This gloriously zesty soup harnesses the robust warmth of Buffalo sauce to put a new spin on cold weather comfort food. Wholesome plant-based ingredients harmonize with tangy seasonings resulting in a surprisingly cheesy flavor experience. The rich cashew cream topping adds a silky contrasting layer that’s customizable. Add as little or as much cashew cream as you like, or use store bought vegan sour cream instead.
RECIPE ORIGIN STORY
The American Buffalo sauce craze has been going on for more than half a century. But for a long time Buffalo sauce was viewed exclusively as a seasoning for chicken wings. This was an absurdly limiting way to think about a liquid concoction that’s actually quite versatile. When vegans decided to start using Buffalo sauce on cauliflower circa 2010, things took an interesting turn. Buffalo cauliflower started popping up as a plant-based appetizer option at bars and restaurants all over the US. Soon thereafter, vegan home chefs and food bloggers started incorporating Buffalo cauliflower into pasta dishes or all kinds. In 2018, I began making a creamy Buffalo cauliflower pasta dish that has become one of my favorite comfort foods. The thing that always struck me about that pasta recipe was the cheesiness of it, even though there was no cheese in it, vegan or otherwise. This recipe is my way of capturing the creamy cheesy goodness of the Buffalo cauliflower pasta I love and turning it into a nutrient dense plant-based soup. Store bought vegan Buffalo sauce is a processed food which always contains some amount of oil, so I won’t try to pass this recipe off as whole food plant-based (WFPB) because, in a strict sense, it is not. And yet the Buffalo sauce in this recipe makes up a very small portion of the ingredients, less than 4% by my calculations. So let’s just say that this is a WFPB adjacent recipe and leave it at that!
CHOOSING A BUFFALO SAUCE
If you already have a favorite Buffalo sauce, no need to read through this section. Just know that any brand of Buffalo sauce will work in this recipe. Many brands make medium and mild versions of their Buffalo sauces which is great for those who don’t like a lot of heat, or who want to make their soup as inclusive as possible for a wide range of preferences. Most Buffalo sauce brands are not vegan but a number of them are. Vegans should check ingredient labels carefully.
I realize that if you’re seeing my recipe, there’s a good chance that you’re either whole food plant-based (WFPB) adherent, or leaning in that direction. Those of us who are mostly WFPB try to avoid processed ingredients and oil. Store bought Buffalo sauce is a processed ingredient and it always contains some amount of oil. But the amount of oil varies widely from one brand to another. Although the exact amount of oil in each brand is not clearly listed on labels, we can get a pretty good idea of the oil content by looking at the nutritional information. Below on the left, Frank’s RedHot Buffalo Wings Sauce (which is vegan although it contains “natural butter type flavor”) lists canola oil as an ingredient, but it’s safe to say that the amount of oil in the sauce must be quite small because the label is able to show 0 grams of fat per tablespoon and 0 calories. On the right, Primal Kitchen Buffalo Sauce made with Avocado Oil contains 2.5 grams of fat per tablespoon. The only ingredient in this sauce that contains fat is avocado oil. Since I know that avocado oil contains 14 grams of fat per tablespoon, a little math indicates that this sauce is approximately 18% oil. If you’re focused on keeping oil at a minimum, or you’re counting macros with an eye on keeping fat grams as low as possible, between these two Frank’s RedHot is the way to go.
PRE-ROASTING CAULIFLOWER
Oven roasting cauliflower florets before adding them to a soup significantly improves the taste appeal of the final product. In this recipe, the cauliflower florets are coated with part of the Buffalo sauce prior to roasting, further increasing the caramelization and ramping up flavor. This step doesn’t add much prep time because you can begin to cook the other veggies while the cauliflower is in the oven. The roasted cauliflower doesn’t get added to the soup until the potatoes are fully cooked because the vinegar in Buffalo sauce can slow down the cooking time for potatoes. I like to toss cauliflower florets straight on the parchment paper lined baking sheet used for roasting.
OPTIONAL LEMONY CASHEW CREAM
Swirling a spoonful or two of lemony cashew cream into each serving adds a satisfying creaminess to the soup and enhances its aesthetic appeal. I intentionally designed this recipe so that the cashew cream is optional and gets added, according to taste, after the soup is served. This way folks can opt out if they need to avoid the extra fat grams, have tree nut allergies, or simply don’t want to go to the trouble of making homemade cashew cream. The soup is quite tasty without any topping at all, but you could also use a store bought vegan sour cream, plain unsweetened plant-based yogurt or silken tofu whipped up into a high protein, lower fat, vegan sour cream. Another great option is to blend coconut milk or cream into the soup itself.
BLENDER(S) NEEDED!
If you decide to make the lemony cashew cream, you’re best off using two types of blenders for this recipe. For making the cashew cream, a high speed conventional blender works best. For the soup, having an immersion blender is extremely helpful. Immersion blenders are ideal for making creamy soups because they allow you to blitz soups without having to cool them down and remove them from the pot. It’s possible to make this soup without an immersion blender by allowing the soup to cool, straining out the veggies and pureeing them in a conventional blender or food processor. This is a bit of a chore but works well.
