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This broccoli potato soup is intensely creamy, satisfying, and 100% plant based! It’s an easy healthy soup that everyone loves.
Hold onto your hats! Here’s a creamy broccoli potato soup that will blow your mind. (We hope.) It’s impossibly creamy, whole food plant based (WFPB), and it tastes like the coziest bowl of comfort. And it’s 100% made of veggies! How’s that for amazing? This easy and healthy soup is vegan and gluten-free, so it works for a variety of diets. But it tastes like an elevated version of broccoli cheese soup from a can (you know the one). Here are all the secrets to making this crowd-pleaser…everyone will ask for the recipe.
What’s in this broccoli potato soup?
This a vegan broccoli soup, but it looks legit cheesy, doesn’t it? This recipe was born out of an idea to make the dairy-filled version. But then I sat back and thought about how my stomach would feel after eating a rich, creamy soup. Is there broccoli potato soup that’s creamy and plant based? Oh yes, it can be done. Here’s what’s in this soup:
- Yukon gold potatoes make for a creamy base
- Cashews achieve a rich, shiny texture
- Frozen broccoli makes for the easiest soup possible (embrace it!)
- Onion & garlic add big flavor
- Dried thyme & dill add just the right herby punch
- Veggie broth, white wine vinegar & Dijon mustard round out the broth
Frozen broccoli makes it fast and easy!
Frozen vegetables don’t make a lot of appearances in Alex and my recipes. Every single broccoli recipe on this website uses fresh broccoli. BUT! In a broccoli potato soup like this one, you want the broccoli to be basically overcooked: super tender, so it melds into the texture of the soup.
So why use fresh broccoli when frozen is already cooked? Frozen veggies still retain most of the nutrients you’d find in the fresh version since they are flash-frozen. Use any type of frozen broccoli: this recipe calls for a 1 pound bag.
Want to use fresh broccoli? Here’s how.
Got fresh broccoli on hand and want to use it here? Go for it! Here’s what to do:
- Chop it: Chop the broccoli into small florets. You’ll need 4 cups.
- Steam it (& cook longer): Steam it like in our Best Steamed Broccoli recipe, but cook it several minutes longer than the recipe specifies. You’ll want it very tender, not crisp tender. This simulates the texture of frozen and what you’ll need for this soup. Also leave out any seasoning, since you’ll add salt as part of the soup recipe.
The trick to making broccoli potato soup creamy?
There are a few tricks, really! Here’s what makes the impossibly creamy base of this tasty broccoli potato soup:
- Yukon gold potatoes: Cooking up potatoes and then blending them with spices helps to make a super creamy body of the soup. But they’re nothing without…
- Cashews: Cashews are the trick to making recipes creamy without dairy! (Here are all our favorite creamy cashew recipes.) They add a richness and shine to the broth, so they cannot be omitted here. If you have a nut allergy, we’d recommend trying some of our other soup recipes instead. The cashew trick is just too good here! Using only potatoes would result in a dull and blander soup.
More recipes with potatoes? Go to our Best Potato Recipes (or Vegan Potato Recipes).
It’s kid friendly, too!
Our son Larson loved this one, so thought we’d mention it’s also great for kids! He loves eating soup, so we love making this one for him. A few other kid friendly recipes he particularly enjoys lately: Vegan Sloppy Joes, Peanut Butter Dip and Baked Taquitos.
What to serve with broccoli potato soup?
Want to make this broccoli potato soup into a meal? This healthy soup is a fabulous way to eat all the best veggies. Here are a few ideas for sides to serve with it:
- Bread: Crusty bread would be a lovely add on: try our Sourdough Bread, Vegan Bread, or Artisan Multigrain Bread. (Or Garlic Bread if you eat a little cheese.)
- Salad: A refreshing salad makes the best pair! Try our Easy Arugula Salad, Arugula Beet Salad, Fennel Orange Salad, Asparagus Salad, Classic Spinach Salad, or Spinach Apple Salad to add even more veggies.
- Biscuits or Cornbread: Because…what’s cozier? Try our Vegan Cornbread or Vegan Biscuits if you eat plant based; Best Homemade Cornbread, Cornbread Muffins or Flaky Homemade Biscuits if you don’t.
This broccoli potato soup recipe is…
Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, and gluten-free.
Creamy Broccoli Potato Soup
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1x
Description
This broccoli potato soup is intensely creamy and 100% plant based! It’s an easy healthy soup that everyone loves (plus it’s vegan and gluten free).
Ingredients
- 1 large yellow onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes (about 6 medium)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 quart vegetable broth
- ½ cup raw unsalted cashews
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
- 1 pound frozen broccoli florets (or 4 cups small steamed broccoli florets*)
- 1 large carrot
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ¾ teaspoon dried dill
- 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Instructions
- Dice the onion. Mince the garlic. Peel the potatoes and cut them into bite-sized chunks.
