Vegan Broccoli Soup with Spinach

Why You’ll Love This Healthy Broccoli Soup

If you’re looking for an easy way to eat more greens, this soup is it. Between broccoli and spinach, each bowl is loaded with vitamin C, vitamin K, fiber, iron, potassium and so much more nutrition.

There is minimal food waste. Both the broccoli florets and stems are put to use in this recipe. So often when it comes to broccoli you only eat the florets, but the sliced stalks cook in the broth with the other ingredients.

This vegan soup is creamy without coconut milk or other additions. There are so many reasons to love pureed veggie soups. Once you have simmered the vegetables, use a high- powered blender to puree them into a soup that has a lovely creaminess.

Like so many soups, this one is freezer-friendly too. Always a good tip for meal planning is to freeze one portion every time you make soup. Then you will be stocked for weekday lunches and for those times when you think you don’t have anything to eat.

The Ingredients

This is what you need:

• Broccoli: Look for fresh broccoli where the florets tightly clustered. Avoid any with yellow flowers. Take a vegetable peeler and peel the stem to remove the small bumps.
• Spinach: Five ounces of spinach may sound and look like a lot in the pot, but the heat from the soup will wilt it pretty quickly. Then pureed, it gives you nutrition and flavor and enhances the beautiful green color.
• Onions: Cooking the soup starts with sautéing chopped onions in olive oil.
• Potatoes: I peel and dice a russet potato to thicken the soup and enhance its creamy texture.
• Vegetable broth & water: The total amount of the liquid in the soup is 4 cups. I do a 50-50 split between broth and water. The broccoli and spinach have lots of flavor on their own. By using this combination, the broth is less likely to mute the bright green color of the soup. Make sure to use low-sodium broth. If you don’t mind if the soup is not vegan, you can swap in chicken broth.
• Bread: Along with a third of the broccoli florets that roast on a sheet pan in the oven, I include torn pieces of bread. Then you have roasted broccoli and croutons to garnish the bowls of soup.
• Olive oil: For the best taste, use extra virgin olive oil.
• Parsley: I also like to garnish the soup with fresh herbs like chopped parsley. You can include chives too.
• Salt & black pepper season the soup and the roasted broccoli and croutons.

How To Make This Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven.

2. Sauté the onions. Give them 4-5 minutes to turn soft and translucent.

3. Stir in the minced garlic, salt and pepper. This will make the onions quickly become more fragrant.

4. Add the vegetable broth, water, potatoes, two-thirds of the broccoli florets and all the stems. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the stems are tender, about 25-30 minutes.

5. Stir in the baby spinach. As mentioned, it will almost look like too much in the pot, but it won’t take long for the heat from the soup to wilt it.

6. Blend the soup. I recommend transferring the soup to a blender to puree it rather than using an immersion blender. This is so it turns out very smooth.

7. Toss the reserved broccoli florets and bread with olive oil, salt and pepper on a baking sheet.

8. Roast the broccoli until it is bright green and the bread is golden, about 10-12 minutes. Divide the soup into bowls and top them with roasted broccoli, croutons and chopped parsley.

What To Serve with Broccoli Soup

You can keep it simple and pair the soup with a hunk of good bread. Or try a salad that can be made while the soup simmers including this Carrot Salad with Tahini Vinaigrette, Shaved Cauliflower Salad, Arugula Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette or Asian Cabbage Salad.

Leftovers & Storage

You can keep the soup in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days. To save it longer, freeze it up to 1 month. If you do plan on freezing it, remember that the roasted broccoli garnish and croutons should not be frozen. I recommend roasting a little broccoli and making a batch of my favorite Homemade Croutons when you plan to serve it again.

Warm the soup in a microwave or on the stovetop. It is easier to thaw the soup if you freeze it in portion sizes instead of in a single big container.