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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.
This soup is so good I really enjoyed the creamy texture without using any dairy. This will be a great recipe to customize as you can use different vegetables and grains to make it and change it up which makes it a winner for me.
Enjoying as I write. Did a few tweaks. Added bell pepper, red in this case but any color would do, to the onion and celery. Down here in Louisiana we call that the trinity along with a garlic clove which I used instead of the powder. Used herbs de Provence instead of Italian seasoning because that’s what I had and prefer. Russet potato, again because that’s what I had. My dices were probably small because in only needed about 10 minutes to cook. For the mixed vegs, I did a mix of fresh and frozen. Fresh carrots and broccoli stems, sauted with the trinity. Frozen corn and peas. Broccoli flowerets and chopped celery leaves in last 5 minutes. Skipped the black pepper.
Ate half my bowl as is. Was delish as cooked and probably will repeat with various veggie mixes. My food calculator came out with 18g protein, but I still needed a little more for my goals. I could have added some protein powder and may in the future, but I had some left over pulled pork so I threw in about 2 oz to the second half of my bowl.
PS. I cut the recipe in half for just me and I may have measured poorly or not cooked down to thicken enough, but it came out as more than two 3-cup servings, they were more like 4-cup. Will probably reduce the liquid next time and add extra veggies.
This was a tasty soup. I’ve never made a cashew cream before and it was pretty simple and added a nice flavor. I used frozen veggie blend of green bean, carrot and corn. I wasn’t sure if the potatoes were supposed to be peeled or not but I peeled them because I didn’t want the skins floating around.
I’m giving this a five star because we are meat and potato kind of family but wanted to try some healthier versions and I didn’t tell my husband anything about the new recipe and he ate two bowl fulls with a grilled ham and cheese sandwich for lunch!! Makes me happy!
I really enjoyed this creamy vegetable soup because it was just that, the texture was creamy and smooth to my surprise by using cashews instead of cream or milk… The aroma while cooking had my taste buds dancing and I knew it wouldn’t disappoint! All the vegetables blended together nicely and I was beyond impressed.. a definite keeper, went by the exact recipe but next time will add mushrooms for a meaty texture specially for the husband.
It’s difficult to not give a great review on soup because I love soup! This recipe did not let me down. It is delicious, and I look forward to seeing the bottom of the bowl!
Really easy, hearty, and delicious, zero chance anyone thinks it’s vegan! Next time I might blend the cashews with only 12-14 oz. water for a slightly thicker soup. I added a couple teaspoons lemon juice before serving for brightness.
This was delicious and made way more than 4 servings. Even my carnivore husband loved it. I used garbanzo beans instead of cannolini beans by accident, so next time I”ll use the ones in the recipe. I can see there are many ways to vary the recipe; with the onion/celery base and the cashew thickener, i can see many possibilities.
This recipe is amazing. It made me feel full and satisfied, unlike many soups that seem to need something else with them. I have many food intolerances, but all I had to leave out of this one was the onions and garlic. It still had so much flavor. I will definitely make this soup frequently.
I love a warm, creamy potato soup once the weather gets cold. I usually make a simpler version, but I liked the variety of this recipe. It felt a little more upscale or gourmet than my usual version. Best of all, it uses stuff I already have on hand. I made it with russet potatoes since that’s what I had. Yum!
Excellent! It is rich and creamy. I would never guess that it had. O dairy. I did add salt (which I never add) and a Penzey’s seasoning. I will definitely make this again!
Oops. I should always proofread prior to submitting. I would never guess it had no dairy. Delicious!
This Creamy Vegetable Soup is delicious and perfect for a dreary rainy Fall day or any day when a little comfort food fixes everything. It’s pure comfort food and so healthy too. It was very easy to make. Amazing how the cashews thickened up the soup. Lucious!
This soup is fire as my teenagers would say. Such a great switch from tomato based soups. Fill of flavour and filling as we head into cooler months.
Everyone cleaned their bowls!
This soup was so easy to make! I already had all the ingredients at home. I skipped the onions and added extra celery and broccoli; it turned out incredible! I also threw in some thyme, red chili flakes, and Calabrian chili, and it made it soooo good. Definitely making this again! I stirred in some nutritional yeast for extra flavor and had it with a piece of toast, such a perfect cozy meal for fall.
I thought it was tasty, unfortunately I couldn’t get it to thicken up
Cynthia: Sometimes when I want it thicker, I take out some of the potatoes and liquid and blend that together to make a slurry. Then stir the slurry back into the rest of the soup.
Soup was good, very filling, and easy to make. We are not always a fan of creamy soups, but we always follow a recipe the first time we try it. Next time, we will try it without the cashew cream.