As the weather begins to cool, I love to find recipes that are not only warming, but healthy. I also like to replicate my favorite dishes that I enjoy at restaurants, but lighten them up a bit. One of my go-to winter warm-ups is a play on broccoli cheddar soup. This recipe is chocked full of vegetables that can be easily found frozen or fresh and relatively inexpensive any time of year. The vegetables can be left chunky or diced fine; making it a kid friendly dinner that the whole family will enjoy.
While I have tried (and enjoyed) recipes for this soup that call for cream, I have found it to be unnecessary. Between the cheese, starch from the potatoes and a touch of flour, the soup thickens up beautifully. Feel free to let the soup sit for an extra minute or two once completed. This will help the cheese add extra body to the soup.
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 1 cup finely diced carrot
- 2 celery stalks, finely diced
- 1 Tablespoon finely minced garlic
- 4 cups chicken broth plus ⅓ cup to dilute flour (if I don’t have homemade, I use low-sodium store bought)
- 2 russet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 Tablespoon flour
- ½ cup milk (use whatever type you have)
- 2 cups fresh or frozen broccoli (I used one bag of Bird’s Eye frozen broccoli florets) – defrosted most of the way and chopped
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- Melt the butter in a large pot.
- Add onions, carrots and celery.
- Sauté over medium heat until soft, but not brown.
- Add garlic and cook for one additional minute.
- Add chicken broth (minus ⅓ cup, reserved for flour).
- Add the potatoes and bring the pot to a boil.
- Turn heat down and simmer until the potatoes are tender.
- Mix flour with ⅓ cup of broth.
- Add the mixture to the soup and simmer until soup thickens slightly.
- Add milk and broccoli and cook until broccoli is heated through (about 2-3 minutes.)
- Add cheese ½ cup at a time and stir to melt evenly.
- Once all has melted, stir and allow to simmer for one additional minute.
- Serve with a salad or crescent rolls that have been baked with a sprinkle of shredded cheddar.
Thanks to Nicole for sharing this recipe with us!
Eating your Vegetable Chedder Chowder as I post this comment. Yummy, thank you for the recipe!
I made this for dinner tonight, and my meat-and-potatoes boyfriend liked it enough to go back for seconds. Well done! That NEVER happens when I’m in charge of the cooking.
I thought it was a little on the salty side, but that’s probably because I used cheap store brand bouillon cubes and store brand cheddar, which were probably loaded with sodium. I’ll keep that in mind next time I make this recipe.