You know what? I’ve been making this cauliflower soup for years now, and it never gets old. There’s something magical about watching a humble head of cauliflower transform into the creamiest, most satisfying bowl of comfort you can imagine. What really gets me excited about this recipe is how it fits perfectly into my Calorie Controlled Meals rotation without feeling like I’m sacrificing anything. We’re talking about one of the Best Soup Recipes that’s loaded with vegetables but still tastes rich and indulgent. The secret? A little bit of sharp cheddar goes a long way, and we use milk instead of heavy cream to keep things light. This has become one of my go-to Healthy Soup Recipes when I want something warm and filling but don’t want to blow my daily calories. It’s also fantastic as part of my Cauliflower Dinner Recipes collection, since you can pair it with some crusty bread and call it a meal. Trust me, once you try these Low Calorie Soup Recipes techniques, you’ll be making this on repeat. My kids don’t even realize they’re eating something healthy, which is always a win in my book!
Table of Contents
- 1) Key Takeaways
- 2) Easy Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup Recipe
- 3) Ingredients for Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup
- 4) How to Make Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup
- 5) Tips for Making Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup
- 6) Making Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup Ahead of Time
- 7) Storing Leftover Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup
- 8) Try these Soup Recipes next!
- 9) Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup
- 10) Nutrition
1) Key Takeaways
- What makes cauliflower soup low in calories?
- Can you make cauliflower soup without heavy cream?
- How do you thicken cauliflower soup naturally?
- What vegetables go best in low calorie soup recipes?
2) Easy Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup Recipe
I’m gonna be honest with you. When I first started making Low Calorie Soup Recipes, I thought I’d have to give up all the creamy, comforting soups I loved. Boy, was I wrong! This cauliflower soup changed everything for me. It’s one of those recipes that makes you wonder why you ever bothered with heavy cream in the first place.
Here’s what makes this soup so darn good. We’re using whole milk instead of cream, which cuts the calories way down but still gives you that rich, velvety texture you’re craving. I’ve tried it with 2% milk too, and it works, but trust me when I say the whole milk version is where it’s at. The cauliflower itself gets so tender and sweet when it simmers in the broth, and when you add just a cup of sharp cheddar at the end? Magic happens.
What I really love about this recipe is how it sneaks in all these vegetables without making a big deal about it. You’ve got carrots, celery, potatoes, and a whole head of cauliflower working together to create this incredible depth of flavor. My husband, who usually turns his nose up at “diet food,” had three bowls the first time I made it. He didn’t even realize it was one of my Low Calorie Soup Recipes until I told him!
The prep time is super reasonable too. You’re looking at about 30 minutes of chopping and getting everything ready, then another 25 minutes of mostly hands off cooking time. I usually chop my veggies while listening to a podcast, and before I know it, I’m ladling steaming bowls of soup for dinner. It’s the kind of recipe that makes weeknight cooking feel doable, you know?
3) Ingredients for Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup
Olive Oil and Butter
We start with just a tablespoon of olive oil and one tablespoon of butter for sautéing. This combo gives you the best of both worlds. The olive oil has a higher smoke point, so your veggies won’t burn, and the butter adds that rich, irreplaceable flavor. Some people ask me if they can skip the butter entirely, and sure, you can, but you’ll lose some of that cozy, comfort food taste that makes this soup special.
Yellow Onion, Carrots, and Celery
This is your classic mirepoix base, and there’s a reason it shows up in so many soup recipes. The onion brings sweetness, the carrots add a subtle earthiness, and the celery gives you that fresh, bright note. I dice everything pretty small, about half an inch, so you get a little bit of everything in each spoonful. One time I got lazy and chopped them too big, and let me tell you, it just wasn’t the same. Take the extra two minutes to dice them properly.
Baby Gold Potatoes
These little guys are a secret weapon in Low Calorie Soup Recipes. They break down slightly as they cook, which naturally thickens the soup without needing a ton of flour or cream. Plus, you don’t even have to peel them! The skins get soft and blend right in. I usually cut mine into quarters or sixths, depending on their size. Just make sure they’re all roughly the same size so they cook evenly.
