‘Dreamy’ doesn’t come close to describing this vegan creamy spinach and artichoke soup. Lush, smooth, decadent? Maybe. But really this soup is so comforting and filling, you’ll fall in love immediately! It feels like you are eating all the cream, but really it is just plant-based goodness!
What You Need For This Totally Epic Soup
- Garlic and Onions: Because all epic soups start with garlic and onions.
- Frozen Spinach: I think frozen spinach works best since you can thaw it, squeeze the liquid out of it, and you get a lot more spinach than you would if you used fresh.
- Artichoke Hearts: I like to use the marinated ones in a jar to give this soup even more flavor!
- Tofu: Yup, the cream is made with tofu. This one goes out to all my peeps who can’t have cashews.
- Non-dairy Milk: This is blended with the tofu to make the most amazing creamy sauce.
- Nutritional Yeast: For a little bit of that cheesy goodness.
- Lemon Juice and Red Pepper Flakes: For that tang and spice! Oh yeah.
So you have probably noticed by now, that I love creamy soups. Then you might be thinking to yourself, “self, that must suck for a vegan to love cream so much.” Well, when you know how to make all the good cream sauces with vegan ingredients, the world feels a little brighter.
So Let’s Talk Tofu Cream
- You can simply squeeze some of the liquid out of the tofu over the sink and skip the pressing. Quick and easy!
- I like to use soy milk to blend the tofu, but your favorite non-dairy milk will do. I’ve tried it with almond milk and oat milk too!
- I add the nutritional yeast to the blender to blend with the cream so that it is nice and smooth and melds perfectly in the soup.
- Lemon juice, red pepper, salt and black pepper make this super smooth and thick cream sauce tasty all on its own!
This vegan creamy spinach and artichoke soup is a new fall/winter staple, served with crispy bread or it would be so so good served in a bread bowl! Maybe even through some pasta in it? Heck yes!
Why This Creamy, Dreamy Soup is For You
- The creaminess, my god, the creaminess.
- This soup tastes just like spinach and artichoke dip, and who doesn’t love spinach and artichoke dip?
- No nuts in this soup, for those of you looking for the perfect nut alternative.
- Artichokes are freaking delicious.
- Spinach is good for you, right?
Vegan Creamy Spinach and Artichoke Soup
This super creamy and decadent vegan soup tastes just like spinach and artichoke dip!
Ingredients
- 1 Block(15oz.) Firm tofu (or silken tofu if you want a thinner cream)
- 1 1/2 Cups Non-dairy milk, unsweetened I used soy milk
- 2 Tablespoons Nutritional yeast
- 2 teaspoon Lemon juice, plus more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon Red pepper flakes
- 1 Tablespoon Olive oil
- 1 Small Sweet onion, diced
- 6 Cloves Garlic, chopped
- 10 Ounces Frozen spinach, thawed and drained
- 12 Ounces Artichoke hearts in oil or water(whichever you prefer), chopped
- 4 Cups Vegetable broth
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Toasted bread for serving(optional)
Instructions
- First, you want to make tofu cream sauce. Drain the tofu and then squeeze as much liquid out of the tofu as you can over the sink.(You don't need to save any liquid, just let it go down the drain) I just like to use my hands to squeeze it, it is fine if it starts to break apart. You are going to blend it.
- Break the tofu into chunks, and add the tofu to a blender.
- Then add the non-dairy milk, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt and pepper to the blender. Blend on high, scraping down the sides of the blender as needed until the mixture is completely smooth. This may take a few minutes, depending on your blender.
- Set aside the tofu cream sauce.
- Now, in a large soup pot, heat the olive oil on medium high. Then add the onion and garlic. Reduce heat to medium low and sauté for 4-5 minutes or until the onion is translucent.
- Next, squeeze all of the liquid out of the thawed spinach and add it to the pot. Then add the chopped artichoke hearts. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and and stir to combine.
- Continue to sauté for another 2-3 minutes.
