Creamy Cauliflower Soup
Soup season is still in full swing! In fact, can you really call it soup “season” if you want to eat it year-long??
This creamy cauliflower soup is the perfect soup for transitioning from winter to spring, if you ask me. If you’re like me and craving cozy and warming foods with a slightly lighter, fresher spin, then this recipe is totally for you.
I love my loaded baked potato soup because it’s a loaded baked potato in a bowl! Creamy, rich, flavorful and hearty in every bite! But sometimes the combination of the potatoes and cream cheese based soup plus shredded cheddar, sour cream and bacon for toppings, can feel like a (albeit delicious) gut bomb.
Which is why this creamy cauliflower soup is the loaded baked potato soup’s lighter yet still insanely delicious little sister. This recipe omits any potatoes and goes straight for the cauliflower that’s turned up to an 11 in flavor with pepper bacon. In the past I’ve been burned by so many cauliflower recipes tasting too gritty or flavorless, but I have to say this recipe is none of those descriptors.
The soup is silky smooth, rich, creamy and yet light and airy at the same time. The addition of peppery bacon bits and crunchy green onion on top never hurt anyone either!
Creamy Cauliflower Soup
Ingredients
1/2 pound pepper bacon
1 onion, chopped
6 green onions scallions, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 quart chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1 cup half & half
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Heat bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until bacon is completely crisp. Remove from Dutch oven with a slotted spoon and set aside, leaving about 2 tablespoons of fat in the Dutch oven. Discard the rest.
Add onions, half of scallions, and garlic, and cook, stirring constantly and scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pan until onion is softened, about 5 minutes.
Add chicken stock, bay leaves, half & half, and cauliflower. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until cauliflower is completely tender, about 30 minutes,
Remove the bay leafs from soup. Using an immersion blender or ladle in batches into a blender, blend soup until completely smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve sprinkled with bacon pieces and remaining scallions.