Garlic
A whole tablespoon of minced garlic goes into this soup, and I wouldn’t change a thing. Garlic becomes so mellow and sweet when it’s cooked in soup like this. I usually use jarred minced garlic from the store, but if you’re feeling ambitious and want to mince fresh cloves, go for it. Your kitchen will smell amazing either way.
Thyme and Oregano
I stick with dried herbs here because they’re what I’ve got in my pantry most of the time. Three quarters of a teaspoon of each might not sound like much, but dried herbs are potent. They give the soup this warm, almost cozy flavor that reminds me of cold autumn evenings. If you’ve got fresh herbs and want to use those instead, you’ll need about three times as much since fresh herbs are milder.
Cauliflower
This is the star of our show! You’ll need one whole head, which is roughly four cups once you chop it up. I cut mine into pretty small pieces, maybe an inch or so, because they cook faster and blend into the soup better. Don’t worry about making them all perfect. Soup is forgiving that way. Sometimes I’ll roast half the cauliflower first for extra flavor, but that’s totally optional.
Chicken Stock
Good quality chicken stock makes such a difference here. I usually grab the Swanson brand from the store, but any decent stock will work. If you want to make this vegetarian, just swap it out for vegetable stock. The soup will be a little lighter in flavor, but it’s still delicious. I’ve done it both ways, and both versions have their fans in my house.
Flour
Just a quarter cup of flour goes into making the creamy sauce. You’ll whisk it into melted butter to make a roux, which is just a fancy way of saying you’re thickening the milk. The key here is to whisk constantly so you don’t get any lumps. I learned that the hard way my first time making this. Lumpy soup is not a good look.
Whole Milk
Two cups of whole milk create that creamy texture we’re after without going overboard on calories. I know some folks want to use skim milk to save even more calories, but I’ve gotta be real with you. It just doesn’t work as well. The soup ends up thin and kind of sad. Stick with whole milk or at least 2% if you’re really watching your intake. It’s worth those extra calories.
Sharp Cheddar Cheese
One cup of freshly shredded sharp cheddar brings everything together at the end. Please, and I mean please, shred your own cheese. The pre shredded stuff from the store has all these anti caking agents that make your soup grainy. It takes like two minutes to shred a block of cheese, and the difference in texture is huge. Go for sharp or extra sharp cheddar for the most flavor.
4) How to Make Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup
Step 1. Sauté the Vegetables
Get your biggest pot out and set it over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and one tablespoon of butter, letting them warm up together. Once the butter’s melted and starting to foam a bit, toss in your diced onion, carrots, celery, potatoes, and garlic. Now here’s where you need a little patience. Let these veggies cook for about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring them every couple minutes. You want them to soften up and the onions should look translucent. The whole kitchen will start smelling incredible at this point.
Step 2. Add the Cauliflower and Seasonings
Dump your chopped cauliflower right into the pot along with the thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper. Give everything a really good stir so all those herbs coat the vegetables. This is one of those Low Calorie Soup Recipes where the seasoning really matters, so don’t skip this step. You want every piece of vegetable to get friendly with those spices.
Step 3. Simmer in Stock
Pour in your three cups of chicken stock and crank up the heat until everything comes to a boil. Once it’s bubbling away, turn the heat down to low so you’ve got a gentle simmer going. Stick a lid on the pot and let it cook for 10 to 15 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when you can easily stick a fork through the vegetables. They should be tender but not falling apart into mush.
Step 4. Make the Cheese Sauce
Grab a smaller pot and melt the remaining four tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Once it’s completely melted, sprinkle that quarter cup of flour evenly over the top. Now comes the whisking. You need to whisk constantly for about a minute. This cooks out the raw flour taste and gets your roux going. The mixture should look like wet sand.
Step 5. Add the Milk
Here’s where things get a little tricky, but you’ve got this. Start adding the milk very slowly while whisking like your life depends on it. I’m talking a splash at a time at first. If you dump it all in at once, you’ll get lumps, and we don’t want that. Keep whisking and adding milk until it’s all incorporated. Then keep cooking and whisking for another 5 to 6 minutes until the mixture gets nice and thick. Don’t let it boil though! If you see big bubbles forming, turn down the heat.
