Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe

Who doesn't love a delectable, nourishing bowl of broccoli soup that's rich with a buttery, creamy goodness? Ah, yes — people who follow a vegan diet, that's who. For as good as butter and cream might make a soup in the eyes of some (and on the palate, more to the point), they can render a dish off the proverbial menu for others. Not to worry, though, because in our day and age, "buttery" and "creamy" need not refer to tastes and textures produced by dairy products at all.

This vegan broccoli soup recipe put together by chef and recipe developer Susan Olayinka of The Flexible Fridge is every bit as rich and tasty as a dairy-based alternative, yet it is entirely dairy-free, and of course, free of all other animal products as well. What it's full of is flavor and nutrients. And hey, good news: Even people who don't follow a vegan diet can eat this soup. It's a win for us all.

It takes just a few ingredients to make this superb soup, plus one more for an optional (but highly recommended) garnish. Those ingredients are a head of broccoli, a yellow onion, about a tablespoon of vegan butter, three cups of vegetable broth, and half a cup of non-dairy cream.

And for the record, you don't have to make this recipe vegan at all — just swap regular butter and cream in for their vegan counterparts. And as for the stock? Olayinka says: "I say to use chicken stock, I find that's the most flavorful."

Break or chop the broccoli florets off from their stalks, removing as much of the stalks as you can (without going nuts about it), rinse the broccoli, and set the florets aside. Then dice the yellow onion, and while cutting it pretty small will help it cook better, no need to be all that uniform or precise, as it's all going to be blended.

Finally, measure out your vegan butter and cream and set the latter aside, letting the cream come up to room temperature.

Get a decent-sized pot on the stove, and place into it the vegan butter and the diced onion, then turn the heat up to a medium-high setting. Sauté the onion for one minute, then add the broccoli florets and cook the veggies over that higher heat for a further two minutes.

And after those two minutes are up, add the vegetable broth into the pot. Bring the soup to a boil, then cut the heat down and cook the soup over low-medium heat for 20 minutes. Cover the pot with a lid while it cooks, but open it and stir every once in a while. If you'll be using parsley as a garnish, now is a good time to chop it.

After those 20 minutes of simmering, pour the soup into a blender, add the non-dairy cream, and blend on high for 10 seconds. Note that you will need to carefully hold the lid down, and if the soup fills the blender much more than past the halfway mark, you may want to blend it in rounds so you don't have an explosive mess on your hands. You will want to make sure the soup has cooled down a bit before you add it to a blender. You can also always use an immersion blender in the pot if you have one.

Either way, your soup is ready! Pour the servings into individual bowls and garnish with the optional chopped parsley.