Mexican Cauliflower White Bean Soup
Smoky cauliflower white bean soup is the perfect lunch or weeknight meal. Made with just 7 ingredients, this soup is ready in 30 minutes and is packed with flavor! It’s so easy to make and super filling!
If you love soup, you should check out all of my quick and easy soup recipes, including this Spicy white bean soup or cauliflower lentil soup.
One of the reasons I started my own meal prep catering company back in 2015 was because I kept hearing how difficult it can be to get dinner on the table quickly. I started sharing my recipes here at Bites of Wellness as a way to help you find ways to get a really nourishing, flavorful meal on the table in 30 minutes or less!
Why you will love this recipe
- Soup is a great way to get in more veggies
- Creamy comfort food
- Great for meal prep
- Good for you ingredients that make this vegan, gluten free, and dairy free
Ingredient to highlight
- Cauliflower – the cauliflower helps to make the soup super creamy and also adds some veggies to the soup.
- Vegetable Broth – gives the soup so much flavor!
- Great Northern White Beans (or cannellini beans) – the secret ingredient to make super creamy soup!
How to make smoky cauliflower white bean soup
Preheat a large dutch oven or large pot over medium heat while you chop up the cauliflower (about 5 minutes).
Chop the cauliflower. Learn how to cut a head of cauliflower in this video.
Cook cauliflower: Cook the cauliflower a total of 4-5 minutes over medium heat.
Add the water, vegetable broth, salt and spices to the pot and stir well. Cook 15 minutes to allow cauliflower to soften. 
Drain the white beans and add them to the soup. Cook 2-3 minutes to warm the beans through.
Blend the soup: Blend smooth with an immersion blender or transfer the soup in batches to a blender, being careful to not overfill the blender with hot liquids (also be sure to vent the blender and put a clean dishtowel over the top so you don’t get soup on the ceiling). 
Serve hot with your favorite toppings.
Recommended kitchen tools
The best toppings for this soup
This Mexican spiced cauliflower white bean soup is great on it’s own. If you love added crunch or color to your soup, here are some great toppings you could add:
- Cilantro
- Sliced jalapenos (fresh or pickled)
- Pickled Red Onions
- Chopped red onion, roasted red pepper, tomatoes
- Avocado cubes
- Crushed tortilla chips or plantain chips
- Crushed red pepper flakes
- Roasted cauliflower florets
FAQs
Can you make this in the instant pot?
Yes! This soup would be perfect in the instant pot!
- Add all the ingredients to the instant pot.
- Cook for 3 minutes high pressure.
- Let pressure naturally release at least 10 minutes, then you can manually release remaining pressure.
- Blend with immersion blender and enjoy!
What other beans can you use to make this cauliflower bean soup?
I like to use a thin skinned white bean. Some great options include:
- Cannellini beans
- Navy Beans
- Chickpeas
- Kidney beans (this will change the color)
- Lentils (green or red would work here – this will change the color).
If you love this recipe, you should try
Smoky Cauliflower White Bean Soup
Guided Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 1 large head cauliflower (chopped)
- 4 cups Low Sodium Vegetable Broth
- 2 cups water
- 1.5 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 cans Great Northern White Beans (or cannellini beans)
Instructions
- Preheat a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat.
- Chop the cauliflower florets into equal size pieces (no need for them to be pretty, just uniform).
- Spray the pot with olive oil (or avocado oil) spray and add the cauliflower, don't stir immediately.
- After about 2 minutes, stir the cauliflower and continue to cook, a total of 4-5 minutes.
- After cooking 4-5 minutes, add the vegetable broth, water, smoked paprika, cumin, salt and garlic powder, stir well.
- Simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes, to soften the cauliflower.
- While the soup is simmering, drain and rinse the canned white beans.
- After 15 minutes of cooking, add the white beans so the soup mixture. Cook 2-3 minutes to heat the beans.
- Turn off the heat. Blend the soup using an immersion blender in the pot or carefully transfer the soup (in batches) to a blender to blend until smooth.
Equipment
Notes
- Start by turning the cauliflower over so the stem is pointing up. Cut away any green leaves.
- Use your knife and cut around the stem at a 30 degree angle, this will remove most of the stem and the cauliflower will break up into much more manageable pieces.
- From here, since you aren’t worrying about presentation, just cut the cauliflower into equal size pieces.
- If you are short on time, you can also use a bag of cauliflower florets from the store. You will want to take a moment to chop them into equal size pieces so they are able to cook evenly.
- You can also use frozen riced cauliflower (2 bags) in place of the cauliflower. This cuts the cooking time down as well. Simmer the riced cauliflower for about 7-8 minutes before adding the beans. You will want to reduce the water from 2 cups to 1 cup.
- If you need this soup to be ready in 20 minutes, omit sautéing the cauliflower and just add all the ingredients (except the beans) to the pot and simmer for 16-17 minutes. Add the beans, simmer 2-3 more minutes and blend.
- Store in the fridge 4 days (use mason jars for individual storage).
- Store in the freezer up to 3 months in a freezer safe container. To make it easy to portion, I recommend freezing in silicone containers first, then transfer those to a freezer safe bag for long term storage.
It was easy and very tasty. I like the addition of the beans for protein. Smoked paprika makes everything good. You can easily change the flavor based on what you garnish with before serving.
Tried this the other night, the cauliflower and beans worked really well and it was delicious.
Thanks for sharing