Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Hazelnut Gremolata

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This Roasted Cauliflower Soup is rich and velvety, plus it is gluten free and made without a bit of cream or milk! Roasted cauliflower, shallots and garlic are blended with a little bit of lemon juice and chicken stock until it is silky smooth. Then it is topped with a fresh and lemony hazelnut gremolata and drizzled with a bit of garlic olive oil before serving. It is rich and decadent and can be made in less than an hour!

White bowl of Cauliflower soup with lemony hazelnut topping.

Ingredients

Cauliflower- Choose either a nice, firm, white head of cauliflower with no brown or mushy spots, or you can use a bag of cauliflower florets that are also bright white with no brown spots.
Shallots- Choose 2 medium size, firm shallots with the skins on.
Garlic Cloves- Use a few cloves from a fresh head of garlic. Use cloves that are firm and don't have a green shoot growing from them. This green shoot is a sign that they are not as fresh, and tend to be a little bitter.
1 Lemon- We will use both the juice and the zest!
Chicken Stock- You can use veggie stock if you prefer.
Table Salt- We will use a finer table salt in the soup and then a coarse sea salt in the topping.
Butter- Just 1 Tablespoon at the end finishes it with a decadent silkiness! To keep it vegan, you can use coconut oil instead, or skip it altogether to lower the fat and calories!
Toasted Hazelnuts- These add a light crunch and nuttiness that brings more good flavor and texture to this soup.
Italian Parsley- This adds a light freshness like only parsley can do!
Coarse Sea Salt- Just a pinch brings all the flavors of the topping together.
Garlic Olive Oil- A teeny drizzle over the whole thing adds one more bit of rich garlic-iness.

Making this roasted cauliflower soup is so easy and so gratifying! In just a few easy steps you have a healthy, gluten free, veggie heavy, rich and creamy comfort food. It is hard to believe it is not a cream based soup, and the only significant source of calories is from the small amounts of olive oil and butter.

How to Make Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Prep and Roast the Veggies

Start by either cutting a head of cauliflower into florets, or by emptying a bag of cauliflower florets onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Try to separate out the tiniest bits of cauliflower and put them on one end of the sheet. These will brown quicker and we will use them for part of the gremolata topping.

Peel 2 shallots and place them on the sheet, along with 4 cloves of garlic that are still in their skin. If you have garlic that is already peeled, that is ok too, but if you have the option, leave the skin on. This gives the garlic a protective shield that allows the garlic cloves to get spreadably soft without a hard outer crust.

Drizzle everything with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pop them in the oven. Check them after 20 minutes. When the tiny cauliflower bits on the end are dark brown, and the rest of the veggies are lightly browned, they are done.

Tiny brown bits of cauliflower on a baking sheet.

Blend the Ingredients

Add the garlic (peel the skin off now), shallots and cauliflower (except for the tiny browned bits) into a Vitamix, or other high powered blender. If you don't have a blender, you can use an immersion blender, ricer, or even just a potato masher. If you use a ricer or potato masher, the soup might not be as silky smooth, but it will still be delicious!

Add 2 Cups of chicken (or veggie!) stock into the blender and place the lid on tightly. Blend, starting slowly and increasing the speed until the veggies are completely smooth and blended. It will be a thick mixture at this point.

Add in the lemon juice, salt and nutmeg as well as the remaining 2 cups of broth. Blend it all together for about 30 seconds until it is smooth and creamy.

Heat it up and Finish it with Butter

Next, pour the soup into a large stock pot and heat it over medium high heat. When it starts to bubble, turn the heat to medium and add in 1 Tablespoon of butter. Stir it in until it is completely melted.

When you are ready to serve, ladle the soup into a bowl and top it with the delicious lemon hazelnut topping and a drizzle of garlic olive oil and serve!

Add a piece of crusty bread on the side because you are going to want to get every bit of this goodness!

Enjoy!

How to Make the Hazelnut Gremolata

While the veggies are roasting, make the Hazelnut Gremolata.

To do this, roughly chop ½cup of unsalted, roasted hazelnuts. You can use salted hazelnuts, but if you do, reduce the amount of salt in the topping to just a tiny pinch.

Add the zest of one lemon.

Add in 1T of chopped italian parsley, and a pinch of coarse sea salt. When the cauliflower is done roasting, add in the tiny browned cauliflower bits.

Use a fork to mix it all together then set it aside while you make the soup.

Lemon hazelnut topping in a white ramekin.

FAQs

Can I freeze Roasted Cauliflower Soup?

Yes! This soup freezes nicely. Pour it into a freezer safe zip lock bag and lay it flat in the freezer for a space saving technique. Put the gremolata in a smaller ziploc bag and store it with the soup. You can also store it in an ice cube tray and pull one gremolata cube out as needed. Or, simply make a fresh batch with hazelnuts, lemon zest and Italian parsley when you pull the leftover soup out of the freezer. When you are ready to eat the soup, pull it out of the freezer and thaw it. Then heat it in a pot, or in a microwave safe dish in the microwave.

How can I make this a vegan recipe?

Making this soup vegan is so simple! The only non-vegan components are the butter and the chicken stock, and there are a couple of options for swapping these out. Simply replace the chicken stock with a veggie, mushroom, or even a ginger miso broth. And, instead of butter, you can use either a tablespoon of coconut oil, or you can eliminate the extra oil altogether. It will be delicious either way.

What equipment do I need for this recipe?

This recipe doesn't require anything too out of the ordinary. You will need a nice big baking sheet, I love THIS heavy duty one, along with some parchment paper. I like using parchment paper instead of foil because nothing sticks to it, and it is easy to clean up. Plus, I like to try to use as little plastic and aluminum in my cooking as possible.
You will also need a powerful blender. I use this Vitamix and I love it so much! You can also use an immersion blender like THIS ONE, which is also by Vitamix!
Finally, you will need a nice big soup pot. That's about it!

Other Veggie Recipes

This Tomato Basil Soup with Parmesan Croutons is another warm and delicious, comfort soup.

If you are looking for recipes to incorporate more veggies into your diet, check out this recipe for Veggie Wraps with Honey Mustard Sauce, or this Vegetable Couscous with Mint Pesto.

For more vegetable side dish recipes, check out these Roasted Rainbow Carrots with Toasted Sesame Aioli, or this ridiculously good Greek Panzanella.

For a colorful vegetarian appetizer that is always a hit, check out this Greek Hummus, or this Cilantro Jalapeño Hummus.

And if you are going to be good and eat all of those veggies, you deserve a sweet treat! How about these Brownies with Salted Tahini Buttercream. I promise you won't be sorry! 🙂

I hope you enjoy this yummy Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Hazelnut Gremolata! If you make it, I would love to hear from you in the comments at the very bottom of the page. Thank you and thank you for visiting Mollie in Montana~*

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