boozy broccoli cheddar soup

SOUP SEASON.

My friend Annie makes a new soup every Sunday and you should definitely follow her adventures @thesoupersunday. And actually, when I just went to double check that I had the correct insta handle, it turns out she also made a broccoli cheddar this week! Great minds, and all that.

I saw this recipe and thought it sounded like it was right up our alley. Things we love: beer, bacon, cheese, and vegetables. One of these things is not like the other.

I missed a pretty good chunk of soup season last winter as getting up for regular stirring was a bit of a hassle with the broken leg and the scooter. So this year I want to make ALLLLL the soups. All day every day. I found myself daydreaming of French onion early this morning.

I love the prep, I love the smell, I love the cozy comfort of a bowl of soup and a grilled cheese (I’m not an animal, gotta have something else with it). And this particular soup is the first one that I’ve made ENTIRELY in my Cuisinart Multicooker (sponsor me, please?)

I know the InstaPot is the latest and greatest right now but I just have no interest because I don’t see how anything could be more lovely than this tool. From browning the bacon to letting it slowly simmer for 4 hours- it does it all. And the only thing that makes soup tastier is having less dishes to do at the end.

Boozy Broccoli Cheddar Soup

adapted from Plays Well with Butter

6 slices thick cut bacon, diced

1 large sweet onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbs Dijon mustard

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp chili powder

12 oz dark beer (I used an oyster stout)

1 box of chicken stock (4 cups)

1 cup heavy cream

3 heads of broccoli, chopped

1 head cauliflower, chopped

1/2 cup chopped baby carrots

3 cups sharp white cheddar cheese

Brown the bacon and remove with a slotted spoon. I suppose you could remove some of the bacon fat but I didn’t.

Add the onion and garlic and let them cook in the bacon fat. Breathe in that smell and feel good about where your day is going.

Add the dijon mustard, chili powder, and flour. Stir around and let it cook for 3-5 minutes to get rid of any raw flour taste.

Pour in the beer. You could probably use any beer here but I do recommend something darker because you can definitely TASTE the beer in this soup, in a good way. Hence why I titled it “boozy.”

If you need a dark beer feel free to stop by our house because we still have about 4 cases of oyster stout left over from our wedding.

Let the beer cook down for another 6-8 minutes or so. While that’s happening you can chop up your broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. If you’d prefer to make this purely broccoli cheddar, do a little more broccoli. I just happened to have a head of cauliflower kicking around.

Add the chicken stock, heavy cream and veggies. At this point you can switch it to slow cooker mode.

Let it all simmer on low for about an hour until the veggies are nice and soft. At that point you can break out your immersion blender (also Cuisinart.. sponsor me?) and blend blend blend away. Add the cheese and stir until it’s all melted in. You can serve it now, or keep it on slow cooker mode until it’s dinnertime.

Soupertime.