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Healthy Broccoli Potato Cheese Soup

5 from 2 votes
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Yield 9 –10 cups (4 servings)
Category Main Dish
Cuisine American
Author Lauren Grant

Description

One of my favorite soup recipes, this broccoli cheese and potato soup is easy to make, healthy, cozy and satisfying. The croutons are optional, but they add a lovely crunchy and cheesiness to the creamy soup!

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • Kosher salt and black pepper
  • 4 large cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 pounds broccoli with stalks, divided
  • 1 large russet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 cups spinach, optional
  • 8 ounces sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded (2 cups), divided
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 4 slices hearty whole-grain bread
  • 4 teaspoons everything spice blend, optional

Instructions

  • Melt butter in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Stir to combine, then reduce heat to medium, cover and cook onions until starting to soften about 8 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, prep broccoli by trimming and discarding tough stalk ends. Using a vegetable peeler, shave off outer skin of broccoli stalks. Cut stalks into 1-inch pieces. Prep broccoli florets by trimming as much of stalk from floret as possible; cut stalk pieces into 1-inch chunks.
  • Roughly chop broccoli florets and set aside.
  • Add potato, broccoli stalks, 6 cups water and 1 teaspoon salt to pot with onions. Bring to a boil over high heat then reduce to a simmer over medium. Cover and cook until broccoli and potatoes are tender and a knife easily slides in and out of them; 15–20 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, heat broiler to high with rack set 6-inches from element. Arrange bread on a baking sheet and broil until lightly toasted, about 2 minutes. Flip bread and top each slice with ¼ cup chopped broccoli florets, ¼ cup shredded Cheddar and 1 teaspoon Everything Spice, if using. Broil toasts until cheese is melted and bubbly, 2–3 minutes.
  • Add remaining broccoli florets and 2 cups spinach to pot with soft broccoli stalks and potato; cook 3 minutes. Blend soup until very smooth using an immersion blender or in batches in a standard blender.
  • (If using a blender, do not overfill or go past the max fill line on your blender. Transfer blended soup to a large heat-proof bowl while blending remaining soup in batches. Transfer blended soup back to pot.)
  • Heat soup over medium and stir in remaining 1 cup shredded Cheddar by handful until smooth. Stir in Dijon and season with salt and pepper to taste.
  • Cut cheesy bread into chunks. Top each bowl of soup with a cheesy croutons and any frico that formed on the backing sheet (melted and cooled cheese pools). Finish with cracked black pepper and olive oil, if desired.

Notes

Gluten-Free: the soup itself is gluten-free. To keep the entire dish GF, skip the croutons or use certified gluten-free bread inplace of the whole-grain bread.

Nutrition

Serving: 2cups soup + 1 full cheesy toastCalories: 490kcalCarbohydrates: 37gProtein: 26gFat: 28gSaturated Fat: 18gCholesterol: 83mgSodium: 1290mgFiber: 10gSugar: 8g
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