5 ingredient cauliflower soup

Why complicate it? Enjoy the beauty of a simply made soup.

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cauliflower soup garnished with shaggy croutons; then garnished with toasted pine nuts, celery fronds, za’atar and olive oil

This creamy, comforting cauliflower soup has only 5 ingredients in its most basic form. It’s a perfect example of the beauty of simplicity when cooking, and further evidence that you don’t really need “recipes” in the traditional sense. This method will work with so many vegetables! If you don’t have cauliflower you can use carrots, sweet potatoes, regular potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli, peas (fresh or frozen), celery root or even canned tomatoes. (If you’re doing a 28 oz can of canned tomatoes, only add 1.5 cups of stock or water.) Add a simple green salad and some bread and you’ve got a satisfying dinner.

A big pot of soup for dinner has the added bonus of lots of extra meals. Put half in the freezer to defrost on a night you don’t have time to cook, and the other half is stored in the fridge for an easy lunch at home or to bring to work.

We let our kids pick out thermoses and now they can bring hot lunch to school. These 10 oz ones and these 12 oz ones are a great price, come in different colors/patterns and are leak resistant, BPA/phthalate/PVC free.

Adding good chicken stock will give you extra nutrients and protein. Vegetable stock is also a great option. Honestly I just add water a lot of the time and let the vegetables shine. Seasoning with enough salt and pepper and maybe a bay leaf or two works astonishingly well.

You need a blender of some sort to purée the soup, and after that you can leave it completely unadorned, or dress it up a little. If you happen to have some cream or half n half, I love adding some at the end (1/4 cup - 1/2 cup), but it’s also lovely vegan - garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and you’ve nailed the fine art of simplicity.

Some of my other favorite garnishes are giant homemade croutons linked here, grated Parmesan cheese, za’aatar, chopped herbs or a salsa verde, toasted nuts, chili oil or chili crunch, or fried nuts/herbs.