Creamy Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe

What I love about my broccoli cheese soup recipe is, it costs next to nothing to make. We go through a lot of broccoli. As I use broccoli I chop up the stems and put them in a bag and store them in my freezer. When I have enough stems I make broccoli cheese soup.

This is an easy recipe to put together. It takes about 15 to 20 minutes of active time at the beginning and about 5 to 10 minutes at the end.

My Creamy Broccoli Cheese Soup

Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe

Ingredients to start the soup: broccoli stems, onion, celery, garlic, and stock.

The finished soup garnished with scallions and extra virgin olive oil.

This soup is so simple there really weren't many steps to illustrate.

An Easy Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe That Is Simple And Delicious

• Yield: 4 servings, as a main course
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 2 hours

Ingredients

Recipe by Volume

• Extra virgin olive oil, to coat pot
• 1 medium onion, rough diced
• 2 stalks celery, rough diced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• Juice of one lemon
• 9 broccoli stems, rough chopped
• 1 quart stock, vegetable or chicken
• 2 cups water, as needed
• Kosher salt and cracked pepper, to taste
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 bunch green onion, peeled and sliced thin for garnish, optional

Recipe in Grams

• Extra virgin olive oil, to coat pot
• 1 medium onion, rough diced
• 2 stalks celery, rough diced
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 60 ml dry white wine
• Juice of one lemon
• 9 broccoli stems, rough chopped
• 235 ml stock, vegetable or chicken
• 120 ml water, as needed
• Kosher salt and cracked pepper, to taste
• 120 ml heavy cream
• 56 grams butter
• 225 grams cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 bunch green onion, peeled and sliced thin for garnish, optional

Method

1. Coat the bottom of a 6-quart pot with extra virgin olive oil. Add the onion, celery and garlic and sweat over medium heat until the onion is translucent.
2. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and lemon juice. Allow the liquid to cook off.
3. Add the broccoli stems and the stock. If the level of the liquid doesn’t come up to the level of the stems add enough water to just bring it up.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Bring to a low boil, reduce heat, and allow to simmer until the stems are cooked through and very tender, between 1 and 2 hours.
6. When the soup is done puree the soup in batches. (See Notes!) As you are pureeing the soup add the cream, butter, and grated cheese to the batches so that it thoroughly incorporates.
7. When you finish a batch empty the blender bowl into a clean pot and continue until all the soup is pureed.
8. Pass the puree through a mesh strainer. The finer the strainer the more refined the soup will be.
9. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed.
10. Once done, bring the soup back up to a low boil, and serve. Optionally you can add sliced green onion and a drizzle of olive oil.

Notes

1. Again, when you are pureeing hot liquids, take care to avoid injuring yourself and others. Never fill the blender bowl more than  a third of the way full. Yes it takes longer to puree, i.e.. more batches, but you are far less likely to have a mishap. 
2. Always cover the blender lid with a folded kitchen towel, applying firm even pressure on the lid. If your blender lid has a covered opening for adding liquids while it is running, remove the lid covering the small opening. This allows pressure to escape into the towel and you are less likely to blow the lid off the blender.
3. Always start the blender on low and increase the speed through the settings, until you get to high.
4. Since you are pureeing in batches you can add all the butter to one batch, all the cream to another batch and all the cheese to a third batch or any combination thereof. It makes no difference since you are combining all of the batches.
5. When I did it I added all the butter and half the cream to the first batch. Then half the cheese and the remaining cream to the second batch. Then the remaining cheese to the third batch. The only consideration is not overfilling the blender bowl, for the reason, I explained above.
6. Some nice additions are roasted broccoli crowns finely chopped, a dollop of creme fraiche, bacon crumbles or toasted seeds like sunflower or pumpkin.

Tags: broccoli cheese soup recipe, broccoli cheddar soup, broccoli and cheese soup, broccoli soup