How to Make the Best Oil-Free, Plant-Based Vegan Creamed Soup

Contrary to intuition, cream soups don’t necessarily involve dairy cream. Rather “creaming” is a cooking technique used to get rich, velvety texture and highlight key ingredients. Master the art of vegan creamed soups with these helpful plant-based tips.

Does Cream Soup Require Dairy Cream?

Despite the name, cream soups don’t necessarily involve cream. Instead, creaming is a technique I first learned about in culinary school. We were studying the various types of soups, from clear, broth-based soups, to thicker cream soups. As our chef instructor explained, making a creamed soup wasn’t about adding a ton of heavy whipping cream to a pot. Rather, it was a method.

What is the Creamed Soup Cooking Technique?

Creamed soup involves pureeing an ingredient in the soup. The goal is to create a smooth, creamy texture in your final dish. This technique has been around for hundreds of years, using different ingredients based on what’s available.

In Europe and America, two common creaming ingredients were potatoes and corn. For New England seafood chowder, it was often rice or potatoes. In India, they’ll often uses pulses like mashed dal to cream-ify a soup. A classic creamy Middle Eastern lentil soup uses lentils and potatoes. Contrary to what I assumed, this creaming technique rarely involved dairy. In fact, dairy cream would often thin and cool a hot soup. These are two things you don’t want. Instead, the creaming technique helps add thickness and more intense flavor.

How to Use the Creaming Technique for Healthy, Plant-Based Recipes

I’ve noticed that many vegan blogs resort to using high-fat coconut milk or processed non-dairy creamer to add richness and creamy texture to their recipes. However, once you’ve got this creaming technique in your cooking repertoire, you can use it on a variety of recipes without adding loads of saturated fat or refined ingredients.

Creaming Tip One: Use a Starchy Plant-Based Ingredient

When considering how to make something creamy, it’s important to use a plant-based ingredient that has a bit of starchiness. This includes whole vegan foods like beans, chickpeas, Russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cooked brown rice. These items all have a certain amount of structure that will help create that creamy effect. Plus, they all add a good amount of fiber and protein to help make a dish more satisfying.

Creaming Tip Two: Use a High-Speed Blender

One key to creating a super-smooth, creamy texture is using a high-speed blender. You can use a Vitamix or other high-quality bar blender. Or, you can also use a high-quality immersion blender. I’ve been through enough cheap blenders to know there is a big difference in quality. For that ultimate creamy texture, it’s worth investing in something with a powerful motor that will last for decades.

Creaming Tip Three: Puree with Plenty of Liquid

When creating this creamy effect, you want to puree using plenty of liquid. Whether you’re pureeing in a bar blender or using an immersion blender, you want enough liquid to allow the blender to work efficiently. I use a “Cover by an Inch” rule of thumb. For however much “solids” are in a blender, cover it by an inch of liquid.

Bonus Tip: Use your soup broth as your liquid (not just water). This will prevent you from watering down your cream soup.

Creaming Tip Four: Be Mindful of the Color

Always be mindful of the color of the final soup. If you’re making a Creamy Spiced Carrot Fennel Soup or Smoky Yellow Split Pea Soup, for example, you’ll want to highlight that orange color. It’s a good opportunity to use sweet potatoes for creamy texture.

This same thoughtfulness on color applies to all of the ingredients in a soup. For instance, when making a Loaded Cauliflower Potato Soup, swap out orange carrots and green celery for white carrots (or parsnips) and the white parts of leeks. Use peeled Russet potato for extra richness. With a Butternut Squash Apple Bisque Soup use orange carrots, sweet apple, and yellow onions. For a creamy Asparagus Soup, starchy peas and yukon potatoes help add body.

While building the flavors of the soup, you usually want to avoid getting any brown color as this will give your final puree a brownish tinge.  Rather than sauting or browning your aromatics, you want to sweat them. I always think of Chef Elaine from school: “Keep the lid on to sweat…the vegetables like to sauna in their own juices.”

Creaming Tip Five: Jazz it Up with Fun Toppings

A creamed plant-based soup on its own is quite satisfying. However, you can really elevate it by adding a variety of fun plant-based garnishes and toppings. Try to play with the ingredients and flavors already in the soup. For instance:

• Creamy Asian Squash Soup — Top with roasted tofu, toasted squash (pumpkin) seeds sesame seeds, scallions
• Aspragus Tarragon Soup — Top with blanched asparagus tips, micro greens or chopped pistachios
• Creamy Mexican Tomato Soup — Top with toasted tortilla strips and fresh cilantro
• Creamy Vegan Potato Leek Soup — Top with fresh chives and chopped smoked almonds…or even baked potato chips

Other Fun Topping Ideas:

• Shaved Crunchy Toppings: Shaved radish, thinly sliced fresno chili, sliced cucumber
• Fresh Herbs: Parsley, dill, chives, cilantro, tarragon, mint
• Pickled Things: Pickled jalapeno, pickled red onion, Kimchi
• Cool Toppings: Diced avocado, diced tomato, vegan plain yogurt, Tofu Feta
• Roasted Crunchy Toppings: Baked Spiced Crunchy Chickpeas, Baked Tortilla Strips, toasted sesame seeds, chopped up cashews, peanuts, almonds, or pistachios

Collection of Delicious Plant-Based Vegan Creamed Soup Recipes

Now that you’ve got the tips and tricks for mastering the plant-based creaming technique, it’s time to try it in some delicious vegan recipes.

Get the list of amazing recipes: Collection of Delicious Plant-Based Vegan Creamed Soup Recipes