a little olive oil first. Skip that step and your soup won’t have the same depth of flavor.
• For pressure cooking: Lock the pressure cooker lid in place and bring to high pressure. Maintain the pressure  for 6 minutes. Quick release the pressure: With an Instant Pot, turn the top dial to vent. For stovetop pressure cooker, place under cold running water.
• If a jar blender is all you have, be sure to blend in small batches, transferring the pureed soup to another pot as you go.

Nutrition

Calories: 78kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 786mg | Potassium: 113mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 1330IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg

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Nutrition information is meant to be an estimate only. The numbers will vary based on the quantity consumed, brands used and substitutions that are made.

** This is an update of the Southwestern Cauliflower Soup I posted 4 ago! I’ve made it twice last month, thinking I really should republish so you can enjoy it too!  Now includes with nutrition information and more.