EASY OIL FREE SAUTÉING
If you’re not interested in oil-free cooking, go ahead and adapt my method to suit your needs. You can use 1 to 2 tablespoons of your favorite cooking oil or vegan butter to begin the sautéing process instead of vegetable stock or water.
On the other hand, if you’re a whole food plant-based leaning person like me, there no reason to throw your WFPB caution to the wind just because a little bit of oil snuck into your soup by way of the Buffalo sauce. I prefer to keep overall oil content and fat grams low by sautéing vegetables in broth. Oil free sautéing is easy and has started to feel like second nature to me.
In this recipe, the sliced onion is sautéd separately first in order to develop a layer of caramelized flavor before adding the other vegetables. Begin by heating a scant about 2 tablespoons of vegetable stock, or water, in a medium to large soup pot or dutch oven over high heat. Keep more water or stock close at hand to use as needed. When the liquid in the pot comes to a rolling boil, reduce heat to medium-high and add the sliced onion. Sauté for about 7 minutes or until the onion slices become translucent and just start to brown, adding little bits of liquid as needed. Then add the celery, carrots, and garlic and sauté for another 6 to 8 minutes. You can continue to add small amounts of liquid if vegetables start to stick to the bottom of the pot. Finally add the cubed potatoes and sauté for another 3 minutes.
SIMMERING & FINAL PREP
As I’ve already mentioned, potatoes need to get soft before adding the Buffalo sauce coated roasted cauliflower florets because the vinegar in Buffalo sauce keeps potatoes from softening. This means that broth is added and the onion, celery, garlic, carrot and potatoes are simmered until the potatoes are soft, approximately 20 minutes. Then the roasted florets are added along with 2 additional tablespoons of Buffalo sauce, nutritional yeast and smoked paprika. After that there’s another 10 minutes of simmering to get the cauliflower nice and soft. Now it’s time for the immersion blender blitzing followed by the lemon juice from half a lemon. This soup usually doesn’t need salt and pepper because the Buffalo sauce is already very salty and peppery, but you can try it and see what you think. A little extra lemon juice is another option you could consider. If you want to intensify the flavor you can also add more Buffalo sauce, although I prefer to drizzle a few drops of sauce onto each bowl after serving because I think it looks pretty.
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Equipment
- Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- large soup pot (5 to 7 quarts is ideal)
- blender (for making cashew cream)
- Immersion Blender (for blitzing soup)
Ingredients
- ½ cup raw cashews* (optional for cashew cream)
- 1 large lemon (divided in half)
- 24 oz cauliflower florets (or florets from 1 large cauliflower)
- ½ cup vegan Buffalo sauce (divided)
- 6 cups vegetable stock (divided)
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 2 large celery stalks, sliced (1 to 1½ cup)
- 1 medium carrot, sliced (about ½ cup)
- 4 to 8 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed** (about 1 lb)
- 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ cup thinly sliced green onions or minced fresh parsley (optional for garnish)
Instructions
Make Lemony Cashew Cream (optional)
- Place cashews in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside for at least 20 minutes to soak (I like to do this before anything and make the soup while the cashews are soaking, proceeding to the next step while the soup is in the simmering phase).
- Strain cashews and place them in a bowl of a blender. Add ⅓ cup of fresh water, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Process until smooth. Taste the cashew cream to see if you want to add a little more lemon juice or salt. You can also add more water if you prefer a thinner cashew cream. Pulse a couple of more times if you add anything. Set aside.
Prepare Roasted Cauliflower Florets with Buffalo Sauce
- Preheat oven to 400 ℉ and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place cauliflower florets on top of the parchment paper lined baking sheet and pour ¼ cup of Buffalo sauce over the florets. Carefully toss the florets so that they are evenly coated in the sauce and spread in a single layer.
- Bake in the preheated 400 ℉ oven for 20 to 25 minutes until cauliflower is tender and slightly crispy. Set aside.
Soup Preparation
- Pour 2 tablespoons of vegetable stock into a large soup pot and bring to a rolling boil over high heat, keeping more stock close at hand. Add sliced onions to pot, lower heat to medium-high, and sauté for about 7 minutes until onions become translucent and slightly golden, adding a little bit of stock at a time, as needed, to keep them from burning and/or sticking.
- To the onions in the pot, add the celery, carrots and garlic. Sauté for an additional 6 to 8 minutes until all vegetables are tender. If necessary, you can continue to add little bits of stock if necessary to prevent sticking.
- Add the cubed potatoes to the pot and sauté with the rest of the vegetables for another 2 or 3 minutes.
- Now add all remaining vegetable stock to the pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until potatoes are very soft.
- Add roasted cauliflower florets, nutritional yeast, 2 tablespoons of Buffalo sauce and smoked paprika and continue simmering for another 10 minutes.
- Turn off heat and use an immersion blender to process until smooth.
- Add the juice of one half lemon and blend. Taste soup and decide if you need to add salt or a little bit more Buffalo sauce (I prefer to drizzle a little Buffalo sauce on soup after it's been served).
Serving Suggestions
- Top each bowl of soup with a spoonful of lemony cashew cream, a few drops of remaining Buffalo sauce and a sprinkling of sliced green onions or minced fresh parsley.
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