Spicy Broccoli Cheese Soup
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~ raw, vegan, gluten-free ~
Kiss my spatula and call me home for dinner! Down-home comfort food, that is exactly what this Broccoli Cheese Soup is all about!
I wish I had some great soup story to share, but I don’t. I didn’t grow up working 10 hours a day in the garden picking broccoli till my fingers bled, nor did I carry it 10 miles uphill both ways.. but I did grow up eating Cambell’s canned soup!
I used cashew nuts and hemp seeds in this recipe. You could use all cashews or all hemp seeds if you desire. The soaked cashews add a real creaminess to the soup. The hemp seeds add tons of nutrients!
You can read all about them here. This soup is thick so if you want a thinner soup just add in more almond milk. It could also double as a dip for veggies or flax crackers if you cut down on the liquid used in the recipe.
Ingredients:
- 6 cups broccoli florets
- 1 cup raw cashews, soak 2 hours
- 1 cup hemp seeds
- 2 1/2 large red bell peppers
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp of red chili pepper flakes
- 1 tsp Himalayan pink salt
Preparation:
- Cut all the florets off of the broccoli stalks (save for your next salad or juice them). Place in a medium-size bowl and cover with hot water to slightly blanch and soften. Allow the broccoli to sit while you make the sauce.
- Chop the red pepper into chunks then add to a blender with the almond milk and lemon juice. Blend until the pepper is broken down nicely. If you blend everything at once, the red pepper won’t break down fully. I speak from experience. :)
- Add the cashews, hemp seeds, red chili pepper flakes and salt and again blend until smooth. Continue blending until all the grittiness is gone. Before adding in the remaining ingredients, test the soup for texture.
- Add the nutritional yeast and broccoli and blend again. You could hold back some of the florets and put them in at the end if you want a chunkier texture. Doing it in stages like this helps you to get the smooth consistency without over-heating it.
- Serve! This soup can be eaten chilled, at room temp, warmed in the dehydrator at 118 degrees for 1 hour or heated in a pan (if being raw isn’t a factor).
- Store in an airtight glass container in the fridge.
Warming Suggestions:
- Allow the soup to warm to room temperature and enjoy.
- Place the serving bowl in hot water, allowing it to heat up before adding the soup. This will help take a little extra chill off of the soup and make it cozy warm to hold in your hands.
- Pour a serving size of soup in a mason jar, place lid on top and tighten… immerse the jar in hot water till it warms the soup to your liking.
- Pour into a small saucepan and heat on the stove. Use your fingertip as the temperature gauge; it shouldn’t get too hot for your finger. You can also use a thermometer gauge if this concerns you.
- Dehydrator – if you have a “box” shaped dehydrator such as the Excalibur, pour the soup into a wide mouth baking dish and turn the heat to 145 (F) degrees. Warm for 30-60 minutes. You can also place the temperature at 115 degrees and heat for 3-4 hours. You will need to gauge this. The more soup that exposed to the air, the quicker it will warm.
© AmieSue.com
Tags: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Nut Free, Soy Free, Vegan
This looks delicious. Love your site!
Thank you Jasmine!
About how many cups does this soup make? It looks delicious!!!!
There you go Chris, keeping me on my toes!! Roughly 6-8 cups… I am really working on getting that info, I promise. haha
Just saw your email after I sent mine to you so I printed the Broccoli Soup recipe. Looks good. I’ll try it. Looking forward to seeing more. Gotta get juicing! Nancy
So many recipes call for cashews and my husband is super allergic to them. In general is there a nut that I can substitute that will get roughly the same texture and creaminess? I’ve tried almonds in some recipes and it works okay.
Thanks for all your great works of art!
Hi Anne,
Good question… obviously it all depends on the recipe but referring to this soup recipe I would try replacing the cashews with more hemp seeds, or perhaps avocado or zucchini. Those will give you the creaminess and the healthy fats that helps create the texture as well. The flavor may be altered a bit but it should still be good. Be prepared to taste test as you go and adjust seasonings as you go. I hope this helps, amie sue
Hi. Is there a substiture for hemp seeds?
I wish you posted raw vegan sausages recipes, meat substitute recipes, thanks!
Use more cashews in place of the hemp seeds. :) Have a great day, amie sue
I just made this soup and it is delicious!!! My fiance even told me to make sure I put it in my recipe book, haha! I love the site and the recipes, thank you Amie-Sue!!!:)
Fiance approved! Love it! hehe Thank you for sharing Veronika. amie sue
Just made this soup and it is delicious. Highly recommend it.
