Instant Pot Cauliflower Soup
This Instant Pot Creamy Cauliflower soup with garlic, thyme, and parmesan cheese is a super fast and satisfying dinner, lunch or first course to make in your pressure cooker.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe: This is the ultimate creamy cauliflower soup. It’s silky smooth, thick, cheesy, and totally satisfying. Plus, it takes one pot and 10 ingredients!
We didn’t eat much cauliflower growing up—I’d only ever had to cooked boiled, and…um…I don’t recommend it that way.
However, as an adult, I’ve learned that I really enjoy it when it’s prepared with lots of seasoning. This creamy, easy soup really fits the bill there.
This is one of our new favorite Instant Pot soup recipes! We love to serve the soup with a side of 3-Ingredient Instant Pot Cornbread.
Ingredients for Cauliflower Soup
You don’t need any special or hard-to-find ingredients to make this creamy soup. Here’s what you need:
- Cauliflower. Cut the cauliflower into small bite-sized pieces so they cook evenly and thoroughly.
- Garlic. Fresh garlic will give your soup a better flavor, but you can use ½ teaspoon garlic powder in a pinch.
- Onion. To make a flavorbase for your soup.
- Fresh thyme leaves. You could replace this with 1 teaspoon dried thyme.
- Low-sodium chicken broth. For vegetarian, use vegetable broth.
- Whole milk. This will provide the thickest, creamiest texture.
- Pinch nutmeg for a hint of added warming flavor.
- Parmesan cheese. Use shredded cheese so it melts nicely.
- Lemon juice. A bit of acid to finish your soup helps round out the flavors.
How to Make Creamy Cauliflower Soup in an Instant Pot
We love that this dump-and-go soup is so fast and easy. Simply add the veggies, broth, and seasoning to the pressure cooking pot. Pressure cook for 8 minutes.
After the pressure releases, add as much milk as you like to reach your desired consistency. Then use an immersion or regular blender to puree the soup smooth.
Finally, melt in the cheese and add a squeeze of lemon juice to finish the dish. That’s it!
Important Tips for Making Cauliflower Soup
There’s no need for sautéing at the beginning of this recipe. The beauty is that you can simply dump everything into the pressure cooker pot, lock the lid in place, and let it cook!
You can use an immersion blender to make the soup smooth. If you don’t have one, use a regular upright blender. If you like a slightly chunky soup, you can leave some larger pieces of cauliflower in there.
Be sure not to add the cheese all at once. Add shredded cheese ¼ cup at a time, stirring until it’s fully melted before adding more. Otherwise, the temperature of the soup will drop too quickly and the cheese will clump up, not melt.
Frequently Asked Questions about Cauliflower Soup
Yes! This easy Cauliflower Soup recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.Yes!
Store any leftover soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. To serve, you can reheat the soup in the microwave, on the stove, or right in your Instant Pot!
Yes! This soup freezes very well. When it’s fully cooled, transfer the soup to an airtight freezer-safe container and keep it in the freezer for up to six months. Defrost the soup overnight in the fridge then reheat as described above.
To round out this soup, serve it alongside a fresh green salad with a fluffy roll on the side. We love Lion House Rolls from Barbara Bakes.
To add some flavor and texture to your creamy soup, pile each bowl with crunchy croutons, crumbled bacon, sliced scallions.
Simply use vegetable broth instead of chicken!
MORE Instant Pot Soup Recipes
You might also love these other delicious pressure cooker soup recipes:
- Instant Pot Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup is a classic, creamy, and filling soup.
- Mexican Pinto Bean Soup has a bit of a kick and is perfect for meal prep and freezing.
- Instant Pot Butternut Squash Soup with Chicken and Orzo is a super creamy and silky-smooth pressure cooker soup with added protein.
Do you LOVE this recipe?
Leave us a review below to tell us why!
Instant Pot Cauliflower Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large head of cauliflower about 2.5 pounds, cut into small florets
- 4 garlic cloves peeled
- 1 medium yellow onion roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- 1-2 cups whole milk
- Pinch nutmeg
- 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Topping options: croutons bacon, green onions
Instructions
- In the pressure cooking pot, combine the cauliflower florets, garlic, onion, broth, thyme, salt and pepper. Lock the lid in place and select High Pressure and an 8 minute cook time.
- When the cook time ends, use a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove the lid. Add 1 cup of milk and the nutmeg.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the soup smooth. For a thinner soup, use up to 1 cup more milk.
- Select Saute and add the cheese, 1/4 cup at a time, stirring until fully melted and smooth. Stir in the lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot.
Nutrition
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well I forgot the nutmeg and lemon juice. Couldn’t find my parm so used another kind. Wonderful!! fast and yummy. Used the whole cauliflower except the very end which I cut off. Thank you so much
Thanks Toni – glad it was a hit!
I hadn’t made cauliflower soup before but, I will definitely make this recipe again. Really easy in the insta pot and loved it! I also added slices of carrot which complimented the flavors.
Sounds like a delicious addition. So glad you enjoyed the recipe – thanks!