Cream of Broccoli Soup

This Cream of Broccoli Soup recipe is a fantastic soup recipe served warm in the winter or chilled in the summer. It hits the spot when you are craving a creamy soup without heavy cream. The creaminess comes from my secret ingredient: cauliflower and potato. It’s also packed with veggies and uses simple ingredients, giving it a nutritional punch!

This soup gets its incredible flavor from extra garlic and a good dose of dried dill. The dried dill gives it a wonderful fresh herb flavor that complements the broccoli well. Serve with croutons or with my easy garlic knots with store-bought pizza dough.

For more wonderful soup recipes, try my Cream of Mushroom Soup, French Onion Soup, or Chicken Tortellini Soup.

Why You’ll Love This:

• Completely vegan but doesn’t feel like it’s missing a thing! Non-Vegans will love it too!
• The creaminess comes from adding cauliflower and potato
• Quick and easy for a weeknight meal or lunch.
• It freezes well, too! Make a big batch to last for up to 3 months in the freezer

Ingredients:

• Broccoli: Use fresh broccoli rather than frozen for the best flavor.
• Cauliflower: Fresh cauliflower, when simmered with the soup, creates a wonderful silky texture.
• Potatoes: Will thicken the soup and give it a lovely texture without the need for heavy cream, flour, or cornstarch. The “creaminess” comes from the addition of the cauliflower and the potatoes. The potatoes are also a natural thickener, and can be used to thicken most watery vegetable soups.
• Onions: Use yellow onions rather than white; they provide the best flavor.
• Shallots: Will add a delicious sweetness and depth of flavor to the soup.
• Olive Oil: For sauting the onions and shallots, or you could also use butter if you prefer.
• Garlic: The garlic is key; do not leave it out. Garlic prevents broccoli soup from being bland.
• Vegetable Broth: You could also substitute with chicken broth.
• Salt and Pepper to Taste: I use Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper for the best flavor.
• Dried Dill: Dried dill is a lovely addition to this soup; it adds a wonderful herby flavor to broccoli soup and, again, prevents it from being bland.
• Croutons (optional): A few crunchy croutons are a nice addition to this soup, or you could also make my Parmesan Tuiles for a lovely, cheesy bite.

Step#1: Sauté the Vegetables

• Sauté the onions, shallots, and garlic until translucent and fragrant.
• Sautéing the vegetables first will make them sweeter and more flavorful.
• This will give your soup a better overall flavor, too! So don’t skip this step.

Step#2: Add the Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Potato

• I use the pre-cut broccoli florets to make the prep for this soup even easier, and you can do the same with the cauliflower, too!
• For more broccoli recipes, try my Shrimp and Broccoli Stir Fry, Broccoli Salad with Raisins, or my Feed Me Fast Chicken with Broccoli.

Cauliflower: The Miracle Vegetable

• I’m convinced that cauliflower is a wonder-vegetable!
• Eaten raw, it may not make the best impression, but once you cook it, especially in a soup, it imparts the silkiest texture to anything you put it in.
• It’s the secret ingredient in my Potato Leek Soup Recipe, and it’s also a fantastic throw-in-the-air-fryer too.
• If you own one, you must try my Air Fryer Cauliflower Recipe.

Thickening the Soup with Potato

• Another nice thing about this soup recipe is the fact that it’s also gluten-free!
• Thanks to the potato that thickens it up. There’s no need for flour or cornstarch.
• The potato works its magic by creating a thick texture without altering any of the fantastic flavors of the broccoli.

Step#3: Add the Vegetable Broth

• The vegetable broth will certainly give this soup the best flavor, but in a pinch, you could also use water!
• The vegetables have so much flavor; this soup will still be delicious without the broth.
• If using water, you may want to add one more garlic clove and a bit more salt after blending to punch up the flavors.

15 minutes is all it takes!

• The key to cooking this soup quickly is to cut the potato into small cubes.
• The potato will take the longest to become tender.
• If the potato isn’t cut into small pieces, it will take longer to reach a tender stage, and by then the broccoli will become mushy and lose its fresh flavor.
• It also helps to cover your pot with a lid while it simmers to speed up the process, too.
• Keep the cooktop on medium heat so that you don’t overcook the broccoli. Overcooked broccoli develops an undesirable taste.

Step#4: Blend and Season

• To get the creamiest, smoothest texture, it’s best to blend the soup in batches in a blender rather than with an immersion blender. The standing blender will give you a creamier, silkier texture.
• I typically only fill the blender halfway full. If the blender is too full, it will leave some unblended chunks at the bottom.
• While you puree the soup, you can store it in a heat-safe bowl.

Step#5: Simmer + Season

• Then pour the blended soup back into a cleaned-out pot. That way, you’ll have the smoothest, silkiest soup, without any residue or floating vegetables.
• Check for seasoning, and add salt and pepper as desired.

It’s All About The Seasonings

• What people really love about this soup is the flavor the dried dill imparts.
• It’s such a fantastic combination with the broccoli. It creates this beautiful fresh taste that’s so unexpected for broccoli soup, it’s just delicious!
• You could use fresh dill, too, but I find the dried dill is more flavorful and imparts even more flavor. I also add a good amount of salt and pepper to taste.

Step#5: Garnish and Serve!

• Before serving, add a drizzle of olive oil for a nice, silky finish, some crunchy croutons, and a little cracked black pepper on top.
• You could also add a little sprinkle of dried dill on top, for extra flavor, or a sprinkle of cheddar cheese would be good too.
• If not serving this as a vegan dish, it’s also great with a drizzle of sour cream, thinned with a bit of warm water, and some fresh lemon zest too!