What can be better than a bowl of nourishing, warming, and extra-yummy soup? Of course, it's a bowl of soup that also meets healthy eating principles in addition to its flavor and nutritive qualities! That’s why today we are going to tell you about the soup that gathered all these qualities, and we offer you to learn more about its origin, recipes, and outstanding healthy eating opportunities it offers. Meet broccoli cheddar soup, a true star of American cuisine.

The Origin of the Recipe: Who Invented Broccoli Cheddar Soup?

The idea of creamy soups is not owned only by the US culinary traditions. They are common in French, Colombian, and English cuisines as well. Yet, broccoli cheddar soup is a gem in the crown of American cuisine. Its original roots can be found in Medieval French cookbooks where vegetable soups, turned into purée, were first-time mentioned. Then, Colombian culinary traditions and their mote de queso cheese soup contributed to the invention of today’s recipe of broccoli cheddar soup.

Today, there are no certain facts about when and who developed the recipe for this soup, yet, we can send thanks to the following people and companies:

  • Italian immigrants Andrea and Stefano D’Arrigo brought broccoli to the US in 1925. Since that time, the popularity of this green veggie has been constantly growing.
  • Odious Campbell’s Soup Company in the 90s increased the interest in creamy broccoli soups by holding a recipe contest with the motto “Let’s make President Bush eat broccoli”.
  • Top-rated restaurant networks throughout the US further included cheese and broccoli soups in their menus.

Yet, why does broccoli cheddar soup attract attention and make drooling even those people who don’t love soups as the main course dish? The secret is in its recipe!

The Main Components: Discovering the Recipe and Its Variations

Like most soups, broccoli cheddar soup is based on a rich-flavored broth. Yet, it’s not the main star of this dish. The real quintessence of flavor in broccoli cheddar soup is two of its ingredients: classic roux sauce and cheddar itself, which brings salty and spicy shades to its taste.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

If you want to cook broccoli cheddar soup at home, we can bet that you have almost all its ingredients in your fridge. The basis of the soup is as follows:

  • Vegetable or meat broth (it’s up to you to use vegetable broth if you want a lighter and vegetarian-friendly version of the soup, or you can take veal, chicken, or turkey stock to get a more nutritious and flavored soup);
  • Onions;
  • Butter;
  • Milk;
  • All-purpose flour;
  • Vegetables: namely, broccoli, celery, and carrots;
  • Grated cheddar cheese;
  • Seasoning: salt, black pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg.

That’s all! As for the cooking process, it’s also quite simple. Let’s learn it step by step.

  1. Cook a stock or use a ready-made one. Heat it a bit.
  2. Melt some butter on the pan and cook a diced onion in it until it becomes pearly.
  3. Cut vegetables into small pieces and prepare broccoli florets.
  4. Melt more butter in a pan, add a couple of tablespoons of flour and whisk. Let it become creamy-brown, add a pinch of nutmeg and then whisk milk in your roux (that’s what it is called in French cuisine). Let it simmer for 10 minutes and then add your stock to it.
  5. Put vegetables and sautéed onion into your soup. Let them cook for 20 more minutes.
  6. Add grated cheddar to the pot and let it simmer a bit. Then take the soup off the cooker. Season it and serve.

As for additional options, there are plenty of them. You can add a couple of drops of pesto or green oil to the soup, use sour cream, greenery, some seeds (i.e., sesame seeds or nigella), some garlic cloves, or simply serve it with croutons. It tastes great and offers wide opportunities to experiment in your kitchen.

What Makes Broccoli Cheddar Soup a Must-Try for a HLS Fan

Although broccoli cheddar soup offers a rich and balanced flavor, it is loved not only for that. That’s a good addition to your healthy menu due to the following features:

  • Broccoli is a real superfood with its low-calorie levels. It also is rich in vitamins A, E, and K, contains potassium, calcium, and iron, and its fiber structure is useful for digestion. Also, broccoli contains useful antioxidants and anticancer agents. Due to low cooking time, broccoli and vegetables in this soup don’t lose their usefulness.
  • Cheese and roux which are fatty but nutritious provide us with a necessary amount of animal fats.
  • At the same time, cheese and chicken/veal stock are the sources of proteins we also need to consume.

So, this soup provides a good balance of proteins, fats, and carbs, and delivers vitamins and minerals to our bodies.

Where to Try Broccoli Cheddar Soup to Enjoy Its Flavor

As we have mentioned, broccoli cheddar soup is today included in the menus of several national restaurant network. Yet, these establishments are not focused on healthy eating and thus, customers often complain their broccoli cheddar soups are too fatty. That’s true. Also, this bestseller soup can be found in canned versions on the mall’s shelves. Yet, eating canned soups has nothing in common with healthy eating.

Thus, if you want to add broccoli cheddar soup to your daily menu, the best ideas are:

  • Cook it yourself.
  • Order the healthiest version of broccoli cheddar soup in 95 Nutrition prep & delivery service.

We cook it using the finest-quality ingredients, select the freshest organic vegetables and cheese, and we can deliver it to your door lightning-fast!