This vegan instant pot cauliflower soup is thick, savory, and creamy without cream or flour. It is bursting with the flavor and goodness of cauliflower, butter beans, turmeric, garlic, and herbs. A drizzle of olive oil and fresh lemon completes this dairy-free and gluten-free soup that you won't get enough of! Did I mention it's really easy too?
This soup is pure gold. Apart from the looks (it is good-looking, right?), it is suuuuper healthy with NO cream, cheese, or milk. And..it is yum! Cauliflower is a versatile veggie for sure, but I was honestly a tad skeptical about how it would taste in a soup especially without any dairy to overcome the blandness. Well, that little voice in my head was silenced when I put the first spoonful of soup in my mouth. It tasted rich and savory and absolutely lovely!
If you like basking in soupland at all times of the year like I do, have a peek at these other soup recipes too. My favorites are minestrone, mulligatawny, and chicken and wild rice.
Ingredients
Note: exact quantities are mentioned in the recipe card further down in the post.
A few thoughts on the ingredients...
- I used a frozen cauliflower packet because I did not have fresh cauliflower at hand. A small, fresh cauliflower head would also work. The frozen pack did eliminate the need to wash and chop the cauliflower!
- That tin or can you see in the picture? It's butter beans, and it's what makes the soup so creamy and yummy. I used approximately half of that can after draining and rinsing the beans in cold water.
- For garnishes, I added Italian seasoning/herbs and chilli flakes. If you don't have Italian seasoning, that's totally fine. You can use any fresh or dried herbs you have: thyme, oregano, parsley... whatever you might have. Each herb has its own distinct flavor and aroma, of course.
- As final touches, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil and a few dashes of lemon juice worked wonders. The lemon is not pictured but I did squeeze a small wedge into each bowl of soup.
- The light olive oil was used while cooking the soup, and the EVOO as topping. Hence, the two bottles in the picture.
- Finally, the spices: chilli flakes, turmeric, and freshly ground black pepper complete the soup and save it from being bland and boring. I also used Himalayan pink salt in this recipe. It is not essential though and you can use regular table salt or sea salt if you wish.
How to make this instant pot cauliflower soup
Making this soup is a real cinch. It's almost a dump and go recipe if you have all your ingredients in one place. This is how you will go about it:
- Switch on your instant pot to sauté, and add the light olive oil in the inner steel insert. When the oil is hot, add chopped garlic and onions and fry them just until the onions are soft (two minutes).
- Add the cauliflower florets, turmeric, black pepper, half of the chilli flakes and Italian seasoning, and salt. Sauté for three to four minutes.
- Add the butter beans and vegetable broth and deglaze the pot. Deglazing just means to scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen any stuck bits so that they don't burn.
- Close the lid and pressure cook for five minutes with pressure release after ten minutes.
- Open the pot and, using an immersion blender (affiliate link) if you have one, blend the contents until smooth. If you don't have an immersion blender, wait for the soup to cool down and blend in your regular blending machine. The advantage of using a stick or immersion blender is that it goes right into the pot and does the job even if the food is hot. Plus you save the hassle of cleaning the blender jar later.
- Take out the soup in bowls and squeeze a small lemon wedge in. Top with the remaining chilli flakes and Italian herbs. Finally, drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on the soup and serve warm.
Instant Pot Cauliflower Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon light olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 medium-sized red or white onion sliced
- 1 small cauliflower head chopped (or 1 frozen cauliflower packet, 500 grams)
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes divided
- ½ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning divided
- salt to taste
- Half a can butter beans drained and rinsed
- 1.5 cups vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Switch on your instant pot to sauté and add the light olive oil to the steel insert. When the oil becomes hot, add the garlic and onions and fry until the onions become soft (two minutes).
- Add the cauliflower florets, turmeric, ½ teaspoon chilli flakes, black pepper, ¼ teaspoon Italian seasoning, and salt. Sauté for 3-4 minutes.
- Add the butter beans and vegetable broth and deglaze the pot.
- Cancel sauté and close the lid. Make sure the steam release vent is sealed. Press the pressure cooking button (high) and set the timer to 5 minutes.
- Once the timer beeps, wait for 10 minutes before releasing the rest of the steam. Open the pot and using an immersion blender, blend the contents. Or wait for the contents to cool down and blend in a regular blender.
- Take out the soup in bowls and add a few drops of lemon juice to each bowl, followed by the remaining chilli flakes and Italian seasoning. Drizzle the extra virgin olive oil too and serve warm.
Notes
- If the soup is too thick after blending, you can thin it out with broth or water.
- Substitute the Italian seasoning with herbs of your choice. Thyme, oregano, parsley work equally well.
- Adjust the chilli flakes to your liking.
- If the vegetable broth you are using is salted, remember to adjust the salt accordingly.
Tony says
Sorry no pictures it went way too fast. This soup is fantastic!
Emma says
Lovely soup - can I freeze it?
Saima says
Thank you, Emma. Yes, by all means. You can freeze it.
Johnna says
Can you do this in the crockpot?
Saima says
Never made it in a crockpot, Johnna. If you want to try it in a crockpot, just remember that cauliflower is a tender vegetable that breaks down pretty quickly, so adjust the time accordingly.
Emma says
If using frozen cauliflower do I need to defrost it first
Saima says
No, you don't need to. Just add 2 minutes to the pressure cooking time.