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Best-ever Cream of Broccoli Soup

A creamy soup made with broccoli, onion, butter, flour, water, bouillon, and half and half.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and broccoli match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,294 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Best-ever Cream of Broccoli Soup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Sauté onion in butter until tender.

  2. Blend in flour.

  3. Add water, bouillon, broccoli, half and half, and bay leaf.

  4. Simmer until broccoli is thawed.

  5. Bring to a boil.

  6. Before serving, salt and pepper to taste.

  7. Remove bay leaf.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

880Calories
50 gProtein
23 gFat
118 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Chicken100g cooked165
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + broccolitop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Onion + chickentop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Broccoli + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,747 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Flour + broccolitop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Butter
Melts with the onion to carry flavour and give the soup a rich, smooth body.
Flour
Blended into the butter, it thickens the liquid to a creamy, smooth consistency.
Frozen chopped broccoli
Provides the main vegetable flavour and, as it softens, adds body and colour to the soup.
Half and half
Adds fat and dairy richness, giving the soup a creamier texture and mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Blend in flour. Flour must be fully mixed into the butter and onion before liquid is added, or it forms lumps that stay in the finished soup. Cooking it briefly in the fat also helps thicken the soup evenly.

Swap the broccoli

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, butter, flour, chicken, pepper):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Broccolithe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, butter, flour, chicken, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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