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!
This is a great keeper recipe. I had leftover steamed broccoli and cauliflower and used that, no potato.
Perfect and easy! Thank you Pamela!
Thank you, Michele! Love that you were able to repurpose leftovers.
What an awesome recipe. Ive been throwing broccoli stalks out for years. I never had a Yukon Gold potato so I used a red potato and mixed a couple tablespoons of flour in a bit of water and used that. Beautiful and delish!!
Glad you love it! It feels so good not to waste food.
This is an amazing recipe!!! I added some nutritional yeast to keep it vegan and add a cheesy flavour. 5+++
Thank you for sharing!
Oooooh, great add-in idea!!
Now a staple in our house, we freeze the stalks until we have enough then make this soup! I take Pitney most of the stringy leftovers the emulsion blenders collects, add some hot pepper and Italian seasonings. Great with a grilled cheese! Thanks for the recipe !
Great idea, Angela!
Have made this several times now – first time it seemed a bit bland, but with a bit of curry powder added this has become a favourite!
I love curry powder with cruciferous veggies. Good call!
I had a bag of stalk that I didn’t know what to do with. So I Googled and found your recipe. I told my mom tonight that I was making something with the broccoli stalk and her response was “I don’t really like broccoli stalk, but I’ll give it a try.”
Needless to say, she had the entire bowl and saved extra to take with her to work tomorrow. It is light, healthy, and hearty.
Thank you Pamela. Like some other commenters suggested, I included a can of cannellini beans because I didn’t have a potato. Came out delicious!
Ps. I don’t know if this is my computer (Safari) or the site, but I am trying to rate the recipe (5) and I can’t seem to press on the stars…fyi.
Mmm, just made this soup for the first time. I added some herbs de provence, a couple stalks of celery, and a wedge of preserved lemon. Very flavourful and tasty! Thanks for sharing the recipe – it’s very satisfying to use all parts of a vegetable!
Oh, the preserved lemon must have made this so delicious!
I generally only cook for two of us, so I did not have left over stalk. With Pamela’s suggestion, I used about 24 oz of florets. Based on other reviews, I also decided to use one 14 oz can, drained and rinsed, of cannellini beans. WOW! What a delicious soup…and especially easy to prepare. Tonight I will mix in left over roasted chicken. Next time I will add in free range chicken sausage from Lazy Acres for a little extra kick.
Great adaptation, Leslie! And thank you for submitting this — so helpful to everyone reading this!
Oh my goodness! I’ve made this recipe a few times, and tonight was the best! I cooked 4 slices of diced bacon in my pot, pulled the bacon bits out once they were cooked fully. Then I sautéed an onion and diced the whole thing even its stalk (farmers market variety- I’m not even sure what kind it was) in the remaining bacon goodness 🙂 then tossed in diced garlic with 2 large stalks of broccoli and a few florets. I used a white sweet potato and a box of organic vegetable broth (on sale at Costco for .50 a 32 oz box). When I served the soup I topped each bowl with the bacon bits. It was DELICIOUS! Maybe not the healthiest, but amazing!
Sounds divine! I mean starting off any soup with bacon has got to be a good idea! Thanks for writing in, Beth 🙂
Yummy – hope you don’t mind subs as my husband is diabetic so I used tinned cannellini beans instead of spuds, I have used the stalks before and can’t believe I used to throw them away! Also put them into stirfries with some soy sauce and fish sauce.
Cannellini beans is a great sub, Janet. Adds more protein, too!