Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How do I thicken my broccoli cheese soup? ›

Charring broccoli florets and simmering the stems builds in layers of broccoli flavor. Adding a potato to the simmering soup provides a natural thickener that helps the cheese emulsify and gives the soup a creamy texture.

Grate the cheese yourself.

Pre-shredded cheese is often coated in anti-caking agents that can prevent the cheese from melting into a lusciously creamy soup. To ensure that your broccoli cheddar soup has the best smooth and creamy texture, buy a block of cheese and grate it yourself.

Mild cheddar, Colby, Monterey jack, mozzarella, Swiss and queso blanco can all work well. “The best cheeses to melt into soups are cheeses that are higher in moisture and have a lower melting point,” says Bauer. In addition to cheddar and Monterey jack, he recommends Fontina and Gruyère.

If your Broccoli Soup tastes bland, there are several potential reasons. Here are some common culprits and suggestions to enhance the flavour: Insufficient seasoning. Solution: Taste the soup and adjust the salt and pepper accordingly.

If heated too high, you risk clumping and if too low, not melting properly. With soup, you might be able to fix it with an immersion blender, or you might not. At a temperature of 150 or so, the protein bonds in the cheese break down and as a result, too much fo the moisture escapes too quickly.

Add more broth or half and half if the soup is too thick, a little at a time. Continue to cook for about another 15 minutes. Taste and add more seasonings if needed.

Avoid too high of heat when using dairy (milk or cream) because the soup can curdle and separate. Try not to take it to the boiling point. Sometimes an acidic ingredient, like wine, can prevent the soup from curdling. Slowly add the cream or milk and continually stir after adding.

You end up with a grainy, curdled consistency. Unfortunately there is no way to fix it once it's happened, so just be really careful to keep this soup on a very low flame once the dairy has gone in. If the soup remains hot and steamy, without boiling, it will stay beautifully silky and creamy.

If it is too hot when you stir everything in, the cheese may curdle and clump! Storage: This delicious broccoli cheddar soup can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat the leftover soup in the microwave or in a pot on the stove top (on low heat so it doesn't become grainy).

Is monterey jack a good melting cheese? ›

Monterey Jack is the cheese goddess of melting. With a high fat and moisture content, this semi-hard American cheese will melt on cue for baked pasta, grilled cheese sandwiches, and any quesadilla it lays its eyes on.

Blanching broccoli in a large pot of salt water releases bitter acids from the plant cells and rinses them away, an action that steaming doesn't provide because of the low level of water involved. Additional measures for neutralizing broccoli's bitterness include tossing it with salt and citrus sauce.

But another compound in vegetables that later becomes sulforaphane (called a precursor) may taste bitter to some people. People with the “TT” or “Tt” genotype for the TAS2R38 gene may be more sensitive to bitterness in broccoli and dislike eating it.

Use one tablespoon cornstarch mixed with one tablespoon cold water (aka a cornstarch slurry) for each cup of medium-thick sauce. Thoroughly mix the cornstarch and water together, then pour into your sauce. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.

To avoid soggy broccolis try steaming it for 2 minutes and check the texture, if required cook for a minute more but not more than that. After this, you put the boiled broccoli into ice water, the constant shock will make them crispy.

"Reducing" simply means simmering a liquid long enough to evaporate the extra water, concentrating the flavors and thickening the dish. Remove large pieces of meat or vegetables from the liquid before reducing so they don't overcook. Sauces, broths and pureed soups can simply simmer as-is.

To reach full hom*ogenization between your soup and the cream cheese thickener, you need to blend everything properly. This means putting the soup into a proper blender or using an immersion blender to blitz everything together. Without this essential step, the cream cheese may not fully combine into the soup.