One Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup

It’s that time of year when soup is just what you want for dinner. Pour it into a pretzel bread bowl and your family will feel so special! This particular recipe is not only delicious, but comes together easily in one pot, keeping kitchen messes to a minimum.

Homemaking notes

When I first started making soups, I would take a recipe, follow it to the letter, and sometimes it was awesome and sometimes it was just okay. This One Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe is such a winner because it incorporates several skills that helped me become a better cook in so many ways. Now, when I want to make a soup, especially a creamy cheesy soup, the basic concepts for this soup can be adjusted for new ingredients.

Learning to make a roux with flour and some kind of fat, a skill included in this recipe, became a critical part of my cooking life. Slowly, I began trying new recipes like homemade gravies, sauces, and stews. In addition, understanding the importance of cooking onions, with patience, until they were translucent, became real to me, rather than just something I heard on a cooking show. I began to understand how to develop flavor in my recipes through basic techniques, like adequate browning. Serving food that was really good, rather than just okay became my goal at dinner.

Another beautiful thing about this recipe is its use of “real” ingredients. In many of my classes at the Flour Barn Bakery, I try to emphasize how much it matters to start with good ingredients. A pie is only as good as the fruit you use to make it, right? The same is true for this soup. Using real cream, fresh broccoli, good chicken stock, and freshly shredded cheese makes this soup balance perfectly with sauteed onions and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

As with all cooking projects, I like to think of each one as a learning experience–one to be enjoyed, especially when you get to eat it! So, feel free to just follow this recipe to the letter; but I hope it will become part of a larger homemaking experience!

The Ingredients

• Broccoli: You could use frozen broccoli for this soup and add it at the very same time, but fresh broccoli just has a better texture in the finished soup. I recommend chopping the broccoli fairly small. Larger pieces just take longer. and for this one pot version, having them in small pieces gets it to the table a little faster! If you want to change it up, you can also use cauliflower, or broccolini.
• Butter: Butter is always the beginning of any of my cream soups. Not only is it a perfect fat for the roux, but it imparts a beautiful flavor to the soup and a creaminess that can’t be beat. Don’t skimp!
• Onion: I use whichever onion I have on hand–white, yellow, or red. I generally have yellow onions for cooked soups, but really any color is just fine.
• Flour: Flour is necessary to thicken the soup. However, if you are gluten intolerant and would like to skip this ingredient, you certainly can. It will simply make a much thinner soup.
• Cream and milk: This recipe calls for one cup heavy cream and one cup whole milk. I’ve made this recipe many times, and if I don’t have whole milk, I’ve used two cups of cream. Once, I used only whole milk and it wasn’t quite as creamy, but it was very good. In other words, you can be flexible with the dairy products you have. I don’t recommend skim milk, as it will simply not be creamy enough.
• Chicken or vegetable stock: If you have your own stock, well done! I usually don’t, so I use stock (or broth) that I purchase from the grocery store.
• Salt and pepper: Just table salt for this soup and start with the 1/2 teaspoon in the recipe. Remember, the stock and the cheese usually have a fair amount of salt already, so don’t go heavy on the salt. You can always add salt to your individual bowl. This recipe starts with 1 teaspoon of pepper, but if you’re like me, you might want more.
• Cayenne: This is completely optional. If you don’t like any heat, just omit it. However, if you like a little kick, then cayenne gives the perfect heat to creamy, cheesy dishes. I actually use it in alfredo sauce, macaroni and cheese, as well as cheesy potatoes. It just adds a nice dimension to this soup.
• Cheese: Mild cheddar cheese is my choice for this soup, but medium cheddar will work too. I love the taste of sharp cheddar, but because it has a lower moisture content (from longer aging), it just doesn’t melt as well. In addition, it’s important to shred the mild cheddar cheese yourself. Cheese that is pre-shredded has additives to prevent caking. As a result, it just won’t melt as well. The extra effort is really worth it.

The Process

• Prepping your ingredients: I always like to prep my ingredients first so that when I need them, they’re ready to go. Make sure you chop your broccoli into very small florets for this recipe. Next, dice the onion. Go ahead and shred your cheddar cheese, even though you won’t need it until the end.

• Sautéing the onion: In a large stock pot, melt the butter over medium heat and add the onions. Saute until the onions become translucent. Be patient at this stage–it might take 6 to 8 minutes to become translucent. If you don’t cook the onions long enough, you may end up with a bitter, “raw” flavor, rather than the sweet mellow flavor we’re looking for from the onions. This is where we’re beginning to build flavor into our soup.

• Making the roux: (The roux is the combination of fat–butter in this case–and flour to create a thickening agent for your soup.) Still over medium heat, add the flour to the butter and onions. Stirring continuously, cook the flour until it becomes slightly brown. This will take 2 to 3 minutes, maybe more depending on the level of heat. Again, you don’t want to rush this stage. Undercooking the flour at this point can lead to a raw flour taste. Browning it properly will add another layer of flavor as well.

• Adding the cream and stock: Add the cream and continue cooking, stirring constantly until it comes to a simmer. Then, add the stock and bring back to a simmer. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes, until thickened. When the soup coats the back of a spoon, you know it’s ready for the next step.

• Finishing the soup: While it’s simmering, add the broccoli, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until the broccoli is tender. The larger your pieces of broccoli, the longer this will take. Remember to keep stirring at this point, as thickened cream can stick if you don’t watch it! Once the broccoli is tender, add the cheese and stir until it melts completely.