Broccoli-Cheese Noodle Soup
I know I just posted a recipe for a broccoli soup, but I used a photo of the noodle version in a post recently, and you all asked for the recipe.
This is like a country cousin of the more sophisticated Cook's Illustrated broccoli soup recipe I posted...the Cook's recipe uses upper crust Parmesan and this one uses, uh, American cheese.
(I love that of all cheeses, this one is named after my country. It's sort of a dubious distinction.)
Under most circumstances, I am strongly opposed to this kind of cheese, by which I mean that I think it's disgusting.
I don't even use it when I make my grilled cheese sandwiches...Swiss or any other kind of real cheese is so much better.
But I really don't mind it in this soup, possibly because when it's melted with milk and chicken broth, it just turns into a smooth, cheesy carrier for the noodles and broccoli.
Of course, meltable, processed cheese is not exactly a real food kind of ingredient, but it's not like this soup is a less healthy meal than fast food, and it's inexpensive, easy, and quick to throw together.
Also! As long as you use macaroni instead of ditalini, you can buy all of the ingredients at Aldi.
(They didn't pay me to say that, though...they don't know about this post, and I got my ingredients at Aldi just because that's where I buy most of my groceries.)
I got this recipe from my aunt years ago, and I'm not sure where she got it from...maybe from a collaborative church cookbook or something along those lines.
Ok.
First, melt a tablespoon of butter in a saucepan, and add a half cup of chopped onions. Saute the onions until they're a little bit softened.
Then pour in 3 cups of chicken broth. The original recipe calls for 3 cups of water and a tablespoon of powdered bouillon, but I almost always have some homemade chicken broth in my freezer.
And since homemade chicken broth is so nutritious and so nigh onto free (Be still, my heart!), I prefer to use it.
Bring the broth to a boil, and then stir in a cup of small pasta. I used ditalini, but you can also use elbow macaroni or some other small pasta.
Next, add a package of frozen broccoli.
Aldi doesn't carry the finely chopped stuff, so this is what I use. It's a few more ounces than the recipe calls for, but it seems to work just fine.
If the pieces are a little too big for your taste, you can always cut 'em up.
Oh, and you add garlic salt at this point too.
Let this boil for another 4 minutes or so.
Then stir in cubed American cheese until it melts.
Aldi sells this kind, which has enough for four recipes of this soup (!). Other grocery stores do carry smaller packages if you prefer that.
Add 3 cups of milk, and you're done! Just heat it to your desired serving temperature, but it's best not to boil it after this point.
(At least, that's what my recipe card says. I presume that this type of cheese doesn't do awesomely well when it's boiled or something.)
And there you go.
Broccoli-Cheese Noodle Soup
Printable Broccoli-Cheese Noodle Soup
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup chopped onion
3 cups chicken broth
4 oz. macaroni or ditalini
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
12 oz. frozen broccoli
8 oz. Velveeta cheese, cubed
3 cups milk
Over medium heat, melt butter in a saucepan. Add chopped onion and saute for 3-5 minutes, or until softened.
Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add macaroni and boil 4 minutes. Add broccoli and garlic salt and boil for another 4 minutes.
Stir in cubed cheese until melted. Add milk and heat to desired serving temperature.
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I have no problem with Velveeta, I'm a Texas girl and it makes the best queso dip...but I find the name "American cheese" can mean anything from Kraft- singles type individually wrapped sandwich cheese, to a much higher quality cheddar cheese found at the deli counter, to this Velveeta. Actually I don't think I've ever referred to Velveeta as "American" cheese! Although it undoubtedly is! for better or for worse!!
To me, it all tastes the same...velveeta, the squares, the stuff from the deli. I think it's mostly a textural issue I have with it, although the flavor isn't super awesome to me either. I don't even really like queso that much...salsa or guacamole are my favorites!
But in this soup, all is well.
Now I want some guacamole! Lol
Sandy, I'm a native of Corpus so I so know what you mean about Velveeta for queso (along with Rotel.) Yum!!!!!!!!
