🥦🧀 Decadent Broccoli and Cheese Soup Topped with Crab Au Gratin! 🦀🍲

Every now and then, you run across a dish that surprises you with how good it is and how easily it comes together. This broccoli and cheese soup is already comfort in a bowl, but when you crown it with a warm crab au gratin, you take it to a whole new level. It is rich, creamy, and the kind of meal that makes people think you have been cooking all day.

Below are the steps exactly as described:

Broccoli & Cheese Soup

1. Melt a couple tablespoons of butter in a pot and cook a chopped small onion until soft, then add two cloves of minced garlic.

2. Stir in three tablespoons of flour to make a quick roux, then whisk in three cups of chicken broth.

3. Add about three cups of broccoli florets and simmer until tender.

4. Blend it smooth, pour in two cups of half and half, and melt in two cups of shredded sharp cheddar.

5. Season with salt and pepper and set it on low heat.

6. While that warms, cook half a pound of bacon and crumble it for the topping.

Crab Au Gratin

1. Mix half a pound of lump crabmeat with a tablespoon each of mayonnaise and sour cream, plus a little Dijon mustard and Old Bay.

2. Spread it in a small oven dish, top with grated Parmesan and breadcrumbs, and broil it just until golden and bubbling.

To Serve

1. Ladle the soup into bowls.

2. Drop a generous spoonful of the hot crab au gratin right in the center.

3. Finish with a bit of the crumbled bacon.

The crab melts into the soup and the entire dish becomes one smooth, rich bite after another. This is one of those recipes that earns its place in your winter rotation the very first time you make it.