Broccoli cheddar soup

Panera-style broccoli cheddar soup

The broccoli cheddar soup most Americans know is Panera Bread's, and this is a copycat of that style: a base of broth and milk thickened with a butter and flour roux, small pieces of broccoli, matchsticks of carrot, and a lot of sharp cheddar. It is thick, cheesy and only partly smooth. It is a different soup from our broccoli soup, which is blended, gets its body from a potato and has no cream at all.

How it compares in calories: a bowl here is about 1 1/3 cups and 360 kcal. Panera posts the calories for each of its sizes on its menu, so you can compare by size. Made at home, you also decide how much cheese goes in, and the lighter version below comes in at about 270 kcal a bowl.

Why the cheese goes grainy, and how to stop it

A cheesy broccoli soup that turns grainy or oily has almost always been too hot after the cheese went in. Heat makes the cheese proteins tighten and squeeze out their fat, and once that happens it does not come back. Three rules prevent it:

• Take the pot off the heat before the cheese goes in, and add it a handful at a time, stirring until each one melts.
• Grate it yourself from a block. Pre-shredded cheese is coated with starch or cellulose to keep the shreds apart, and that coating keeps it from melting smoothly.
• Use sharp, not extra-aged. A sharp cheddar has plenty of flavor and melts well. Cheddars aged two years or more are drier and more likely to break.

The flour in the base helps too. It coats the milk and cheese proteins and keeps them from clumping, which is why a roux-thickened soup is much more forgiving than one thickened with cheese alone. Once the cheese is in, reheat the soup gently and never let it boil.

Chunky or smooth

Cut the florets small, about the size of a grape, so every spoonful has some. Peel the stalks and dice them: they are sweet and they cook first, so they soften by the time the florets are done. For a thicker soup that still has pieces in it, blend about a third of the pot with a stick blender for a few seconds. For a fully smooth soup, blend it all before adding the cheese.

Healthy broccoli cheddar soup

The cheese is the biggest single source of calories, about 150 kcal a bowl, and the butter and half-and-half add another 75 or so. To lighten it without losing the point of the soup:

• Use 2 tbsp butter instead of 3.
• Use whole milk instead of the half-and-half.
• Use 5 oz of sharp cheddar instead of 8. A strong cheese goes further than a mild one.

All three together bring a bowl to about 270 kcal, with 14 g of protein and 16 g of fat. You can also add another 1/2 lb of broccoli, which costs only about 15 kcal a bowl and makes the soup more filling.

Cheesy potato broccoli soup

Add 1 medium russet potato, peeled and cut in 1/2-inch cubes, with the broccoli stalks, plus 1/2 cup more broth. It softens in the same time and thickens the soup as it breaks down. It adds about 30 kcal a bowl. With more potato and less broccoli, it moves toward a cheesy potato soup.

Cheesy broccoli soup in the crock pot

The vegetables can cook in a slow cooker, but the cheese sauce is best made at the end.

• Vegetables first. Put the onion, garlic, broccoli, carrots, broth, mustard, nutmeg, salt and pepper in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 4 hours or on high for 2, until the broccoli is very tender.
• Make the sauce on the stove. Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour for 2 minutes, then whisk in the milk and half-and-half and simmer until thick, about 5 minutes. Stir it into the slow cooker.
• Cheese last. Turn the slow cooker off, leave the lid off for 5 minutes, then stir in the cheese a handful at a time. Do not leave it on high after the cheese is in, or it will turn grainy.

In a bread bowl

Cut the top off a small round loaf of sourdough, pull out the inside, leaving walls about 1/2 inch thick, and toast it at 350°F for 10 minutes so it holds the soup longer before going soggy. A bread bowl is a whole small loaf, though. If you eat the walls and the lid, it adds more calories than the soup does.

Keeping it

Four days in the fridge. Reheat it over low heat, stirring, and take it off as soon as it is hot. It does not freeze well once the cheese is in, because the cheese turns grainy on thawing. To freeze some, take it out before the cheese, then reheat it and stir the cheese in off the heat.

What it is worth nutritionally

A bowl of about 1 1/3 cups has about 360 kcal, with 17 g of protein, 24 g of fat and 21 g of carbohydrate, including about 3 g of fiber. The cheese and milk make it a very good source of calcium, about 30 percent of the daily value a bowl. Broccoli adds vitamin C and vitamin K, and the carrots add vitamin A. Like any cheese soup, it is fairly high in fat and sodium, so low-sodium broth is worth using.