Super Green Detoxifying Broccoli Soup

This healthy creamy broccoli soup is quick, easy, and a delicious bowl of nourishing goodness. Filled, with functional ingredients, this warm bowl of soup is a great way to support your immune system with a supply of vitamin c, minerals, and antioxidants. You will feel so good after you eat this soup you may just take flight!

If you love this recipe and green vegetables in general, be sure to check out, Korean Seasoned Kale and Spinach as well as Spicy Thai broccoli salad. YUM.

You'll Love this recipe 

• Versatility: Choose your own green adventure: Pack this creamy vegan broccoli soup with your favorite greens. Because this gets whirred up together you can use whatever greens you have lying around or choose your favorite to suit your taste. This brings me to 2 other points:
• Less Waste: Because of this recipe's flexibility you can clear out the fridge and waste nothing. This is a great recipe to use when you have a bunch of almost wilting greens in the crisper drawer. Add them to this creamy soup and suddenly they have a whole new life. While I specify kale in the recipe, feel free to throw in spinach, or chard.
• As with most good soups, this is an amazing nutrient delivery system in a tight package. Perfect for those who thought they didn't like broccoli. I'm looking at you kids. Because this is so luscious, creamy, and just darn good-looking, I've found it makes converts of broccoli skeptics young and old.  
• Creamy goodness for sensitive tummies: Yes, this is a bona fide dairy-free soup. No heavy cream was used to bring you this luscious creamy texture. The magic happens courtesy of the blender.  By emulsifying the olive oil, stock, and green veggies, the mixture is infused with a magical airy lightness creating a smooth velvety texture that could easily be mistaken for a cream base. 

This is one of those recipes that I've made so many times I could do it with my eyes closed. It's the recipe I rely on when I want simple nourishing food around. Nothing too fussy or complicated, just warm, creamy, and delicious. It's perfect for the winter months when I'm feeling a little sun deprived and in need of a nutrient-dense, plant-based boost. 

This is the green soup that is so green it is a stop-that-scrolling-and-pause-on-this-here-green-soup, kind of green. The OMG-I-would-feel-like-a-new-person-if-I-could-just-eat-that-soup, kind of green.

You get the picture, it's a bowl of pure healthy goodness.

Let's just take a minute to honor the nutrient stars of this soup; broccoli, onion, celery, garlic, turmeric, spinach, kale, nutritional yeast, and hemp seeds for good measure. Each and every ingredient is designed by nature to provide you with the right balance of antioxidants and phytonutrients.

Hi, my name is super green detoxifying broccoli soup and I am your new best friend. We will go everywhere together and all of your current friends will totally dig me.

I originally created this recipe over 10 years ago in my personal chef days. It was a favorite, for all of my clients. Favorite to the point that I made it at least once a week for almost 2 years. I know you will love it too, it's the type of recipe that is so easy to include in your repertoire and the health benefit is immensely impactful.

Ingredients and substitutions

• Olive oil
• Celery
• Yellow onion
• Garlic cloves
• Fresh broccoli, stems and tops separated. About 6 cups of florets and 2-3 cups of stems
• Turmeric
• Seasonings, sea salt, and fresh black pepper
• Vegetable stock or vegetable broth
• Leafy greens: spinach, kale, or Swiss chard or a combo of all 3!
• Nutritional yeast
• Hemp seeds or pumpkin seeds (optional, for garnish)

How To Make Creamy Broccoli Soup

• Start by sautéing onion, garlic, and celery in 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. I reduced the amount of oil in this recipe because it's simply not needed.
• Add your broccoli stems. Simply chop off and discard the super-tough bottom edge of the broccoli, and chop the remaining stems. Broccoli stems are delicious and add a deeper broccoli flavor to the soup.
• Add turmeric, a pinch of salt, and pepper. I kept the spices simple in this soup, adding turmeric for its incredible health properties and its peppery bite.

• Add your broccoli florets and vegetable stock. Simmer until broccoli is tender. This recipe calls for 6 cups of vegetable stock and 1 large head of broccoli, or about 6 cups of broccoli florets. It's important to not add too much liquid to the soup. Too much liquid = weird consistency. A perfect amount of liquid = creamy perfection. My rule of thumb is only to add enough liquid to the pot to hit 1/4″ above the tops of the broccoli. You can always add more liquid when you are blending if necessary, but it's much harder to fix the problem if you have too much.
• Add 4-6 cups of leafy greens in the last few minutes of cooking. For this batch, I added kale, swiss chard, and baby spinach, but you can add any combination you'd like.

• When pureeing (I used my Vitamix) Add a big handful of baby spinach (raw) to the blender. This will help create a vibrant green soup – please don't skip this step!
• Add a few Tbsp of nutritional yeast. This step is optional but nutritional yeast adds a cheesy flavor and a healthy dose of B12 (bam! energy blast!) and protein!

• Top with a sprinkle of hemp seeds for healthy omega-3 fats, and a garnish of some of the greens from the soup (I just reserve a few broccoli florets and wilted greens). The green addition on top is totally optional as well, but I like a little bit of texture

Tools

• Large pot or Dutch Oven (Something with tall sides) 
• Standing Blender or immersion blender
• Knife
• Cutting board 

A Word on Broccoli

Can we take just one minute to talk about the miracle that is broccoli?

I mean it is probably the most common vegetable. The easiest to find, the vegetable that most kids will eat, I have only met a small handful of people in my life that don't actually like broccoli.

