I changed the cooking process around a bit. I was really hesitant to just wisk flour into a pot of ingredients as I really didn't want the flavor of flour to ruin my soup. I used four tablespoons of butter that I melted over medium high heat in my soup pot, then added the flour (reduced to four tablespoons) to make a roux. I cooked the roux to a golden brown before wisking in the chicken broth and half-n-half. Because I cut the flour back by half, I did NOT add the water. After the mixture had come to a boil, I wisked in the cheese a little at a time to prevent the cheese lumping up in the soup, then added in the onion flakes and chopped broccoli. The end result was nice though I do think it could use more cheese. Even with the change in cooking process, this soup didn't take any longer than 15 minutes to prepare.
I've made this several times. Double the cheese. Use fresh finely diced onion instead of dry flakes.
With a few adjustments I thought this soup was great. I used a lot more cheese and I also used a little American along with the cheddar. I thought this improved both the texture and the flavor. I will make this one often.
Great recipe! I made a few changes - I took a tip from the other comments and added more cheese and instead of onion flakes I sauted a chopped medium onion with a half a clove of garlic and a little water before adding the chicken broth (which I allowed to simmer with just the onions garlic and a little pepper for a little while to soften the onions) - I Love that this recipe called for REAL cheddar not "processed cheese product" and fresh broccoli! I used a mild cheddar but I probably should have mixed it with a sharper cheddar even so the flavor was amazing!
Excellent. The cheese was all stringy and separate in the bottom of the pot at first but gradually as the soup cooked it became fully incorporated. I used chicken broth that had salt in it and didn't need to add any additional salt like other reviewers have suggested.
This was a wonderful and easy soup. My family loved it. It was a little to watery and extra cheddar did not solve this. So I added instant potato flakes until it thickened up and added more seasonings then served it in bread bowls. This is a keeper.
This really was a great recipe but I had to jazz it up a little bit. I chopped up one slice of bacon and cooked it in the pot before I did anything else. Remove the cooked bacon bits and then sautee 1/4 c. chopped onions in the grease until tranlucent. As far as the cheese I used 8 oz. of SHARP cheddar. At the end I added 1/2 c. of sour cream and the bacon bits; stir. YUMMY!!!
Delicious and not too heavy either. I really liked it because it is one of the few recipes that I found that didnt call for processed cheese like Velvetta.
This is just what I was looking for. I didn't want to use processed cheese. They key to the taste is buying good sharp cheddar not store brand. I used 4 cups Hoffman's Super Sharp Cheddar. I also added a dash of Garlic Powder.
This recipe is a good starting point but I wouldn't have liked it if I'd stopped where the recipe instructions did! It needs pureed to meet my expectations of broccoli cheese soup. To include that step I added the broccoli to the broth/flour mixture but waited to add the cream and the cheese. Once the broccoli was tender I scooped it into my blender with a slotted spoon and added some of the liquid and zipped it up until smooth and returned it to my pan. Then I added the cream and cheese. I agree with those who say it needs more cheese I added probably double the amount (until I could taste it in the soup). Depending on your broth you will definitely need to add salt as well.
