*This post may contain affiliate links. Read more »
This is it! A fast to make vegan truffled cauliflower soup that requires no roasting time, and no special gear of any kind. It's made extra creamy with white beans rather than dairy, so you get to trade cholesterol for protein and fiber, which is kinda rad. It truly is a family favorite soup for holidays or Sunday diners that doesn't book up your whole kitchen all weekend.
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Cinnamon Snail.
A LOT of cauliflower soup recipes out there are basically undercover cheese soups wearing a trench coat. That was the first way I learned to make it when I attended a cooking class with the chefs from Commander's Palace in New Orleans when I was but a wee lad. Parmesan rinds, brie, half and half, butter, the whole factory-farmed dairy squad showing up uninvited. Get out.
This one skips all that bad-for-animals and bad-for-humans nonsense entirely and still comes out rich as heck, because blended white beans and a legit quality truffle oil are here to pack flavor like no barnyard animal even can.
If you've made roasted cauliflower steaks before, you know that cauliflower has zero personality of its own, and that's actually a superpower. It just sits there being neutral and absorbent, soaking up whatever flavor you throw at it. So when nutritional yeast, garlic, and truffle oil enter the chat, cauliflower does not fight it, does not compete with it, just lets it fully take over the room. In that way, I wish I was a whole lot more like cauliflower.
And listen, if you are going to splurge on 1 fancy-pants ingredient this winter, actually read the label on your truffle oil first. A lot of brands toss in a single microscopic, nearly non-existent flake of real truffle just so they can slap "truffle" on the bottle, while the actual flavor is coming from artificial or "natural" flavoring. Screw that all the way home.
After I double checked to make sure I had good truffle oil, I tried this recipe to use up some beautiful orange cauliflower I had, and the soup came together beautifully. Delicate flavor in a comforting cream soup, and perfect for the cooler nights we're having.
Jump to:
🥰 Why you'll adore this Truffled Cauliflower Soup
✊ Vegan AF & GF: Like all my vegan soup recipes, this one pulls off the richness heist without a drop of cream or butter. It's also gluten free, just because.
🥣 Silky Without Any Cream: Cauliflower and white beans blend up so velvety smooth you might genuinely accuse your own soup of lying to you about being vegan.
⏱️ Under 40 Minutes, Mostly Hands-Off: Chop, sauté, dump, blend. The soup does the actual labor while you sit on the couch, scroll your phone, and occasionally yell "it's fine!" at nobody.
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: My crew of over 1,000 recipe testers spread across dozens of countries get their hands on my vegan recipes before they ever see the light of day.
I'm on my knees staring weirdly into your eyes, asking you in a soothing voice to be my taste-testing partner in crime. Sign up for the recipe testing crew and get early access to new recipes before they're published.
🥣 Truffled Cauliflower White Bean Soup Ingredients
White Beans
Cannellini, great northern, navy, butter beans, pretty much whatever kind you've got, they will all get the job done. I used canned white beans because I am a lazy POS, but if you cook dried beans for this, you are looking for about 1⅓ cups of cooked drained beans.
Truffle Oil
Don't cheap out on it. There's a reason you can get $5 truffle French fries on boardwalks, and that's because most of the truffle oil on the market is some artificially (or "natural flavors" enhanced) straight-up garbage.
Da Rosario and Truff are the only two brands I really trust and can recommend.
Nutritional Yeast
My recipe tester Tim reminds me that "Long ago, when they couldn't get nooch, some jerks imprisoned some animals and stole the mothers' milk and then told everyone it was better. Which it definitely is not."
Nooch pulls off a faint cheesy note that makes up for the absence of dairy in this. If you've bought a whole bag and have plenty left over after making this, throw it into vegan queso, vegan corn chowder, or vegan scalloped potatoes, all 3 get noticeably richer AF because of it.
Vegetable Stock
I write my recipes with unsalted vegetable stock, which puts you fully in charge of the seasoning as the soup builds. Because fully unsalted stock is hard to find in stores, I just boil onions, carrots, celery, some garlic, and bay leaves for this. Using "low-sodium" vegetable broth, or water with a vegetable bouillon cube stirred in works, but you may just want to dial back or adjust the salt you add later to compensate.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
📖 How to make vegan cauliflower soup
Most of this recipe is you standing near a pot, occasionally stirring it, feeling productive. Follow the steps and tips below, or skip to the recipe card if this is not your first rodeo in cauliflower-land.
Step One
Sauté-braham Lincoln:
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, about 90 seconds, add the onion and celery and sauté for 7 to 8 minutes, until tender.
Step Two
Herb Your Enthusiasm:
Add the garlic, chopped rosemary, parsley, sage, thyme, and black pepper. Cook for 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step Three
Sim Simmer, Who's Got the Keys to my Bimmer:
Add the nutritional yeast, mustard, cauliflower, white beans, and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer over medium-low. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, until the cauliflower is completely tender.
