This month I’ve been teaching a broccoli and cauliflower stir-fry in my classes. I am using only the florets since I know the stalks aren’t as popular in my house. It’s all very well and good, except for the fact that I’ve been left at the end of each week with a heck of a lot of broccoli stalks. I’m sure you’ve gathered by now that I am a compulsive use-everything-you’ve-got kind of a cook. I absolutely hate to waste food! In fact, I started a tradition in the house called “Frittata Fridays.” That’s when I pull together bits of leftovers and random vegetables and turn them into breakfast. Everyone’s happy!
So in order to not throw away the perfectly good broccoli stalks, I have been juicing lots of them into our juices. But there’s only so much of that I can take. What else could I use them for? On a whim I decided to see if I could turn the stalks in a pureed soup like my Cauliflower and Roasted Garlic Soup, which is one of my absolute favorites. My biggest concern was that the stalks wouldn’t have enough flavor and the soup would taste like nothing — WRONG! It was delicious. Warm, rich, creamy and using one of my favorite soup-thickening techniques (cooking and pureeing Yukon Gold potatoes with the soup), it tasted like there was lots of cream or butter when there was none.
Nutritionally speaking, the stalks are quite comparable to the florets, which is awesome since broccoli is once of those super foods you should be eating a lot of (and not throwing into the garbage!) In fact, I’m big on the whole cruciferous family of vegetables which includes all the cabbages, kale, bok choy, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, collard greens and more. These vegetables contain incredible amounts of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, cancer-fighting compounds, and even protein. Load up, people!
I enjoyed this soup straight away with an extra pinch of flaky sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper. My husband stirred into his bowl a big pinch of shredded raw cheddar cheese and thought that was great. For the girls, I made them grilled raw cheddar cheese and kale pesto sandwiches on spelt bread and they loved dipping those into the soup. Even Mr. Picky finished his entire bowl — plain of course, with absolutely nothing added. This was a winner all around!
Broccoli Stalk Soup
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter or unrefined cold-pressed olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 ¼ - 2 ½ pounds broccoli stalks, ends and any tough woody layers removed
- 1 large Yukon Gold potato, about 8 ounces, peeled if desired and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock, preferably homemade
- 2-3 teaspoons sea salt
- freshly ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter or warm the oil. Add the onion and garlic and sauté, covered, until tender and translucent, about 6 minutes.
- Add the broccoli, potato, stock and salt. Bring to a boil over high heat and then lower to a simmer. Cook partially covered until potatoes and broccoli stalks are tender, about 20 minutes.
- Puree soup with an immersion blender or in batches in a blender. Taste for seasoning.
Notes
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!
Made today with broccoli stalks from end of season garden bed clean out. So good, so easy and all ingredients were already in my pantry. Thank you!!
Lucky you to have broccoli from your own garden!!
yes, the cabbage moths got to mine last year 🙁
This was delicious!! I loved it. I always want to eat more veggies – and am just not a fan of the veggie smoothies…but this was perfect! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks!!!
Thanks! And thanks for reminding me about this soup — I might have to make it this weekend. Such a favorite here!
Hi, Pamela!
I am looking forward to trying your recipe, but about how many cups of broccoli stalks are in 2.25-2.5lbs?
Thank you!
Sorry, Ashley! I only tested the recipe by weight and I made it so long ago I can’t remember.
The soup was delicious. I had some for lunch over several days adding little bits of things like tiny cubes of ham one day, grated cheese another day and croutons and sometimes just nothing else but this delicious soup. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Yum, yum, yum!
Thanks a million for this recipe, it was so delicious! I’m a virgin vegan so I followed your recipe to the T. And glad I did my husband and sons loved it as well. Do you have a recipe book? I would purchase a copy.
SO glad you loved the soup. 🙂 I don’t have a book, but thank you for the words of support!
I usually use the stalks in recipes with broccoli peeling them and slicing into coins. They cook at the same time as the florets if steaming, and are wonderful in stir fries.
Today, not using the stalks and not wanting to thrown them out, I flung them into my food processer and ran to my laptop to look up broccoli stalk soup. There you were! The soup is on my stove now.
I absolutely love all these changes/additions!!
Great! I hope you love it!
It was delicious! Thank you! I also despise wasting anything edible!
Glad you enjoyed it, Jodi! Thanks for leaving a comment!
Thank you for this recipe! I absolutely looooove broccoli and I always felt like crying when throwing away the stalks, I will definitely not do that again. I have just prepared this soup and I’m amazed by its taste! By the way, next in line is your cauliflower and roasted garlic soup 😉 I love cooking and I have just learned today the roeasted garlics lesson. Can’t wait to try!
So exciting! Thanks for writing me, Valerie! 🙂
Hi, as I am helping an organic gardiner, I have broccoli stalks by the tens and after freezing the florets decided to try soup with the stems. After grinding then up, adding some regular milk, sweet curry and salt, I had a tasty soup. Now I’m going to try the onion, garlic and potato and perhaps some of my frozen chicken stock. I did try a batch with the florets but it had a mushy texture. Thanks.
Good way to use up perfectly nutritious and tasty broccoli!
perfect for the stalks sitting in my fridge after freezing the florets for winter. Have you ever frozen the finished soup?
I haven’t frozen it, but I can’t imagine why you couldn’t. Although not sure how well it would freeze if you are starting with defrosted broccoli….