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I can’t wait to share my favorite vegan potato soup recipe. It’s creamy, loaded with robust flavor and oh so comforting. No dairy, no problem.
This Autumn I’m sharing my family’s fav vegan potato soup recipe. It’s super creamy and actually filling. Potato soup is the ultimate comfort food in cooler weather and this gluten-free potato soup is no exception.
Table of Contents
Originally featured in my Autumn Cleanse Guide, this recipe is loved by the Simple Green Smoothies community and will quickly become a staple on your menu as well.
Vegan Potato Soup Ingredients
Here are the superstar ingredients that make this potato soup a cut above the rest:
- Coconut oil: This is my go-to healthy fat for cooking.
- Leeks: A gorgeous vegetable with a mild-onion flavor.
- Golden potatoes: Golden potatoes are the creamiest of the bunch. You can also use them in my Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie if you have extras.
- Garlic: Use real, whole garlic for the best flavor and nutritional benefits.
- Vegetable Stock: Do you know how easy it is to make your own stock?
- Cauliflower: A not-so-sneaky way to add creaminess and more veggies to my soup.
- Nutritional Yeast: A cheesy flavor without the dairy!
- Kale: Used in crunchy kale croutons to perfectly finish off this dinner.
That’s it! I know soups are known to have lengthy ingredient lists, but not this one! I keep it short, sweet and delicious.
Pro Tip: Depending on the type of vegetable stock you use, your final soup may be more yellow (I’m talking cheddar cheese!) or potato-white. Either is fine. It just depends on what’s in that stock.
Gluten-Free Potato Soup Ingredient Swaps
Soup is a wonderful meal idea since you can swap in/out ingredients for what you have on hand. If leeks are hard to find, use a yellow onion instead. While golden potatoes are usually on-hand at my house, use whatever potatoes you want. Cauliflower can be swapped with broccoli (just don’t be alarmed by the color change).
While I love the creaminess this vegan potato soup brings, sometimes I like to switch it up and leave a few potato chunks in the final product. Or add some chopped carrots for something to chew on.
How to Make Delicious Potato Soup
For a successful potato soup, you’ll need a large pot as well as a heat-safe blender (or immersion blender). I love using a ceramic Dutch Oven to sauté the veggies before simmering them into a soup.
Step 1: Start by heating the coconut oil or cooking oil of your choice in the large soup pot. Add the chopped leek and a pinch of salt to sauté.
Step 2: After the leek softens, add the minced garlic and sauté, stirring constantly. Garlic burns easily, so make sure you continue to stir the garlic while it browns to avoid burning.
Step 3: Since the cauliflower and potatoes will take about the same time to cook, add them both in next along with the vegetable stock. Once the pot is simmering, turn the heat down to keep it on a low simmer until everything is fork-tender. Adding a lid at this stage helps the vegetables soften faster as well as keep the flavors locked in.
Step 4: Remove the soup pot from the stove and on to the fun part! Check that your blender container can handle hot items (my old Vitamix couldn’t but my new one can), or decide if you want to use an immersion blender. The soup will be hot, so be careful. You may need to add a bit more vegetable stock at this step to help the soup blend nicely and still keep a soup-like consistency.
If I want some potato or cauliflower chunks in my soup, I’ll save a few and add them into the pot after I blend. Then I return the pot to the heat and cook for about ten minutes to soften the veggies. Now on to the best part… the kale croutons!
Crunchy Croutons
You can enjoy your beautifully fragrant potato soup at this point, but I strongly suggest giving these simple kale croutons a try. They are that good.
Step 1: While your soup is simmering, tear the kale into large pieces after removing the stems.
Step 2: Mix with melted coconut oil, Dijon mustard and sea salt until all the leaves are well coated. This gets a bit messy but is worth it.
Step 3: Bake at 300°F for 20-25 minutes, or until the kale is crispy. My croutons often firm up a bit more after removing from the oven if I keep them on the baking tray for a few minutes. This way I don’t over-cook them.
Topping this gluten-free potato soup with kale croutons keeps out the often inflammatory gluten but also provides quite a lovely burst of flavor.
Vegan Potato Soup FAQs
My vegan potato soup uses cauliflower to make it cream up during blending without needing any dairy.
No need! They will cook down nicely in the simmering stock mixture, so pre-soaking is an unnecessary step.
I use golden potatoes since they are the creamiest variety in my opinion, as well as cauliflower that creams up nicely when blended. Cauliflower adds another vegetable to your soup without adding any overpowering flavors.
More Autumn Soup Recipes
I love fresh Autumn produce, and what better way to use them than in warm soups? Here are a few of my go-to recipes this season:
- Tortilla Soup: This surprising soup is fun to make and enjoy with the toppings of your choice.
- Vegetable Noodle Soup: My take on a plant-based chicken noodle soup. All the flavor without the meat.
- Creamy Tomato Soup: The perfect soup for kids and adults alike, loaded with veggies.
