Low Carb Broccoli & Cheese Soup with Ham! (keto)

I have never made soups before last week. I have done chili in my crock pot, and I've eaten a lot of soup, but I've never made it.

Last week I received an immersion (stick) blender for Hanukkah! It's so cool, and I imagined myself making fancy soups!

Last week for meal prep, I did a very simple cauliflower soup, and then decided to add cooked ground pork, to make it a bit heartier, and it was my lunch all last week. It was really creamy and good and satisfying!

This week, I wanted a classic broccoli and cheese soup. I used to LOVE going to Panera Bread and getting broccoli and cheese soup and a half sandwich to dip in it.

It turns out that all the recipes online use flour as a thickener, which I can't do.

I decided to just try the exact same cauliflower soup, but adding a lot of sharp yellow cheddar and cooked broccoli. I also decided to go with fresh cauliflower and broccoli. The original soup said I could do frozen, and it tasted great but was a bit watery and took longer to cook.

Celery, onion, cauliflower & chicken broth in one, broccoli in the other!

After blending, adding the cheddar a little at a time. STIR STIR STIR!

Added the cooked broccoli!

I also added ham as the meat, as I know that goes so well with cheddar cheese and again, I wanted a hearty meal. I actually bought cooked black forest ham from the deli counter and had them cut it very thick. I purchased about a pound and a half and ended up using right about half of it. Use as much or as little (or no) meat as you want!

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Final product! It turned out really good!

Recipe:

Ingredients:
-4oz butter
-1 medium onion (I used 2 small yellow onions this time, last time was 1 medium white, both work)
-4 stalks of celery
-1 head of cauliflower (if using frozen, 1 bag, 14 oz frozen)
-4 cups chicken broth
-1 head of broccoli
-16 oz sharp cheddar cheese (grate it yourself for better melting)
-3/4 cup heavy cream
-Half to whole pound of ham (depends how much ham you like)


Instructions:

1. Dice the onion and celery (I used a food processor) and put it into a 3 quart (or more) saucepan with 4 oz butter over medium-high heat. Cook for about 5 minutes.

2. Add cauliflower florets and chicken broth. Can be done with fresh or frozen. Frozen will take a bit longer to cook but tastes good, though is a bit more watery/thinner, and I found that fresh cauliflower made it a bit thicker overall.

3. Bring this to a boil and then turn down the heat slightly, allow to simmer and cook until the cauliflower is easily forked. If using frozen, this will take 15-20 minutes, with fresh florets, about 8-10 minutes.

4. While thats cooking, cook your broccoli. I cut it up really tiny (not bite size, smaller, like the Panera soup) and saute it in a pan with salt, pepper, garlic, but it is just as easy and delicious to steam it in the microwave, especially since it's going into cheese.
*I have not tried this recipe with frozen broccoli, but if you do use it, simply steam and drain the frozen broccoli and chop it into smaller bits.

5. Once you can fork the cauliflower, grab a stick blender and blend the soup until smooth. Add 3/4 cup of heavy cream, and mix. At this time, add spices. I did italian seasoning, chili powder, adobo, salt, pepper, and garlic.

6. Put back over the heat and slowly add all of the cheese, mixing it thoroughly.

7. Remove from heat. Add the cooked broccoli and cut up ham (mine was pre-cooked ham).


For me, this makes 4 lunches for the week and at least one dinner for 2 people, sometimes.

It's really good and you don't need flour to thicken it!! The cauliflower and sheer amount of cheese thickens it very well!