25 gluten free and dairy free soup recipes, grouped by how they’re built

Most soups are gluten free and dairy free by default: broth, vegetables, meat or beans. The two places they break are the thickener (a flour-based roux) and the finish (cream, milk or cheese stirred in at the end). Every recipe below either skips those steps or replaces them with something that holds the same texture, and each one names what that replacement is.

The 25 recipes are grouped by how the body of the soup is built, because that’s what determines whether a substitution will work in your pot: a puréed vegetable soup takes coconut milk differently than a broth-based noodle soup takes rice noodles.

Broth-based soups: chicken, beef and vegetable stock as the base

Chicken and rice soup

Bone-in chicken thighs simmered 35 to 40 minutes in stock with carrot, celery and onion, then shredded back in with cooked long-grain rice. Rice replaces egg noodles without changing the cooking method. Do not substitute a quick-cooking rice blend that’s been pre-seasoned with a wheat-based flavor packet; check the bag.

Beef and vegetable soup

Chuck roast cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) cubes, browned hard, then simmered 90 minutes with beef stock, tomatoes and root vegetables. The long simmer is what tenderizes the chuck; there’s no shortcut with a leaner cut in under an hour.

Chicken noodle soup with rice noodles

Standard chicken noodle soup with flat rice noodles added in the last 4 minutes of cooking, off heat, so they don’t turn to mush. Rice noodles overcook fast: pull them at al dente, since they keep softening in your hot broth even after the pot is off the stove.

Turkey and wild rice soup

Built from a roasted turkey carcass simmered 2 hours for stock, then finished with cooked wild rice, carrot and thyme. Wild rice holds its bite far longer than white rice, so you can add it earlier, around the 20-minute mark, without it disintegrating.

Egg drop soup

Chicken stock thickened lightly with a cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon cornstarch to 2 tablespoons water), then beaten egg streamed in while stirring in one direction. The slurry is what gives egg drop soup its silky thickness; skip it and the eggs just scramble into strands in a thin broth.

Puréed soups: where coconut milk and cashew cream replace dairy

Butternut squash soup

Roasted squash blended with sautéed onion, stock and 1 cup (240 ml) full-fat coconut milk. Coconut milk adds the fat that cream would, but it also adds sweetness; balance it with a squeeze of lime or a pinch of cayenne at the end, to taste.

Creamy tomato soup

Canned whole tomatoes simmered with onion and garlic, blended smooth, then finished with 1/2 cup (120 ml) unsweetened cashew cream instead of heavy cream. Cashew cream needs raw cashews soaked at least 4 hours or simmered 10 minutes in water first; skip the soak and you’re left with a gritty purée no amount of blending fixes.

Broccoli soup

Broccoli simmered until fork-tender, about 8 minutes, then blended with sautéed leek and a potato for body instead of a roux. The potato is the thickener here; without it your soup stays thin and separates rather than emulsifying.

Cauliflower soup

Cauliflower florets simmered in stock 15 minutes, blended with roasted garlic and a splash of olive oil for richness. No cream needed if you cook the cauliflower fully soft; underdone cauliflower purées grainy no matter how long it runs in your blender.

Carrot ginger soup

Carrots and fresh ginger simmered 20 minutes, blended smooth, thinned with stock to a pourable consistency. Coconut milk is optional here, added at 1/4 cup (60 ml) for a rounder finish, but your soup holds fine without it.

Potato leek soup

Potatoes and leeks simmered until the potato falls apart at the edge of a spoon, then blended with 1 cup (240 ml) unsweetened oat milk instead of whole milk. Oat milk has enough starch of its own to add body; reach for a thinner almond milk here and your soup will taste watered down.

Sweet potato soup

Roasted sweet potato blended with sautéed onion, stock and a spoon of tahini for richness in place of dairy. Tahini adds fat and a faint bitterness that balances the sweet potato’s sugar; start with 1 tablespoon and taste before adding more to suit your palate.

Bean and lentil soups: where the thickener is the legume itself

Lentil soup

Brown or green lentils simmered 25 to 30 minutes in stock with carrot, celery and cumin until they break down slightly and thicken the broth on their own. No flour needed: the starch released from the lentils does the thickening. Red lentils cook faster, in about 15 minutes, and break down more completely if you want a smoother result.

White bean and kale soup

Canned cannellini beans simmered with kale, garlic and stock, with a portion of the beans mashed against the pot to thicken the broth. Mashing roughly a third of the beans is enough; mash all of them and you turn the soup into more of a purée than a broth-based soup.

Black bean soup

Black beans simmered with cumin, smoked paprika and stock, then partially blended (about half the pot) for a soup that’s thick but still has texture. An immersion blender pulsed a few times, not run continuously, keeps some beans whole for you.

Split pea soup

Dried split peas simmered 45 minutes with a ham hock or smoked turkey leg for flavor, no roux. The peas dissolve almost completely on their own as they cook, so the starch does the thickening work a flour base would otherwise do.

Minestrone with gluten free pasta

A vegetable and bean soup finished with gluten free pasta (rice or corn-based) added in the last 8 to 10 minutes. Gluten free pasta turns to mush if it sits in hot soup too long, since it lacks gluten’s structure; cook it separately and add it to each bowl if you plan to store the soup as leftovers.

