My 196th recipe, "Healthy Cream of Broccoli Soup", an easy and healthy Soup recipe. It has been a little while since I made a soup. Most probably the last one was sometime during the spring and I have been away from soups since then. After gorging upon tacos and burritos during my weekend road trip, I felt the urge to cook something healthy. So I decided to make a healthy soup for dinner. Usually, RK will ask me to buy broccoli whenever he sees it in the supermarket. It is not that he likes it, it is because of its numerous health benefits and how bright and attractive it is. Just to name a few benefits, it is very high in Vitamin C and fiber. It also contains multiple nutrients with potent anti-cancer properties, such as diindolylmethane and small amounts of selenium. Since I was going for a healthy soup theme, I thought broccoli would be the perfectly fit the bill. I however did not want to add cream to my soup, which would make it super rich and high on calories. So I experimented making a creamy broccoli soup without using any fresh cream. The soup turned out to be delicious beyond my expectations. It was super creamy and the perfect healthy dinner along with a slice of crusty french bread 🙂
Cream of Broccoli Soup
Ingredients
- Butter - 1 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp
- Garlic - 3 chopped
- Onion - ½ medium chopped
- Broccoli Florets - 4 Cups
- Water - 2 Cups
- Sugar - 1 small pinch
- Salt - ½ tsp adjust per taste
- All purpose flour - 1 Tbsp
- Milk - 1 Cup
- Freshly ground black pepper - ¼ tsp adjust as per taste
- Nutmeg powder - 1 small pinch
Instructions
- Melt 1 Tbsp of butter in a large pan. Add the chopped onion and garlic and saute until the onion turns translucent.
- Add the broccoli florets to the pan and saute for about 1 min. Then add the water, sugar, salt and cook covered for 10-15 mins until the broccoli is cooked. Turn off the flame and let the broccoli come to room temperature.
- Add the broccoli to the mixie/blender and blend it coarse or smooth per your preference.
- In the same large pan, melt the remaining 1 Tbsp butter. Add the all purpose flour and saute for 30 secs. Add the milk to the pan and mix well. Keep stirring continuously until you get a homogeneous mixture. Cook until the milk flour mixture starts to bubble.
- Transfer the ground broccoli into the pan and mix well. Give the soup a taste at this time to check for salt. Add more salt, if needed. Also, add the pepper, nutmeg and give a nice stir. Continue to cook until the soup is warm enough and reached your desired consistency. Turn off the flame.
- Enjoy the soup warm or at room temperature.
Notes
- You can also use vegetable broth instead of water for an added flavor. However, if using a broth, skip the addition of salt.
- Optionally, you can add some parmesan cheese to the soup while serving.
- Vegans can use vegan butter or olive oil instead of regular butter and use a non-dairy milk.