Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Parmesan Croutons

Roasted Cauliflower Soup is a warming, comforting delight. Made with both milk and stock it’s creamy and velvety without being cloying or overly rich.

Topped with crunchy, cheesy and garlicky croutons plus morsels of cheese to melt in as you eat, it’ll chase away the last of those Winter blues.

As I write, Spring may be well on the way but there’s still a nip in the air.

Which means I haven’t completely lost my hankering for warming, comforting meals like this Roasted Cauliflower Soup.

Jump to Recipe

ROASTED CAULIFLOWER SOUP

Everyone should know by now that pretty much anything containing cauliflower will be vastly improved by roasting the cauliflower first.

So, of course, your common or garden cauliflower soup will also benefit from that extra step of getting a nice bit of golden charring going on.

Roasting the cauliflower doesn’t really extend the time taken to make the soup anyway. That’s because it can sit in the oven, doing its thing, while you get on with browning the onions and garlic for the soup base.

But in the recipe I’m sharing here, the roasted cauliflower doesn’t have to do all the work in bringing deep flavour to this comforting soup. There are also tasty little extras sprinkled over each bowl.

CAULIFLOWER & DAIRY

Before the advent of cauliflower ‘rice’, cauliflower mash and (god forbid) cauliflower pizza bases, the only thing most Brits probably ever did to a cauliflower, other than boiling it to death, was making it into cauliflower cheese.

And why not? The slightly bitter, peppery taste of cauliflower goes wonderfully well with milky or creamy sauces and cheese.

My Roasted Cauliflower Soup takes advantage of that happy pairing with dairy in three ways:

1. I use both stock and milk in the soup. This gives a creamy texture without making the soup too cloying. Play around with the proportions of stock to milk (you could even add a little cream) to see what you like best.
2. When serving the soup, I scatter little cubes of Cheddar cheese over each bowl. It’s lovely to dig in with your spoon and bring out one of these half-melted delights.
3. Homemade croutons not only bring welcome crunchy texture to the soup, but turning them into Parmesan croutons adds more of that cauliflower cheese vibe

THE CROUTONS

Like roasting the cauli at the same time as you soften the onions, baking the croutons while the veg simmers in the stock and milk means that making Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Parmesan Croutons needn’t take very long at all.

Just mix together some olive oil, grated garlic and seasoning (I like a bit of smoked paprika in there too) and douse your cubes of bread in it.

Your oven is already nice and hot from roasting the cauliflower, so I just wipe over the same roasting tray, put the seasoned bread cubes on it and whack back in the oven.

The croutons should take around 10- 15 minutes to get nice and crunchy. As soon as you take them out of the oven, scatter with some finely grated Parmesan and set aside until you’re ready to serve the soup.

SERVING ROASTED CAULIFLOWER SOUP

I use a stick blender to puree the soup or you can transfer to a liquidizer or food processor. If you find the soup is thicker than you’d like, then add a little more stock or milk.

Taste to see if the soup needs a little more salt or black pepper and reheat it if you need to.

Once divided between bowls, it’s time the scatter the soup with those garlicky, cheesy croutons and diced cheese to melt in.

While making the Roasted Cauliflower Soup you see here, the first little chive shoots of the year were coming up in my garden, so I sprinkled some of those over too. And who doesn’t like a cheese and chive combo?

The amounts shown in the detailed recipe will serve two people generously or three to four if you just want a small, warming mugful.

We had a little left over, so I had it in a mug the next day with a few more cheesy cubes on top. A real treat with zero effort bar a ping in the microwave.

If you want to make a bigger batch, then the soup will be fine in the fridge for a couple of days or you can freeze it.

If you’ve made Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Parmesan Croutons, I’d love to know what you think: leave your feedback in the comment section below.

Print

Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Parmesan Croutons

Made with both milk and stock, Roasted Cauliflower Soup is creamy and velvety without being cloying or overly rich. Topped with crunchy, cheesy and garlicky croutons plus morsels of cheese to melt in as you eat, it's a warming, comforting delight.

Course Soup, Starter, Lunch, Light Meal

Cuisine British, Vegetarian

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 2 generously

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 1 medium cauliflower
• salt & pepper
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 20 g butter
• 2 medium onions roughly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic finely chopped or grated
• 1 small potato peeled or not, diced small
• 400-500 ml stock chicken or vegetable
• 200-250 ml milk

For the croutons

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped or grated
• 0.5 tsp smoked paprika optional
• salt & pepper
• 1 thick slice good crusty bread cut into 1cm cubes
• 1 tbsp Parmesan finely grated

To serve

• 60 g cheese e.g. Cheddar diced small
• 1 tbsp snipped chives optional

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220C / 200C Fan / Gas 7

2. Remove and discard the outer leaves of the cauliflower.

   Chop the florets and main stem into chunky pieces and put in a roasting tray.

3. Season the cauliflower with salt and pepper, drizzle with 2 tbsp of the olive olive and mix together well: using your hands is best to make sure all the cauli is nicely coated.

4. Put in the oven and roast until the edges of the cauliflower are turning golden and it's starting to soften, turning occasionally (15-20 minutes). Remove from the oven but leave it switched on.

5. While the cauliflower is roasting, put the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan along with the butter.

6. When it is moderately hot, add the chopped onion plus a little salt and pepper.

   Cook until the onion is softening (10-15 minutes), adding the garlic and potato for the last few minutes.

7. When the cauliflower is ready, tip it into the saucepan to join the onions etc.

   Wipe the roasting tray: you'll need it for the croutons

   Add 400ml of the stock and 200ml of the milk. Add a little more salt and pepper, stir well, cover and bring to the boil.

   Immediately turn down the heat to a gentle simmer and cook until the cauliflower and potato are soft (10-15 minutes). Turn off the heat.

For the croutons

1. While the soup is simmering, take a small bowl and mix together the olive oil, garlic, smoked paprika if using, plus a little salt and pepper.

2. Put the bread cubes on the roasting tray and pour over the olive oil mixture.

   Toss together with your hands so that the bread is completely coated.

3. Spread the croutons out in a single layer and put in the oven.

   Cook until crispy and browned all over, turning occasionally and making sure they don't burn (10-15 minutes).

   Remove from the oven, quickly toss with the grated Parmesan then transfer to a bowl and set aside.

To serve

1. Puree the soup with a stick blender, or by transferring to a liquidizer or food processor. Add more of the milk or stock for a thinner soup.

   Check the seasoning and gently reheat if necessary.

2. Divide between bowls and scatter with the croutons, diced cheese and chives if using.

Recipe Notes

Leftovers can be cooled and kept in the fridge for 2-3 days or frozen.

Reheat in a saucepan or microwave until piping hot.

RELATED RECIPES