Gordon Ramsay’s broccoli soup is bright green, velvety and made from one ingredient: broccoli boiled in salted water for three and a half minutes, then blended with the cooking liquid. No stock, no cream, no onion. He calls it “easy beyond belief” and it’s ready in 10 minutes.
This comes from Make It Easy and his famous YouTube video where he made it against a chef who used 20 ingredients. Ramsay’s version used three: broccoli, water, salt. The cooking water IS the stock, because all the broccoli flavour ends up in it.
The two things he’s strict about: use rapidly boiling water because that keeps the colour dark green, and blend while the broccoli is still piping hot. If you let it cool first it goes grainy and lumpy, and you lose that smooth velvety texture.
Gordon Ramsay’s Broccoli Soup
Course: Soup, Starter4
5
minutes5
minutes195
kcal10
minutesEasy
Gordon Ramsay’s one-ingredient broccoli soup from Make It Easy. Florets boiled for three and a half minutes in rapidly boiling salted water, blended hot with the cooking liquid, then topped with mature goat’s cheese and toasted walnuts. About £5 to make, ready in 10 minutes.
Ingredients
1kg (2.2 lb) broccoli, dark green with tightly packed florets
800ml (3½ cups) water
Sea salt and black pepper
4 slices mature ash-rolled goat’s cheese
50g (2 oz) walnuts, lightly toasted
Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle
Directions
- Cut the florets: Hold the broccoli by the stalk and cut around it to remove the florets. Discard the woody stalks. Look for dark green, tightly closed heads that aren’t flowering.
- Boil fast: Bring 800ml of water to a rapid boil. Season the water with salt before adding the broccoli. Drop the florets in, season again on top, then put the lid on. The lid brings the water back to the boil quickly, which keeps the colour dark.
- Cook for exactly 3½ to 4 minutes: Run a knife through a floret to check. If it goes through easily, it’s done. Don’t go past 4 minutes or the colour turns grey. Drain into a colander set over a bowl to catch the cooking liquid.
- Blend while hot: Transfer the steaming broccoli straight to a blender. Add enough cooking liquid to half-fill the jug. Put the lid on, press a cloth on top firmly, then pulse 2 to 3 times before blending fully. Blending hot is what gives the soup its smooth, velvety texture.
- Season and taste: Check the seasoning and add more salt if needed. The soup should taste clean and intensely of broccoli.
- Serve: Place a slice of goat’s cheese and a few walnuts in each warm bowl. Pour the hot soup around the cheese so it starts to melt and thicken the soup slightly. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil for gloss and a grind of pepper over the cheese.
FAQs
Why no stock in this soup?
The cooking liquid IS the stock. Once you boil a kilo of broccoli, that water turns green and carries all the flavour. Ramsay is blunt about this one: adding chicken stock to a broccoli soup buries the taste of the broccoli itself. The whole point is that it tastes purely of broccoli and nothing else.
What goat’s cheese does Ramsay use?
He uses a mature, ash-rolled goat’s cheese, which is the type with a grey rind and a strong, tangy centre. It’s firmer than the soft spreadable kind, so it holds its shape when sliced and melts slowly into the hot soup.
To get clean slices, dip your knife into the boiling broccoli water first. A hot knife glides through goat’s cheese without crumbling it, and the slices come out smooth and thin.
How much does this soup cost to make?
About £5 for four bowls. A kilo of broccoli is around £2.46 at £0.82 a head from Tesco. A log of ash-rolled goat’s cheese is about £1.50 and walnuts roughly £1.80 for 100g. The rest is water, salt and a drizzle of olive oil.
It works well as a starter before something like chicken cacciatore or alongside slow-roasted beef brisket if you want a full meal.
Can I add cream or cheese to make it richer?
Ramsay makes a richer version with double cream in his book Passion For Flavour. Stir in about 75ml after blending and warm through gently. It changes the colour from bright green to a paler, creamier tone.
If you want to go even further, try stirring stilton into the base instead of topping with goat’s cheese. That’s a completely different dish and I have a full recipe for broccoli and stilton soup built from the same technique.
Does this soup keep well?
The plain soup keeps in the fridge for up to two days and freezes well for three months. The colour darkens slightly as it sits because the chlorophyll breaks down, but the flavour stays good.
Add the goat’s cheese, walnuts and olive oil fresh when you serve. They lose their texture if they sit in the hot soup.
