Creamy Broccoli Cheese Soup - High-Protein & Vegetarian

Enjoy this protein-packed, creamy broccoli cheese soup! 

This is a soup I make quite often - at least every other week if not more. It's a way to disguise vegetables so that the whole family will eat them♥

Get out the food processor if you have one! I put the onion, celery and carrot in the processor and pulse it a few times. Much easier and means you won't have big chunks in the soup (also helps with disguising these veggies.) Once you chop those and they're out of the processor, put the broccoli in the processor. This will help so you don't have huge chunks of broccoli to blend at the end.

No food processor? No problem! I've made this by manually chopping everything and it still works, just takes a bit more time.

The other tip is to stir intermittently while it's simmering because otherwise it tends to stick.

Creamy Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe (high-protein & vegetarian)

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 carrot, chopped
• 2 celery stalk, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 or 1.5 medium potatoes, peeled and diced small
• 5 cups (about 2 heads) broccoli florets, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar
• 1 slice American cheese
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Chop onion, carrot, celery, in a chopper or food processor.
2. In a large soup pot, melt butter with olive oil over medium to medium-low heat. Add chopped vegetables and sauté on low heat until soft, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, sauté another 2 minutes.
3. Add flour to the pot and stir until smooth, cooking about 2 minutes.
4. Add broth, milk, and potatoes and set heat to high until it comes to a boil, then cover and cook on low until potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes.
5. Add broccoli florets, Parmesan cheese, and stir well. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Cook uncovered until broccoli is cooked, about 4-5 minutes. 
6. Add the cheeses and stir well, Remove from heat.
7. Use an immersion blender to purée the soup as smoothly as you'd like. Or you can remove the soup and purée in a food processor if you don't have an immersion blender.

Editor's note: This recipe was originally published in 2011 but has since been updated.