It would be hard for me to think about a week of frozen meals without including at least one soup recipe.
In reality, soups are some of the most freeze-ready meals. They almost all freeze well. If you don’t like this Broccoli Parmesan Soup recipe, maybe try this Brown Butter Sweet Potato Soup!
The only thing to remember about soups is that ones with a lot of dairy don’t freeze great. So you will want to avoid cream-based soups, but other than that you can freeze almost any soup out there.
This is a really simple soup that traditionally has cheddar in it, but I decided to use up some extra Parmesan I had and I really liked the complexity of the Parmesan.
If you’re a broccoli fan (I know a few), then you have to try this.
Broccoli Parmesan Soup
Equipment
- 1 blender
Ingredients
- 4 large broccoli heads, cut into florets (about 1.5-2 pounds)
- 1 leek, diced
- 1 rind from Parmesan cheese, optional
- 1 large potato, diced
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, 1 cup if you don’t have a rind
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 cups water
- Salt and pepper
- Olive Oil
Instructions
- Wash broccoli well and cut it into florets. Also, peel stems and chop them into 1 inch pieces.
- Lay broccoli out on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Season with kosher salt. Bake broccoli at 350 for 15-20 minutes until the broccoli is a deep green, slightly soft, and charred around the edges.
- Meanwhile, dice potato and leek. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a large pot over medium heat. Add leek and cook for a few minutes until soft. Add potato and liquids (stock and water). Bring to a simmer, add Parmesan rind, and simmer covered for about 10 minutes.
- When broccoli is done roasting, add to pot and continue to simmer for 5 more minutes.
- Blend soup with a blender until smooth. The rinds should basically melt into the soup, but if there are any pieces remaining, remove them.
- Season soup with salt and pepper and stir in parmesan cheese.
- Serve soup with crusty bread and a dollop of Greek yogurt.
- To freeze, let soup cool to roughly room temperature, then pour into a freezer safe dish and freeze until frozen solid. At this point, I like remove the soup from the dish by running the outside under warm water and the whole block of soup will come out. Then you can store the soup block in a freezer bag.
- Reheat the soup on the stovetop with a 1/2 cup of water over medium-low heat.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
Broccoli Parmesan Soup
Chopping Broccoli
I can’t help it. Every single time I cook something with broccoli, I think of Dana Carvey.
So yea… I chopped some broccoli. About two pounds of it actually.
I also drizzled oil over that broccoli and sprinkled it with some kosher salt.
Take that, broccoli!
I then roasted this chopped broccoli at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.
It should turn a really bright green and get a bit charred around the edges. This will really concentrate those flavors.
Other Ingredients
Besides the broccoli, there are just a few ingredients in this soup.
First, leeks. I’m on a big leek kick lately. They give a mild onion flavor to the soup. I like them for this recipe because an actual onion might over-power the broccoli flavor.
Just dice the leek stalk into quarters, rinse it well, and then dice it up.
If you buy good Parmesan cheese, you’ll inevitably be left with little pieces of rind from the cheese. I save these and toss them into soups.
This Broccoli Parmesan Soup is a perfect soup for some Parm rind.
If you don’t have any rinds saved, then you can just increase the amount of Parmesan cheese in the recipe, but the rinds give the soup a really deep and unique flavor.
Finally, a simple potato. Nothing fancy here. The potato gives the soup some nice body and thickness.
Just dice it up into about 1 inch cubes. (I realize that this photo is not 1 inch cubes, but you should keep chopping until you get it into cubes.)
Making the Soup
This Broccoli Parmesan Soup is a simple one to bring together.
In a large pot, add a good drizzle of olive oil (between 1-2 tablespoons) over medium heat. Add your chopped leeks to the pot and let them soften for a few minutes. Add a small pinch of salt also.
Then add in the liquids to the pot along with the diced potato and cheese rinds. Bring this all to a simmer.
Let this simmer for about 10 minutes and then add in the roasted broccoli.
I love the colors in this soup.
Simmer this for another five minutes or so until the potatoes and the broccoli are soft.
While I guess you could serve this soup rustic-style, I prefer to blend it.
I use an immersion blender for soup, but you could also use a normal blender. Just be careful pouring and blending the hot soup.
I like to serve this soup with a crusty bread and maybe a dollop of Greek yogurt or sour cream.
Freezing the Soup
Soup is about as easy as it gets to freeze. You should let the soup come to room temperature just so a lot of condensation doesn’t build up while it freezes. It’s also dangerous to stick hot foods in the freezer because you might unintentionally thaw something that shouldn’t be thawed!
Once the soup is cooled a bit, transfer it to a freezer-safe dish and freeze it solid. Once it’s frozen, I like to run warm water over the dish which will release the soup block from the dish. Then I just store the soup block in a freezer bag until I need it.
Reheating the Soup
If you want to dive into your frozen stores of soup, just add the block of soup to a large pot with about 1/2 cup of water and let it melt slowly over medium-low heat. It’ll probably take 20 minutes or so to thaw and warm, but the soup will be as good as on day one.
I like to think of soup as a beginner frozen meal. It’s almost impossible to mess it up.
Give this soup recipe some space in your freezer!
JJ
I’m a soup nut. As far as Italian goes, I usually prefer a marinara soup, but this one looks-a-very good ;)
Tracy
This looks awesome. You have all of my favorite ingredients… I have also been on a broccoli and leek kick and really, can one EVER go wrong with Parm cheese?? Happy recovery.. rehab is awesome.
El Rose
Loved this! I added cauliflower because I needed to use it up. Wow! I will combine the two whenever I get a chance.
Kate
Recipe looks great, but I especially appreciate the Dana Carvey reference! I cannot prep broccoli for dinner without my husband busting out with that song! Glad to know we are not the only ones that remember it! :-)
Christina
This looks delicious and I’m excited to make it, but when do you add the parmesan cheese? Do you add it with the potatoes and rinds?
Nick
Yep! You can add it at any point!
del davies
Sounds scrumptious ! Many thanks.
rod
Dumb question, but do you take the cheese rinds out? Or do you leave them in and blend them? I thought they had wax and ink and such on them?
Nick
Hey Rod, yea… I remove them before blending it together. They are technically edible, but not exactly delicious… cooking them down though does add some savory flavor to the soup. Optional, but nice if you can do it. :)
Sarah
I love all of the recipes I have tried so far on this site. The Chorizo soup was a big hit at home and so is this one. I have been making your soups and eating them all week while I am at a residency in Paris. This one is this weeks soup and I absolutely love it. Thank you so much and I look forward to trying more of your recipes.
Nick
Awesome! So Glad you like them Sarah. Thanks for commenting!