Global and stew-style soups

Thai coconut curry soup (tom kha-style)

Chicken or shrimp simmered in stock with 1 can (13.5 oz / 400 ml) full-fat coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal or ginger, and lime leaves. Check that the curry paste you use is gluten free and fish-sauce based rather than soy-sauce based, since some brands add wheat as a filler.

Chicken tortilla soup

Shredded chicken in a tomato-chile broth, thickened slightly by simmering with a bit of masa harina (corn-based, naturally gluten free) instead of flour. Confirm the corn tortilla strips you use as garnish are fried in a dedicated fryer if cross-contact with wheat tortillas is a concern for you.

Pho

Beef bones simmered 4 to 6 hours with charred onion, ginger and star anise, served over rice noodles. The broth itself is naturally gluten free and dairy free; the risk is in the hoisin sauce served alongside, which is often wheat-based, so check the label or skip it if you’re unsure.

Moroccan-style lentil and vegetable soup

Lentils, chickpeas, tomato and warming spices (cumin, cinnamon, ginger) simmered together until the lentils soften, about 25 minutes. Naturally thick from the legumes; no dairy or gluten involved at any stage.

Beef and mushroom soup

Seared beef and mushrooms simmered in stock thickened with a cornstarch slurry rather than a flour-based roux. Cornstarch thickens at a lower temperature than flour and turns glossy rather than matte; bring your soup to a full simmer for 1 minute after adding the slurry so the starch fully activates.

Chicken and vegetable curry soup

Chicken thighs simmered in stock with curry powder and full-fat coconut milk, added at the end and not boiled hard, since coconut milk can separate at a rolling boil.

Chowder and bisque-style soups without cream

Corn chowder

Corn kernels and potato simmered together, partially blended for body, then finished with 1/2 cup (120 ml) canned coconut milk in place of half-and-half. Fresh or frozen corn works; canned corn’s added sugar and softer texture will change the finished chowder’s bite, so choose accordingly.

Clam chowder

Potato and clam broth thickened with a mashed portion of the potato instead of a roux, finished with canned coconut milk for richness. Coconut milk carries a faint sweetness that dairy cream doesn’t; a bay leaf and extra black pepper help you balance it.

Shrimp bisque

Shrimp shells simmered into a stock for 30 minutes, strained, then the soup body thickened with a small amount of blended cooked rice rather than a flour roux, finished with coconut cream. This is the one recipe on this list where a real substitution limit applies: a butter-and-flour roux cannot be swapped for a slurry and produce the same silky bisque texture; the rice-thickening method changes the mouthfeel slightly, trading pure silkiness for a very close approximation you’ll still find satisfying.

Where gluten and dairy hide in soup, and why the swap fails

Gritty or thin cashew cream: the cashews weren’t soaked long enough. Raw cashews need at least 4 hours in room-temperature water, or 10 minutes at a simmer, before blending; give them less than that and your blender leaves visible flecks no straining fixes.

Soup that won’t thicken with a cornstarch slurry: it never reached a full simmer after the slurry went in. Cornstarch needs about 1 minute at a simmer (185°F to 200°F / 85°C to 93°C) to fully gelatinize; add it and pull your pot off heat too soon and it stays thin, or worse, breaks and turns cloudy rather than glossy.

Split or grainy coconut milk finish: the soup was boiled hard after the coconut milk went in. Coconut milk’s fat separates above a rolling boil; add it in the last few minutes and keep your heat at a bare simmer.

Hidden gluten in a soup that looks safe: bouillon cubes, canned broths and curry pastes sometimes use wheat starch as an anti-caking agent or thickener. Read the label on the stock itself, not just the vegetables going into your pot.

Storing these soups, and which ones don’t reheat well

Broth-based and legume soups keep 4 days refrigerated, or 3 months frozen in a sealed container. Puréed soups finished with coconut or cashew cream keep the same but should be reheated gently, over low heat, stirring, since a hard boil on reheating can cause the same separation you’d see during cooking. Soups with rice noodles or gluten free pasta added directly to the pot don’t hold well past a day; the noodles keep absorbing liquid and go soft. Store the noodles separately and add them to each portion when you reheat.

What soups are gluten free?

Any soup built on a broth, vegetable purée or legume base without a wheat-flour roux, wheat pasta or barley is gluten free by default. The risk is in additions: bouillon, some curry pastes, soy sauce and egg noodles all commonly contain wheat, so check what you’re adding.

Are soups gluten free?

Not automatically. A classic cream of mushroom or chicken noodle soup usually contains a flour-thickened roux or wheat noodles, so if you want a gluten free version you need a different thickener, like cornstarch, puréed vegetables or the starch released from cooked legumes.

What can replace cream in a dairy free soup?

Full-fat canned coconut milk, soaked and blended raw cashews, or a mashed starchy vegetable already in your pot (potato, cauliflower, white beans) all add the fat and body that cream otherwise provides, each with a slightly different flavor note for you to weigh.

Can you thicken gluten free soup without cornstarch?

Yes: puréeing a portion of your soup’s own vegetables or legumes, or mashing in a starchy ingredient like potato or white beans, thickens it without any added starch at all.

Is bouillon gluten free?

Some is and some isn’t. Many bouillon cubes use wheat starch as a carrier or anti-caking agent, so check the label for a gluten free certification rather than assuming yours is safe.