How can you not love hot and cheesy cream of broccoli soup? I do! But, I don’t like the thick, gummy mess you get in most restaurants. Some are so thick my spoon can stand up and that does not make me a happy camper.
My recipe has lots of broccoli and other veggies, chicken broth, half and half and a little flour but most of the thickness comes from the broccoli itself. Broccoli is a remarkably healthy vegetable rich in nutrients, fiber, Vitamin C and cancer fighting antioxidants – truly a superfood! This soup is so good, even kids love it! And, it’s a snap to make.
I like to serve my broccoli soup with grated cheese and homemade, crunchy croutons!
You may want to invest in an immersion blender. It’s one of my favorite kitchen tools and I use it all the time. It’s so much easier than trying to put batches of hot soup in the blender. I invariably put too much soup in the blender and then, when I turn it on, the lid flies off and I get covered in hot, scalding soup. Not fun!
Organic broccoli, organic chicken broth, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, nutmeg, whole wheat flour and half and half.
Chop your veggies.
Saute them in butter until soft. About 3 minutes.
Add broccoli, flour and chicken broth and cook about 10 minutes.
Use your immersion blender or regular blender to puree the soup.
Make some croutons.
Warm, satisfying, cheesy, creamy and crunchy. What more can you ask of soup?
Kitchen Princess Creamy Cheesy Broccoli Soup – Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons organic butter
- 1 cup yellow onions, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- Pinch nutmeg
- 1 clove minced garlic
- 4 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 quart chicken broth
- 1 large head organic broccoli, chopped, or one 16-ounce bag of frozen,organic broccoli
- 1/2 cup organic half and half
- 1 1/4 cups shredded medium Cheddar cheese
- Croutons, for garnish (optional)
Kitchen Princess Creamy Cheesy Broccoli Soup – Method
- In a medium pot, melt the 3 tablespoons butter over medium high heat. Add the onions, garlic, chopped carrot and celery and the salt, pepper and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until soft, 3 minutes.
- Add the flour and cook, stirring until the mixture is well blended and smells fragrant, 2 minutes. Slowly add the chicken broth, whisking constantly and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.
- Add the broccoli and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the heat and puree with a hand-held immersion blender. (Or, you can puree in a blender or food processor and return to the pot. Just be really careful and hold the lid of the blender down. Don’t overfill or it will splatter and could burn your skin.)
- Add the half and half and bring the soup to a simmer. Add the cheese and cook over low heat, stirring, until melted.
- Remove from the heat and ladle the soup into bowls. Sprinkle croutons over the top of the soup and serve immediately.
Princess Tips
- To help lower the calories in the soup, rather than adding the cheese to the whole pot, let each person add cheese individually to their bowl of soup. It’s delicious with or without cheese!
- This recipe will work well with cauliflower instead of broccoli.
- Any cheese you like is fine. I like to use either cheddar or monterey jack.
- Feel free to use vegetable broth to make this a vegetarian soup.
- You can omit the croutons and serve with a crusty baguette or leave bread out all together and serve with a salad.
