I wish soup season would never end— I’d like to nosh on this Broccoli Cheddar Soup with super cheesy cheese straws year-round, alternate that with some French Onion Soup topped with gruyère toast. Is that asking too much? I think not.
As kids, Broccoli Cheddar Soup was our favorite!! We’d never make a fuss when it was on the menu, especially because my mom usually served it with a giant piece of garlic bread. #carbsforlife
These days, I’m still all about a garlic bread situation but also VERY into these Puff Pastry Cheese Straws. They’re festive, fun and super easy to make!! Especially because we’re not wasting our time making homemade puff pastry – honestly haven't even considered making my own since culinary school! It's incredibly labor intensive. Instead, we’re snagging some frozen puff pastry from the market and going to town!
This soup is majorly delicious. Loaded with the perfect amount of spice, plenty of shredded Cheddar cheese (because almost all great soups have cheese) and broccoli. If you’re in a pinch for time, frozen broccoli florets are absolutely allowed! And let’s not forget that this soup is made from a roux base, so it’s smooth, creamy and you seriously can’t go wrong!!
Broccoli Cheddar Soup with Puff Pastry Cheese Straws
Ingredients
For the Soup
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 shallot, diced
- 1 carrot, diced
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 cups broccoli florets
- 6 ounces freshly shredded cheddar cheese
For the Cheese Straws
- 1 sheet Frozen Puff Pastry
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ⅓ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a heavy bottom Dutch oven. Add the red pepper flakes, shallots and carrot and sauté until soft. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the flour on top and whisk to combine. Add the broth and cream and season with salt and pepper. Turn heat to medium high and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add the broccoli florets and continue to simmer for 20 minutes until soft. Remove the pot from the heat and add the freshly shredded cheese in batches and stir until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
- Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until either completely smooth or half creamy and half chunky. I prefer to leave some of the broccoli florets in large bites. Top with extra shredded cheese and serve with the puff pastry straws.
- To make the cheese straws, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Roll out the sheet of puff pastry on a lightly floured board until it's 10 by 12 inches. Brush the surface of the pastry with the olive oil. Sprinkle each sheet evenly with the cheese and season with salt, and some pepper.
- Cut the sheet crosswise with a knife 11 or 12 strips. Twist each strip and lay on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until lightly browned and puffed.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Photo by Matt Armendariz / Food Styling by Adam Pearson / Recipe by What’s Gaby Cooking
One word....delicious!
I have made at least 6 different broccoli cheddar soups over the last couple of years but this is the only one that has been consistently good and more importantly, that my husband loves. And, it’s very easy to make! This is a keeper!
Just made it, it's perfect! My husband requested broccoli cheese soup this week and I almost always check Gaby's site first! I didn't have heavy cream on hand so I just used whole milk and it was great!
Perfect recipe! I roasted extra broccoli to garnish, so good!!
This is the first recipe that I have made since I started following your blog. I made this broccoli soup last week and it was delicious. I loved the kick from the red pepper flakes. Thank you!!
This sounds lovely and I will try it tomorrow. My hesitation concerns freezing. I have always thought that cream based soups do not freeze well because they "break" or separate when thawed. None of the comments said they froze the soup. Just double checking....Thanks Gaby!
I freeze it all the time - just warm slowly over the stove
I always have several soups in my freezer and one tip I have is avoid recipes with milk and instead stick with recipes with cream. Often, I even increase broth and replace milk with cream in some recipes. I have found that the cream is much much less likely to curdle and if it does separate when freezing, it comes together easily when heated.
I actually came to Gaby’s website today just for this reason. I have two broccoli cheese soup recipes that use milk but I wanted to make a big batch to freeze with my broccoli from my garden so I decided to look for Gaby’s recipe to see if it had cream or milk. I am looking forward to making it!
Agree with reviewers, fabulous soup. I probably snuck in more broccoli than called for, but what the heck. The cheese straws also were good. Sometimes I pick up.a vaguely chemical taste from frozen puff pastry, but this time the parmesan, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper disguised it. I also tried making my own puff pastry once and it was a massive time-consuming fail, so will stick with the frozen stuff regardless.
Omg! Made this last night, my husband who generally hates vegetables, was not only obsessed with this soup - he said it was the best part of our meal last night which included Gordon Ramsey’s mashed potatoes from master class and my husbands ‘famous’ steaks which he literally considers an art form lol. Yes this soup is THAT good! Flavor is perfection, wouldn’t change a thing. Thanks Gaby!
I’ve tried many a broccoli cheddar soup recipe and this is one of the best! So creamy and delicious and love the straws!
My husband, kids, and I gobbled it up! Sooo good and my little one LOVED the bread sticks.
We have made this soup and the twists over and over, and they are both delicious! Prior to finding this recipe, we had tried a couple other broccoli and cheddar soup recipes, and this one puts the rest to shame.
Very good and not too difficult for this novice in the kitchen. Will definitely add this to my rotation. Thanks for the great recipe!
I made this soup last evening and my family loved it. I will definitely need to double the recipe next time because everyone wanted seconds and unfortunately I didn’t have enough. Thank you for the recipe. ❤️
This is SO delicious!! Highly recommend to anyone considering this soup!!
Made the recipe exactly as written and it is absolutely delicious!! Definitely a keeper!
Have you ever made the broccoli soup vegetarian? If so what do you replace the cream with?
I haven't! But I'd probably just use only vegetable stock for the liquid portion and it will just be less creamy. I fear that a coconut milk wouldn't be a great flavor profile with this. And I haven't tried it with a nut milk or nut creamer