Curried Cauliflower Soup
Creamy, vegan cauliflower soup made with coconut milk and spiced with Thai curry paste. This healthy, comforting soup recipe is perfect for chilly days.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 14, 2024
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Did you survive Thanksgiving? Good. Me too, barely. While in Oklahoma, I ate German chocolate cake for breakfast (more than once), overdosed on queso (entirely necessary) and cheered on the karaoke singers in a smoky Oklahoma City dive bar. Now it’s Monday, which means it’s time to get back into the swing of things. I’m going to need another cup of coffee for this.
Which reminds me: I’m out of half and half for my coffee. I’m also out of fresh greens and produce, so my lunch options are looking bleak.
I really wish I had more of this Thai-spiced, roasted cauliflower and coconut milk soup. It’s a fun, dairy-free spin on classic cauliflower soup that is loaded with good-for-you vegetables and spices. It’s exactly what my body needs after all that chocolate and cheese.
I made this soup with the help of some beautiful wooden tools from my sponsor over there in the sidebar, Earlywood Designs. The rock-solid ironwood cutting board, jatoba ladle and maple sauté stick—all Earlywood. All handcrafted by Brad in Red Lodge, Montana. They are gorgeous heirloom pieces that I look forward to cooking with for the rest of my life, and I’m happy to have the chance to promote a sustainable small business.
A note on cauliflower. Even if you are not a big fan, I beg you to try roasted cauliflower. I still don’t love raw or steamed cauliflower (I’m a broccoli girl) but I absolutely love roasted cauliflower. Roasted cauliflower with a little bit of salt is, like, French fry good. Totally irresistible. And when you blend it up in a soup, it just makes the soup more creamy and hearty. Try it!
Curried Cauliflower Soup
Creamy, vegan cauliflower soup made with coconut milk and spiced with Thai curry paste. This healthy, comforting soup recipe is perfect for chilly days.
Ingredients
- 1 large head of cauliflower, broken into small florets, stems chopped
- Up to 4 tablespoons melted coconut oil or olive oil, divided
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 to 3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste* (depending on preferred spice level, I love spicy so I’d use 3!)
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- ½ cup unoaked white wine (like Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio)**
- 1 ½ cups vegetable broth or stock
- 1 can (14 ounces) light coconut milk
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 to 3 teaspoons rice vinegar
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup chopped green onions or chives
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
- Thinly sliced jalapeño, Serrano or birds-eye peppers (optional, not shown)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Toss the cauliflower with enough coconut oil to lightly coat it (up to 3 tablespoons). Spread the cauliflower in a single layer on a large baking sheet and roast until the tips of the cauliflower are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes.
- In a Dutch oven or large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat, warm 1 tablespoon of the coconut oil until shimmering. Add the onion and a dash of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is turning translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the curry paste and lemon zest and stir to incorporate. Raise the heat to medium-high, add the wine, and cook, stirring frequently, until most of the wine has evaporated.
- Add all of the roasted cauliflower stems and half of the florets to the pot. Add the vegetable broth, coconut milk and sugar. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. Continue simmering for 5 to 10 more minutes to meld the flavors, reducing heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer. Remove the pot from the heat.
- Let the soup cool for a few minutes, then carefully use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. (Or transfer the soup in small batches to a blender, blending until each batch is smooth. Don’t ever fill your blender past the maximum fill line, and beware of the steam escaping from the lid.)
- Stir in 1 teaspoon vinegar and salt and pepper, to taste. If the soup needs more acidity, stir in 1 to 2 additional teaspoons of vinegar, to taste. Ladle the soup into 4 bowls. Top each with ¼ of the cauliflower florets, a sprinkle of basil and chives and hot peppers (if using).
Notes
Adapted from The Southern Vegetarian Cookbook.
*Thai red curry paste: I used Thai Kitchen’s red curry paste for this soup, which is vegetarian (some other Thai curry pastes contain shrimp). It’s pretty readily available in grocery stores these days and shouldn’t cost more than a few dollars. Look for it in the Asian food section, near the coconut milk.
**Wine is optional: If you want to skip the wine, just proceed to the next step (add the cauliflower and so forth).
Storage suggestions: This soup, like most other soups, will keep well for about 4 days in the refrigerator. It should also freeze and defrost well, since it’s dairy-free!
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Earlywood Designs. Opinions are my own, always.
Love this recipe, it’s one of my favorites! Usually I use a food processor instead of a blender to blend the cauliflower. However, the texture comes out more thick / grainy then soup like. Am I using too much cauliflower? Thanks!
Hi Liz! I’m glad you enjoy it. Sometimes a food processor can’t achieve the same smooth texture.
Turned out way too spicy and had to dilute it with another can of coconut milk which made it bearable to eat, but still wasn’t that tasty.
Hi Jennifer, I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this recipe. I appreciate your feedback.
Hi hi! LOVED this! I used cauliflower rice (roasted it & watched it v carefully!). I only had 2tbps of red curry paste so spiced it up more with chili crunch. PERFECT soup! Up next: veggie chili, broccoli soup, chickpea noodle soup, & your veggie enchiladas for NYE. Trying to eat vegetarian 5-6x a week…loving it so far! SO happy to have found your recipes & your site! Happy Thanksgiving gal!
That’s great to hear, Kimberly! I appreciate your review.
I made this soup a few years ago and loved it. I’m pregnant and having a lot of morning sickness and food aversions but all of a sudden today I remembered this soup and HAD to have it. So satisfying. Going to add this to our regular rotation now.
I’m glad this is helping you, Clare! Congratulation :)
We made this last night for guests…it is spectacular! I substituted lime juice for rice vinegar, which worked very well. We will definitely be making this again!
That’s great to hear, Delynn! I appreciate your review.
Made this pretty much as per. I didn’t find sugar necessary, but other than that, perfect. It was filling, a little spicy, belly-warming. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome, Gayle!
I made a double batch. Roasting the cauliflower gave a FANTASTIC depth of flavor I used the juice of the lemon I had zested in place of the wine. I’ve been eating this for most meals for about 3 days with a hunk of crusty bread.
I’m trying to avoid coconut milk. Do you have any recommendations for another milk? Some sort of substitute for the coconut milk milk perhaps? Thank you.
You can substitute other milk you prefer. If you can do dairy, that would work.
Delicious! Love your recipes
This soup was a delicious dinner! We l loved it 10/10! Thank you for the recipe.
Great to hear, Van!
Is the 1/2 tsp of sugar necessary? Is there something else to substitute it for?
You can omit if you like.
The curried cauliflower soup was wonderful. Thank you! will make this again and again.
You’re welcome, Pat!
Made the recipe on this cold December morning. I followed the directions except pureed all the cauliflower so it was a little thicker consistency. I so looking forward to sharing with some of my friends for a healthy lovely lunch. As always, I love your recipes! Kaaren
It’s great to hear you love this recipe, Kaaren!
Is the saturation fat on the nutrition info correct? I’m guessing that comes from the coconut milk but a serving of light coconut milk has 4 grams (from what I’ve found). So, I’m confused. Please help. I’d love to make this but 16.5 g of Sat Fat is just too much (for me). :)
Hi Lora, You can read more of my Nutrition Disclaimer.
I was hoping for some insight on this recipe specifically but thanks for taking time to respond.
Really good soup but I think my cauliflower was XXL (2lbs cut up) because I needed to add an additional 2 cups of liquid and it was still SUPER thick (and I prefer soup on the thicker side). I didn’t want to continue to add liquid because I was worried it would make it too bland. It would be helpful to add how much cauliflower is needed in cups or weight.
Can you use full fat coconut milk
Sure, if you like. I prefer it as written.