"Cheesy" Vegan Broccoli Soup Recipe - Running on Real Food (2024)

FAQs

Why won t my cheese melt in my broccoli cheddar soup? ›

Grate the cheese yourself.

Pre-shredded cheese is often coated in anti-caking agents that can prevent the cheese from melting into a lusciously creamy soup. To ensure that your broccoli cheddar soup has the best smooth and creamy texture, buy a block of cheese and grate it yourself.

Adding a potato to the simmering soup provides a natural thickener that helps the cheese emulsify and gives the soup a creamy texture.

Finally, it's possible that you didn't use enough fat. Soup needs some fat to smooth out the texture and help the ingredients bind together. If your soup is too lean, it will taste grainy.

The temperature you cook Broccoli Cheese Soup at is key to making sure it doesn't end up grainy or curdled. Medium heat is best for dairy-based soups so it doesn't boil and curdle.

Mild cheddar, Colby, Monterey jack, mozzarella, Swiss and queso blanco can all work well. “The best cheeses to melt into soups are cheeses that are higher in moisture and have a lower melting point,” says Bauer. In addition to cheddar and Monterey jack, he recommends Fontina and Gruyère.

Another way to fix it is to mix it with flour. The flour will make your cheese more tender, but it will leave a grainy texture. Acid-curd cheeses aren't suitable for melting. They contain an acid that dissolves the calcium glue that keeps casein proteins together.

Create A Cornstarch Slurry With Equal Parts Water

For Lindsay Mattison's Panera-style broccoli and cheddar soup recipe, she advises using a tablespoon of cornstarch for every cup of liquid.

Add other vegetables: Incorporate other mild or sweeter vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, or sweet potatoes to balance out the broccoli's taste. Cream or dairy: Adding a splash of cream, milk, or non-dairy alternatives like coconut milk or almond milk can help mellow the flavor of the soup.

If heated too high, you risk clumping and if too low, not melting properly. With soup, you might be able to fix it with an immersion blender, or you might not. At a temperature of 150 or so, the protein bonds in the cheese break down and as a result, too much fo the moisture escapes too quickly.

Broccoli also can be the culprit behind a slew of stomach-related symptoms. Not only does the veggie — or more specifically, the intestinal bacteria that breaks the fibrous content down — cause gas, but that gas can actually be painful, too. Because the gas expands the intestines, its lining and walls become stretched.

Can you use pre shredded cheese in soup? ›

Will cheddar cheese melt in soup? Cheddar will definitely melt here — but you'll want to start with block cheese for this cheddar potato soup. Pre-shredded cheese, though convenient, is coated with an anti-clumping agent that interferes with the cheese's ability to melt smoothly and evenly.

Melt the cheese slowly. Adding melted cheese to hot milk can cause the milk to curdle. Instead, melt the cheese in a separate bowl over low heat or in the microwave. Once the cheese is melted, add it to the milk slowly, stirring constantly.

Food should not be at room temperature for more than two hours. Shallow containers or small amounts of hot food can be placed directly in the refrigerator or rapidly chilled in an ice or cold water bath before refrigerating.

Moisture: A cheese's ability to melt well depends on a number of factors. The first — and perhaps the most important — is moisture. A cheese with more moisture will also have more loosely packed milk proteins, which separate more easily when heated.

💡Let the cheese come to room temperature. If you melt cheese cold, it may cause it to melt slowly or unevenly. Let your cheese sit out until it comes to room temperature before you try to melt it. Most cheese will come to room temperature in about 20 to 30 minutes.

Drier cheeses like aged Gouda and Parmigiano Reggiano won't melt so well unless there is added moisture around. Similarly, higher fat cheeses like Havarti usually melt better than cheeses like non-fat mozzarella. Examples of how sometimes higher moisture and higher fat will lead to more melting.

If you add cheese to your soup when it's too hot or boiling vigorously, it can become overcooked and develop a grainy or curdled texture rather than melting smoothly. To avoid this, reduce the heat to low or medium-low before adding the cheese.