Chicken and leek barley soup
A warm chicken soup with soft leeks, carrots and pearl barley.
About 55 min · 405 kcal · 36 g protein per serving
Broccoli, white bean and cheddar soup
A green soup of broccoli and white beans with cheddar melted through.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 21 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm broccoli keeps its colour after 5 minutes in simmering stock
- Photograph the finished bowl
- Time
- About 35 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 500 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 27 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains milk. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- vegetable stock. Vegetable stock often contains celery, and some contain milk or gluten; check the label, especially if you need it vegan.
- cheddar. Some cheddar is made with animal rennet; check the label if you are vegetarian.
Cooking steps
Soften the diced onion in the oil over medium-low heat for 8 minutes, without colouring it.
Add the drained beans and the stock, bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
Cut the broccoli into small florets, add them to the pan and cook for 5 minutes. No longer; this is the whole trick of the soup.
Blend until completely smooth.
Take the pan off the heat, let it stop bubbling and stir in the grated cheddar until it has melted through.
The useful detail
Five minutes for the broccoli and not a minute more. The colour goes first and the flavour follows it, and a khaki broccoli soup tastes exactly as tired as it looks.
Make it work for you
One serving is A deep bowl, half the pot. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Vegetarian hard cheese instead of cheddar
Saltier and drier, so use a little less. Much cheddar is made with animal rennet.
Per serving: about 5 kcal less, about 3 g more protein, about 2 g less fat.
Butter beans instead of white beans
Creamier once blended.
Per serving: about the same energy, about the same protein, about the same fat.
Leave out the cheese
Lighter and vegan, and about 6 g less protein a serving. Add a squeeze of lemon juice instead.
Allergens: Removes milk.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A blended vegetable soup that is still a meal, because the beans carry the protein that the broccoli and the cheese alone could not.
| Energy | 500 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 27 g |
| Fat | 17 g |
| of which saturates | 6 g |
| Carbohydrate | 65 g |
| of which sugars | 9 g |
| Fibre | 16 g |
| Sodium | 1,930 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| onion | 120 g | FDC 170000Onions, raw | 48 kcal | 1.3 g |
| olive oil | 14 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 121 kcal | 0.0 g |
| white beans | 400 g | FDC 175204Beans, white, mature seeds, canned | 456 kcal | 29.0 g |
| vegetable stock | 685 g | FDC 171583Soup, vegetable broth, ready to serve | 34 kcal | 1.6 g |
| broccoli | 400 g | FDC 170379Broccoli, raw | 136 kcal | 11.3 g |
| cheddar | 50 g | FDC 173414Cheese, cheddar (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program) | 202 kcal | 11.4 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 996 kcal | 54.7 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool it quickly, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours. The FDA chart gives soups and stews 3 to 4 days. The colour dulls overnight. Reheat gently so the cheese does not split out.
- In the freezer
- The same chart gives soups and stews 2 to 3 months in the freezer for best quality.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout, stirring so it heats evenly.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
Try another recipe
Butternut, white bean and sage soup
Roasted squash and white beans blended into a smooth sage soup.
About 50 min · 345 kcal · 20 g protein per serving
Vegetarian