This vegan cauliflower corn chowder is smooth and creamy, and such a delicious healthy lunch or light dinner! Made without bacon or milk to keep it suitable for a vegan diet, it's so simple to make as a cozy warming soup for the colder months.
Soups always feel so cozy for the colder months. If you like a bowl of goodness for your winter lunch or dinner, then you may also like to see my broccoli and cauliflower soup and quinoa vegetable soup. Both hearty and healthy!
This cauliflower corn chowder with coconut milk is bursting with healthy vegetables and herbs to provide so much goodness. Super simple to make, it's a family favorite in my home!
Jump to:
⭐ Why this cauliflower chowder is so good
Come the colder months, this easy cauliflower chowder makes for a lovely lunch or light dinner as it is:
- Flavourful. There's something about the flavor and consistency of chowder that feels so cozy and warming.
- Made without potatoes. We use cauliflower in the chowder rather than potato to make it a little lighter (and slightly lower carb too).
- Vegan (also gluten free and low histamine). Made with coconut milk rather than dairy milk and no bacon, this is a vegan cauliflower corn chowder.
🌽 Ingredients
A fairly short list of ingredients, we use fresh produce and pantry staples to make this soup. The main ingredients you will need are:
- Onion and garlic: the typical base of flavor for soup recipes.
- Corn, cauliflower and bell pepper: the veggies of this chowder. As always, use fresh unbruised produce.
- Thyme, rosemary, turmeric and bay leaf: to flavor the soup, these also add lots of healthy nutrients.
- Vegetable broth and non-dairy milk: these keep the chowder vegan. I suggest using coconut milk for a lovely creamy flavor.
📖 Variations on the recipe
As an optional step, you can roast the cauliflower prior to making the chowder. This will give a lovely flavor, but does add some time onto the recipe.
You can always use different herbs if you prefer. A little sage would give a more earthy flavor.
If you want a slightly thicker soup then adding a small potato works well (but wouldn't make it a low carb soup). You may need to add a little extra broth.
🔪 Step by step instructions
Making this corn and cauliflower chowder is very easy and has just a few steps (and optional steps, as below, for the toppings):
Step 1
Fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil until softened.
Step 2
Add the cauliflower, corn and bell pepper, and pour in the vegetable stock, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a very light simmer and pour in the non-dairy milk. Simmer until the vegetables have softened.
Step 3
Use an immersion blender to blend the soup, or transfer batches to a food processor to blend. Don't forget to remove the bay leaf first!
Add the toppings if using, then enjoy!
💭 Recipe tips and notes
- As an optional step you can pre-cook the cauliflower, so use roasted cauliflower to make the chowder, which does add a nice flavor to the soup.
- Dice the vegetables into smaller pieces for ease of blending.
- Add the non-dairy milk after you have reduced from a boil down to a (very light) simmer.
- I suggest using coconut milk as it has a nice creamy taste and texture.
- Dry toast the pumpkin seeds. You don't need to add oil to the pan, just the seeds. Move them around occasionally so they don't catch and burn.
📋 Frequently asked questions
Yes, we don't use bacon or dairy milk so it's a vegan cauliflower corn soup.
Yes, you can definitely use roasted cauliflower to make the soup. It will add a lovely flavor!
It's a fairly low carb cauliflower soup as we don't use potatoes.
🍽 How to serve cauliflower corn chowder
Cozy soups always need a little side dish in my opinion, so here are some favorite ideas:
- Breads or crackers - both traditional sides for soup. A crusty roll of bread if it works for you is lovely, or perhaps my multi-seed crackers and quinoa seed crackers which are both easy to make and very healthy too.
- Salads - a simple salad adds a nice freshness as a side for soup and some extra vitamins too! Perhaps my kale salad with tahini dressing or my quinoa and arugula salad will tempt you!
- Baked potato - a side of potatoes always make a meal more hearty and filling. Choose from a plain baked potato or perhaps my cream cheese and roast vegetable stuffed potato as an option.
🥣 More chowder and soup recipes
Choose from more chowder ideas on my soups page, including my vegan corn chowder and my sweet potato and corn chowder. For tasty soup options, I think you will love my vegan gnocchi soup and my vegan stuffed pepper soup too!
I’m always in the kitchen, so come join me on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to be the first to hear of new recipes. And please do leave a star rating ⭐⭐⭐ if you've tried the recipe!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Cauliflower Corn Chowder
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ¼ white onion diced
- 1 garlic clove optional
- 3 cups corn
- ½ cauliflower diced
- ½ bell pepper diced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 cup non-dairy milk
- pinch salt
- pinch black pepper optional
For the toppings
- pumpkin seeds
- fresh herbs
Instructions
- Fry the onion and garlic on a low heat in olive for 4-5 until softened. Stir in the herbs and spices.
- Add the cauliflower, corn and bell pepper, and pour in the vegetable stock, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a medium heat so you have a very light simmer and pour in the non-dairy milk. Simmer for around 20 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened.
- While the soup is simmering, dry fry the pumpkin seeds to use as a garnish.
- Remove the bay leaf, then either use an immersion blender or transfer the soup to a blender, and blend. If the soup is too thick add a touch more vegetable stock.
- Ladle into your bowls, add the pumpkin seed and fresh herbs and enjoy!
Notes
- As an optional step you can pre-cook the cauliflower, so use roasted cauliflower to make the chowder, which does add a nice flavor to the soup.
- Dice the vegetables into smaller pieces for ease of blending.
- Add the non-dairy milk after you have reduced from a boil down to a (very light) simmer.
- I suggest using coconut milk for its creamy flavor and texture.
- Dry toast the pumpkin seeds. You don't need to add oil to the pan, just the seeds. Move them around occasionally so they don't catch and burn.
- Please note that nutritional information is offered as a courtesy. It is auto-generated and should be understood to be an estimate.
- garlic, which scores 1.
- black pepper, which scores 2.
- non-dairy milk has variable scores.
- vegetable stock will depend on ingredients used.
Leave a Reply