Step 6. Melt in the Cheese
Take your sauce off the heat and start adding the shredded cheddar, one handful at a time. Stir each handful in completely before adding the next. The residual heat will melt the cheese perfectly, and you’ll end up with this smooth, gorgeous cheese sauce. This is the moment when you realize you’re making one of the best Healthy Soup Recipes ever.
Step 7. Combine and Season
Turn your main soup pot down to low heat. Pour that beautiful cheese sauce right into the pot with all your vegetables. Stir everything together until it’s all combined. Now taste it. Does it need more salt? More pepper? I usually add about a quarter teaspoon more of each, but your taste might be different. This is your soup, so season it how you like it.
Step 8. Optional Blending
Want an even creamier soup? Scoop out a cup or two and blend it until it’s completely smooth. You can use a regular blender or an immersion blender if you’ve got one. Then stir that blended portion back into the pot. This creates the most amazing silky texture while still leaving you with some chunky vegetables to bite into. It’s the best of both worlds.
5) Tips for Making Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup
Listen, I’ve made this soup more times than I can count, and I’ve learned a few things along the way. These tips will save you from the mistakes I made when I was first figuring out this recipe.
First thing, and this is big, make sure you chop your vegetables into similar sized pieces. I know it seems fussy, but it really matters. If your carrot chunks are huge and your cauliflower is tiny, they won’t cook evenly. You’ll end up with some pieces that are mushy and others that are still crunchy. Not a great texture situation. Aim for everything to be roughly the same size, maybe around half an inch to an inch.
When you’re making the cheese sauce, patience is your friend. I cannot stress this enough. Add that milk slowly and whisk constantly. The first time I made this, I got impatient and dumped all the milk in at once. Big mistake. I ended up with a lumpy, separated mess that looked more like cottage cheese soup than the smooth, creamy sauce I was going for. Take your time with this step, and you’ll be rewarded with the silkiest sauce.
Don’t skip the tasting and adjusting step at the end. Every batch of chicken stock has a different salt level, and your taste preferences might be different from mine. The amount of salt and pepper I suggest is just a starting point. Taste your soup before serving and add more seasoning if it needs it. Sometimes I’ll even add a squeeze of lemon juice at the end for brightness, though that’s not in the original recipe.
If you’re making this as part of your Calorie Controlled Meals plan, measure out your portions. It’s easy to eyeball a bowl and accidentally serve yourself way more than one serving. This soup is so good that it’s tempting to just keep ladling, but if you’re tracking calories, use a measuring cup to portion it out properly.
One more thing. If you want to add some extra protein to make this more of a complete meal, shredded rotisserie chicken works great stirred in at the end. It bumps up the calories a bit, but not by much, and it turns this side dish soup into a full dinner. I do this whenever I’ve got leftover chicken in the fridge.
6) Making Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup Ahead of Time
This soup is perfect for meal prep, which is one of the reasons it’s become a staple in my Cauliflower Dinner Recipes rotation. You can make the whole thing up to three days before you plan to serve it. Just let it cool completely before you transfer it to storage containers.
Here’s my Sunday meal prep routine with this soup. I make a big batch after grocery shopping, then portion it out into individual containers for the week. Each morning, I grab a container from the fridge and take it to work. By lunchtime, I’ve got a hot, satisfying meal ready to go. It reheats beautifully in the microwave, though you might want to add a splash of milk or broth if it’s thickened up too much in the fridge.
If you’re planning to freeze this soup, I’ve got some tips for you. The soup itself freezes great, but dairy can sometimes get a little weird when frozen and thawed. I’ve had the best luck freezing it in individual portions using freezer safe containers or bags. Make sure you leave a little room at the top because the soup will expand as it freezes. I learned that one the hard way when a container cracked in my freezer.
When you’re ready to eat frozen soup, the best way to reheat it is slowly. Transfer it to the fridge the night before to thaw, then reheat it gently on the stove over low heat. Stir it frequently and don’t let it boil. You want to bring it back to temperature gradually so the dairy doesn’t separate. If it looks a little separated anyway, don’t panic. Just give it a good stir or hit it with an immersion blender for a few seconds, and it’ll come right back together.
