Broccoli Cheddar Soup

the soup of your suburban 2000s dreams

I am very excited to report that this soup was not a failure but is, in fact, one of my greatest successes. Very early in Soupletter, I made Serious Eats Broccoli Cheddar Soup, and then yesterday I looked carefully at the NYT and Smitten Kitchen’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup. Everything used way too much cream or milk for my liking and still looked too thin and watery. While I am pro dairy, I find that too much cream really blunts flavor if used in large quantities. Plus texturally, I want Broccoli Cheddar soup to be soupy, yes, but also pretty thick—a true cousin of a hot cheese dip. Gloopy soupy.

When I think about the best Broccoli Cheddar soup, I think about the Panera Bread opening when I was in high school. Their Broccoli Cheddar soup was thick and cheesy, and probably because of some chemical stabilizers. I want my Broccoli Cheddar soup to taste vaguely mass market. And this soup delivers!! The big takeaways for my strategy: roasting the broccoli florets to introduce texture and a nice charred flavor, and using a potato as one of two thickening strategies instead of weighing this down with a ton of cream. Don’t worry, this soup is still luxurious.

unflattering photo of broccoli cheddar soup

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of broccoli, florets and stems separated

• olive oil

• 3 tbsp butter

• 1 onion, diced

• 3 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1/4 c flour

• 2-3 skinny carrots, diced

• 1 potato, preferably russet, diced

• 4 cups chicken broth

• 2 bay leaves

• 8 oz sharp cheddar, shredded

• 1/4 c cream

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Cut the broccoli florets into large pieces, seeing aside any stems, then toss with a little olive oil and salt. Roast for 15 minutes, flip the pieces around, and roast for 10 more. They should be charred in places and cooked, but not soggy or soft. While the broccoli is roasting, dice up your remaining broccoli stems, your onion, garlic, carrot, and potato.

2. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter over medium heat, then add onion and garlic and saute til translucent, 3-4 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring, for another 2 or 3 minutes, til the flour looks warm and yellowy and maybe even golden instead of white. Add the rest of the diced veg, and cook for a few more minutes. Season with salt.

3. Add 4 cups of chicken broth and 2 bay leaves and let it come to a boil, then turn down the heat and let it simmer until the veggies are soft. Around this time you’ll also pull the broccoli out of the oven—set it aside to cool slightly.

4. When the veggies are soft, remove the bay leaves and use an immersion blender to roughly blend the soup. Chunks are still good! But some blending will release the potato’s starch and thicken the soup. If it gets too thick, you can always add water.

5. Chop the now slightly cooled broccoli into bite size pieces and add it to the soup. Stir in the shredded cheese and then 1/4 c of cream. Asses the consistency and seasoning: add water if the soup feels too thick, and salt and pepper to taste.