This easy Broccoli and pear soup is thick and creamy and is sweetened with conference pears for a fancy twist. Healthy green soup is packed with a whole head of broccoli, fresh pears and topped with cranberries,walnuts and fresh thyme.
A combination of delicious and vibrant ingredients, a bowl of this Instant Pot Broccoli and Pear Soup is perfect for warming up during chilly winters and is also lavish enough as a starter on your Christmas party menu. Serve with warm Tiger Bread for a filling lunch.
Quick and easy Broccoli Soup
I love soup recipes. They also require so little thought process and, mostly importantly, prep!
There’s no need to weigh out ingredients, just roughly chop, add to your cooker and you’re good to go.
We’ve made an instant pot broccoli soup which cuts down cooking time and also preserves some of the nutrients from the broccoli.
This healthy broccoli soup can easily be prepared in 15 minutes from prep to table.
I can guarantee that this soup is
- Delicious and Nourishing
- Easy and Quick
- On the table under 30 minutes
- Filling and satisfying
- Can be made in advance
- A great meal-prep recipe
During Autumn and winter months, soups are ALWAYS on the menu, whether it’s a Sweet Potato, Mushroom and Goji Berry Soup or a Butternut Squash and Cannellini Beans Soup .
I also love Indian style soups and this Tamatar Ka Shorba or spiced tomato soup is actually addictive!
Creamy Broccoli Soup (with no added cream)
This soup is earthy, creamy and rich in taste, yet hearty and comforting with each spoonful warming your insides.
It is low in calories, suitable for vegetarians and gluten-free.
Many broccoli soups achieve their creaminess either by making a roux or by adding cheese before blending but this one is neither!
Why add Pear to broccoli soup?
The addition of juicy pears provides a natural sweetness to this soup.
The beauty of adding pear to broccoli soup is that it mellows out the flavour of broccoli. If you have children who resist green soups, this one might just convert them!
Ingredients for the healthy broccoli soup with pear
- Broccoli – use fresh broccoli where possible for delicious flavour but frozen will work too.
Love broccoli? Try our Superfood Broccoli Stir-fry
- Pear – buy fresh. We have used conference pears, but this soup will work well with other pear varieties as well!
- White Onion – adds bulk to the soup and also provides a mild sweetness
- Oil – we have used olive oil. You could also use a flavourless oil such as sunflower or vegetable oil
- Vegetable stock or a vegetable stock cube dissolved in hot water. Use low sodium or salt stock cubes if you are watching your salt intake.
Herbs and Spices
This soup doesn’t require many spices as you want to enjoy the original taste of the fresh ingredients.
Once, I had some fresh thyme left over from making Vegan Thyme Oatcakes , so I thought of adding some to the soup. The flavours blended so beautifully with the broccoli and pear.
For spices, you will only need freshly ground black pepper.
Toppings
To garnish this soup, you will need:
- Vegetarian blue cheese which has a rich aroma and a melt-in-mouth texture that lends a creamy and buttery taste to this soup. I would also try using crumbled goats cheese, wensleydale or grated cheddar. You could also add a spoon of mascarpone or ricotta. If you want to lower the fat content of each serving, leave out the cheese. The soup itself is plenty creamy so you won’t be missing out.
- Dried Cranberries are a perfect ingredient to use for a Christmas themed meal. A little tart and sweet, they pair so well with this soup.
- Walnuts adds a bit of crunch to this creamy soup and adds good fat.
How to make Instant Pot Broccoli Soup
The step by step images are for Instant Pot soup but you can find stovetop and other pressure cooker options below in the recipe card.
- Select saute button on the Instant pot penal.
- Add oil and roughly chopped onion, saute for 2-3 minutes or until translucent.
- Now add chopped broccoli, pear, thyme, salt and black pepper.
- Mix and add vegetable stock.
- Close the lid and select High pressure for 1 minutes.
- Release the steam manually.
- Blend using a blender.
Serving suggestions for Broccoli and Pear Soup
As we all know, most vegetable soups are eaten with rustic crusty bread or rolls. I know that I use soup as an excuse to indulge in bread!!
My air fryer bread and Instant Pot Bread are pretty good with soups.
For a low carb diet, top this soup with cooked qunioq, some roasted chickpeas, or mixed nuts and seeds.
Eat alongside some roasted vegetables , air fryer avocado fries or why not try some rye crackers?
