Cream of Cauliflower and Potato Soup (with Tofu)
You should make this vegan cream of cauliflower and potato soup because it uses tofu for a fat-free, dairy-free, high protein, creamy, hearty, and healthy soup.  This soup is fast, it only takes 45 minutes to make.  Plus kids love it, if you know any of those.
Do you love chowder?
I do. Â A chowder is a type of soup often prepared with milk or cream, and thickened with broken crackers, or flour and fat, cooked together. Â Not really healthy.
I wondered, could I make a healthy low-fat, but creamy vegan cauliflower chowder that uses tofu instead of dairy and that would be fat-free?
Yes!
IÂ used potatoes and soft silken tofu instead of milk, flour and fat to make this a healthy, tasty, thicker soup.
Potatoes and silken tofu worked like a dream.
Also, tofu makes this vegan cream of cauliflower and potato soup a completely balanced and satisfying meal with carbs, vegetables, and protein – this cauliflower soup is a meal.
Also, as usual I was in a rush to get dinner on the table, this soup is straightforward and easy, and takes only 45 minutes, 15 minutes of which you don’t have to do anything while it bubbles away creating savoury aromas.
This vegan cream of cauliflower and potato soup with tofu has a gentle flavour that is delicious whether it’s a nice day and the sun is shining, or if you are looking for some warm comfort food because you have a chill.
Get those onions and carrots going in the pot, then chop your potatoes and cauliflower.
Add the cauliflower after the potatoes, it fills up the pot, without room to stir, but don’t worry, the cauliflower will settle into the broth, as it cooks down with the lid on.
Before we get too far into how to make this, can we take a moment to learn about cauliflower?
Is cauliflower healthy? Â What about compared to other vegetables?
Cauliflower is very white – can it still be full of important nutrients? Â YES. VERY MUCH SO.
Here is a chart with levels of antioxidant activity scientists observed from 27 vegetables in human liver cells.
Cellular Antioxidant Activity From Vegetables
Why should we care about antioxidants?
Antioxidants prevent cellular damage, they stop free radicals from damaging our cells, which stops pathways for cancer, aging, and a variety of diseases.
Free Radicals = Very Bad = Cause Disease and Aging. Â Antioxidants = Get Rid of Free Radicals in our body.
Free radicals come from either normal essential metabolic processes in the human body (like digestion) or from external sources such as exposure to X-rays, ozone, cigarette smoking, air pollutants, and industrial chemicals.
Cauliflower, from an antioxidant perspective, is better for us than spinach. Cauliflower is 10th in this list of 27 common vegetables.
Looks like we should focus on more beet recipes, since they rank at the top of this list. Â Eggplant is third, wow, who knew? Â Cucumber is pretty useless at antioxidants apparently. :0
Now, that you know if you eat cauliflower it will:
- help your cells defend themselves against antioxidants,
let’s continue: with the rest of the steps to make this healthy vegan meal.
Your blended tofu should look like this:
Pour the blended tofu into the soup pot once the cauliflower and potatoes are soft.
Blended Silken Tofu
Stir to mix in the blended tofu, now the soup is getting creamy.
Serve it right away, with some ground pepper.
Both my daughters cleaned out their bowls. Â Amber likes it with more broth, I prefer it a bit thicker. Â Either way, this chowder is a hit in our family.
My husband suggested adding chopped mushrooms in the future, Â an untested variation for you to consider.
Why don’t you boil up a quick batch and let everyone here know how your friends and family like it? 🙂
Vegan Cream of Cauliflower and Potato Soup (With Tofu)
Instructions and Ingredients
- 1 onion medium, chopped
- 2 cups (500 mL) carrots in rounds or chopped
- 2 celery stalks sliced
- 3 garlic medium cloves, minced
- 3/4 teaspoon (3.75 mL) dried thyme leaves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) black pepper
- 4 cups (1 L) vegetable broth low sodium
- 1-2 cups (240 - 480 mL) water
- 4 cups (960 mL) potatoes peeled and cubed, 3 medium
- 2 small heads of cauliflower or 1 large, roughly chopped
- 600 g silken tofu 21 oz, blended, two 10.5 oz (300 g) packages
Optional Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) nutritional yeast
Canada Links
- In a large pot add the onion and cook on medium for 2-3 minutes. Add carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add broth a splash at a time when the onion starts sticking.
- Pour in the rest of the vegetable broth plus the water, and turn to high, and bring to a boil. Add the potatoes, and cauliflower to the pot.
- Turn down to medium high and then medium and hard simmer, covered, for 12-15 minutes until potatoes and cauliflower are soft - test with a fork.
- Blend Soft Silken Tofu in a small blender or food processor or whisk by hand and add to the pot. It should look like sour cream before you add it.
- Optionally add nutritional yeast, it adds a cheesy flavour, and makes the soup more orange. My kids prefer this chowder without it. Depends on your tastes.
- Stir until chowder is creamy and the tofu is hot.Serve immediately, season with fresh ground black pepper and salt to taste.
Notes
- add 1 cup chopped mushrooms when you add the carrots.
- add chopped, dried, seaweed to give more of a clam chowder flavour.
Nutrition
Inspired by: twopeasandtheirpod.com  and: www.food.com cream of cauliflower soup
