How to Fix Bland Broccoli Cheese Soup (& Easy Soup Recipe)

Do you want to fix bland broccoli cheese soup?

Because it’s a fact that although broccoli soup’s simple to make, it’s also a disaster when it goes bland.

From delicious to bleh.

So how can you bring it back from the edge of the soup-precipice?

Grab a few broccoli-tricks and you won’t have to bear bland broccoli soup again.

And just in case, we’re not only going to fix bland broccoli cheese soup, but also cook the perfect tasting broccoli cheese soup in the first place.

Why is My Broccoli Soup Tasteless?

Hey I know, I hear you.

You started out thinking about that the delicious tang of tasty broccoli was going to give you a to-die-for soup flavour.

So you put all your love into it, cooked the broccoli, maybe added some other veggies, only to find that you’ve now got a bland bowl of green nothingness on your hands.

Or was it worse?

Well don’t worry, you’re going to fix that. But it’s easier to avoid it from happening in the first place. You know the saying about shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted? No, okay maybe not.

So why does this happen? (The soup, not the horse . . .)

Well there’s a few things you should know about broccoli:

Broccoli . . .

• loses almost all flavour when overcooked
• can become bitter when overcooked
• has a mild flavour, so works best without other additional flavours
• needs plenty of salt for a tasty broccoli soup
• is best eaten while still bright green in colour
• is delicious when cooked just right

If you bear all those things in mind, your broccoli soup-making-skills will skyrocket.

But what if you’ve already got some broccoli soup that’s tasteless?

Then what can you do?

3 Tips to Fix Bland Broccoli Cheese Soup

First, you’ll need to taste the soup.

Once you’ve really checked out its flavour (or lack of), you can decide what will help your soup to taste better.

Of course it will depend on what you put in the original recipe, so not everything in this list will be an option.

In fact, not all of these are meant to be an option, because they’re an either/or option.

Don’t go adding all these things as that would be overkill.

Instead, based on the taste, choose which flavour might give your soup a kick of flavour and try it out. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

And remember, once you’ve reached the stage of rescuing a bland soup, let it become a new soup. Don’t try to go back to your original plan.

If the soup lacks salt or nutritional yeast for example, that’s simple. You can correct that without turning the old soup into a new soup.

But if the broccoli’s overcooked and lost all flavour, you may need to take more drastic action. Skip the idea of a pure broccoli soup just this once, and create a broccoli-coconut soup, for example.

But often a simple blandness can be corrected by adding extra salt.

You’d be surprised by how much salt is needed to bring out the flavour of broccoli in soup.

#1 How to Fix Bland Broccoli Cheese Soup if it (Just) Lacks Flavour

Ok, so imagine. You’ve made the soup. Delicious broccoli soup. Your friends are due to bombade your house at lunch time to celebrate 10 years of friendship.

You taste the soup.

Oh-oh.

Where’s the flavour gone? It tastes like green plant-milk!

Don’t panic. Luckily, you have a lot of choices of things to add to spice it up a bit.

Which one you choose depends on the taste test. You have to taste, tweak, taste, tweak and so on.

Here’s how to tweak the flavour of a tasteless broccoli soup. Minor changes . . .

Things you can add to help bring the flavour back to life in a bland broccoli soup . . .

You could also use these fixes for a leek soup too.

• salt
• nutritional yeast
• dried herbs such as parsley
• chilli powder
• soy sauce and/or ketjap manis
• freshly ground black pepper
• unsweetened plant milk
• coconut milk
• apple cider vinegar

#2 How to Thicken a Broccoli Soup that’s too Thin (without using flour)

Voila! Soup’s made!

Chuffed with the result, you pick up a spoon to taste it. Only to find it’s as thin as the liquid that comes from the kitchen tap.

But it’s all made now. How can you thicken it at this stage?

No sweat, it’s easy, honest.

You can . . .

• add handful of uncooked rice and cook for 20 minutes (my favourite solution)
• a cupful of uncooked pasta (small shape for soup)
• pour in a cup of creamy coconut milk
• use some extra nutritional yeast
• add some cashew nut cream
• use a jar of ready-cooked beans and add them to the soup, partially mashing them to thicken up your broccoli soup
• add some mashed potato

#3 How to Completely Rescue a Broccoli Soup

That’s it. I’m never making this soup again. It’s just a disaster!

Is it really that bad?

Yes.

Ok, well then there’s nothing more to it than to use for making a new soup.

Oven roast some veggies of choice to make a vegetable soup and use the failed broccoli soup as the liquid.

Or use the air fryer. Or water-fry the veggies in a teeny amount of water.

Mix the roasted/air fried/water fried vegetable in with the broccoli soup and add a cup of pasta or rice.

Cook for 10 minutes or until the pasta is soft.