This soup is creamy because we are blitzing the vegetables after cooking to make a smooth soup. This way, we are also ensuring that every mouthful of soup is full of flavour. Giving vegetables time to cook and soften prior to blending is important, which is why we use the Instant Pot, electric pressure cooker. Although it isn’t an ingredient in this recipe, adding a small potato adds bulk and silkiness to most soups. The mild flavour of potato means it will not interfere with most vegetable soups.
Yes, you can make vegan broccoli and pear soup which is so creamy! The base of this soup is naturally vegan anyway and it is only the toppings of cheese which make this soup suitable for vegetarians only. You can either totally omit the cheesy topping, or add vegan cheese. You could also add a swirl of plant-based double cream just before serving.
As always if you make this recipe, be sure to leave me a comment, rate this recipe and tag me on Instagram @jcookingodyssey or #jcookingodyssey. I love seeing all your photos of my recipe recreations!
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Creamy Broccoli and Pear Soup
Equipment
- Instant pot or electric pressure cooker
- Stick blender
- Knife
Ingredients
For the soup
- 400 grams broccoli or 1 head of broccoli
- 1 large pear roughly chopped
- 1 medium white onion roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon oil olive oil
- 450 milliliters vegetable stock vegetable stock
- seasoning salt and pepper
For the topping – optional
- 25 grams blue cheese vegetarian, crumbled
- 10 grams cranberries dried
- 50 grams walnuts crumbled
Instructions
- Press saute button for 2-3 minutes on the Instant Pot panel.
- Add oil and onion.
- Saute the onion until translucent.
- Add broccoli, pear, seasoning and stock.
- Close the Instant Pot lid.
- Select High Pressure for 1 minutes.
- Release the steam immediately.
- Blend with a hand blender.
- Serve hot in serving bowls and top with cheese, berries and walnuts.
Notes
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Note – This post has been updated from our recipe archives with new content, but the recipe remains the same. First time published in Dec 2018.
Creamy Broccoli and Pear Soup
Equipment
- Instant pot or electric pressure cooker
- Stick blender
- Knife
Ingredients
For the soup
- 400 grams broccoli or 1 head of broccoli
- 1 large pear roughly chopped
- 1 medium white onion roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon oil olive oil
- 450 milliliters vegetable stock vegetable stock
- seasoning salt and pepper
For the topping - optional
- 25 grams blue cheese vegetarian, crumbled
- 10 grams cranberries dried
- 50 grams walnuts crumbled
Instructions
- Press saute button for 2-3 minutes on the Instant Pot panel.
- Add oil and onion.
- Saute the onion until translucent.
- Add broccoli, pear, seasoning and stock.
- Close the Instant Pot lid.
- Select High Pressure for 1 minutes.
- Release the steam immediately.
- Blend with a hand blender.
- Serve hot in serving bowls and top with cheese, berries and walnuts.
Notes
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Place these Loaded Cauliflower Cheese Balls as the centrepiece and watch how your table transforms into a fancy and festive feast. The perfect starter or snack for any party or game day, these are made with cauliflower mash, loaded with cheese and spices, breaded and fried. Resistance is futile!
Three layer chutney bread pakoda Methi Corn Bhajiya
Poha kachori
LOADED CAULIFLOWER MASH CHEESE BALLS
Crunchy golden-brown deliciousness on the outside with loaded cauliflower mashed potato on the inside. They are the perfect dream come true recipe for you.
These golden, crispy and cheesy balls are a perfect snack when you have a leftover cauliflower mash or when you are having a get-together or just want to savour something on a rainy day.
The leftover cauliflower mash combined with basic spices, few vegetables and stuffed with mozzarella cheese, then rolled up in bread crumbs and deep fried till nice and golden.
ARE LOADED CAULIFLOWER MASH CHEESE BALLS HEALTHY?
Must be kidding right? Not at all, just because we have used cauliflower here, that does not make this dish healthy in any way.
Look at the other side of the coin, we have loaded full-fat cheese and after all, these are deep fried in oil, and whatever you deep fried, you are going to lose its vitamin and nutrition.
Sorry for the bad news, but here is the good news, we all allowed cheat days and I am sure we can indulge in something that our taste buds crave for.
These balls are fairly easy to prepare and addictive and won’t stop picking those up until they are gone and I am sure you’ll receive some request to make some more or there will be many recipe requests you’ll have!
