Thirty-Minute Cheesy Broccoli & Cauliflower Soup

I stumbled upon a recipe on Yammie's Noshery for a copycat version of Panera Bread's cheesy broccoli soup. Their soup has always been my favorite there, so I was overly thrilled to try an at-home version. However, I wanted to incorporate some cauliflower into the soup, so I replaced half of the broccoli called for in the recipe with cauliflower - simple as that. {Just broccoli can be used if desired.}

 

I had my littlest one, Ayvah, home sick from school recently. She and I spent the morning curled up watching Christmas cartoons. When she was up and feeling a little better in the early afternoon, she wanted to get out her coloring books. So, I got busy in the kitchen whipping up a batch of this soup and getting out some frozen rolls to rise. Since dinner was still a couple of hours away, I transferred the prepared soup to my slow cooker and kept it on the warm setting. I was so proud of myself - it was only three o'clock and I had dinner done, blog photos of the soup taken and everything cleaned up. Score one for mom.

What I love most about this soup is that it, literally, takes all of thirty minutes from start-to-finish to make.  I was blown away at how easy and quick this recipe is. And, the taste did not disappoint. Sometimes something that claims to be a copycat recipe really doesn't turn out to taste much like the original. This one tasted just like Panera Bread's broccoli soup {just with a little cauliflower thrown in}.  The only thing I will do differently next time {and there WILL be a next time} is make a double batch.

Yields 4 servings.


Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced or shredded
2 cups half and half {whole milk can be used}
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup corn starch
2 - 3 tablespoons cold water
1/4 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
2 bay leaves
2 cups fresh broccoli florets
2 cups fresh cauliflower florets
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Melt butter in a soup pot over medium-low heat. Cook onion, garlic and carrot until slightly softened. Add in half and half and chicken stock. Mix together corn starch with a little water {2 - 3 tablespoons} in order to form a pourable paste. Whisk into the soup. Add in nutmeg and bay leaves. Allow soup to simmer and thicken a bit - about 5 minutes.

Add in broccoli and cauliflower. Cook until they are just tender. Remove bay leaves. Mash about half of the soup with a potato masher - leaving some of the broccoli and cauliflower in larger pieces. Alternatively, an immersion blender can be used to slightly blend the soup.

Turn heat off.

Add in the cheese - a handful at a time - stirring until melted. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

Serve with a little more shredded cheese on top if desired.

03/17/18:  Updated photos and made clarifications to recipe/post.