You can also prep all your vegetables ahead of time without actually making the soup. Chop everything up on Sunday, store it in containers in the fridge, and then you can throw this soup together in like 30 minutes on a busy weeknight. Just keep the potatoes in water so they don’t turn brown. This is one of those Best Soup Recipes that’s flexible enough to work with your schedule.
7) Storing Leftover Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup
Leftover soup is basically a gift to your future self, and this cauliflower soup stores like a dream. Once your soup has cooled down to room temperature, transfer it to an airtight container. It’ll keep in the fridge for up to four days, though in my house it rarely lasts that long. We usually polish it off by day three.
When you’re reheating refrigerated soup, do it slowly over low heat on the stovetop. Stir it pretty often so it heats evenly and doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. You might notice the soup has thickened up quite a bit after sitting in the fridge. That’s totally normal. Just add a splash of chicken broth or milk to thin it back out to your preferred consistency. Start with a quarter cup and add more if you need it.
The microwave works fine for reheating too, especially if you’re just heating up a single bowl. Use medium power and stop to stir every minute or so. This helps it heat evenly and prevents those weird hot and cold spots you sometimes get with microwaved soup. I usually heat mine for about 2 to 3 minutes for a single serving, but your microwave might be different.
For longer storage, freeze this soup in portions. I love using those quart sized freezer bags because they stack nicely and don’t take up much room. Fill each bag, squeeze out as much air as you can, seal it up, and lay it flat in the freezer. Once they’re frozen solid, you can stand them up like books, which saves a ton of freezer space. Label them with the date so you know when you made them. Frozen soup is good for up to three months.
When freezing, remember that the texture might change slightly. The potatoes can get a little mealy, and the dairy might separate a bit. It’s still totally edible and tasty, just maybe not quite as perfect as fresh. If the texture bothers you, blend it smooth after reheating. Problem solved. This is still one of my favorite Low Calorie Recipes for batch cooking and freezing.
8) Try these Soup Recipes next!
9) Low Calorie Cauliflower Soup
Low Calorie Soup Recipes: Creamy Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 1 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 3/4 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced baby gold potatoes (no need to peel)
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 head cauliflower (about 4 cups chopped)
- 3 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock for vegetarian)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
- Fresh thyme for garnish (optional)
- Buttered bread for serving
Instructions
- Grab your largest pot and heat the olive oil with 1 tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat. Toss in the onion, carrots, celery, potatoes, and garlic. Let them cook for about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until everything starts to soften up nicely.
- Add your chopped cauliflower to the pot along with the thyme, oregano, salt, and pepper. Give it a good stir so all those herbs coat the veggies.
- Pour in the chicken stock and bring everything to a boil. Once it’s bubbling away, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer. Pop a lid on and let it cook for 10 to 15 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when you can easily pierce the veggies with a fork.
- While that’s simmering, grab a smaller pot and melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Sprinkle the flour evenly over the melted butter, then whisk like crazy for about a minute. This is your roux, and it’s what’ll make the soup thick and creamy.
- Very slowly (and I mean slowly!) add the milk to your roux while whisking constantly. Keep whisking and cooking for 5 to 6 minutes until it gets nice and thick. Don’t let it boil though! Take it off the heat and stir in the cheese, one handful at a time, until it’s all melted and smooth.
- Turn your soup down to low heat. Pour that gorgeous cheese sauce right into the soup pot and stir everything together. Taste it and add more salt and pepper if you think it needs it (I usually add about 1/4 teaspoon more of each).
- Here’s a little trick I love: if you want an even creamier soup, scoop out 1 or 2 cups and blend it until smooth, then stir it back in. Totally optional but it makes such a difference!
- Ladle the soup into bowls and top with extra cheese and fresh thyme if you’re feeling fancy. Serve it with some toasted, buttered bread for dipping. Enjoy every spoonful!
10) Nutrition
Serving Size: 1 serving (1/4 of recipe), Calories: 538, Sugar: 15 g, Sodium: 560 mg, Fat: 34 g, Saturated Fat: 18 g, Carbohydrates: 41 g, Fiber: 5 g, Protein: 20 g, Cholesterol: 85 mg
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