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If you haven’t made my creamy vegetable soup yet—you’re missing out. This is a “lazy day recipe,” using a TON of vegetables, sneaking in some plant-protein and requiring minimal prep. It’s dairy-free, yet still delivers that rich, silky texture you’ll love. Pair this soup with crusty bread, a kale caesar salad, or those “biscuits in a can” the kids all love and be in awe.
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What is Creamy Vegetable Soup?
Creamy vegetable soup is a classic, comfort food made with simple ingredients like potatoes, beans, and frozen vegetables simmered in a flavorful broth. Instead of heavy cream or cheese, my recipe uses blended cashews to create a silky, dairy-free base that tastes rich and indulgent while staying light and nourishing. It’s hearty enough for a full meal, quick enough for weeknights, and can be frozen and enjoyed later, too.
Ingredients You’ll Need
To make this creamy vegetable soup you’ll need a few basic ingredients you can find at any grocery store:
- Cashews: The base of this soup is raw cashews, blended into a silky cream that keeps this soup dairy-free, high in protein and sooooo creamy.
- Onion + celery: The classic aromatic duo that builds depth of flavor. If you have extra, save it to use in my Cabbage Soup recipe.
- Potatoes: baby red or gold potatoes give this soup body and creaminess. You can swap half out for cauliflower, like I did in my Vegan Potato Soup, if you’re trying to cut down on carbs.
- Garlic powder + Italian seasoning: Together, they add a savory, herb-filled flavor that you’d recognize in most cream-based soups.
- Frozen mixed vegetables: time-saving, cheap and versatile; use carrots, peas, corn, beans, or whatever you’ve got.
- Cannellini beans: These silky beans add plant-based protein and a creamy bite. These are my favorite beans to use in soups.
Recipe Tips
• Use a medley of frozen carrots, peas, corn, green beans, or broccoli for variety.
• You can use larger potatoes— just dice them small to cook quick.
• Add a splash of lemon juice or top with fresh parsley for brightness.
• Stir in cooked quinoa, rice, or barley for an even more filling meal.
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How to Make Creamy Vegetable Soup
Soften the cashews. Soak raw cashews in hot water while you prep everything else.
Build the base. Sauté onion and celery in avocado oil until softened.
Add the heartiness: Stir in potatoes, seasonings, frozen vegetables, beans, and black pepper.
Simmer the soup: Add most of the vegetable stock, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until the potatoes are fork-tender.
Make the cashew cream: Blend drained cashews with the remaining broth until completely smooth. Works best in a high-speed blender (not an immersion blender).
Finish creamy: Stir the cashew cream into the pot, simmer a few minutes longer, and adjust seasonings as needed.
Storage Suggestions
Leftover creamy vegetable soup tastes even better— so double this recipe so you can enjoy it again and again.
- Fridge: Store in airtight containers for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: Freeze in 1-cup Souper Cubes for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before reheating.
- Reheat: Warm gently on the stovetop or in the microwave, adding a splash of broth or water if it thickens too much.
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Souper Cubes make it easy to portion and freeze leftovers, helping you reduce food waste, save money, and save time with ready-to-heat meals whenever you need them.
If you make this creamy vegetable soup recipe, I’d love to hear how it turned out in the comment box below. Your feedback helps me and all the readers in this community. And if you’re interested in more plant-based recipes (and exclusive content), sign up for my weekly recipe newsletter.
Creamy Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews
- 2 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 cup yellow onion diced
- 1 cup celery rib diced
- 16 ounce baby red potatoes quartered
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon black pepper, ground ground
- 3 cups mixed vegetables frozen
- 1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans drained
- 8 cups vegetable stock divided
Instructions
- Place cashews in a bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside to soften while you prepare the rest of the recipe.
- Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened.
- Stir in the potatoes, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, frozen vegetables, beans, and black pepper.
- Add vegetable broth (set aside 2 cups to use in step 5) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
- Drain the cashews and transfer to a blender with the remaining 2 cups of vegetable broth. Blend on high until completely smooth.
- Pour the cashew cream into the pot and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the soup thickens slightly.
- Adjust seasonings as needed. Ladle into bowls and serve warm.
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Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review for a chance to win signed copies of my cookbooks!Frequently Asked Questions
Yes—swap in unsweetened coconut milk, oat milk, and some frozen cauliflower to make it a creamy texture, yet without cashews.
Not at all! Fresh veggies work great—just chop them into small, even pieces so they cook quickly.
Absolutely. Chickpeas, navy beans, or great northern beans are all good substitutes for cannellini beans.