This is great to hear Juanita! Thank you for sharing. :)
I am concerned about too much broccoli for my thyroid as I plan out this weeks menus. Must try the brocolli cheese nibblers so for this soup I’d like to sub a different base vegetable. What do you think of celery root, or branch? Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks Amie Sue!
Naomi
Hello Naomi… I understand. I have to watch the same for myself as well. Celery root just might be wonderful. I have 6 of them in the fridge as I type this. I love love love juicing them. High in potassium too! You could also use cauliflower but that is in the same family of veggies as the broccoli goes… or even zucchini. If you use zucchini, I would scoop the seeds out so it doesn’t add much liquid, but that is a preference thing. Or even just using 1/2 broccoli and 1/2 zucchini. The main thing is that you don’t want to use a veggie that won’t compliment the cheesy flavor so I would start with those for some ideas. Let me know if you try it out. Would love to know!! Have a great evening, amie sue
do the hemp seeds need to be soaked?
No Minnie, I don’t soak hemp seeds. From the research that I have done Hempseeds contain no phytic acid. Have a great evening, amie sue
Amie Sue, I love your website. I just whipped up my coconut oil/Four Thieves mix I use for body cream already. What a great idea to whip it! Makes it ever so light! Hopefully it will hold without being in a jar with a tight fitting lid. I set covers on the glasses I put them in, so here’s hoping. Either way I can whip it up again if need be. I am also anxious to try your Eggless Egg Salad. You have some great sounding recipes. Thank you so much for sharing so freely. I discovered you sight accidently while searching for a Vegan smokey cheddar cheese recipe. Going to make your Gouda cheese recipe. Sounds delicious! Thanks again Amie Sue and many Blessings to you as well.
Good evening Tricia,
I just love whipping the coconut oil up, don’t you?! It doesn’t get fluffy soft but it stays softer than it normally would and that is a welcomed benefit. :)
Thank you for all the sweet words and I am thrilled that you found my site. I hope you continue to find more recipes throughout that bring you excitement and joy. Please do keep in touch and let me know if I can help you if needed. Blessings, amie sue
OMG this is soooo delicious. I halved the recipe as it is quite a lot. We can’t get hemp seeds in NZ but I managed to get hemp seed flakes. They can’t be labelled as human food but are sold in the health food shops. The bigger pieces are quite hard to break up so I would grind them up first next time, or is there something else I could try instead?
So happy to hear that you are enjoying the recipe Daryl. :) I would grind those hemp seeds up next time. You can also use macadamia nuts or cashews instead. Both lend a creamy texture. Have a great day and it is nice to hear from you. amie sue
about switching out the cashews for something else
what about using pine nuts in place of the cashews?
or maybe half pinenut and half macadamia?
the flavor profile would be different for sure but who knows could be a new soup LOL
thankyou for all your hard work you certainly do inspire me to think out of the box
constance
lol Constance… yes, you can use a mix of those nuts. I am not a huge fan on pine nuts so that one is your call but macs would be great. :) Your doing great my friend! Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy. amie sue
I made this last night-i cut the recipe down in thirds since its just me
this is outstanding a little thick for my liking so i cut it down with a bit more almond milk ( I just really like a thinner soup but that is just me)
I love the soup base and plan to use it for tons of different soup combinations
I have enough left over for dinner tonight and have the italian bread sticks in the dehydrator so I am looking forward to the 2 together
thankyou again
constance m
PS:I started putting my middle initial on here because I think there are 2 of us named constance LOL
You know, I think there are a few of you “Constance’s” running around here. hehe I love what you shared here. You are so right, it would make for a great base to many different soups! Ooooh you are making me hungry. hehe How did the bread sticks turn out for you? Have a wonderful evening, amie sue
the breadsticks came out just wonderful and a very nice companion for soup and salad by the way
Im going to make them again and try buckwheat
unless you have a different version handy already? LOL
thanks again
constance m
That is great to hear Constance :) I haven’t tried them with buckwheat so your treading new territory :) Good luck and keep me posted. amie sue
Amie Sue! My husband and I can’t stop saying mmmm after every bite! Amazing soup, thank you. Instead of almond milk I used water which was just fine! For a little crunch I sprinkled a few raw pistachios!
mmmmm, that is wonderful Michelle….mmmmmm hehe Thank you for sharing this, just loved it! Have a blessed day. amie sue :)
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