If you have never had cauliflower soup before, please don’t let the name throw you off! This dairy-free cheesy cauliflower soup is one of my favorite vegetable soups ever! Cauliflower soup has always sounded good to me, but not so for other members of my family. When I first made this soup, they were skeptical. Now we are all cauliflower soup lovers and everyone keeps asking me to make this soup again and again! This creamy and flavorful cauliflower soup will quickly become a homestead menu staple!

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Modern Pioneer Recipe

This dairy-free cheesy cauliflower soup is a simple modern pioneer recipe! Although I think it could have easily been a pioneer recipe once the early homesteaders started growing cauliflower plants! The simple, wholesome ingredients that are used in this soup recipe make it a nutritious meal to make on the homestead.

From homemade bone broth to homegrown veggies, this soup can easily be made using ingredients sourced right from the homestead! Of course, how many of the ingredients you can source from your homestead will depend on where you are at in your modern pioneer journey. Even sourcing just one or two ingredients should make you feel accomplished!

We will go into more details later on how exactly you can source the different ingredients from the homestead later, but you should also know that this soup recipe uses simple ingredients to make it allergy-friendly!

Bone broth helps boost the immune system and provide essential collagen. Cauliflower is nutrient rich, a great source of antioxidants, and high in fiber. Aside from the nutritional benefits, this soup is also…

• gluten-free
• grain-free
• dairy-free
• nut free
• corn free
• sugar free
• egg free

Serve this cauliflower soup up with a side of grain-free herbed cheese rolls or homemade coffee cake for a delicious and nutritious homestead meal!

Homestead Ingredients Guide

Cauliflower:

Cauliflower is a great vegetable to add to your homestead garden! As of yet, I have not grown cauliflower, but its near cousin (broccoli) is on this year’s garden list for the first time. The good news for northern homesteaders is that cauliflower is a great cool weather crop!

The bad news is that it is somewhat finicky about temperature changes and climate. It is a good idea to start cauliflower seedlings indoors then transplant them outside once the temperatures are ideal. Here are a few quick tips for growing cauliflower:

• Cauliflower likes a soil pH around 6.0-7.0 and nitrogen rich soil. Compost is a great garden amendment for growing cauliflower!
• Cauliflower seedlings can be planted outside (weather permitting) about 2-4 weeks prior to your area’s last frost date.
• They should be planted 18-24 inches apart in rows that are 2.5 feet apart. Cauliflower plants need lots of space to grow a big head!
• Cauliflower doesn’t like extreme cold or extreme hot temperatures, however, it does like some sunshine to thrive and grow.
• Once a cauliflower head (crown) reaches about 2 inches wide, it needs to be shielded from the sun (blanched) to preserve its white color.

Bone Broth

Bone broth is a super easy ingredient to make on the homestead! Whether you make it completely from homestead sources or not will depend on if you raise and butcher any livestock on your homestead. Essentially, you just need some good chicken, beef, or pork bones to make bone broth.

On my homestead, I like to make venison bone broth from the whitetail deer that my family harvests each fall.

While I won’t go into all the details, making bone broth on the homestead is a great a modern pioneer life skill to master! You can make it in a crockpot, over the stovetop, or in an InstantPot. The process of making bone broth involves simmering the bones in water (sometimes with other vegetables or seasonings) to extract essential nutrients from the bone and bone marrow.

Rich, homemade bone broth makes any soup recipe better! After giving cauliflower soup a try, you may want to check out this dairy-free potato soup or grain-free chicken noodle soup!

Cheese

The cheese for this soup recipe can also be sourced from the homestead, especially if you have a dairy animal! Learning the art of cheese making is definitely a modern pioneer life skill on my bucket list! I can’t have regular cheese that is pasteurized because of my dairy sensitivity, so for now I use dairy-free cheese alternatives, which aren’t quite as easy to source from the homestead.

While I know there are recipes out there for dairy-free cheese, I prefer to use pre-made dairy-free cheese shreds in this cauliflower soup. Some of my favorite brands include Earth Grown Vegan cheese and Daiya cheese.

