This creamy roasted cauliflower soup is packed full of flavor and is so easy to make! Made with bacon and stilton, this hearty low carb soup recipe is also easy to make vegetarian. Cauliflower soup with blue cheese comes together quickly with a few simple ingredients and is a real crowd pleaser. Perfect for meal prep and a freezer meal.
I don't make soups often, and the main reason for that is that Mr Slow The Cook Down isn't a huge fan of them. So, when I do, they need to be loaded with flavor and really make your tastebuds spin! I made a Roasted Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash Soup a little while ago, which was then followed by a hearty Thai Chicken and Rice Soup. Both were so flavorsome so I knew I had my work cut out with my next soup!
No word of a lie, we couldn't stop eating this soup. It totally leaves you wanting more, even if you are full to bursting! It's perfect comfort food with nutty roasted cauliflower, crispy bacon and creamy and strong blue cheese. Heavenly doesn't even start to cover it!
How To Make Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Blue Cheese
- Roast the cauliflower in the oven until it is soft and browned.
- Fry the bacon in a little butter until it is crispy. Remove the bacon, leaving the fat in the pan, and set to one side.
- Cook the onion and garlic in the pot with the fat until softened.
- Add the cream, stock, blue cheese and roasted cauliflower and bring the pot to the boil. Use an immersion or stand blender to blend the soup until it is smooth and creamy.
What's the best blue cheese to use in cauliflower soup?
For me, when it comes to blue cheese, there's no other option other than stilton. Super rich and tangy, it punches you in the tastebuds and I can't get enough of it! If you prefer your blue cheese on the milder side, you could make this soup with a danish blue or gorgonzola. If you aren't a big blue cheese fan, then this would also work well with a sharp cheddar.
Why roast the cauliflower?
Cauliflower by itself is a pretty bland vegetable, but when you roast it something amazing happens. Roasting it in a little oil, salt and pepper brings out it's wonderful nutty and buttery flavors as it caramelizes. It makes this soup wonderfully rich and really adds a depth of flavor to it, as well as making it soft so that it's easy to blend for the smoothest of soups.
Can you make this cauliflower soup vegetarian?
To make this roasted cauliflower soup vegetarian friendly, simply omit the bacon. Sauté the garlic and onions with the butter rather than the bacon fat, you will still end up with a delicious tasting soup! Swap the chicken stock for vegetable and you are good to go.
Loaded Cauliflower Soup
I topped this soup with fresh parsley and bacon bits as well as a thin slice of cauliflower that I quickly pan fried. You can easily load up the toppings even more if you are feeling over the top indulgent! Top it with any combination of:
- Sliced green onions
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Blue cheese crumbles
- Chopped chives
- Sour cream
Low Carb Roasted Cauliflower Soup
Now I'm not claiming this to be a healthy soup, but it is low in carbs if you are into that kind of thing. I don't highly recommend it, but if you want to make this healthier, you can use a lower fat cream or half and half and use a low sodium stock.
What do you serve with cauliflower and blue cheese soup?
This soup is pretty hearty and filling on it's own, but it's pretty awesome with some garlic or crusty bread to mop up the bowl!
Tips To Make This Recipe
- Don't overcrowd the baking sheet when you roast the cauliflower. The florets shouldn't be touching other they can create steam and they won't brown.
- Be sure to use the rind of the blue cheese, it holds all the flavor!
- The easiest way to make the soup silky smooth is to blend it in the pot with an emersion blender. Alternatively you can blend it in batches in a stand blender. If you use a stand blender, don't over fill it and be careful as it will be steaming hot.
- This soup will keep in the fridge for 4 or 5 days. Once you have made the roasted cauliflower soup, let it cool completely to room temperature and transfer it to an airtight container.
- This soup freezes really well too and will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. Defrost it in the fridge overnight before reheating on the stovetop or in the microwave.
More blue cheese recipes:
- Steak Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing Recipe
- Blue Cheese Mashed Potato with Bacon
- Blue Cheese Pizza with Pumpkin
- Beetroot Tart with Gorgonzola and Red Onions
I love hearing from you!! If you have tried this yummy roasted cauliflower soup, be sure to scroll down, give it a star rating and let me know what you thought!
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Creamy Roasted Cauliflower Soup with Blue Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 cauliflower
- 2 tablespoons oil
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon salted butter
- 6 slices bacon cut into smaller pieces
- 1 large onion sliced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups 35% heavy whipping cream
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 150g stilton (include the rind) grated
Instructions
- Pre heat the oven to 425ºF / 220ºc.
- Break the cauliflower into florets and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and a couple of generous pinches of salt and pepper and mix with your hands so the cauliflower is evenly coated.
- Roast the cauliflower in the oven for about 30 minutes until it is soft and browned. Check around 25 minutes to make sure that it doesn't burn.
- While the cauliflower is roasting, you can get on with the rest of the recipe.
- In a heavy bottomed pan, melt the butter over a high heat and fry the bacon until it is crispy. Remove the bacon, leaving the fat in the pan, and set to one side. Leave the pot on the heat and turn down to a medium heat.
- Add the onion, garlic and salt and pepper to the pot and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until softened.
- Add the cream, stock, blue cheese and roasted cauliflower and bring the pot to the boil. Stir occasionally until the cheese has all melted.
- Use an immersion or stand blender to blend the soup until it is smooth and creamy.
- Taste and season to taste if needed.
- Serve with the crispy bacon pieces.
Notes
- Don't overcrowd the baking sheet when you roast the cauliflower. The florets shouldn't be touching other they can create steam and they won't brown.
- Be sure to use the rind of the blue cheese, it holds all the flavor!
- The easiest way to make the soup silky smooth is to blend it in the pot with an emersion blender. Alternatively you can blend it in batches in a stand blender. If you use a stand blender, don't over fill it and be careful as it will be steaming hot.
- This soup will keep in the fridge for 4 or 5 days. Once you have made the roasted cauliflower soup, let it cool completely to room temperature and transfer it to an airtight container.
- This soup freezes really well too and will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. Defrost it in the fridge overnight before reheating on the stovetop or in the microwave.
- Nutritional values are based on one of six servings and are an estimate only.
Elisabeth Shoup says
Delicious! However my husband and I found it a little strong to just eat as a soup- repurposed as a pasta sauce and it’s perfect!!
Angie says
Absolutely exceptional soup. I used soft blue instead of Stilton, and milk instead of cream. Delicious - something I would expect to eat in a restaurant and so darn easy!
Angie says
PS that’s a 5-star rating!
Andy D says
I drooled just reading the recipe. Made it last night and it went down extremely well. Very tasty. 10stars.
Andy D
Manchester.
Slow The Cook Down says
So glad you enjoyed it Andy! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Jo says
Hi, we put our cauliflower in the oven at 220c (which is pretty hot) and set the timer for 35 mins and came back to find much of it burnt. Too hot or too long perhaps??
Thanks
Jo
Slow The Cook Down says
Hi Jo,
So sorry that happened! I looked at some recipes for roasted cauliflower online, and most say that the temperature is correct, but advise 30 minutes of roasting time. It could be that the oven I used to test this recipe ran slightly colder, hence the longer time. I'm going to update the recipe now to reflect this, so thank you for asking! I hope you give it another go!
Tamara Andersen says
I truly don't understand the vast number of people that turn up their noses at bleu cheese, and stilton is my personal fav! This sounds so good... And I agree 100% on the benefit of roasting cauliflower. I roast it even when I'm just making cauliflower rice.