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add the vegetable broth, cashews and potatoes and ½ teaspoon kosher salt and bring to a boil. Reduce to a rapid simmer (not a boil), and simmer about 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender and falling apart when poked with a fork.
- Meanwhile, run the frozen broccoli under hot water to thaw it. Chop it into smaller florets as necessary. All packages are different, so make small bite-sized florets the size you’d like for a soup. You can chop the broccoli stems off and keep them in the soup as well. Place the broccoli in a bowl and mix it with ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and black pepper to taste. Peel and grate the carrot into long strips (we used a handheld julienne shredder).
- When the potatoes are tender, use a ladle to transfer everything to a blender. Add the thyme, dill, white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and another ¼ teaspoon kosher salt. Hold the top tight and blend everything for a minute or two until fully creamy. (This quantity just fits in a standard blender.)
- Pour the creamy soup back into the pot and add the broccoli and carrot. Simmer about 5 more minutes until the broccoli is cooked through. Taste and add additional salt as necessary (we added ¼ teaspoon more).
Notes
*If you’re cooking fresh broccoli, here’s how to simulate frozen: Cut it into very small florets. Then steam it but cook it a few minutes longer so that it’s very tender (not crisp tender as indicated in the recipe). Leave out any seasoning, since you’ll add salt as part of the soup recipe.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Soup
More vegan comfort food recipes
This broccoli potato soup is pure comfort food! Here are a few more of our comfort food favorites:
- Creamy Vegan Potato Soup The stuff dreams are made of! Cozy and rustic, you’d never guess it was plant based.
- Vegan Shepherd’s Pie Here’s the very best vegan shepherd’s pie! The hearty veggie and lentil filling contrasts fluffy potatoes in this stunning plant based dinner recipe.
- Vegan Fettuccine Alfredo WOW! This tastes decadent, but the creamy sauce is filled with healthy plant based ingredients. An easy dinner in under 30 minutes!
- Ultimate Vegan Chili Bursting with flavor, this one’s seriously delicious and totally plant based. Dollop with vegan sour cream and load with toppings!
I just made it for dinner and it was great. I’d like to suggest a little sprinkle of nutritional yeast when serving and I used twice more cashew
Thank you for this recipe! I’m on day 6 of a mini Mary challenge and I thought if I ate another potato I’d throw up. Your soup has saved me 😉.
I sautéed in water, did not add cashews or salt other than a pinch at the end. Very tasty, I don’t cook with dill very often it is as nice added touch.
Hi, I was excited to try this soup as my friend cannot tolerate dairy. The taste is good but the consistency is not really creamy. Maybe the cashews? It looks a little like curdled milk maybe from the vinegar.
In any case I wonder if you have any ideas why this happened? It definitely does not look like your creamy soup picture. Not sure I would serve this when friends come for dinner.
Hi! Were the cashews raw? This can happen if you use roasted cashews.
Delicious. Does it freeze ok?
We haven’t tried it! Let us know if you do.
So disappointed!!
The cashews went in particles not creamy, should likely of chopped them.
The broccoli should have also been chopped smaller.
Sorry to say kind of bland.
👎
how to substitute the yukon golds? i can’t find them in any grocery store near me I’ve been looking forever! =(
Any yellow potato will work.
Very good. I needed to add some liquid after blending. Does it freeze well?
We haven’t tried it but i think it would freeze fine.
all my kiddos love this soup and have no idea its vegan :) I did add carrots I think a few to the blended soup instead of mixed in, maybe a few more potatoes ,and more on the mustard and vinegar to taste
all my kiddos love this soup and have no idea its vegan :)
I have a handheld immersion blender, not a powerful counter top blender. I have had difficulty with other recipes getting the cashews fine enough not to be grainy. Can an immersion blender work for this recipe?
Would it ok to use roasted, unsalted cashews here? Do they need to be raw?
They will work in a pinch! They don’t get quite as creamy.
Really love the creaminess of this soup! However I preferred the flavor before adding the Dijon, vinegar, dill and thyme. Way too much dill for me, and I also put more garlic for my preference! Would definitely do again and go with a more garlic Italian blend flavor rather than primarily thyme, dill and Dijon!
Hey, this recipe looks great. But, a quick question, is it really necessary to add the Dijon mustard? If I tried making this soup without it, would it affect the texture much?
Thanks in advance!
It would be fine!
My partner and I made this and it was amazing! Super easy to make and yielded a large enough amount for plenty of leftovers. I liked the texture and the flavors and I will definitely be making it again!
Made it for first time. As per your recipe.
Jury’s out. Seem’s something’s missing or not required in quantity.
Thank you for the inspiration. Wish you well in your postings.
Can you use an immersion blender so you can blend everything in the pot?
Yes! We find that a blender makes it a bit creamier, but it will work.
This soup was absolutely DELICIOUS!!!
I added an extra cup of broth and halved the potatoes. Didn’t have dry dill and used fresh. Thank you for this recipe. We loved it. It was so good. :)
This was delicious, I added a little more dill, plain mustard, garlic salt, and black pepper.