How to Make an Easy Vegan Creamy Broccoli Soup Taste Great every Time

Here’s how to get healthy green goodness every time.

• avoid overcooking the broccoli (its colour is a great indication – keep it green)
• fry the broccoli with the garlic and onions for a few minutes before adding any water to the pan (about 4-5 minutes)
• as opposed to some soups, broccoli soup tastes best when blended immediately, so as soon everything’s soft enough to blend, get that stick blender working
• avoid adding lots of other flavours to the soup, broccoli soup does best when the broccoli’s on its own, or with just onion and garlic

The Easiest Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe (gluten free & oil free)

You know I like to make simple recipes and this broccoli soup is no exception. And in this case, much like with green pea soup, less is actually more.

Why?

Because broccoli’s got a mild flavour and you don’t want to over-power it with a mix of other ingredients which will make you lose the broccoli flavour.

Well you can of course, but then it becomes an ‘other things‘ soup rather than broccoli flavour.

Broccoli’s just weak, unlike Popeye.

So don’t feel guilty when you skip over all the other ingredients you’d been thinking of adding, retain them for the next recipe.

So without further ado, how do you make an easy, tasty, vegan broccoli soup that’s gluten free, oil free, healthy and delicious?

Easy Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup – Just 5 Ingredients

All you need for this soup is . . .

• 2 heads of broccoli, washed and cut into small florets, including the stems, peeled & sliced
• 1 large white Spanish onion (or equivalent) sliced into half rings and then quartered
• 1 baking sized potato, peeled and cut into bite-sized cubes
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cup plant milk
• salt & pepper
• fresh parsley & vegan cream for garnish

How to Make Simple Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup that’s Tasty Every Time

Heat 1/8 cup water in the bottom of a saucepan and add the crushed garlic followed (after about 1 minute) by the quartered onion rings.

Sprinkle with a generous amount of salt, stir and allow to cook for 4-5 minutes.

Wait for the water to evaporate and the onions begin to ‘fry’ on the bottom of the pan. The bottom of the pan will begin to go a little brown.

Keep an eye on it to make sure the pan doesn’t burn, and stir occasionally.

At this point, add the broccoli florets, stir into the onion & garlic mix and leave to cook for another 9-10 minutes.

You may need to add a dash more water to stop the pan from burning and to allow the veggies to ‘fry’ without sticking.

When the broccoli’s cooked but still a lively green, add the cubed potato and pour in enough water to just cover the broccoli/potato mix.

You can cover the pan with a lid to help stop evaporation, but it isn’t essential.

As soon as the potato cubes are soft through, use a slotted spoon to remove some of the broccoli florets, potato cubes and onion from the pan.

Set them aside for adding back to the finished soup.

Use a stick blender to really blend the remaining soup well.

Once it’s finely blended, add 1 cup of unsweetened plant milk (I use unsweetened, organic, non-GMO soy milk) and 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast.

Blend again to get the final consistency.

Check the seasoning and add more salt if it’s not completely wonderful! Salt does wonders to broccoli soup.

Finally, put the reserved broccoli, potato and onion pieces back into the soup and season with fresh black pepper.

Serve with a sprinkle of fresh green parsley and a swirl of plant based cream on top.

Other Vegan Oil Free Soups You May Like

• mung bean soup
• sweet potato minestrone soup
• quick ‘n easy vegan pea soup
• roasted tomato soup
• creamy leek and potato soup

Alternative Options for Making a Tasty Broccoli Soup

If you prefer a cream-of-broccoli soup without any bits in it, you can blend everything without reserving any broccoli florets.

Serve the blended broccoli cheese soup with fresh parsley and an optional swirl of vegan cream on top.

Personally, I prefer the chunky version pictured below.

General Tips for Making Broccoli Soup

Here are some general tips for making a perfect broccoli soup every time.

How to Cook the Actual Broccoli for Broccoli Soup

Don’t boil the broccoli to death.

That’s the biggest game changer for a great broccoli soup or bland, boring broccoli soup. Broccoli doesn’t like to be overcooked even when in a soup.

Either toss the broccoli in the frying pan or roast it in the oven before adding any water to it.

What to Add for Creaminess in Broccoli Soup

You can add plant milk, coconut milk or cashew cream to make the soup extra creamy.

You can also leave the soup without any of these, but the result will be much less creamy.

Seasoning Broccoli Soup

Season the broccoli soup with plenty of salt (do the taste check and add more) and freshly ground black pepper.

What’s Special About Broccoli?

Conclusion on How to Fix Bland Broccoli Cheese Soup

You can always remedy a soup so that it gets back to being edible.

You might not always get it back to the point of being your dream soup, but there’s always next time.

And if you take notice of the peculiarities of broccoli, you shouldn’t have any more trouble making the best tasting broccoli soup ever.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post on troubleshooting broccoli cheese soup.