White Cheddar Broccoli Potato Soup

Velvet-smooth white cheddar potato soup studded with bright green bits of broccoli. Topping it with bacon adds a nice smoky taste and a bit of crunch, but I offer several topping ideas to suit your own tastes/dietary restrictions.

I made this soup by request from my son, who saw some post somewhere on social media and remembered that he used to like broccoli if it was covered in cheese sauce and said that maybe a cheesy broccoli potato soup would be something he would like.

So, being the mom who is always interested in getting veggies in her kids (yes, still, even though he is full grown, I still like to see him eating healthy), I wholeheartedly agreed that we should give it a try. So I made up a nice batch of cheesy broccoli potato soup. Interestingly, I didn’t have any sharp cheddar on hand, which is what I would normally have chosen for this, but I did have some aged white cheddar in my cheese drawer. My son does like white cheddar, so that was that. And it was lovely. The soup turned out so smooth and creamy I almost didn’t care if he liked it or not … I would eat it!

Report from my son: He does like the soup, but he said the chunks of broccoli were a too big. Well that’s easily fixable! I just blended the soup a little, just for him. But I kept some of it with the chunks of broccoli in it, just like I like it. If you look closely, you can see the bits of broccoli peeking out from under the surface of the soup. I did blend in all the potatoes, which I think does add to the thick, creamy texture of the soup, but if you want chunks of potatoes, feel free to leave some of them out of the blender as well or add some extra potato chunks (pre-cooked, mind you) after blending.

White Cheddar Broccoli Potato Soup

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
• Yield: Over 2 quarts of soup 1x

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

---

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• About 5 russet or golden potatoes (~3 cups potato flesh)
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour (or tapioca flour, for gluten free)
• 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup fat free half & half (or regular half & half … or milk)
• 2 cups shredded aged white cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup light sour cream
• 12 oz. frozen broccoli florets, thawed and chopped
• Salt & freshly ground pepper, to taste
• Toppings (optional): Shredded cheese, sour cream, fried/chopped bacon, snipped chives

---

Instructions

1. Wash the potatoes, then while wet, sprinkle with salt. Bake at 350 F. for about an hour or until a fork poked in the side of the potato goes in easily.
2. While the potatoes are baking, heat the olive oil and butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until the onions are soft & translucent. Add the garlic and carrots and cook for a few minutes longer, then stir in the flour to coat.
3. Add the broth and bay leaf, reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 – 20 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.
4. Pour the soup into a blender with the cream (or milk), cheese and sour cream and blend until smooth. Stir in the broccoli, season to taste with salt & freshly ground pepper, heat just until the soup is hot. If desired, top with extra cheese, sour cream, bacon and/or chives and enjoy!

---

Notes

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

© Copyright 2017, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. I love it when you share, but please do not use my images on your own site/page without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. Sharing, pinning, and tweeting is always appreciated as long as the shares and pins link back to here for the recipe. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

This recipe was shared at Full Plate Thursday and Hearth & Soul Bloghop.