Cauliflower Quinoa Soup
This cauliflower quinoa soup is infused with delicious garlic flavor and warming spices. Perfectly hearty, nutritious and gentle on digestion. Enjoy this on a colder day or meal prep for an easy quick and delicious soup to enjoy throughout the week.
Why you’ll love this cauliflower quinoa soup
- It’s a soup without tomatoes, so this is a good option for those that might be dealing with heart burn. Just make sure to leave out the lemon juice if that is also a trigger food for you.
- This soup is hearty and filling thanks to the combination of quinoa and beans for both protein and fiber.
- This vegan and gluten free soup is cooks quickly for an easy weeknight dinner.
Key Ingredients
- Garlic: we’re using a lot of garlic here, 8 cloves to be exact
- Cauliflower: our main vegetable that helps add texture to our soup
- Thyme, Paprika, Cumin: herbs and spices to flavor our broth
- Nutritional Yeast and Soy Sauce: helps to add some umami, savory flavor
- Quinoa: makes our soup more hearty and also helps to thicken it
- Coconut Milk: adds a little more creaminess to the soup
- Cannellini Beans: our protein of choice
How to make this soup
Start by sautéing your aromatics in a large pot and wait for them to soften. Stir in your cauliflower, herbs, spices and nutritional yeast and continue to sauté for a few minutes or until your spices are more fragrant.
Stir in your quinoa, beans, and all your liquids then bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Make sure to cover your pot with a lid and allow to cook for about 20 minutes or until your quinoa is cooked through.
Before serving, stir in some spinach and allow it to wilt. To serve, squeeze in some lemon juice and adjust the salt and pepper to your taste.
Tips for making this soup
- To make this soup faster, feel free to use some pre-chopped items like pre-chopped cauliflower, pre-minced garlic and pre-diced onions and celery. They will still provide a great deal of nutrition even though they were cut in advance. The big benefit is less chopping of course.
- If you feel you have more time to make this soup, I highly recommend replacing the minced garlic with a roasted bulb of garlic. Just cut off the top of your garlic to expose the cloves and drizzle with a little olive oil and wrap in some foil. Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes and then allow to cool enough to be comfortably handled. The cloves should be soft and easy to squeeze out of their skins and can be added to the recipe at the same point.
- To make sure that your quinoa cooks completely, make sure that as your soup is simmering you cover the pot with a lid.
- Your soup will thicken as the quinoa cooks. You can adjust the liquid of your soup to fit your preference by adding more vegetable broth as desired.
Cauliflower Quinoa Soup Q&A
Is quinoa healthy?
Quinoa is a nutritious whole grain seed that provides a host of different benefits when consumed. It is a good source of protein while providing an excellent amount of the essential amino acid lysine that tends to be lower in some plant based foods. It also provides fiber, iron, folate, manganese, magnesium and zinc. Quinoa also happens to be gluten free, which makes it a good option to use when replacing gluten containing grains.
What are the benefits of eating cauliflower?
Cauliflower is naturally a cruciferous style vegetable (think broccoli and kale) that provides a great amount of fiber and various B vitamins. Among it’s nutrients it also happens to contain antioxidants such as sulforaphane, which may potentially help reduce cancer risk.
Can this soup be frozen?
Yes! After completely cooling, this soup may be frozen in individual air tight containers in the freezer for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw and reheat as desired. You may also keep this in the fridge to store for up to 5 days.
Some more wholesome soups
- Lemon White Bean Orzo Soup
- Vegan Chickpea Noodle Soup
- Easy Butternut Squash Soup
- Chickpea Wild Rice Soup
Cauliflower Quinoa Soup
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This cauliflower quinoa soup is infused with delicious garlic flavor and warming spices. Perfectly hearty, nutritious and gentle on digestion. Enjoy this on a colder day or meal prep for an easy quick and delicious soup to enjoy throughout the week.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil or 1/4 cup vegetable broth for sautéing
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 8 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 head of cauliflower, cut into golf ball size pieces
- 1 tsp dry thyme
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 15oz can cannellini beans, rinsed well and drained
- 1 cup lite coconut milk
- 6 cups of vegetable broth
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 cups spinach
- Juice of one lemon (optional)
- Red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot, warm up your oil or vegetable broth and sauté onions, celery and garlic with a pinch of salt together until onions have softened.
- Add in cauliflower along with the thyme, cumin, paprika, nutritional yeast and sauté for about 5 minutes to cook.
- Stir in quinoa along with the cannellini beans, coconut milk, vegetable broth and soy sauce.
- Once mixed, bring soup up to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, cover with a lid and allow to cook for about 20 minutes or until quinoa is fully cooked. Remove from heat and stir in spinach allowing spinach a minute to wilt. Squeeze in your lemon juice and adjust salt and pepper to taste before enjoying.
Notes
This soup will continue to thicken as it sits. You can rehydrate it and get it to your desired consistency by adding additional vegetable broth as desired when reheating.
Did You Try This Recipe?
Then let me know what you thought! Share your creations by tagging me on Instagram with the hashtag #plantbasedrdeats
★ Catherine
This was a delicious and filling soup, perfect with a slice of crusty whole grain toast!
So glad you enjoyed it! And yes to that crusty bread with this. So good.
Thank you for the recipe! I made it last night and it was hearth warming. I had all the ingredients and it was really easy to make. I love to meal prep this type of soups and enjoy for several days.
Awww, makes my day seeing a message like this. This soup holds a special place in my heart, so really glad you enjoyed it. 🙂