Loaded Broccoli Cheese and Bacon Soup

 

This came from our favorite new blog, melskitchencafe.com. You can see from my picture that this is a thick soup, but that I omitted the bacon. It was still awesome. I give this an 8.5, and while I like my original broccoli soup recipe, this one is better and I will use this one from now on. It’s really good. Also, I did make changes, which I indicate in bold on the original recipe below.

Loaded Broccoli Cheese and Bacon Soup

Yield: Serves 8

You could easily use turkey bacon here especially since the bacon grease is drained before proceeding with the recipe. Alternately, if you like to live life on the edge, you can use the bacon grease for the base of the white sauce and omit the butter (just make sure you have at least 3 tablespoons, otherwise, supplement with butter). This soup is definitely on the thicker side of things; if you want a thinner soup, consider decreasing the broccoli by half (only using 2 cups or so) or adding additional broth at the beginning or the end.

Ingredients

• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup peeled and chopped carrots, diced small I used twice this many and threw them in the food processor
• 1 cup chopped celery, diced small I used 2 stalks
• 3 cups peeled and chopped potatoes, diced small
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
• 4-5 cups broccoli crowns, diced small (about 2 heads of broccoli) I just filled the steamer full
• 4-6 slices bacon, chopped I left this out
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup flour I decreased this to 1/4 cup
• 3 cups milk I used whole milk
• 4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (about 16 ounces) I probably used half of this
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried mustard I used half, but I’m sure it’s great with all of it

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, combine the chicken broth, carrots, celery, potatoes and onion. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, until the vegetables are starting to get tender.
2. Add the chopped broccoli. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes. The pan is going to be very full of vegetables and it might seem like it isn't "soupy" enough since the vegetables overpower the broth but I promise it will all work out when you add the cheese mixture.
3. In a separate medium saucepan, saute the bacon until golden and crisp. Remove the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate. Drain the grease and wipe out the saucepan.
4. Melt the butter (in the same saucepan you cooked the bacon in) over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes until golden, stirring constantly. Gradually whisk in the milk and cook until the mixture is bubbling and is slightly thickened, 5-7 minutes.
5. Stir in the cheddar cheese one handful at a time, adding another handful after the cheese that has been added has melted. Stir in the salt, pepper and dry mustard.
6. Slowly stir the cheese sauce into the hot broth and vegetables, whisking to combine well. Stir in the reserved bacon and add additional salt and pepper to taste, if needed. If you want the soup a bit thinner, stir in a little extra broth or milk a bit at a time until you get the consistency you are looking for.

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2013/10/broccoli-cheese-bacon-soup.html

So, in terms of the directions, one thing I did differently is that I dumped the broccoli into the milk mixture and then pureed it with a hand blender so that there were no chunks. The rest of the vegetables I left chunky. This was way good.

 

original recipe retrieved from http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2013/10/broccoli-cheese-bacon-soup.html