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?
FAQS
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.
Share on Facebook Pin This RecipeNote – This post has been updated from our recipe archives with new content, but the recipe remains the same. First time published in Dec 2018.
Oh yes! Nothing beats a bowl of cosy, tasty and healthy soup like this one, especially on the cold day! Love the sound of broccoli and pear together, looking forward to trying it out!
Your photos are simply breathtaking! This broccoli and pear soup looks and sounds divine! Love the vegetarian blue cheese topping too! Super comforting, which is much needed this time of year! 🙂
I love that this recipe features such an amazing combination of flavors, yet is so simple, nourishing and easy! Instant Pots are terrific for making great soup recipes, and this is certainly one I really want to try! Definitely pinning to remember and share!
What an interesting combination of flavors! Is this an original recipe/idea? I'm amazed! And love that it is so versatile for so many different dietary preferences!
broccoli and pear?! What a unique combination. The color is just so beautiful and the texture so smooth.
The color captured my attention right away. It's beautiful. Then as I started to read about the ingredients and what's in it I was totally fascinated. Pear and broccoli! A little sweetness with the vegetable. I wish I had a bowl right now.
Wow jagruti congrats on winning the instant pot!!! Broccoli and pear unique combinations, love the presentation, looks so pretty, wants me to take that bowl from the picture!!!
Such an innovative combination for soup. I dont mind having a bowl of this vibrant greeny soup without any fuss. Hearty and comforting soup there.
What a beautiful, green soup this is! The addition of pears has me intrigued, it's a surprise ingredient for sure. I don't have an instant pot, but I'm glad you mentioned it can be made in a conventional pressure cooker as well! Plus I love the fact that it can be made ahead and frozen!
The color of this soup is so vibrant and photographed so well! I just got an instant pot and am looking for fun things to try – this definitely qualifies!
Wow, what a unique combination of ingredients! I would never think to mix broccoli and pears together, but this sounds absolutely delicious
The photos are awesome but I never heard of combining broccoli and pear together. Especially in a soup. The picture makes me want to try though.
I have to try this combination, it would be great to get the kids to have some broccoli! Lovely pics as always 🙂
Broccoli and pear? Oh, wow I must give that soup a try. Flavors sound fantastic. I love the texture and the colour too. Delicious!
A bowl of warm soup is perfect to enjoy winter evenings…Love the blend of ingredients as well as the color they give to the soup
Mouthwatering Soup, looks bright and perfect for the cold weather.
Super duper soup especially because its got pears and its topped with blue cheese.
Congratulations for winning the instapot!! The soup looks so refreshing with beautiful color!!! Very nicely shot!!
Very vibrant, very festive! I love that touch of thyme. It must have picked up all the flavours. A perfect healthy recipe for holidays.
Love the photography. Beautiful blue and the green compliment each other. Also very innovative combining pear and brocolli 🙂
The soup with lovely green colour looks so delicious and I love your beautiful pics very much, they look so satisfying to the eyes.
The soup looks scrumptious..you nailed the gorgeous green color…it’s so tempting