Fresh and creamy bistro-style broccoli and cauliflower soup with just the right amount of cheesiness. Warm up with this light and delicious soup packed with nutritious veggies and quick and easy to make. The perfect lunch for a chilly day!

Complete your lunch with a Goat Cheese Sandwich with Roasted Vegetables!

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In my younger years I would dread being offered soup for lunch. This was partly because soups were always on offer, and nothing steals food-joy more than familiarity. But also because soups seems just a little bit boring.

Soup as a concept has been going through a rehabilitation in my kitchen. What has been driving this is recipes like this one, which are fresh and light but jammed with flavour.

Although bringing broccoli and cauliflower into the same soup may seem a bit redundant, in reality they are perfect partners. Cauliflower brings a bit of nutty sweetness, while broccoli has the freshness.

Together they make the soup a bit more complex and interesting. Although this broccoli and cauliflower soup recipe is quite simple – just look at the short ingredient list – you wouldn’t know it by the huge flavour! And all that while remaining low in calories and gluten-free!

Small pot of broccoli and cauliflower soup with a cream drizzle

Making this soup

This cheesy broccoli cauliflower soup must be one of the easiest to make! There are only a few ingredients and not many steps, so you can have a hot and delicious bowl of soup ready for lunch in less than half an hour!

Sauté the leeks, add the broccoli and cauliflower florets with vegetable stock and let it boil away. That’s all pretty basic, but the trick to getting this soup really creamy comes in the next step.

To achieve a truly creamy broccoli cauliflower soup, you’ll now need an This is an affiliate link.immersion blender or a This is an affiliate link.food processor. My immersion blender gave the best texture and was the easiest to use. You can add the grated cheese while blending.

If using a food processor, blend the soup together in two batches and then return it to the stove top over low heat. You can now add the cheese and stir it together, letting the soup simmer until the cheese is completely melted in. Use a mature or sharp cheddar cheese for maximum flavour.

The soup is ready to eat, but I also like to add a drizzle of cream. Cream isn’t essential, but does look good! Single cream, heavy cream, soy cream – pretty much any will work!

Process shots outlining how to make the dish

Recipe tips and notes

Leeks are an under-appreciated vegetable, but work great in this soup. You’ll be using the white or light green middle section, removing the green leaves and roots. Leeks have the tendency to store dirt between layers, so wash them well in a colander after slicing.
To make this recipe vegan simply remove the cheddar cheese. A vegan cheese can be used as well, but many varieties won’t melt well enough to work for this soup.
The mature or sharp cheddar cheese is an important way to add flavour to this soup. Other meltable cheeses will work great as well, but they should have a fairly strong flavour like comté or gruyere. Mozzarella will melt beautifully but won’t bring much flavour.
Or for another added twist, reach for a smoky cheddar cheese!
A drizzle of cream or soy cream can be added after cooking, along with a sprinkling of nigella seeds when serving.
Always taste the soup before moving to make sure it is salty enough. When people complain that their soup is lacking flavour, it’s usually as simple as that. Soups can seem tasteless if they aren’t properly salted. Add a bit more if you feel it needs it until you are happy.

Small pot of broccoli and cauliflower soup

Serving suggestions

As you can tell from the photos, I serve mine with a drizzle of single cream/half and half. A little bit of creaminess can only make a soup better, plus it looks lovely to boot.

You can take it a bit further by adding croutons, or sprinkling with black sesame or nigella seeds. If you are not familiar with nigella seeds, they are often found on naan bread and are worth keeping around for uses like this.

Other than this, all I would reach for is a thick slice of sourdough or some other type of crusty bread. A sprinkling of bacon crumbles can also be added.

Storage and leftovers

Part of my love of soup is how easy it is to make a single batch that will take care of the next few lunches, saving me a lot of trouble as the week progresses. This broccoli cauliflower soup will easily last in a refrigerator for 3-4 days, using an airtight container.

Although the microwave is a simple way to reheat soup, it’s better to return it to the stovetop. Bring it gently back to a boil and you are ready to go.

This soup also freezes very well and can be kept in the freezer for up to a month. Let it defrost completely and then reheat as above.

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