Yes, it freezes beautifully. Just cool completely, portion into containers, and freeze for up to 3 months.
Add fresh herbs (like rosemary and thyme), a squeeze of lemon juice before serving, or top with nutritional yeast for extra cheesiness.
I love how it filled the kitchen with savory fragrance – perfect for a chilly day! But I really need to get a bigger soup pot – haha! It almost exactly filled my 4-quart pot, which made it a challenge to do the last bit of simmering. But I made it through and am very happy with the tasty result. Lots left over to freeze, so I can enjoy this later, too.
I thought it was good. I used my Instant Pot, which worked out fine. I thought it had good flavor. I might have liked it a little creamier, but that wasn’t a big issue. I was happily surprised to find that it made six 2 cup servings.
I just made my vegetable soup for my dinner this evening. It is absolutely delicious! I love the addition of cashews for creaminess and protein!
Loved this soup! It actually made enough for several meals for me and my husband. I had a lot of frozen green beans and and peas in my freezer, and a bunch of carrots to use up. The blend of flavors was amazing! This is definitely going on my short list of soups for the winter!
This soup is a winner. A delicious comfort soup, creamy from the cashews, with protein and fiber. Husband approved!
Tweaks:
1. I sauteed the onions in water, not oil, saving 200 calories in the pot. It takes longer, since the boiling water is not as hot as hot oil would be. Just started with 2 TB of water in the pot, added the diced onions, and added another TB water when the onions started to soften and stick. So one has to watch and give occasional stir. About 4 TB water altogether.
2. Added the frozen veg for just 5 minutes, instead of the 20 minutes in the recipe.
This was excellent and easy to make! The frozen vegetables I chose to use came in a 4 cup package so I used the entire package. Both my fiancé and I thought it had mushrooms in it on first bite, so I think next time making it I will add mushrooms.
Delicious creamy vegetable soup! I used a bit of smoked salt to give it a smoky flavor. It was so good and I will definitely make this again.
I made this soup yesterday and it was soooo good! We usually do the broth based or tomato based vegetable soup, but I love this creamy version!
It was a win for my family!
This soup is such a comfort food, It took me back to when my mom would make a creamy potato, veggie soup when the temperatures dropped each fall and winter. It’s hearty without being heavy or full of dairy like many SAD (Standard American Diet) soups are. This will definitely go on “regular rotation” for my soup options!
This soup was delicious. Such great flavors melded together. I did it as is the first go round, but I’m going to consider swapping half the potatoes with cauliflower as Jen suggested, or maybe even try subbing radishes with the potatoes all together to cut down on carbs. I offered a taste to my husband and although he’s not big on soup, he said the flavor was really good and went to grab a bowl to have a full portion.
Love, love the chunky. Used homemade bone broth instead. Was a bit on the bland side for me so I’m going to try adding something to give it a more robust flavor.
Oh and for me, it made a heck of a lot more than 4 servings. Lol
Reminiscent of pot pie – yum! Really easy to make and so creamy. The directions made me think the cashew cream would have been thicker when blended. I simmered down for about 15 minutes to make the soup thicker at the end. I love trying new recipes all the time and am not one to make things multiple times, but this one is getting added to the rotation! Next time I’m going to use Better than Bouillon No Chicken flavor to make it more like chicken pot pie flavor although the veggie broth was pretty spot on.
I used low sodium vegetable broth, so soup needed some salt. I also added 2 Parmesan rinds with the broth. At the end I garnished with fresh parsley.
The soup was really filling. I don’t think I would use frozen vegetables in the future. It is a huge convenience but I think it would have had more flavor if the vegetables had been sautéed like the onions and celery. Plus the frozen vegetables were too mushy.
I can’t wait to see how it tastes next day or after being frozen.
I love this soup! It’s everything I love in a meal – lots of vegetables, and beans included. Making it a creamed soup using cashews is genius; although I would be happy just making it a clear soup. I didn’t buy enough vegetable broth so I used chicken broth also. The chicken broth also makes it a cold and flu fighter. The Italian seasoning along with the ground pepper gives this soup a wonderful flavor.
Very filling. Cashew cream makes the soup very creamy without any dairy. Flavor is very nice. Simple recipe.
I love dairy, but it doesn’t love me— so I got really excited about this soup. It tossed in frozen veggies and some bonus green beans and corn I had in the fridge. It was great. Next time I’m going to add shredded chicken to it.
Love a recipe you can toss what you have into. Thanks for sharing, Brent.