Milk

Again, the milk in this soup can be regular milk sourced from a homestead dairy animal or it can be a dairy-free milk substitute. I use a dairy-free milk substitute since I don’t have access to non-pasteurized cow’s milk or goat’s milk. Technically this soup calls for cream, but milk or cream can be used. Cream will make the soup thicker than milk.

If I’m in a hurry to make this soup, I just grab some canned coconut cream from my pantry to use in the soup. When I’m planning ahead, I can plan to make some dairy-free oat milk or homemade coconut milk to use in the soup instead.

Garlic & Onion

Garlic and onion are two easy vegetables to grow in the homestead garden! I grow garlic every year and it is fun to prep the garden beds, plant the garlic, and harvest the fresh bulbs. Onions are also a fairly easy crop to grow, however, they do take a little more prep and planning than garlic.

Either way, using homegrown garlic and onion in this soup recipe is the perfect way to source two more ingredients from the homestead!

Pork

Lastly, the meat for this soup can be sourced from the homestead too! Obviously, if you raise pigs for meat, you are all set! For those of use who are not quite at that stage, we can find other alternatives. I like to buy organic, non-GMO pork from a local farm near my homestead. Their pork is raised sustainably and fed an organic diet, plus I get to support a local business!

You can also use alternatives meats in this soup! If you have a hard time digesting pork or prefer a different meat, try chunked chicken tenders, beef tips, or venison bites in this soup instead!

Recipe Questions & Tips

Should I use fresh cauliflower or frozen cauliflower?

You can use fresh or frozen cauliflower in this soup! I like to buy an organic cauliflower head, cut off the florets, wash them, and freeze them for whenever I want to make soup! One note to consider is that frozen riced cauliflower will give a slightly different texture to the soup since the cauliflower is not in floret form.

What is the best type of broth to use in this soup?

Homemade bone broth why of course! As for type, you can use chicken bone broth, beef bone broth, venison bone broth, or really any kind of bone broth. The cauliflower and cheese are the predominant flavors in this soup, so the flavor of your broth won’t matter too much in the end.

What dairy-free milks and cheeses can I use in cauliflower soup to make it creamy?

Coconut cream will make this cauliflower soup the creamiest and thickest! You can use dairy-free milk beverages, but they won’t help thicken the soup.

As for cheese, any dairy-free cheese shreds will work just fine. Choose your favorite brand and flavor to add to the soup! I have made this soup with both dairy-free mozzarella cheese and dairy-free cheddar cheese and liked both versions!

How can I make sure the tapioca flour doesn’t clump up when I add it to the soup?

Make sure you add the tapioca flour to the cauliflower prior to adding any liquid. Stir it in real good so that all the florets are coated. This will help distribute the tapioca flour throughout the pot and prevent any clumps from forming and sticking together.

Can cauliflower soup be frozen?

Yes! You can store leftover cauliflower soup in the fridge or it can be frozen. Make sure you store it in an airtight container and leave room for expansion is you are freezing the soup.

Note: Milk & Broth Ratio

Lastly, I want to make mention that the milk/cream to broth ratio is really quiet flexible with this recipe! If you want a creamier, milkier soup, use more coconut cream or dairy-free milk beverage. If you want a more classical, broth-based soup, use more bone broth in the soup.

Keep in mind that if you increase one, the other should decrease so that the overall liquid to cauliflower ratio stays relatively the same.

This dairy-free cheesy cauliflower soup recipe is rich, creamy, flavorful and super easy to make! You will be amazed at the delicious flavor and creamy texture of the soup. Trust, me it is worth giving this soup a try if you have never had cauliflower soup before!

Another vegetable soup you should definitely check out is this dairy-free butternut squash soup!

Where to find the ingredients:

• Bob’s Red Mill tapioca flour
• Redmond sea salt
• Native Forest coconut cream
• Supplies: large stainless-steel saucepan, wooden spoon

This dairy-free cheesy cauliflower soup recipe uses simple, wholesome ingredients that not only taste great but also provide plenty of nutrition too! Cauliflower soup is a great homestead menu staple that is both nutritious and delicious! The creamy texture of this soup is perfectly complimented by the bold flavor of the cheese, ham, and cauliflower that is not overwhelming. You can also source almost all of the ingredients right from your own homestead! I know this soup recipe will quickly become a favorite in your homestead kitchen just like it is in mine!

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by Alexa