Broccoli Cheese Soup with a Kick!

Tonight for dinner I made something I have been craving for a while now.

Broccoli Cheese Soup.

I have seen tons of awesome recipes online – it was too hard to pick just one, so I combined a few of them to create my own version of this classic soup.

It all begins with 1 large onion. I sliced & diced this bad boy up.

Next, add 1/2 cup of butter to a warm pot on the stove & let it fully melt.

Then add the onion & cook for a few minutes.

After a few minutes of the onions cooking, add in 1/3 cup flour

Stir & cook the mixture for another minute or two.

Then slowly whisk in 2 cups of half & half and 4 cups of whole milk.

Next add 4 heads of broccoli cut into florets.

Random thought: Aren’t broccoli stems weird looking?

I think they are!

Back to the soup!

I added a tiny sprinkling of cinnamon, a bit of salt & a hefty bit of pepper.

To me, the more pepper, the better!

Cover the pot & let simmer for about 25 minutes or until the broccoli is tender.

Now its the fun part – adding the cheese!

I added about 2 cups of cheddar, 1/2 cup of gouda & 1/2 cup mozzarella

(aka – all the cheese we had in the fridge)

Add the cheese in 1 handful at a time, making sure it fully melts before adding in the next portion.

OH NO! My soup is bleeding!

Just kidding! I added a few splashes of habanero pepper sauce to the soup to give it a little KICK!

Then I attempted to use my immersion blender (for the 2nd time!) It was a much smoother process this time around. I blended the soup a few times around to smooth everything out a little bit but not completely. I still wanted some broccoli chunks in my soup but other options include:

a) go full chunk & not blend at all

b) do what I did & blend half or

c) completely blend it down so its a silky smooth soup!

You really can’t go wrong either way at all!

The finished product!

I served the soup with a little extra cheese on top – because is there really such a thing as too much cheese?! I don’t think so!

This soup was way better than I ever could have imagined. The fresh broccoli was enjoyable, it was the perfect amount of cheese & the habanero sauce gave it the perfect kick!