French onion soup + Creamy chowder = Stupefying soup
Vegan French onion chowder is like a cross between French onion soup and a super creamy chowder. It is also a cross between amazing and incredible. Super caramelized onions, potatoes, a bit of white wine and some cashew cream make this fusion out of this world! So warm and comforting, super easy and really fun to make.
Caramelizing the onions is what takes the longest in this recipe. Since you are using 4 big onions, they take about 30-45 minutes to caramelize. Then it is pretty quick from there. I find caramelizing the onions to be kind of therapeutic. They smell amazing and cooking something low and slow is totally relaxing.
This vegan French onion chowder has everything I want in a soup. Sweet, melty onions, carbs, creaminess and with all that awesomeness going on, it is still gluten-free! Also, it’s pretty good for you. There’s way less oil than regular French onion soup, and no cream at all, unlike a regular chowder.
When I was a kid, my Dad used to caramelize onions and potatoes for breakfast, and it was literally my all time favorite thing. This vegan French onion chowder has flavors reminiscent of that, and I can NOT get enough. It makes your house smell so yummy, your mouth will be watering before you even taste this chowder.
Vegan French Onion Chowder
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Vegan butter, I used Earth Balance
- 4 Large Sweet onions, sliced thin
- 4 Cloves Garlic, chopped
- 2 Bay leaves, dried
- 2 Fresh Thyme sprigs
- 1 Cup White wine, I used Pinot Grigio (optional)
- 2 Large Russet potatoes, diced
- 2 Quarts(8cups) Vegetable broth, divided
- 1 Cup Raw cashews, soaked for at least 8 hours
- 1/4 Cup Nutritional yeast
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon juice
- 2 Tablespoons Corn starch
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the vegan butter in a large soup pot on medium high. Add all the thinly sliced onions and start to saute them. Stirring constantly. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Saute until they are translucent, reducing heat as needed. About 5 minutes.
- Now, reduce heat to medium low, and continue to cook until fully caramelized. Stirring every few minutes. It will take about 30-45 minutes to caramelize the onions. You know they are done when they are very brown and could melt in your mouth.
- Once the onions are caramelized, add the garlic, bay leaves, thyme, diced potatoes and white wine(if using). Simmer for about 10 minutes or until the wine is mostly absorbed by the onions and potatoes.
- While the wine cooks, make cashew cream. Drain the raw cashews that you soaked for at least 8 hours in cold water, I like to do it overnight. If you are in a pinch, you can soak them in boiling water for 15-30 minutes. Add the drained cashews to a blender with 1 cup of the vegetable broth, the nutritional yeast, lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper. Blend on high until it is completely smooth.
- Next, add the corn starch to the pot and toss to coat the potatoes and onions.
- Then add the remaining 7 cups of vegetable broth and the cashew cream you made to the pot. Stir to combine. Season with a few pinches of salt and pepper.
- Simmer on medium low, just so it is at a small bubble for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve with oyster crackers on top.
Notes
Looks good. It made me hungry just reading about it.
Any chance I can make these with raw walnuts? I cannot find raw cashews in my stores.
I have not tested a cream using walnuts, it is possible that would work. I would just try soaking them the same as the cashews and blend until they are super creamy!
I made this in my instant pot last night! It was great. The onions didn’t turn brown and I only had 1/4c of cashews so added some almond milk. Will definitely make again. Thank you!
Any thoughts on a sub for the cashews? Allergic to nuts here. This looks amazing!
You could try silken tofu for the cashew cream.
Hi Holly,
The cashews are for the “cream”. I suppose you could use any non nut based cream that are available in your local grocer. I hope this helps.
Try amazon! It’s where I get my raw cashews from!
Hi
I’m super new on this.
How do I make vegetable broth? I’ve seen it on several recipes. Is there like a veggie base to make it?
Thanks!
I use boxed vegetable broth. As far as I know every company that makes chicken or beef broth also makes vegetable broth. It should be with soups and other broths and stocks. I’m not sure where you are located, but it should be easy to find.
Hi
Thanks so much for replying.
I live in Baja, Mexico.
All your recipees look awesome, thank you for sharing.
C.