Um, WOW! How did you make this soup taste soooo creamy and cheesy??? This was amazing!!!
So glad you enjoyed!
Made this and it was good but not great. I found it lacked depth of flavor and real creaminess. I appreciate the soup recipes!
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy!
What is a quart?
4 cups.
Great flavor! I used an immersion blender inside my soup pot rather than transferring to a blender. The cashews didn’t fully blend and so it looked slightly chunky which gave an unappetizing appearance but it tasted great so it made up for it.
IMPORTANT KEY: Add more broth as needed to thin soup to desired consistency at the end because it was much too thick. I added probably 2 cups.
I substituted red wine vinegar instead of white. Thanks for all the great recipes!
Tasted great, thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome!
I cooked everything together in veggie broth except for cashews. I soaked them in boiling water, then when veggies were cooked I put 3/4 of the soup in blender with soaked cashews and spices. Also added nutritional yeast. I only tasted a spoonful, but was pretty tasty. Didn’t use any oil.
I haven’t used cashews in this way before but was interested. I think my potatoes may have been too big because the soup was initially too thick (another reviewer called it gelatinous- yes.) I just added additional vegetable broth to thin it down when I added the broccoli and carrots. It tastes good to me, so hopefully it’ll land well with the family tonight! Thanks!
This was really yummy!! Thank you so much for the recipe. It was quick and delicious. I didn’t have cashews so I substituted 1/2 cup of navy beans and it worked really well. I also added some nutritional yeast for some “cheese” flavour.
I really enjoyed this soup! I enjoy a thick, nutritious soup, and this recipe fits the bill. Will definite make again!
Thanks for making it!
Followed exactly but it was pretty bland. Added hot sauce and nutritional yeast to the bowl, which helped. We ate it but I wouldn’t make again.
I am looking for sodium content in the nutrition list. What are your ideas on low sodium recipes?
Hi! Unfortunately our nutrition calculator doesn’t handle sodium well. For anything pre-seasoned such as broth, cheese or beans the sodium levels can vary widely. We always call for kosher salt which has has 1,920 mg of sodium per teaspoon.
This was awesome! My kiddos loved it as well as my husband. I used my emersion blender to puree. I also added some celery and I pureed the carrot. Will definitely make this again and again.
Thank you for making it! :)
Thank you. Can’t wait to get cooking.
Loved this soup! The whole family loved it, they just asked to double the recipe.
For the last many months, I have been introducing my husband and two teenage sons to a more vegetarian diet and have found many recipes that we have all loved. This one, however, was a huge disappointment. I even added additional seasoning and toppings but we were all really disappointed.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it!
I usually love all your recipes but this one just didn’t hit the mark for me. It just seemed a little too sour
Delicious!! I really enjoyed making this and eating it too. I didn’t make any changes.
This did not work at all for us. Texture was gelatinous and there was little flavor (despite my heavy hand with the thyme and dill). Don’t know if fresh broccoli would have improved the flavor but we could not get past the texture.
So sorry the recipe didn’t work for you!
Russet potatoes have a grainy texture in soups where yellow or red usually don’t. Potatoes that have been over processed in the blender can also have a gummy texture. I have learned both from experience unfortunately, lol. I’ve learned to embrace chunky soup.
Hearty, herby, and delicious! I paired it with french bread. I made a couple of modifications due to limitations in my pantry: red potatoes instead of gold; red wine vinegar instead of white. It was still awesome. I added some vegan parm shreds at the end for extra cheesiness, but it was not necessary.
How many cups is a serving ?
I’m sorry, we didn’t measure.
Since the recipe calls for a quart of broth, with all the other ingredients the servings probably equate to about 1.5 cups, since it said it makes 4 servings.
I found this recipe while looking for vegan potato recipes. I added some nutritional yeast and lemon and substituted the white vinegar for apple cider vinegar. I thought it was pretty yummy! Thanks for the vegan/plant based recipes!
You’re welcome! So glad you enjoyed :)
Correction -Celery salt!
Do the cashews need to be chopped up really small with a food processor?
No — the entire soup is blended.
This recipe was great! I added some celery and celery daily! Perfecto!! Thank you!
Made this tonight. Satisfying and tasty. Totally fits in with my diet regime. Thanks for the recipe!
Hi there! This recipe looks amazing. I’m wondering if there is any replacement for cashews? We have a tree nut allergy in the house but simply replacing with peanuts as we’ve done with other recipes would impact the taste. Thanks for any suggestions!
Good question! Unfortunately we’ve not been able to find a great substitute for the cashews…unless you’d like to add actual cream! If that’s an option, you could try blending part of the soup with 1/2 cup whipping cream or whole milk. Thanks!
Hi, looking forward to making this! I was wondering if it is definitely necessary to peel the potatoes? Will leaving the skin on affect the texture or is it just a matter of personal preference? Thanks!