Creamy Roasted Broccoli Soup

If you love broccoli soup this soup is it. This creamy roasted broccoli soup has layers of rich broccoli flavor and a hearty texture from the addition of crispy roasted broccoli and pumpkin seeds. Perfect for the cold weather season!

Broccoli has so much to offer. By bringing out the best qualities of each part of the broccoli, you can really elevate the whole broccoli soup experience.

Personally I love a well-placed textural element in a dish and broccoli soup is the perfect candidate for it.

This roasted broccoli soup combines the sweet, earthy and creamy base that broccoli soup is known for with crispy, umami roasted florets and pumpkin seeds that add another layer of flavor and texture to give your soup a whole other dimension of flavor and bite.

Quick Summary

• Soft cooked broccoli stems make up the base along with zucchini and potatoes.
• The florets get to show off their best attributes by being roasted along with pumpkin seeds to give a nice textural element and topping.
• This soup is naturally plant-based/vegan!
• Lots of options for additions or substitutions! See below under ingredients.

Jump to:

• Quick Summary
• Ingredients
• Ideas for Substitutions / Additions
• Equipment
• Instructions
• Serving Suggestion
• Related
• Recipe
• Comments

Ingredients

This roasted broccoli soup is really easy to make and pleasingly versatile.

You can switch things up with what you have on hand and also make it your own with lots of additions like cheddar, crunchy bread croutons or noodles.

• Broccoli (florets and stalk): The broccoli stalk brings a lot of sweetness and body to the soup. It gets simmered in broth and blended to make a creamy base. The florets are roasted to add texture and toasty flavor.
• Potatoes: Potatoes give a lot of body to the soup and make the creamy base extra hearty.
• Zucchini: Zucchini brings vegetal sweetness and body. You can also omit it or substitute with other vegetables like cauliflower or kohlrabi.
• Yellow Onion: Onion is essential for soup and brings a sweet umami base note. You can also use other types of onions like red or even shallots.
• Garlic (cloves and powder): Garlic complements broccoli perfectly. The cloves go in the soup and the powder seasons the florets so there's layered garlic flavor throughout.
• Salt and black pepper: Salt brings it all together and black pepper adds a complementary warm note.
• No sodium bouillon (vegetable or chicken): No sodium bouillon is a shortcut to flavor development for quick soups like this one. Use vegetable or chicken to amp up the flavor in the soup and give it more depth. If you use bouillon that contains salt then be sure to reduce the amount of salt the recipe calls for.
• Olive oil: Sautéing the onion and garlic cloves in oil brings out their flavors. The broccoli florets and pumpkin seeds are also tossed in oil to roast up perfectly. Feel free to use another type of oil if you prefer.

Ideas for Substitutions / Additions

• Other vegetables: You can either omit the zucchini or leave it in and add other vegetables like cauliflower, kohlrabi, or celery. These vegetables can be treated the same way as the zucchini in the recipe. Leeks would also be nice - for maximum flavor I would do half a leek prepared like the onion and the other half roasted with the florets.
• Cheddar or other cheese: Broccoli cheddar soup is a classic. You can easily add cheddar to this recipe by just throwing in a handful of shredded cheese after blending the soup base but before adding the crunchy elements. Stir it in well until incorporated. Other cheeses that would be nice are parmesan/pecorino, gruyere or blue.
• Seasoned bread croutons: You can make your own seasoned croutons to go with this soup by tossing about a cup of chopped bread with the broccoli florets and pumpkin seeds. Season and roast it all up together for an even heartier crunch.
• Chicken or sausage: If you want to add chicken or sausage I recommend first sautéing bite-sized chicken/sausage in oil over medium heat until browned (for flavor) and almost cooked through - this should take 6-10 minutes depending on thickness. Remove the meat from the pan and set aside. Then continue the recipe in the same pan (use that flavor!) as indicated in the recipe card. After blending the soup base, put the meat back in and simmer for 5-10 minutes until done.
• Noodles: You can amp up the comfort factor with noodles! Since the soup base gets blended and is quite thick, it would take quite a long time to cook the noodles directly in the soup. Cooking broccoli for so long can bring out the sulfuric flavor which I don't think anyone likes. As such, I recommend boiling the noodles separately and adding them to the soup after blending. Better yet, to really get the best texture pasta, add the noodles to each bowl before ladling the soup in - this way you avoid the noodles sitting in the soup, soaking in liquid and getting super soft - I'm not a fan of soft pasta but if you're into it then ignore this and follow your heart!

Equipment

• Soup pot: You will need a medium-large soup pot. I used my Le Creuset braiser which is pictured and has a 3.3 liter / 3.5 quart capacity.
• Immersion blender: An immersion blender is the easiest way to get the creamy rich texture that makes this soup so good. If you don't have an immersion blender you can also spoon the chunks with some of the liquid into a blender or food processor and then put back in the pot.
• Roasting pan: A large flat roasting pan like a cookie sheet to roast the broccoli florets and pumpkin seeds. I like to line the roasting pan with baking paper to avoid sticking and make clean up easier.

Instructions

This soup is made in two steps in order to bring out the best qualities of each part of the broccoli.

For the roasted crunchy topping you'll need to preheat your oven to 200 C / 400 F and prepare a large baking sheet.

Start by washing and cutting up the broccoli, separating it into florets and stalks.

Toss the florets together with pumpkin seeds, seasonings and olive oil. Lay out in one layer on the baking sheet and roast until lightly browned and crispy - this should take 15-20 minutes.

While the florets are roasting, heat oil in your soup pot and sauté the aromatics (onion and garlic) until they're lightly browned and smell really good.

You're going to do the same thing with the florets - giving them a bit of dry heat cooking before simmering in water brings out some more nutty flavors.

Once the florets are also reduced and starting to brown, you basically add everything else, cover in water and simmer until the potatoes are fork tender.

Then it all gets blended and you're done!

After blending you can add most of the roasted broccoli florets and pumpkin seeds to the soup and reserve some for garnish if you like.

Serving Suggestion

Make the most of the crunchy roasted broccoli and pumpkin seeds by reserving some to garnish the soup. The soup is hearty enough that the garnish will just stay on the surface until stirred in.

Like any good soup, this one is amazing with some nice crusty bread.

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