Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Leek Soup with Cheddar

Name: Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Leek Soup with Cheddar
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 1 medium head cauliflower (-roughly 1.5 lbs); 2 tbsp olive oil (-divided); 1 tsp salt (-divided (or more, to taste)); 1/2 tsp black pepper (-divided); 2 leeks (-chopped); 3 cloves garlic (-minced); 1 tbsp fresh thyme (-minced or 1 tsp dried); 4 cups chicken stock (-or vegetable stock, unsalted); 1 cup whole milk; 4 oz cheddar cheese (-about 1 cup or so, shredded); croutons; chives (-minced); shredded cheddar cheese

February 10, 2019 Updated: March 13, 2019 By Dawn Coombs 44 Comments

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This Roasted Cauliflower Leek Soup with Cheddar is rich in savoury flavour and super creamy (without using cream). Plus, it’s hearty enough to be substantial for lunch or dinner. Don’t forget those buttery croutons on top!

It’s been crazy cold here lately. Like, freeze your buns off.

Bundle up in the warmest jacket.

Throw the hugest scarf around your neck.

Consume what seems like a thousand cups of hot tea. Feel me?

And the cold in Newfoundland is what I like to refer to as ‘damp’ or ‘wet’ so it probably feels colder than it actually is. Naturally, I’ve been making and enjoying a lot of soup. Hands down soup is my favourite thing to make (hint—>I have a lot of soup recipes heading your way over the next few weeks). Today I’m sharing a creamy cauliflower soup. And it’s not just cauliflower. There’s other yummy things, like leek and cheddar. It’ll warm ya to the core!

Roasted Cauliflower Leek Soup with Cheddar

This cauliflower leek soup has some pretty simple ingredients, nothing complicated at all, but tastes absolutely AMAZE BALLS! What gives it an awesome flavour? Well, there’s cheese, of course (if you read this blog, you pretty much know that cheese is my middle name 😉 ) Leeks are pretty awesome too. Then, there’s the roasted cauliflower. I mean, sure, you can go ahead and just boil the cauliflower, but it wouldn’t taste the same. Roasting gives it another element of flavour and when you are working with so few ingredients you want them to shine. I roasted the cauliflower in this recipe as I did here.

How to Chop Leeks? How to Clean Leeks

Leeks are part of the onion family and have a mild onion flavour. Though they add a lovely flavour to recipes, leeks can be oh-so-dirty. Lots of times as they grow, dirt/soil gets in between all those layers. Obviously, that needs to go before using a leek in any recipe. How do you chop and clean leeks? It’s easy!

Firstly, place the leek on a cutting board

Secondly, carefully cut down the centre of the leek with a knife.

Cut the root part off (at the bottom) and the tough (super green) top part (about an inch or so). Then, thinly slice the leek.
Place chopped leek in a strainer to thoroughly wash/drain and then use in recipe.

Tips for Making this Low Carb Cauliflower Leek Soup

You can either use parchment paper on your sheet pan when roasting the cauliflower or not. Keep in mind, though, that parchment paper will make things a little easier clean-up wise. Though, I didn’t use it here. You do you!
I highly recommend garnishing with croutons (homemade ones). They’re buttery and fabulous and add a lovely texture to this cauliflower leek soup. For a deadly good crouton recipe, check out here where I made ’em for a salad.
For an even richer taste, you can add half and half or heavy cream to this soup instead of whole milk. Whole milk Greek yogurt is lovely too.
I used unsalted chicken stock in this soup. However, if you want to keep this soup vegetarian, use unsalted veggie stock.
Ensure that the cauliflower florets are spaced out enough on your sheet pan so they roast and not steam (which they will do if the pan is too full). If you need to, use a couple of sheet pans to roast the cauliflower.
I used an immersion blender to blitz this soup. If you don’t have, you can use a blender. Just make sure it cools slightly (or can handle the hot soup) before blending.
The cheddar cheese is stirred into the soup with a spoon, not blended with an immersion blender.

How to Garnish this Creamy Cauliflower Soup

To garnish or not to garnish, it’s totally up to you! Here’s some options I enjoy –

Chives or green onion
Homemade croutons (to keep things low carb, omit those. Fortunately, I’m on team carbs, so bring it, lol). If you are going with gluten free, use gluten free croutons.
Crisped crumbled bacon
Shredded cheddar cheese
Crumbled goat cheese
Drizzle of olive oil (garlic flavoured would be lovely)

Other Easy Soup Recipes you May Enjoy

I’m telling you, this soup will be on high rotation this winter. Hope you love this roasted cauliflower leek soup as much as I do 🙂

Until next time, take care and chit chat again soon!

~Dawn

P.S. If you think this creamy cauliflower leek soup will make your belly happy too, please be sure to Pin for later. Many thanks, you guys! XO

A bowl of creamy cauliflower soup garnished with croutons, cheese and chives.

5 from 17 votes