This looks fantastic! I love, too, that you're posting this during what's decidedly soup weather here in the Mid-Atlantic. I'll add this to the rotation posthaste. 🙂
I never would have thought to add noodles to a creamy soup -- interesting.
We may not have any snow, here, but it's been soup weather nonetheless.
I hope everyone who has snow is enjoying it, and staying warm!
The printable version is missing broccoli in the ingredient list.
Ack! So is the regular version. And because of the formatting issues currently happening on my blog, I can't fix it! I promise I'll fix it as soon as I can.
Done! Both should be correct now.
If you don't want to use processed cheese, you can use Boursin, Alouette, or any goat cheese. The soup will taste like the cheese you add - goat cheese tastes quite different than Velveeta.
I just learned from Cooks Illustrated Family Cookbook that you can use these cheeses as the basis of cream sauce as well, thus avoiding having to make a roux and - for those who care - avoiding the roux's carbs as well.
This looks delicious! I will have to give it a try. I think I will give it a go with WilliamB's suggestion of using goats cheese. Purely because I love it haha! We have been eating a lot of soup lately so I'm sure the other half will appreciate the variation in recipe!
Thanks, this is good to know - we can't get Velveeta in the UK (wasn't even sure what it's like).
If you're interested, there's a recipe for making American Cheese from scratch in the "America's Test Kitchen DIY Cookbook"
It doesn't look hard - blending a bunch of different ingredients together, mostly sharp cheddar and gelatin.
So if you really wanted a "real food" American Cheese, you could make your own. You know, in all your extra free time. 😉
Yep it's awesome
There is REAL American cheese and then there is Velveeta and its ilk ("processed cheese food product or similar"). The 2 are similar in color and appearance in the package, but not in texture or taste (real American cheese has a "drier" appearance and texture). One has to be very careful to find the REAL as even Kroger tries to fool customers into buying the processed cheese food vs. real American cheese with packaging and wording of labels.
This looks perfect especially on this cold weather! I can't wait to make this for our family.
This looks soooooooo good!!! My tummy is rumbling at the sight of the pictures (in a very good way). The fact that I'm pregnant and craving cheesy, salty food doesn't help matters. Definitely making this. Soon.
Ya know, I also don't typically buy Velveeta or its generic equivalents (although I have seen this at Aldi), but my mom always made grilled cheese sandwiches with Velveeta and I loved them--I think maybe the creamy gooey-ness of Velveeta lends itself well to being heated ...
I loved this soup, I made it a few weeks ago and got it at Comfy in the Kitchen blog. (Super blog that you all should check out!) Her recipe uses thin spaghetti noodles broken into small pieces and it was great the day of with the noodles but don't refrigerate and reheat with noodles or they are swelled up and mushy. I chopped up my broccoli super fine and used real Velveeta and did like it better than the Aldi brand which is not bad just not quite as good to us after trying both.
New to aldis on my Kindle. Love you and your specials. With a family of 13, aldi is my hero store.
Is this cheese like velvetta?? I use grated mozzarella/cheddar mix on some of my soups. Thank you
Yup!
This looks so yummy! Mmmm I'm thinking of adding some grilled chicken to this! YUM. Quick question though, how many servings does this make?
Hi Kortney! This pot usually feeds my family of six, with a bowl or two worth of soup leftover.
Looks delicious. Can you use Gouda for this? Like young gouda instead of American cheese. I live in Germany and we do not get that kind of cheese (but many wonderful other varieties of cheese). Thank you!
Kristen, I made this and it was delicious! My husband loves soups and this one was a big hit. Easy and inexpensive ... it's going into my rotation. Thank you!
Yay! I'm so glad.
I have the original Kraft recipe which is much like yours except I use Deli Deluxe sharp cheddar ( comes in slices) and Kluski noodles (which seem to hold up better). It freezes well. I also use fresh broccoli.