- Carrot Ginger Soup: Probably my favorite lunch soup!
Don’t forget to rate + review this recipe once you’ve made it!
Vegan Potato Soup
Ingredients
For Vegan Potato Soup:
- 2 tbsps coconut oil
- 2 leeks white part thinly sliced
- 4 gold potatoes chopped
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 1 ½ cups cauliflower chopped
- dash sea salt
- dash ground black pepper
- dash nutritional yeast
For Kale Croutons:
- 2 cups kale tough stems removed
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Heat coconut oil in a large pot, Add the leek and a pinch of salt.
- Once the leeks start to soften, add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute.
- Add the vegetable stock, potatoes and cauliflower and bring to a simmer.
- Cook until cauliflower and potatoes are tender. While the soup is cooking, prepare the Kale Croutons.
- Remove soup from heat and puree using an immersion blender or standard blender (Use caution when blending-soup will be hot!). If soup is a little too thick, add a little more vegetable stock.
- Ladle into bowls and top with Kale Croutons. Season with salt, pepper and nutritional yeast.
For Kale Croutons:
- Tear kale into large pieces.
- Mix with remaining ingredients.
- Bake at 300°F for 20-25 minutes or until kale is crispy.
Equipment
- dutch oven
- heat-safe blender
Notes
- To keep sodium levels lower, use low-sodium vegetable stock (or make your own!).
- Swap leek with 1 yellow onion.
- To create a chunkier soup, dice 1 extra potato and 2 carrots. Add to the large pot after blending and simmer the soup for 10 more minutes, or until vegetables are tender to your liking.
This soup was good but not great. It would be helpful to have measurements (i.e., in cups) for the potatoes and the leeks like the author gave for the cauliflower. The kale croutons were a nice addition.
Hi Anne! I completely understand as all potatoes and leeks are different sizes. Yet the beauty of this recipe is 4 gold potatoes and 2 leeks of any size will work!
Yummy and healthy! I have added this soup to my recipe book. Excited I found a comforting soup that I know is healthy at the same time!
This ones great when the weather cools down, Caitlin!
Made kale chips for the first time because of this recipe and they were delish! This Potato Soup is creamy and yummy. Great way to kick off the change in the weather.
The kale chips are the best part, right?!
Nice, smooth and creamy. The kale chips were really good, though I would use less salt next time.
Husband enjoyed it as well.
Will be making again.
So happy y’all enjoyed this one enough to make it again, Amanda!
Smooth and creamy
Mild with a nice garlic undertone
The kale chip are salty adding a nice bite..will make this again
Glad you’ll be making this one again, Lydia!
I really enjoyed this recipe. The flavors complimented each other nicely. The soup is good with or without the kale croutons. Definitely a keeper recipe to make on a cold day.
You’re so right, Ronda. This one will be great during cold weather!
This is a comfort food! We did not make the kale chips, as husband can not eat it, but we both agreed that it sounded good. Really enjoyed the soup!
So glad you both loved this one, Linda!
I used onions rather than leeks. Since I like spicy soups I added some cumin and coriander to the leeks when cooking.
It was ok. I think I will make with with pumpkin rather than the potatoes in the future, especially as we are headed into autumn. I liked the kale croutons.
Onions are awesome in this one as well, Julie! When you give it a try with pumpkin, let me know how it turns out!
I roasted the veg and added a little extra spice. It was delicious!
Yayy! Glad you found this one delish, Debbie!
absolutely delicious!
Thanks so much, Willow! Glad you loved this one!
Wonderful soup! Super easy to make and yummy! Can’t get better than that!
So glad you like this one, Caitlin!
I love this potato soup. I added more potatoes and carrots to make it chunky!!
Hi Doris! Great idea adding more potatoes and carrots to make it chunkier!
I feel the soup could use a little more flavour. I may try roasting the vegetables first. The kale chips were great and the nutritional yeast was a great addition.
Let me know how it turns out if you roast the veggies first, Tammy!
I love the idea with the kale croutons. And since my husband is not a cream soup guy, I took some of the cauliflower and potatoes out before putting them in the Vitamix blender. This worked better for him.
This will be an excellent soup for the winter.
Hi Diane! You’re so right, this will be an excellent soup for the cooler weather!
Delicious and filling! I didn’t have a fresh cauliflower, but subbed some cauliflower rice from the freezer.
Great substitution, Gail!
Absolutely amazing soup. Hard to believe there is no cream in it. Even my hubby (not a soup lover) enjoyed it. I added two carrots and also left a little bit unblended to have chunks. This will go on my regular rotation. My all time favorite.
So happy this one will be on your regular rotation, Daria!
Made this one again, still good but I think I went a little bit too heavy with the leeks (I think they were bigger than last time I made this), so it was quite leeky. It’s a learning process… so now I know what to watch out for next time.
If you’re not super in to leeks, onions work great too!