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Vegetables Lunch / Dinner Soups

Broccoli and carrot chowder

Published: 10.23.2021 » Last updated: 04.30.2022

If you're not a fan of soup with clear broth, you'll love chowder. It's thick and creamy, and there are so many wonderful herbs and spices that you can add to it.

Broccoli and carrot chowder in blue stoneware bowl

What is a chowder?

It’s a thick soup made with milk or cream. There are three ways to thicken a chowder. The first is the addition of crushed biscuit or crackers that soften in the liquid. The second is by making a roux and using it as a base for making the soup. The third is by adding potatoes or other starchy root vegetable.

Where did chowders originate?

No one really knows. The popular belief is that it was developed during long sea voyages. Bounty from the sea was cooked into soup and, to make the soup more filling for hungry seafarers, broken hardtack (a hard biscuit) was thrown in.

What can go into a chowder?

Seafood is the most common. If chowder’s origin as a shipboard dish is accurate, that would make sense. But, today, almost anything can be cooked into a chowder. Meat, poultry, vegetables…

Among my favorite chowders is this cold weather soup that’s perfect to feed a crowd. Broccoli and carrot chowder can be chunky or smooth, or both, depending on how you like it.

Cooking carrot and broccoli in broth

You’ll need two pots to cook this soup. The first is for the broth in which you’re going to cook the carrot and broccoli. You do have to tenderize them before pureeing. Because carrot takes longer to cook, it goes into the hot broth first. The broccoli follows. Ideally, they should get cooked at the same time.

Making a roux

The second pot is for making the roux. This is a chowder, after all, and a thickening agent is required. While a roux, by definition, is just fat and flour, in this case, onion and thyme are sauteed in butter before the flour is added.

Pouring broth into roux in pan

The hot broth in which the carrot and broccoli had cooked is ladled little by little into the roux. There is no strict rule here as to how much or how little broth you can add. It depends on how thick you want your chowder. Note, though, that you’ll be adding cream later and that will thicken the soup even more.

Seasoning broccoli and carrot chowder with salt and pepper

Time for some seasoning. And time for the fully cooked carrot and broccoli to get added to the thickened soup. You may add all the carrot and vegetables but I reserved some because I wanted to a few chunks of vegetables in the soup to give it a more interesting texture.

Pureeing vegetable soup with immersion blender

Off the heat, an immersion blender is plunged in and the vegetables are pureed directly into the soup. You may puree the carrot cubes and broccoli florets into smithereens or you may turn off your immersion blender while there are still visible specks of green and orange.

Adding cream to broccoli and carrot chowder

Now, the cream. Put the pan back on the stove, pour in the cream, stir and adjust the seasonings one last time. Allow the soup to come to a simmer before serving.

Broccoli and carrot chowder

Connie Veneracion
To make this soup, cubed carrot and broccoli florets are cooked in broth just until done. Roux with chopped onion is prepared in another pan, the broth is ladled in and cooked until smooth. The vegetables are added and pureed.
But what really makes this simple vegetable chowder so good is the texture. A cup or so of the cooked vegetables was reserved and added after the rest had been pureed. The result is a soup that is both smooth and chunky.
Broccoli and carrot chowder
Print Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
Total Time 30 mins
Course Soup
Cuisine International
Servings 4 people

Equipment

  • Immersion blender

Ingredients
  

  • 6 cups broth - chicken broth was used here but feel free to use vegetable stock
  • 1 cup carrot cubes
  • 3 to 4 cups broccoli florets
  • ¼ cup butter
  • ½ cup chopped onion
  • ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
  • ¼ cup flour
  • salt
  • pepper
  • ½ cup cream

Instructions
 

  • Heat the broth in a pot.
  • Add the carrot cubes and simmer for five minutes.
  • Drop in the broccoli florets and simmer the vegetables for another five minutes.
  • While the vegetables cook, in another pot, melt the butter.
  • Sautee the onion and thyme in the butter for about a minute.
  • Add the flour all at once and stir to make a roux.
  • Cook the roux, stirring often, for three to four minutes.
  • While the roux cooks, scoop out a cup of carrot and broccoli florets from the other pot and reserve.
  • Slowly drizzle a cup of broth into the roux, mixing as your pour.
  • Repeat until the roux and broth mixture reaches a consistency to your liking (you may or may not use up all the broth, depending on how thick you want your chowder).
  • Taste the thickened soup, and add salt and pepper, as needed.
  • Scoop out the remaining vegetables in the other pot and add to the thickened soup.
  • Take the pan off the heat, plunge in your immersion blender and puree the vegetables as smoothly or as coarsley as you like.
  • Put the pan back on the stove over low heat, stir in the reserved carrot cubes and broccoli florets, and bring the chowder to a simmer.
  • Pour in the cream, stir, and taste the soup. Add more salt and pepper, if needed.
  • When the soup comes to a simmer once more, turn off the heat.
  • Serve your broccoli and carrot chowder at once.
Print Pin Recipe
Keyword Broccoli, Carrot, Chowder

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Newsletter department

  • #18 Cooking for Lent
    03.23.2023
    A few readers have emailed asking me to post recipes for Lent, and I tell them there is NO need for NEW recipes. Instead, they should try digging into the seafood, mushrooms and tofu recipe archives.

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Connie Veneracion, Chiang Mai, 2020

Hi, I’m Connie!

Welcome to Umami Days, a blog that advocates innovative home cooking for pleasurable everyday dining. No trendy diets, no food fads and definitely no ludicrous recipe names like crustless quiche, noodleless pho or chocolate lasagna.

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