Step Four
Blend Me Your Ear:
Pull the pot off the heat. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth, or carefully transfer it, in batches, to a blender.
Step Five
Truffle off to Buffalo:
Return the soup to the pot and stir in the truffle oil. Season with salt to taste. If the soup is thicker than you like, add more vegetable stock or water until it reaches your preferred consistency.
Step Six
Macaulayflower Culkin:
Ladle into bowls and drizzle with truffle oil. Top with rosemary leaves and coarse ground black pepper.
Grab my easy-yo-use app that builds your whole week with real, chef-tested vegan dinners in 30 seconds, customized to your budget, time, and taste, with a shopping list sorted by aisle.
💡Serving Ideas
This soup wants crusty bread standing by. Yup, I heard her say it as she whispered it into the cool autumnal breeze. A warm skillet of vegan cornbread or a hunk of grilled sourdough, that's how it's done.
For the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas specifically) I always kick things off with a soup course, because guests need something to hold while they pretend they're not staring at the oven timer.
This one earns its spot as the non-orange option next to vegan butternut squash soup, Thai pumpkin soup, and roasted carrot lentil soup. If your whole soup course is just 4 shades of orange, that is a missed opportunity and frankly a little sad. Please don't make me sob. PLS.
Looking for a whole autumnal soup course for Thanksgiving? Serve this up alongside acorn squash soup and kabocha soup too!
👉Top tips
- Do Not Skimp on the Truffle Oil Twice: Stir some in while the soup is warm, then drizzle more on top right before serving, no skipping this part. That garnish drizzle is what actually hits your nose first, that first whiff is half the whole experience.
- Blend It Really Smooth: Keep going longer than feels necessary if you want a perfectly creamy texture. A high-speed blender gets there fast, an immersion blender gets there too, it just needs you to be a little more patient about it.
- Don't Melt Your Face Off: Make sure the center part of your blender lid is open a crack, and you have your hand over the lid with a kitchen towel folded under it. If there's nowhere for steam to escape, sometimes you get turned into Freddy Krueger, and your ceiling gets turned into a Jackson Pollock masterpiece.
- Adjust the Thickness at the End: Cauliflower and beans don't all hold the same amount of liquid, so your soup might come out thicker or thinner than mine does. Add stock a splash at a time until it feels right to you.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
White or black truffle oil both work well here, and it comes down to personal preference and price. Black truffle oil tends to be a bit deeper and earthier, while white is slightly more delicate. My go-to brands for truffle oil are Da Rosario and Truff. Use a good quality one regardless, since cheaper truffle oils can taste artificial rather than genuinely mushroomy-magical.
You sure can! Frozen cauliflower works fine here since everything gets blended smooth anyway. No need to thaw it first, just add a few extra minutes of simmering time if it is going in frozen.
🧊 In the Fridge
Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. The flavor holds up well, though you may want to add a fresh drizzle of truffle oil when reheating to bring back some of that aroma.
❄️ In the Freezer
Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months, leaving room at the top for expansion. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
🔥 Reheating
Warm gently on the stovetop over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, and thin with a splash of stock or water if needed. Finish with fresh truffle oil and rosemary right before serving.
✌️You'll love these Vegan Fall Soups too:
Truffle Cauliflower Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 cups onion diced
- 2 cups celery diced
- 7 cloves garlic peeled
- 2 tablespoons rosemary chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground sage
- ¼ cup parsley chopped
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 medium head cauliflower about 2.3 lbs., chopped
- 15 oz. canned white beans drained
- 4 cups unsalted vegetable stock or water
- ⅓ cup truffle oil
- 2 ½ teaspoons salt or to taste
To Garnish:
- 2 tablespoons rosemary leaves
- 2 tablespoons truffle oil
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. After 90 seconds when the oil is hot, add the onion and celery and sauté for 7-8 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
- Add the garlic, chopped rosemary, chopped parsley, sage, thyme, and black pepper. Cook for 3 more minutes, stirring from time to time.
- Add the nutritional yeast, mustard, cauliflower, white beans, and vegetable stock. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer over medium-low heat. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, or until the cauliflower is completely tender.
- Remove the pot from the heat. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth. Alternatively, carefully transfer the soup to a blender in batches and blend until smooth.
- Return the soup to the pot and stir in the truffle oil. Season with salt to taste. If the soup is too thick, add additional vegetable stock or water until it reaches your preferred thickness.
- Ladle the soup into bowls and drizzle with truffle oil. Garnish with the rosemary leaves and coarse ground black pepper.
Notes
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Cinnamon Snail.
Paige Davis says
After I double checked to make sure I had good truffle oil, I tried this recipe to use up some beautiful orange cauliflower I had, and the soup came together beautifully. Delicate flavor in a comforting cream soup, and perfect for the cooler nights we’re having.