'I made viral broccoli and cheddar soup and it's my new comfort food staple'

Soup season is well and truly here, and this particular recipe is well worth adding to your repertoire.

While the disappearance of summer is an unfortunate thing in many ways, one of the upsides to the chillier weather is that you can make soup all the time. And with so many recipes out there, you're never going to be short of ideas.

In my opinion, there is truly nothing better than enjoying a warm and comforting bowl of soup - bonus points if it's cold and rainy outside whilst you do so.

And the process of making it yourself is all part of the appeal. Chucking all of the ingredients in the same pot and not having to worry about it until it's time to eat - what's not to love?

So after browsing on TikTok in search of recipes - the first one of soup season that I would be making this year - I came across a hugely popular video boasting over eleven million views and knew this had to be the one.

The viral broccoli and cheddar soup, posted by @cookwithauds, looked like the perfect candidate. Packed with nutrients in the form of broccoli and carrots, with the indulgence of a good helping of cheddar cheese, it certainly ticked all the boxes of a good comfort meal.

And after making it myself, I can confirm that this has truly taken the top spot of the best soups I've ever made. It was easy, tasty, indulgent and made plenty of portions - which tasted even better in the following days. The chef had opted to top hers with crispy bacon too, for an extra kick of flavour.

Here's everything you need to make the soup - which made four portions - and the process you need to follow.

Broccoli cheddar soup

Ingredients

• 1 white onion
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• Olive oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• Salt, pepper, onion & garlic powder
• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup semi-skimmed milk
• 1/2 cup half & half (you can use single cream instead)
• 2 cups cheddar cheese
• Head of broccoli
• 3 shredded carrots

Method

First of all, you'll want to prep all your vegetables. Dice the onion, crush the garlic, roughly chop the broccoli - including the stalk - and grate the carrots.

Then, to a large pot with a lid, add a generous drizzle of olive oil and the butter, allowing it to melt over a medium heat. Add in the onions and allow them to soften for a couple of minutes, making sure to stir them well before seasoning with salt, pepper, garlic granules and onion granules - I used about one teaspoon each of the seasonings.

Give this a good mix again before adding in the garlic too. After about 30 seconds, add in the flour. This is where I think I went slightly wrong - I don't think I added enough, so it didn't thicken up as much as I would have liked. Then, give it another stir before gradually adding in the stock. I used two vegetable stock cubes, dissolved in 800ml of boiling water.

Cover the pot up and leave it to cook on a medium low heat for around 15 minutes. This is where I put the oven on to make a garlic baguette - because what's the point of soup without some delicious carbs to go with it?

Afterwards, add the milk and cream to the pot and then slowly add in the grated cheese. I used around 250g of grated extra mature, but made sure to leave some to sprinkle on top of the soup when it came to serving. At this point, you can season to taste, before adding in the chopped broccoli and grated carrots.

Pop the lid back on and leave to cook for another 10 minutes, or until the broccoli has cooked. Then once it's done, divide up into bowls, sprinkle some extra cheese on top, and serve with your warm garlic bread.

If you want ideas and inspiration to plan your next UK adventure plus selected offers and competitions, sign up for our 2Chill weekly newsletter here

Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.