This is truly the best ever vegan creamy broccoli cheese soup. Honest to goodness. It’s one of my all-time favorite recipes ever, and it’s won the praises of vegans and non-vegans alike. It’s made with all pure, whole foods, plant-powered ingredients, yet it’s just as savory, luxuriously creamy, buttery, salty, cheddar-y, and cheesy as the “original”. Seriously, we’re talking Panera-level delicious.



This post is sponsored by Manitoba Harvest. All thoughts, opinions, and love for their products are genuine and 100% my own.

I’ve been looking forward to sharing this recipe all week! But between book edits, work, and a healthy dose of downtime, it’s taken me a few days of chipping away at it to get it from recipe and photos to fully-formed post. You know that feeling when you finally sit down to do something you’ve been wanting to do and then you remember that you’re supposed to be doing 2-3 other things or it’s 11 pm which means you’re up past your bedtime? Well that’s what’s happened with this post on three separate occasions this week. Yikes!

But you know what? It’s completely okay because 1) balance (gimme all that work-life balance) and 2) this recipe is worth the wait. Plus, I now have half a week worth of soup noshing under my belt, so I can attest to the fact that this is one of those lovely soups that’s even tastier on days two and three than it is on the first.

This creamy broccoli cheese soup is far and away my favorite recipe of 2016 (thus far) as well as my favorite soup ever. Big, bold statements, I know.

What began as a determined attempt to make a great vegan broccoli cheese soup resulted in a great broccoli cheese soup period. And this opinion is guided by the wisdom of several dozen broccoli-cheddar-soup-in-a-bread-bowl experiences at Panera between the ages 16 and 18 (because that was the cool thing to do from ’00-’02). I think that might be enough contact hours to qualify me as an expert in broccoli cheese soup.

But truly, this soup is an absolute dream, and it’s everything a broccoli cheese soup should be and more. It’s savory, luxuriously creamy, buttery, salty, cheddar-y, cheesy, packed with broccoli, soul-satisfying (especially on a chilly winter’s day), and reheats like a charm. Plus, it’s made with all pure, plant-based ingredients that are 100% free from funny business (e.g., unwanted additives, preservatives, etc.). Less funny business = more room for the good stuff, like vitamins, minerals, etc. Long story short, this delectable, slurp-worthy vegan soup brings all of the flavor and way more good-for-your-bod vitamins and minerals without the undesirable junk.

Pretty soup-er, huh? So cheesy it hurts.

This pot of dreamy goodness comes together in a few simple steps + some occasionally stirring.

A base of sautéed onion and shallots is sprinkled with smoked paprika, sea salt, and pepper. Then, in goes the broccoli (lots of it), vegetable broth, and filtered water. You’ll bring everything to a boil and then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about 25 minutes.

While your soup base is simmering, you’ll prepare a velvety cheddar cheese sauce. Bring a separate pan of water to a boil, toss in 2 cups of cauliflower florets, and cook until they’re fork-tender. Strain off the water and add the tender cauliflower florets to a high-speed blender along with a 1/2 cup of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts (i.e., shelled hemp seeds), roasted red peppers, nutritional yeast, arrowroot powder (to thicken), apple cider vinegar, and sea salt. Then, blend until you have a silky-smooth sauce. The cauliflower and hemp seeds offer a rich, buttery creaminess to the sauce as well as a vitamin, mineral, and protein boost (1/2 cup of Hemp Hearts offers nearly 27 grams of plant-based protein).

Once the soup has finished simmering and the broccoli florets are tender, you’ll stir the cheddar cheese sauce into the soup and continue to simmer for another 3-5 minutes to thicken. Then, you’ll stir in a splash of fresh lemon juice and low-sodium tamari. I cannot emphasize the importance of these two ingredients enough as they simultaneously balance, deepen, brighten, and intensify the flavors of the soup.

And that it’s. Ladle your soup into bowls, sprinkle with Hemp Hearts if you’d like, and sink your spoon (or your bread) into this creamy, cheesy soup.