When I saw purple cauliflowers at the market recently, I had to get them. Their beautiful colors made me think of spring flowers and I had to cook something with it. I though the best way to show their pretty color was to make a creamy soup out of it. A dish that’s easy to make, satisfying and pretty to look at!
Burleigh Soup Bowls
I must also confess that when I saw the purple cauliflowers, I thought of my beautiful soup bowls from Burleigh Pottery. I thought the blue flowered soup bowls would be perfect with the cauliflower soup. These 8″soup bowls are from their dark blue Felicity collection and I’m pretty much in love with them.

Easy, Healthy, Vegetable Soup
Cauliflowers are great choice to make soup with because it creates creamy texture without the gluten. It’s also high in fiber and good source of antioxidants so you really can’t go wrong with this vegetable.

As nutritious as cauliflowers are though, they don’t have lot of flavors so it’s important to have soup base for depth and flavors. Just adding salt or pepper to pureed cauliflower will not be enough for a satisfying bowl of soup. For this soup I used:
- Onions
- Garlic
- Vegetable bouillon
One thing that I thought I would never use for my soup was a bouillon. But I finally decided to try Better Than Bouillon after reading about it online and seeing ads. I wasn’t expecting much, but to my surprise, it brought lot of depth and savory flavor to my soup. It’s even better than using stock that comes in a box or a can. I used vegetable bouillon for this occasion, but it comes in many different flavors. I recently used beef bouillon to make a beef stew and my pot of stew turned out absolutely delicious in a short amount of time!

This soup is not only easy to make but it won’t take hours to be ready. Let vegetables simmer until soft, then use a hand held blender to puree the vegetables and you end up with beautiful light purple colored soup. As a finishing touch, add, bit of butter and heavy cream for rich texture and creaminess. You don’t need copious amounts of it either, just a tablespoon of butter and two tablespoons of heavy cream will do just fine.
You’ll notice that when your soup is left standing in a pot, the color will turn gray-ish purple. But not to worry, just stir the soup around and the beautiful bright color will appear again.


Garnish For Soup
Eating your soup as is is perfectly fine, but topping it with some garnish adds additional colors, flavors and texture. I decided on some fresh cilantro leaves, chopped pistachio and drizzle of heavy cream. I’m able to eat fresh cilantros more these days and it was absolutely delicious with the soup!

Creamy & Savory Purple Cauliflower Soup
Ingredients
- 2 heads small purple cauliflowers washed and cut in florets
- 1 yellow or white onion diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1.75 quart water
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp vegetable bouillon
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp heavy cream or half and half
- salt to taste
For Garnish
- 1-2 sprigs fresh cilantro leaves (optional)
- 1 tsp chopped pistachio (optional)
- 1-2 tsp warm heavy cream or half and half (optional)
Instructions
- Heat medium soup pot over medium heat and add olive oil. When olive oil starts to sizzle, add onions to pot and sauté until onions are translucent.
- Add chopped garlic and cauliflower to the pot and combine with onions. Add water to the pot, place cover and let the pot simmer for 15 minutes. When vegetables have softened, take hand held blender and puree vegetables until smooth.
- Turn heat to low and stir in vegetable bouillon, butter and salt. Once butter has melted, add heavy cream or half and half and let the soup simmer for 15 minutes. Drizzle warm heavy cream, fresh cilantro leaves and chopped pistachios on top of soup and serve.
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