CAN I FREEZE?
Yes, you can freeze these cauliflower mash balls ahead of time, arrange them in an airtight container or freezer safe ziplock bag for later to deep fry.
Whenever ready to serve, deep fry straight from the freezer. Fry it on a lower heat, so inside gets well cooked too.
CAN I BAKE?
Yes, you can bake these at 350F or 180c for 15-20 minutes or until crispy and golden.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
Serve these crispy outside, soft, cheesy and fluffy balls immediately, once deep fried or baked, with any spicy sauce or chutney for a starter or snack.
For a filling lunch, serve on the bed of fresh salad on a tortilla wrap and drizzle some delicious sauce or just enjoy on its own, you’ll still enjoy.
LET’S TALK INGREDIENTS
Mashed Cauliflower – recipe link provided earlier in the post
Mashed potatoes – either mash your own potatoes or use an instant mashed potato mix from the supermarket.
Cheddar and Mozzarella cheese – I have used a combination of cheddar and mozzarella but you can use any other cheese that can be grated. I like using mozzarella as it creates a fantastic “cheese pull”. I have used cheese in both the potato mixture and also stuffed the balls with cheese, but you can do either/or if you do not want to load up on the cheese.
Vegetables – steamed sweetcorn, green peas and finely chopped capsicum. I have used a green capsicum, but you can use a different colour if you wish
Spices/herbs – I have used oregano and red chilli flakes
Corn flour
Plain flour
Breadcrumbs – I made my own breadcrumbs using stale white bread but you can also use panko
Oil to deep fry – I used sunflower oil to deep fry
HOW TO MAKE LOADED CAULIFLOWER MASH CHEESE BALLS?
For outer layer combine cauliflower mash, potato, spices, vegetables and cheese and some breadcrumbs.
Make small balls from the prepared mixture, flatten them on your palm or on parchamant paper, then stuffed with mozzarella cheese.
Then these balls are dipped in a thin flour paste and rolled in breadcrumbs, freeze them for an hour then deep fry in hot oil.
Mashed Cauliflower Cheese Balls
Ingredients
- 2 cup cauliflower mashed
- 4 medium potatoes floury
- ¼ cup cheddar cheese grated
- ¼ cup mozzarella cheese grated
- ⅛ cup sweet corn kernels steamed
- ⅛ cup green peas steamed
- 4 tablespoon capsicum finely chopped
- salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper powder
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes dried red
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 tablespoon corn flour white
- 3 tablespoon plain flour
- 2 cup breadcrumbs Panko will work fine too
- 2 cup oil deep fry
Instructions
- Wash the potato under the running water, put it on M/W proof dish and cook it on high for 7-8 minutes. ( Reason for cooking in M/W, potato won’t have much moisture) 4 medium potatoes
- In a big bowl potato and mash it with fork or masher, add cauliflower mash, vegetables, chilli flakes, pepper, oregano, coriander, cheddar cheese, 2 tbsp corn flour and salt ( be careful as cheese has salt and cauliflower mash has it too ) 2 cup cauliflower, 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, 1/8 cup sweet corn kernels, 1/8 cup green peas, 4 tablespoon capsicum, salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper powder, 1 teaspoon chilli flakes, 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, 4 tablespoon corn flour
- Mix everything and make a dough.
- Divide the mixture into equal portions and make balls.
- Flatten each ball on your palm and fill with one tsp. mozzarella cheese and fold over the disk, so it becomes a ball again. 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
- Then roll again into evenly round shape.
- In a one bowl mix remaining corn and plain flour with cold water and make a paste ( not too thick or thin ) 3 tablespoon plain flour, 4 tablespoon corn flour
- Place the breadcrumbs on a flat dish. 2 cup breadcrumbs
- Dip one prepared ball at a time in the paste, then roll it in the breadcrumbs make sure it fully covered with breadcrumbs.
- Once all the balls are breaded, place all of them on a tray and freeze it for about an hour.
- Heat the oil in a kadai, or pan fry the balls on a low to medium heat in batches until nice and golden brown. 2 cup oil
- Transfer and drain on the clean kitchen tissue paper.
- Serve immediately.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
PLEASE NOTE: Nutritional values are estimated by a computer and may vary based on ingredients and portion sizes. For personalised dietary advice, please consult a qualified healthcare professional.
