Loaded Cauliflower Soup

with roasted chicken, cauli gnocchi, and veggies!

The perfect mix between chicken noodle soup & loaded baked potato soup. Using mashed cauliflower as the base is healthy and makes the soup nice and creamy (the cheese and coconut milk also make it nice and creamy lol).

If you aren't blessed with a Trader Joe's near you - this soup might be more difficult to make. Trader Joe's has frozen mashed cauliflower and frozen cauliflower gnocchi that I LOVE. I'll talk about other options at the bottom.

I'm trying to eat a lower carb diet between Thanksgiving and Christmas which means cauliflower is really great!! I'm not an expert on Keto so if something in here is a huge no-no I wouldn't be surprised but it's better than the giant bowl of pasta I wanted to make for dinner!

I used roasted chicken from a chicken I made the night before because I had leftovers. If you've conveniently made a chicken the night before then wow! you can do the same. But I'm guessing that isn't the case so I'd suggest buying a small rotisserie chicken to keep this easy. My grocery store has them for $7-8 usually. Note- TJ's does not sell rotisserie chicken as far as I'm aware so you'll either need to go to two grocery stores or keep frozen cauliflower gnocchi and mashed cauli in your freezer. I keep both in my freezer. Super simple and good to have on hand!

Here's a fun little pic of my chicken! I'll be posting a recipe for this as well. I told my roommate I wanted a cornish hen but couldn't find one and her response was "I don't know if I like hens" to which I responded "I don't think we eat roosters" but neither of us had put much thought into the gender of our foods before. I know hormones can affect taste though. I digress.

Eating this soup made my tummy really happy which is a good sign. It felt comforting but not overly indulgent.

To make the cauliflower base for this soup I used frozen mashed cauliflower. If you can't find frozen mashed cauliflower or prefer to make it fresh you can do so by bringing a large pot a water to a boil then adding the florets from one large head of cauliflower. Let it boil for about 10 minutes then transfer to a blender with about 4 tablespoons of chicken broth and blend until smooth.

Once I had my mashed cauliflower I added 1 cup of low sodium chicken broth and 2/3 cup coconut cream. I then used my immersion blender to get it extra smooth. Then I added some spices and a cup of freshly shredded white sharp cheddar cheese.

The most important thing about cooking with cauliflower (in my opinion) is to use plenty of seasoning because I find it to be incredibly bland or taste too much like a vegetable for a carb substitute. Luckily in this recipe between the chicken broth, coconut cream, cheese, and spices there's plenty going on and you still get enough of that cauliflower taste.

If you can't find cauliflower gnocchi and aren't gluten free - just use regular potato gnocchi! It's not gluten free because it still has flour. You can also make cauliflower gnocchi or sweet potato gnocchi from scratch if you have the time. But I personally do not have that kind of time on a weeknight.

I was having an anxious day and on anxious days soup always calms me.

Okay story time is over. It's mostly recipe tips so you should read if you haven't.

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 2-4

You'll need:

• 1 bag of Trader Joe's frozen mashed cauliflower

• 2 cups Trader Joe's frozen cauliflower gnocchi

• 2 cups of roasted or rotisserie chicken

• 1 cup and 4 tablespoons chicken broth, separated

• 2/3 cup coconut broth

• 1/2 cup diced carrot

• 1/2 cup small or diced mushrooms (I bought a small cluster of clamshell/ beech mushrooms)

• 1 tablespoon butter

• onion salt

• black pepper

• dried thyme

• 1 teaspoon honey (optional)

• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne (optional)

• Diced green onion and extra cheese for serving.

Instructions:

1. Add the bag of frozen mashed cauliflower to a large pot with 4 tablespoons of chicken broth (or enough to fill the bottom), defrost over medium heat, stirring occasionally to break up clumps. Should take ~10 minutes

2. Add 1/2 tablespoon of butter to a sauté pan or skillet with the cauliflower gnocchi and cook over medium heat, stirring and turning often so none of them stick to the pan.

3. Once the gnocchi is browned on each side, add mushrooms, carrots, and chicken to the pan with another 1/2 tablespoon of butter. Season with pepper and onion salt to taste and 1 teaspoon dried thyme. I like to use a lot of black pepper and a sprinkle of onion salt. Cook until the mushrooms are soft, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat.

4. Once the mashed cauliflower is completely defrosted, add coconut cream and chicken broth then use an immersion blender on low to mix completely and get rid of chunks. If you do not have an immersion blender (I use mine alllllll the time) then transfer to a regular blender and pulse until the chunks are gone.

5. Add cheddar, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon onion salt, 1 teaspoon dried thyme, honey, and cayenne to the cauliflower base and stir until cheese is melted.

6. Add half of the gnocchi/veggie/chicken blend to the soup pot and stir to combine.

7. Split into bowls, top with the rest of the gnocchi/veggies/chicken. Sprinkle with extra cheese, black pepper and diced green onion for presentation purposes.

That's all for now folks, enjoy!!!

and if you make this tag me on instagram @honeyibaked