Here is the good news; broccoli is one of the healthiest foods on the planet. Hang tight for one minute while I properly push my glasses slightly further up the bridge of my nose and let's break down some of the exciting research around broccoli (even if you just skim this part it's worth a quick look)

Health Benefits of Broccoli

• Potent anti-inflammatory effects. Broccoli contains sulforaphane which is an isothiocyanate. Isothiocyanates have the ability to significantly suppress our inflammatory response. There are numerous well-known anti-inflammatory mechanisms of sulforaphane including the inactivation of the NF-kappa B pathway which is an inflammatory pathway.
• Helps to lower our risk of chronic inflammation – Broccoli contains kaempferol, a phytonutrient that has the ability to lessen the impact of an allergy-related substance by lowering the immune system's production of IgE-antibodies. By lessening the impact the kaempferol in broccoli can help to lower our risk of chronic inflammation. I recommend regular consumption of broccoli to my clients that are suffering from food sensitivity-related chronic inflammation.
• Reduced inflammation in young smokers – A recent study evaluated the effects of 10-day broccoli intake on dietary markers and markers of inflammation in young male smokers. Results found that broccoli consumption reduced C-Reactive protein levels (a marker of inflammation, and an important indicator of cardiovascular disease risk) by 48%! This study is consistent with epidemiologic observations that fruit and vegetable intake is associated with lower circulating CRP concentrations.
• Diets rich in high glucoraphanin in broccoli reduces plasma LDL cholesterol – A recent study found that a diet rich in broccoli helps to reduce plasma LDL-C levels.
• Consumption of Broccoli Improves Detoxification – The glucosinates in broccoli activate phase 2 detoxification in our cells and helps to prepare potentially toxic substances for elimination from our body.
• Consumption of Broccoli attenuates hormone metabolism – Broccoli contains two important compounds: diindolylmethane (DIM) and its precursor indole-3-carbinol (I3C), both of these compounds have a beneficial impact on the metabolism of estrogens. DIM and I3C have been associated with a reduction in cancer and tumor cell growth and seem to shift estrogen metabolism away from the toxic estrogenic metabolites to the more protective estrogen metabolites. I oftentimes recommend supplements containing these two compounds, but would always prefer for you to just eat more broccoli 🙂

I could literally continue for about 10 days listing the benefits of broccoli, but hopefully the above is enough to convince you. My recommendation is to just eat more broccoli. I aim for 4-6 cups per week, which is very easy to accomplish when I make my super green detoxifying broccoli soup. One-pot of this soup provides ARDA (that's Abra's Recommended Daily Allowance).

Frequently asked questions

Storage, Reheating, and Freezing

STORAGE – Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days (I often fill mason jars with this magic soup for easy to grab goodness)

REHEATING – Reheat in a small saucepan over medium heat until warmed throughout. If you must use a microwave, go for it but stovetop is better to help preserve all of the nutrients

FREEZING – Freeze in an airtight container, or mason jar (if using a mason jar fill only 3/4 of the way full, freeze without the top, and then add the top once frozen. Will keep in the fridge for up to 3 months.

DEFROST – Defrost in the fridge overnight, reheat on stovetop. Some natural separation will occur, just stir well when reheating.

Dietary Modifications

This recipe is naturally gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, paleo, whole30, and Keto friendly.

I can’t wait for you to try this Super Green Detoxifying Broccoli Soup Recipe! When you make it, snap a photo and tag me on Instagram @abrapappa or use the hashtag #abraskitchen so I can feature your photo!

If you’ve tried this recipe, don’t forget to rate and leave a comment below. I love to hear from people who’ve made my recipes!

MORE HEALTHY SOUP RECIPES YOU WILL LOVE:

The Best Hearty Vegetable Lentil Soup

Creamy Potato Soup

Spanish Garlic Soup

Vegan Split Pea Soup

Pin this to your SOUP board!

References:

Armah, C. N., Derdemezis, C., Traka, M. H., Dainty, J. R., Doleman, J. F., Saha, S., … & Mithen, R. F. (2015). Diet rich in high glucoraphanin broccoli reduces plasma LDL cholesterol: Evidence from randomized controlled trials. Molecular nutrition & food research, 59(5), 918-926.

Lin, J., Kamat, A., Gu, J., Chen, M., Dinney, C. P., Forman, M. R., & Wu, X. (2009). Dietary intake of vegetables and fruits and the modification effects of GSTM1 and NAT2 genotypes on bladder cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention Biomarkers, 18(7), 2090-2097.

Nettleton, J. A., Steffen, L. M., Mayer-Davis, E. J., Jenny, N. S., Jiang, R., Herrington, D. M., & Jacobs, D. R. (2006). Dietary patterns are associated with biochemical markers of inflammation and endothelial activation in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). The American journal of clinical nutrition, 83(6), 1369-1379.

Prawan, A., Saw, C. L. L., Khor, T. O., Keum, Y. S., Yu, S., Hu, L., & Kong, A. N. (2009). Anti-NF-κB and anti-inflammatory activities of synthetic isothiocyanates: effect of chemical structures and cellular signaling. Chemico-biological interactions, 179(2), 202-211.

Riso, P., Vendrame, S., Del Bo', C., Martini, D., Martinetti, A., Seregni, E., … & Porrini, M. (2014). Effect of 10-day broccoli consumption on inflammatory status of young healthy smokers. International journal of food sciences and nutrition, 65(1), 106-111.

Vivar, O. I., Saunier, E. F., Leitman, D. C., Firestone, G. L., & Bjeldanes, L. F. (2010). Selective activation of estrogen receptor-β target genes by 3, 3′-diindolylmethane. Endocrinology, 151(4), 1662-1667.