[vegan] cheddar+potato soup/loaded potato soup

by sj

Cheesy and creamy, filled with chunks of wonderfully tender potato, rich without being heavy and just a delight for a cool dark evening or a lunch on a blustery day. To make things even better, it is over the moon yum when you throw on some extra toppings to make it a whole loaded potato soup, truly fit for a hearty meal. Want even MORE reasons to whip this up and enjoy? It’s easy, it’s fast, and it’s so convincingly cheddar-y that you could totally fool your friends. How fun is THAT?

(vegan) cheddar+potato soup/loaded potato soup

Cheesy and creamy, filled with chunks of wonderfully tender potato, rich without being heavy and just a delight for a cool dark evening… alt dairy [vegan] cheddar+potato soup/loaded potato soup European make it paper
yield: 4-6 Prep Time: Cooking Time:
Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat
rating 5.0/5
( 3 voted )

ingredients:

700g | 1 ½ lbs potatoes, cubed or diced

700g/ml | 3 cups light broth

230g/ml | 1 cup water

40g | ¼ cup finely chopped red bell pepper

35g | ¼ cup finely chopped shallots

8g | 1 ½ tsp finely chopped garlic

3g | ½ tsp salt

75g | ½ cup raw whole cashews

20g | ¼ cup + 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast flakes

3.5g | ¾ tsp prepared yellow mustard

20g | 1 heaping Tbsp shiro (white) miso

1g | ½ tsp sweet smoked paprika

.3g | 1/16 tsp chipotle powder

4g | ½ tsp lactic acid*

15g | 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp tapioca starch (mixed with 1/4 cup water to make a slurry)

.7g | ½ tsp dry thyme

.7g | heaping ½ tsp dry marjoram

.7g | ½ dry sage

2 turkish bay leaves

Up to 1 cup Instant potato flakes (optional)

directions:

Blend the cashews, bell pepper, shallots, and garlic with broth until smooth

Blend in the remaining ingredients minus the tapioca starch, potato, potato flakes and dry herbs

Place all but starch and flakes in instant pot/electric pressure cooker and cook for 12m high pressure with a natural release (make sure and stir it very well before sealing to help keep any particulates suspended and off the bottom)

After release, remove lid and stir well to remove anything stuck to the bottom, then add in your starch (while stirring) and potato flakes to thicken (if wanted), switch to sautee less/low and simmer for just a few minutes stirring regularly

Will keep for about 3-5 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer

To magically transform into loaded potato soup simply top with the baked potato toppings of choice, diced steamed broccoli, scallions, chives, sour cream, bacon...whatever you would like.

To make on the stovetop: 

Simmer (covered) until potatoes are tender, making sure to stir/check frequently to prevent scorching and adding starch and flakes at end as above

To make in the slow cooker:

Cook on low heat for at least 2 hours until potatoes are tender (you can add the starch and potato flakes at beginning or end for this method - though i would recommend doing the starch toward the end of the cooking)

notes:

*you can sub 1 Tbsp lemon juice or 1/4 tsp citric acid for the lactic acid

If you’ve read the post for the mac and cheese (not cheese) then a lot of this will feel pretty familiar, they use a lot of the same ingredients to achieve that wonderful creamy, gooey, cheddar yum. Cashews provide the bulk of the creaminess, as well as the fatty element for the soup, also bringing in some richness and a little sweetness, and some tapioca starch to provide some of that wonderful chees-y goo texture. Shallots and red bell pepper bring in some more sweetness and depth, with the bell pepper adding to the smoothness and adding some nice colour. Nooch for cheesiness, umami, and nuttiness, garlic for some pep and depth, miso for that fermented tang and saltiness, a wee bit of prepared yellow mustard for tang and zip. For the herbs and spices we have smoked paprika and chipotle for smokiness, colour and a punch of flavour. Thyme, marjoram, sage, and bay to help round things out with some herbal and woodsy notes, pulling everything together and highlighting the other flavours. We have vegetable broth (just a standard vegge broth, not too dark) and water for the liquid, and of course, potatoes. I used yukon golds this round because i had them on hand and i like the buttery flavour they provide, if you prefer more of a baked potato style soup, use russets for their heartier flavour and flaky texture. Finally (not pictured above) you can use instant potato flakes AFTER the cook to thicken the soup if you like it more chowder-y (which we do) and still avoid the horror of scorching during cooking.

This is awesomely simply to make, it’s pretty darn low effort here. You blend your base ingredients (it should be pretty watery at this point, like milk), throw them in the pot with the potatoes, cook for 12 minutes on high pressure (i’ll provide stovetop directions for the pressure cooker challenged out there), switch the pot to sautee (low) add your starch and potato flakes (if you’re using), simmer just a bit and done. super, crazy easy. A little trick to help speed things along, do your base before cutting your potatoes, then you can put the base into the pot and go ahead and turn it on to start warming up while you cut the potatoes, this will shave a few minutes off your total time. You’re welcome. Also, it is very likely you will have some sticking on the bottom, probably a light amber colour, just stir this into the soup before adding your starch and flakes so it doesn’t fully scorch.

Look. At. That. so very many rumbles in my belly staring at it. You can add as little or as much potato flake at the end as you like, keep in mind when you’re stirring it in it will thicken more as it sits a few minutes and hydrates. If you over thicken it, don’t worry, simply stir in some water or milk of choice to thin it back out a little and don’t mention it. No one will know. You can enjoy it totally plain, or….take it to the next level and throw on a motley assortment of toppings to make a loaded soup. For mine i used diced steamed broccoli, a “pico” (made of tomato, scallion, onion, and red bell pepper, with a little smoked salt, pepper and olive oil), some sour cream and some mad exquisite bacon made of king oyster mushrooms! (recipe here)….i just don’t have any more words to describe…it. is. that. good. [make it. make it now.]

...and now for something similar:

2 comments

Amy November 19, 2017 - 10:06 pm

Made this tonight, delicious!! I used russet potatoes and it was plenty thick without adding potato flakes. Thanks for sharing!

sj November 19, 2017 - 10:10 pm

So happy you enjoyed it!! Russets tend to break down a little more than the yukons we used, so I’m not surprised you didn’t have to thicken it. Next time I’m going to try using them myself 🙂

Comments are closed.

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