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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.
Freeze Your Food + Save Your Money
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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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.
Our temperatures are dropping in North Idaho and this creamy vegetable soup was perfect for a cold fall day. We have our first snow on the mountains around us. I used large red potatoes and cubed them. I added corn and frozen yellow and red tomatoes from my garden, and I used the three bean blend that I had in my cupboard instead of Canelli beans. When I blended the cashews, I also threw in the tomatoes to blend so they wouldn’t be so chunky. So yummy, filling, and nourishing! I’m so glad I made extra to have in the freezer.
Very good! I make a cashew/tofu/green onion mixture on toast…reminds me of it. Healthy option.
Delicious and creamy. Love the cashew cream added to all the yummy veggies.
Delicious and filling soup. I liked the use of cashews to thicken the soup. It’s a great way to have a creamy vegetable soup without the dairy.
This soup gets a huge thumbs up in our house. My children (12 & 14) are off school today (Columbus Day), and I prepared this soup this morning, using stir fry vegetable mix for the frozen mixed veg. It smelled so delicious while it was cooking that my 12 year old came into the kitchen wanting to know what I was making! I gave them the option of having it blended or not – they chose not blended – and we ate it together for lunch. It is totally delicious. Just the right amount of pepper and herbs, and the texture makes it feel like more of a meal than a blended soup. My son had second helpings, and wants to take leftovers to school tomorrow in his thermos for lunch. My daughter has also asked me to make it again. This is a huge success for me.
Needed more salt.
The soup needed a little more flavor. Not sure what to add, but salt was needed. It made a generous amount, enough to freeze for another meal.
Yummy. Threatening rain today so perfect for a nice warm soup. I blended 1/2 of the soup to make it thicker and keep some of the bright colors. The cashew cream is new to me and I’ll try it in other recipes.
I can’t eat cashews, what could I substitute them with?
Definitely a comfort soup. Perfect for a cold, snowy day. I just finished making this soup and enjoyed a big mug for lunch. Wow, it’s very filling! I like using cashews for the cream as I can’t have dairy and avoid creamy soups. This is a very easy recipe with minimal chopping, plus it’s a great way to use up those pesky partial bags of frozen veggies in the freezer. I used peas, carrots, corn & green beans. I didn’t have red potatoes so I used small yellow potatoes instead. My broth was low salt/unsalted so it definitely needed salt added. The Italian seasoning smelled wonderful, but I couldn’t really taste it so I think I would bump it up to 1 1/2 tsp next time and maybe throw in a bay leaf as well. Definitely makes a large pot, way more than 4 servings for me. This is a keeper.
Creamy Vegetable Soup is just that – creamy and oh so comforting!! I don’t know if it’s the cashews, cannellini beans, or everything else mixed together that makes this soup taste like my Gradie (my great-grandmother) made it for me with ❤️
Fantastic change up to a milk based soup that I usually make. I love that we started the week with an easy soup recipe. Honestly, it tasted better than I expected. I think I was expecting a mediocre taste with almond cream.
Soup is one of my favorite things to eat and I’m always interested in trying something new. This recipe is terrific and I was surprised at how quickly it came together. I have used frozen corn and peas in the past but never frozen mixed vegetables and they are super convenient and quite good. I think the cashew cream is brilliant and a great substitute for a dairy product. This soup is not only emotionally satisfying, but it is really filling and would be great with either some home made croutons or a great bread. I will definitely be making this again!
I enjoyed the Creamy Vegetable Soup today. Interesting making thickener from nuts!! I had too much liquid for my soup. I’d add more vegetables or less broth next time. Thank you,
My husband has celiac disease and I have alpha gal so finding foods both of us can and want to eat can be a challenge at times. This soup solved all of that. It was quick and easy to make cause I always have these ingredients on hand. Plus It is filling and delicious. My husband added celery salt and had it with a grilled cheese. I added turkey bacon bits on top. Yum yum! Will have this often when winter comes.
I really liked this soup, Creamy Vegetable soup. I prepped all of the five soups over the weekend. Everything was in a separate bag waiting to be cooked and eaten. I am looking forward to trying all of them. I used the frozen veggies that I had in the freezer. I used sweet potatoes, butternut squash, and mushrooms. I also only had one quart of vegetable broth so I used mushroom broth. I did not use all of the stock/broth called for. Two quarts was more than enough. I ended up with 10 pints of soup! I like it enough to eat this much over time. The one thing I would change is to cut back on or leave out the Italian seasoning. It is just not a flavor I like very much. Thank you for this challenge!