Cynthia, I make my veggie broth all the time. Save up all your ends and peelings of carrots, celery, onion, garlic (even the papery part). No squash or potatoes. Freeze them in a gallon zip lock bag. When the bag is full, dump into a large crock pot, add a bay leaf or two and let cook on low overnight. Strain and freeze. There are several places on the web that give a bit more instruction, but NO sodium and, in my opinion, much better flavor than store bought. I can’t wait to make this recipe!
Same here Suzy!!!! It’s getting the most out of your veggies, and you know what is in it!!!!
Thank you for this tip. I didn’t think we could freeze it because it loses flavor but YAY! Going to do this.
This is a fabulous recipe. So delicious!!! Worth the time it takes to make. Just as described, sweet oniony and creamy potatoes. I used one cup less broth because I think the texture was thicker and more chowder-like without the extra liquid. I used my immersion blender for a minute before serving, just to give it a better texture and incorporate the flavors, but still left some potato chucks. One touch added a nice flavor- I added just a pinch of smoked paprika at the end. This is a definite keeper!!
Sounds amazing! I’m so glad you enjoyed!
This looks amazing. Can you recommend a non alcoholic substitute for the white wine?
You can leave it out completely, or I like to substitute wine with a splash of apple cider vinegar and a splash of juice. It mimics the sweetness, tartness and acidity.
Thanks! I’ll give that a try!
Cooking wine does the trick if you want the flavor. It is down the condiment aisle.
Hi, this looks so good enough to try it out ! So, that’s what I did and I think I messed up the cashew cream. This was my first time making a vegan cream so I wasn’t sure of the consistency… Once I poured it in with the rest of the soup and stirred it in I noticed the cream was a nutty texture so it seemed to not have creamed all the way….I was sad since I messed it up. I’m not sure what else I did wrong as the color doesn’t look the same as yours and it’s not thickening up… Help!
I’m not sure exactly what happened, but it sounds like you needed to blend the cashew cream longer. It should be completely smooth, and sometimes that takes a few minutes. If the cashew cream still looks nutty when you pour it into the broth, it definitely needs to be blended longer. It kind of depends on your blender. Some high powdered blenders will do it pretty quickly, but some may take a while. Make sure your cashews are super soft from soaking before trying to blend, or they won’t get completely smooth. As for the color, that probably mostly comes from making sure the onions are very caramelized. I hope that helps! And I’m sorry you had a hard time!
I made this last weekend; we really enjoyed it! The flavor is great! I had an issue with the thinly sliced onions and do not recommend cutting them too thin. They curled up around each other and I had a hard time separating them, even after adding the other ingredients. They really clumped together. I did reheat the leftovers the next day, adding just a bit of veggie stock, and the flavor and texture was still spot on. The cashews do need that 8 hour soak. I generally pour warm water over mine and let them soak overnight and then into the next day until time to cook dinner. They blend up nicely that way. It was a perfect dinner for a cold Wisconsin winter night! I’ll definitely be making it again!
I made this heavenly soup tonight for dinner. WOW. We loved it. Even though it’s a thick, hearty and homey soup, it’s company worthy. Thanks for such a great recipe.
This soup os wonderful!!!! I double the recipe and it filled a turkey roaster pan!!!
Actually this is fun to make. My kitchen and living room/dining room are in one big space so, I lit the fire and a few candles and put on the Buffy soundtrack before I started. Then I organized, chopped and sliced as if I was going to present this on TV! This is a delicious soup. I served mine with cream cheese stuffed croissants. Thanks for this wonderful recipe!!😙
Girl ya did it again
this was so perfect for my polish potato loving bod. So warm and flavorful
So creamy dreamy that the hubs didn’t even miss the animal death bits 😀
I added a dash of cayenne (bc I like food that hurts a litttttle) and a touch of ginger (like tiny)
Keep doing what you do, your food gives me hug vibes
This is SO good!! It took a long time to make but it was time well spent. I love onions and potatoes so for me this is the perfect food 🙂
I am not a vegan (pescatarian), but between this soup and your white lasagne soup, I think cashew cream is my new favorite thing!! I did use regular butter, but besides that I followed the recipe exactly and it was AHH-MAZING. And the best part is I can have more than one bowl and not feel guilty. Keep the amazing recipes coming!
