A big bowl of creamy soup can be enough of a filling meal on its own. I remember loving creamy, cheesy potato soup when I was a kid, and I still crave the taste every so often to this day. Though hot, rich soups can be especially satisfying for the winter months, there’s something very amazing about a creamy, chilled soup in the spring and summer months as well.

Luckily, getting a creamy consistency in vegan soups is easily done with beloved vegan ingredients like cashew cream and nutritional yeast. If you have a craving for some rich soup, check out these steps for making creamy, cheesy vegan soup:

1. Prep Your Veggies

First, choose the veggies for your soup, like potato, butternut squash, mushrooms, and carrots. Steam them, so they’re tender and ready to throw in the soup after you make the broth. Some recipes may not call for steaming your veggies before you put them in the soup, but rather just to blend the veggies and other ingredients until smooth. Try that technique with this raw creamy mushroom soup with avocado and miso. You can also try marinating and dehydrating the veggies and mushrooms in this raw cream of broccoli mushroom soup.

2. Buy Non-Dairy Milk

Next, you’ll want to add non-dairy milk to your steamed vegetables. Use almond milk in this raw green pea soup. When you combine that with the peas and avocado, you’ll get an ultra-creamy soup that’ll be hard to believe it’s dairy-free.

3. Use Veggie Broth

Vegetable broth is great for vegan soups because it will help you achieve a more enhanced flavor than just boiling vegetables and herbs with water. Vegetable broth and unsweetened soy or rice milk help give this creamy carrot bisque a creamy texture. Also, use vegetable broth in this creamy roasted butternut squash soup.

4. Sprinkle Nutritional Yeast

This much-loved ingredient, known as nooch, is what gives a cheesy taste to popcorn, soup, mac n’ cheese, and a host of other vegan dishes. Use 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast in this creamy potato cauliflower soup. With other ingredients such as vegan Parmesan-style cheese, vegetable broth, non-dairy milk, and garlic, this rich soup will remind you of that cheesy, creamy soup you may have enjoyed as a dairy-eating kid.

5. Get Zesty With Herbs and Spices

Lastly, zest up your soup with herbs and spices. The right combination of herbs and spices goes a long way in flavor with soup. Choose several different types of herbs and spices for your soup. Use California bay leaf, parsley, and clove in this chestnut soup, and use garlic, salt, pepper, basil, and pepper flakes in this raw cream of broccoli mushroom soup.

Make sure to check out Here’s Our Ultimate Guide to Vegan Soup Recipes! for all of our favorite vegan soup recipes!

Lead image source: Creamy Potato and Cauliflower Soup