Broccoli cheddar soup
Thick, velvety and so cheesy, with little bits of broccoli in every spoonful, like the bakery-cafe bread bowl version made at home.
- 45 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.78 a serving
- 550 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 lb broccoli, about 2 crowns
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 carrot, grated
- 8 oz cheddar cheese, grated
- ¼ cup butter
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup half-and-half
From your pantry
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 550 calories, 22 g protein, 28 g carbs and 39 g fat, and costs about $2.78 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No broccoli? Frozen broccoli works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No cheddar cheese? Shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese or Mexican blend cheese works.
- No butter? Ghee works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the broccoli into small bite-size florets. the onion, the garlic, and the carrot and the cheddar on the big holes of a box grater.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Grate. Grating means rubbing food across the holes of a grater to make fine shreds or flakes. It spreads cheese, garlic or ginger evenly through a dish so it melts right in.
How you’ll know: Even shreds fall off the back of the grater, and you stop while the piece is still big enough to hold.
Dolly’s tip: Grate the cheese yourself. Bagged shredded cheese is coated to stop it sticking, and that coating makes soup grainy.the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Stir in the garlic, then sprinkle in the flour and stir constantly for 1 minute, until it smells a little toasty.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Dolly’s tip: Cooking the flour for a minute takes away the raw taste. It will look like a thick paste, and that’s right.Pour in the broth a little at a time, after each pour so no lumps form, then whisk in the milk and half-and-half.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: Adding the liquid slowly is the whole trick to a smooth soup. If a few lumps happen, keep whisking and they’ll melt away.Add the broccoli, carrot, salt and pepper and bring to a gentle .
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Medium heat
Turn the heat to low and cook, stirring now and then, until the broccoli is tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 18 min
Dolly’s tip: Don’t let it boil hard, or the milk can catch on the bottom. Scrape the bottom with your spoon every few minutes.For a smoother soup, press some of the broccoli against the side of the pot with a potato masher or the back of a spoon.
Turn off the heat and stir in the cheddar a handful at a time, letting each handful melt before adding the next.
Dolly’s tip: Cheese added off the heat stays silky. In bubbling soup it clumps and turns grainy.Taste, add more salt if it needs it, and ladle into bowls.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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