Hi. I made this for the first time and although I liked the taste, It didn’t look like the illustration.
Also, I had an inordinate amount of foam that I almost lost control of when doing my final reheat.
A suggestion: words like “large” in a recipe are a bit vague and it would be helpul to add an approximate weight
TX
I’m glad you liked the flavor. The only reason I can think of that it foamed up is that the pot got over heated. Creamy soups will foam up if they are boiling too strongly. I would recommend just making sure it is at a small bubble like the recipe says. You may need to have it on low if your stove heats things up fast. Do you think maybe it was boiling rather than simmering?
I’m not vegan but I like the recipe. Not sure about the nutritional yeast. Is there a substitute? I can’t wait to try it.
You can leave the nutritional yeast out if you want. It just gives it a cheesy flavor like French onion soup would have.
Is it possible to use leek instead of onion?
I think leeks would be delicious. Leeks don’t caramelize quite like onions though, so it may have a different sort of flavor. You don’t need to cook the leeks as long, so that would save some time too!
So just made this recipe for the first time. It was my first time caramelizing onions and it took some time, but man it tastes awesome! Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!
Can I use leek instead of onion?
I think that would work, but leeks don’t caramelize like onions. So, you can probably just saute them until they are soft and a bit brown, then proceed with the rest of the recipe.
The soup is great. I think it would have been better to cook the potatoes in the broth for about 10 minutes before adding the cashew cream. It’s the perfect soup for a cold winter day in Chicago.
This soup is incredible. I added some corn and if you’re vegetarian you can add clams but without clams this is so good!! I’m hesitant to use recipes from different sites but I trust this one because of this recipe. Thank you!!
To avoid confusing anyone, just wanted to mention that pescatarians eat fish but a vegetarian would not. I think you meant pescatarian here.
Hi,
Great recipe. I made as per instructions with box stock. I would try next time without the cornflour as I think the cashew cream might make it thick enough and the corn flour gives a slight slimy texture I don’t like. I also blend a 1/4 of the soup roughly and that gives the added thickness as well.
Fabulous. We enjoyed it so much we fotgot it was ‘only ‘soup’.
I can’t wait to make this and will leave a review! But Is there an alternative to 1/4 cup vegan butter. Thinking that’s a lot of calories
This was so good. Salty, sweet and kind of smoky. I made it exactly as written and it turned out fantastic. Next time I might try using a cup less broth to make it slightly thicker only because I’m gluttonous. I’ve literally only made your recipes over the last few weeks and nothing else. It’s been a comfort food extravaganza and every recipe has been delicious.
Thank you!
You have the BEST soup recipes! This was delicious!
Followed the exact recipe, so yummy! My new fave vegan soup!
My fave vegan soup I’ve ever made! Amazing! I miss French onion soup so much and this really satisfied that craving! Used almond milk instead of cashews. Still used the nutritional yeast and lemon juice and it turned out great! Well done! 5 stars!
Just made this tonight! My partner is allergic to cashews so I made a simple bechamel sauce (3 Tbsp olive oil, 2 Tbsp flour, 2 cups oat milk) which I also use when I do the White Lasagna Soup. Didn’t have any white wine, I added a small splash of rice vinegar. Turned out great, will definitely make again.
Made this tonight. I added Roasted Potatoes, Leeks, and 2 Field Roast Apple Sage sausages. It’s so good!! I make a different soup every week and this is such a nice refresh from Tomato or cream based soups. I’ve never caramelized Onions before and have been slightly intimated by the idea for years now, but this was incredibly easy and rewarding to make. Your recipes are hands down my favorite. I’m making the Steak Diane sauce to go over Portobello Mushrooms tomorrow night!
This was delicious. Very rich and indulgent. It took me closer to 2 hours cooking time. Next time I’ll try cutting the potatoes a little smaller to see if that helps reduce the total time a bit. Served with fresh French bread and will certainly make again.
Absolutely delightful. I literally have a bowl of this in my hand as I type this. I followed the directions with the exception of corn starch and I did hit it with the immersion blender a few times but left some chunks. Deliciously flavorful! Thank you for sharing!