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It’s windy and cold, and it’s April. Even though this 30 degree weather would have seemed like a nice heat wave back in January, it feels like the arctic after having some spring weather the last few weeks. I needed some warm, comforting soup!

I like making this cauliflower potato soup, because it’s creamy, delicious, and feels so indulgent, but it has a ton of (sneaky!) cauliflower in it. I promise no one will know it’s not just potato soup! It can also be dairy free if you want it to be (see recipe notes). Follow my Sloth Shortcuts to make this a quick, stress-free recipe.

Veggies

It starts out with some onion and celery sautéing in some oil or butter – although this time I didn’t have celery because it’s quarantine kitchen. So just onion in some butter. The best smell in the whole world. Can you smell it from looking at this picture?? Is this a candle scent I can get? Bath and Body Works???

At this point, we’re going to add the cauliflower, but you need to up your fat game. The key to your people not knowing that you swapped out some potatoes for sneaky sneaky cauliflower is….

Bacon fat.

Next time you cook some bacon, drain off the fat and store it in a little jar (like this, and I like these lids) in the fridge. I always have some around for recipes like this.

Cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts) love them some bacon flavor. Not just because bacon is wonderful and amazing (obviously it is) but adding this rich, smoky flavor to these types of vegetables transforms them and can convince even the biggest vegetable haters they’re not so bad. Just a little bit goes a long way.

Also, sautéing the cauliflower IN the bacon fat cuts down on that stinky cabbage smell that permeates your whole house when you’re cooking cauliflower. You know what I’m talking about. It’s also a good time to throw in the garlic. Yummm now your house only thinks you’re cooking bacon and garlic. They’ll never know you’re trying to feed them a vegetable.

Don’t have any bacon grease or any fridge bacon already cooked for your topping? (fridge bacon is a thing – gotta have it on hand for emergency snacking) No worries! You can throw in some bacon to crisp up with the cauliflower while everything’s sautéing in the pan. This gets you the bacon grease for the cauliflower AND your bacon for the topping. Just fish it out before you add the potatoes and broth in the next step and set it aside for later. One pan. Less clean up. More Netflix.

Another hack for the cauliflower is to use frozen, riced cauliflower because it cooks faster than larger pieces – although you could use a head of cauliflower just fine in this. Also, no chopping and less dishes. Sometimes, I just can’t be bothered to get a cutting board dirty. I used this frozen, riced cauliflower and I chopped up the onion on a paper towel for this. There. I said it. That’s what happened.

Now you just need to add your spices (garlic powder, salt, pepper) and chicken broth. I never use chicken broth though, I use this chicken base with some water. Easier to store, and I always have it. I love the flavor. Let everything simmer together and get nice and happy, or until the potatoes are tender.

At this point, it probably does not look like good, tasty, soup. It probably looks weird and gross. Like this.

Blend it all up with your immersion blender, and it will look like this! Much better.

At this point, if you want it to be dairy free, add more broth or water to thin it out. It’s still very creamy and fine without any milk, although it’s more creamy with it. I added a cup of milk to thin it out.

Top it with some crumbled bacon and green onions, and you have yourself a winner.

No one can judge you if you eat four bowls of this because it’s basically vegetable soup.

I would like to take this time to dedicate this post to my college roommate. We have had many adventures with bacon, but maybe our best, most memorable, was our sophomore year at K-State. We made a monstrosity called a bacon ball. It’s an onion… stuffed with butter…. wrapped in bacon. This one is for you, Bridg.

Sloth Shortcuts:

• Sloth Shortcut #1: Use chicken base in your soup

• Sloth Shortcut #2: Use frozen, riced cauliflower – no chopping!

• Sloth Shortcut #3: Use an immersion blender to puree your soup

• Sloth Shortcut #4: Feel good about eating potato soup because it also has cauliflower in it. Two words. Health. Goddess.

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Cauliflower Potato Soup

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• ½ cup chopped celery
• 2 T butter (or oil)
• 1 T bacon grease
• 2 cups chopped potatoes
• 10 oz frozen riced cauliflower (or 1 small head cauliflower, chopped)
• 4 cups chicken broth (or 2 T chicken base + 4 cups water)
• 1 cup milk (or half and half or cream)
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1 t salt depending on chicken base used
• 1 t black pepper

Toppings

• green onions
• chopped, cooked bacon

Instructions

• Sauté the onion and celery in the butter until tender.
• Add the cauliflower and bacon grease and sauté 4-5 minutes.
• Off the heat, use an immersion blender to blend, about 3 minutes, until soup is creamy.
• Add milk (or broth if dairy free) and heat until warmed.
• Serve with toppings and enjoy!

Notes

If making dairy free, be sure to use oil instead of butter in step 1, and add more broth or water instead of milk to thin out the soup in step 4.