- Then, pour the vegetable broth into the pot. Stir to combine.
- Next, pour the tofu cream sauce you made into the pot and whisk to combine the cream sauce and the broth. If it looks like it isn't blending, just continue whisking until it is fully combined. Season with a few pinches of salt and pepper.
- Bring to a simmer, don't bring it to a rolling boil, it will get really frothy. Reduce heat to low, and continue to simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Taste and adjust seasoning. I always add more salt and pepper, and sometimes extra lemon juice.
- I like to serve with bread that I tossed in olive oil and Italian seasoning and bake at 400 degrees(F) for 10 minutes or until brown and crunchy.
- Serve immediately .
Notes
This soup does reheat well, and if it looks like it is starting to separate, just stir and reheat.
Nutrition
Calories: 345kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 1372mg | Potassium: 562mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 10084IU | Vitamin C: 34mg | Calcium: 257mg | Iron: 3mg
Hi! This looks wonderful and I will be making it tonight. I currently make soups to give to my family that is ill and drop it at their homes. Can this be frozen? If so how would you suggest reheating?
Great! I added ziti noodles as suggested!
This would also be great with blended canneli beans to the tofu cream sauce to make it creamier. I also prefer silken tofu (drained not pressed) to make the cream sauce even creamier!
Potatoes could even be a great addition! Thank you so much!
I’m making this recipe for the first time next week. I’m worried about the huge amount of sodium in the nutrition facts. Besides using unsalted vegetable broth, what else can I do to reduce the sodium? I would also like to make it a lower calorie soup?
Great ideas!
This looks amazing! We make so many of your recipes and love every single one! I was wondering if you have a suggestion on how to make this without tofu, perhaps another alternative cream options? While I don’t have a nut sensitivity, I do have a soy one. Can only eat it once in a while because it’s an IBS trigger. Thanks in advance!!
Sure! Just make a creamy cashew sauce. In a blender add,..About 1 cup of cashews (soak them first by adding about a cup of. boiling water over them and let sit 30 minutes-then drain before adding to the blender), about 1/8 cup of lemon juice, 1 cup almond milk, 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes, 1-2 tsp salt and pepper to taste, 1 tsp garlic and onion powder. This can be your base instead of tofu version. Enjoy!
What about silken tofu? I’m assuming you could use that too? 🤔
Yup! Lots of people have told me they used silken tofu and it worked great!
Planning to give this a try soon but thinking it would be great served in bread bowls!
The tofu didn’t get as creamy as I’d hoped despite using a Vitamix. I wish the recipie would have called for silken tofu instead of extra firm. This seems like a waste.
Ack! Thank you so much for catching that. It was supposed to say firm, not extra firm. We’ve updated it. Please try again, and let us know what you think! Thanks again!
So freaking delicious! I added some gardein “chicken” and it was amazing! Thank you so much for the recipe!
AMAZING!!!!! This was so creamy and delicious!
Just made this and it’s delicious! I’ve never made anything that uses tofu this way and I was afraid it would taste a little odd but you can’t tell at all. It tastes just like the spinach and artichoke dip you’d get as an appetizer when you go out to eat.
We really liked this and it was SO easy! Great as leftovers as well.
Very very good! We added pasta to it as well which made it more filling. Haven’t found a recipe from Rabbit and Wolves that I don’t like yet! Thank you!!!
This came out tasting so good! But I used silken tofu instead of firm, and I wish the recipe would say somewhere that silken tofu shouldn’t be cooked too long and that it could turn out looking all globular. Maybe add a note that if using silken, skip the 5-10 minute simmer at the end. Planning on making this again now that I have this piece of trivia in my back pocket.
If I didn’t want to use tofu, do you suppose that cashews would work? Or any other ideas?
I made this on a whim because I had most of the ingredients on hand. I didn’t have any thawed tofu, so I made the cream sauce with cashews as mentioned in a previous comment and it turned out great! Do not skip the toasty bread, I think that was the best part. Thank you for a great recipe!