This creamy garlic soup recipe was originally shared with us by Pacific Foods about 12 years ago. My how time flies! We’ve given the post a full overhaul, and updated the ingredients and instructions for clarification. But the core recipe remains the same. The rich base is made from a deliciously rich blend of roasted garlic, almonds, and breadcrumbs.
Special Diet Notes: Garlic Almond Soup
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, optionally gluten-free, peanut-free, soy-free, plant-based, optionally vegan, and optionally vegetarian.
Dairy-Free Creamy Garlic Soup
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Almonds, roasted garlic, bread, and just a little milk beverage create a creamy finish in this fulfilling soup.
Author: Pacific Foods
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 6 heads garlic
- Salt, as needed
- Black pepper, as needed
- 2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
- ½ cup almonds (preferably blanched and toasted)
- ½ cup breadcrumbs (gluten-free, if needed)
- 1 cup unsweetened dairy-free almond milk beverage
- 7 cups chicken or vegetable broth
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- Crusty bread, dairy-free croutons, and/or chopped parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Split the garlic cloves in half, width-wise and place them cut sides down on a heavy baking sheet lightly coated with oil and salt and pepper.
- Pour 1 tablespoon olive oil over the garlic and roast for about 20 minutes, or until the garlic is soft and will squeeze out easily from the skin.
- Spread the breadcrumbs on a baking sheet and pop the sheet in the oven to toast until golden brown and dry, about 10 minutes.
- Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a heavy saute pan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent. Reduce the heat to low, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Season the onions lightly with salt and pepper.
- Place the almonds and toasted breadcrumbs in your food processor or spice grinder and process until very finely ground. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl.
- Add cooked onions and garlic to the food processor and puree until smooth and creamy.
- Add the broth and milk beverage to a large pot, and bring the liquid just to a boil.
- Place 2 cups of the hot liquid in your blender. Add the ground almonds, bread, and onion-garlic puree to the blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
- Whisk the blended mixture into the remaining broth in the pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Optionally serve with crusty bread, top with croutons, or garnish with parsley to serve.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or freeze the soup to enjoy later.
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12 Comments
Thanks! Those are good thoughts. Yes the almonds were still somewhat wet eve after being in the oven. Reducing the liquid seems like the simplest thing to try.
I’ll check some other similar recipes and see if anything stands out. I don’t think it needs to be a lot thicker but a little more body to it would make a difference.
Hi Alisa! I gave this a try last night. It was pretty good but didn’t quite turn out as expected. It’s pretty tasty and definitely not a writeoff but could be better.
It looks a lot thicker in your pictures. My soup came out pretty watery. Is there any obvious reasons that might be the case?
There are a couple things I did differently that I don’t think should have caused it to be thinner but might be an issue.
We had panko in the cupboard so used that in place of breadcrumbs.
We blanched and toasted our own almonds while making it at the time.
Roasted the garlic longer that you suggested as we had collosal garlic that usually takes a bit longer.
We stirred but did not actually whisk at the end (reread the recipe and realized we missed that).
Thoughts?
Hi Michael, the recipe was shared with us by Pacific Foods, so it’s hard for me to say for sure. But two things. I think the photo probably gives a perception of thickness due to the croutons, but it isn’t a thick soup. Creamy, but not thick. If you blanched your own almonds, I’m guessing you soaked them? If so, that would have added water, and the almonds wouldn’t have been able to absorb more from the recipe. When you buy them pre-blanched, they are dried, so they can then fully absorb moisture. Ground dry nuts absorb quite a lot of liquid and can thicken soups a lot. That said, you can certainly reduce the broth by a cup or two, for creamier results. I hope it tasted up to standard for you!
This has to be six cloves of garlic right? Not heads..
It’s heads of garlic (small to medium sized – not jumbo ones). You can use just 6 cloves of garlic if you prefer, but I would use at least one head of garlic. It is garlic soup after all!
What would be best to substitute out for the almond milk and almond? Would love to make this, but my roommate is allergic to tree nuts. So cashew milk is out as well. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks!
Can they do coconut? I like unsweetened coconut milk beverage in soups. Other good options are unsweetened soymilk or rice milk beverage. Flax milk is an option, but I would get the one without protein added.
It’s been pretty chilly here, so this garlic soup would be PERFECT for the weather! And especially perfect for dinner tonight 😉 Saving this recipe!
Holy does that ever look creamy and flavourful! I love dairy-free options for creamy soups like this. It’s still pretty cold in Vancouver so I can probably get away with another week or two of soups before I feel like salads all the time!
The warm weather lasted a day here so thank goodness for this soup recipe!
This soup is calling my name! You can’t go wrong with garlic and this soup just looks so creamy. Yum!
Gotta try this recipe! I love garlic/onion soup in the colder months to fight off cold and flu season and seeing as it’s basically still winter up here in Boston … adding this to the menu. 😉