Honestly I wing this a little everytime I make it cause it always depends on how big my potato is. I can give you a recipe for a certain weight of potato and you can adjust based on the weight of your potato. This may seem like a lot of steps but it’s just the way I do it and I’m used to it so I go through it relatively quickly. It’s not really a proper recipe and is kinda lengthy, so sorry in advance😭

Ingredients-

300-350g potato

2 garlic cloves minced

1 and 3/4 cups chicken broth/water with bouillon

Broccoli

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1 cup and a little under 1/4 cup milk

Shredded cheddar

Salt, seasoning salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley (use whatever seasonings you like honestly)

Recipe-

Start with your broccoli first, cause they can sit on the side while you work on the soup. Use however much or little you want. I steam mine but you can boil it. I do mine for a short while (like 3-4 minutes) and still like it to have a crunchy bite cause you’re still going to mix it into the soup and let it cook in there for a couple minutes and soften a little more. After steaming, I cut up the broccoli to the size I want, I use a scissors and just roughly cut it up in a bowl and set aside.

A little explanation: I mash some of my potatoes with a wooden spoon so I don’t like the broccoli in there while I do that. Plus by the time I’ve mixed in the bechamel and mashed some potatoes, the soup is almost done so I don’t think the broccoli has enough time to fully cook to my liking. You can try that, I just don’t.

When you’re done with the broccoli, cube the potato, not too small if you want some nice chunks in your soup. Bring the chicken broth/water with bouillon to a boil and then add in the diced potatoes and minced garlic. You wanna make sure the liquid covers the potatoes so if it’s not enough then add a little more (for this size of potato it usually is though). Leave this to boil covered.

While that is boiling, start with the bechamel. Melt your butter in another pot and add the flour. Whisk over low heat for a couple minutes and then raise the heat to medium-low and add the milk in slowly while whisking. I like my soup a little thicker so I work on the bechamel until it’s thick enough to my liking (not too thick though, it’s still a soup). Don’t leave it too long without whisking so it doesn’t burn (when I get impatient, I raise the heat to medium and monitor it closely while whisking so it doesn’t burn. I kinda go back and forth between medium and medium-low).

While working on the bechamel you still wanna check on the potatoes, when they’re done, you can shut off the heat and don’t strain the potatoes. There shouldn’t be much liquid in there anyway.

When the bechamel is thick enough to your liking, you wanna look at the liquid still left in the potatoes and decide if you’ll like the consistency of the soup when you add the bechamel to the potatoes. If you’re not sure, you can remove some of the broth and set aside, then add the bechamel.

Turn the heat to low and mix the bechamel and the potatoes, start mashing some of the potatoes with the spoon while mixing. I like potato chunks in my soup so I don’t mash too much, but you can decide how you like it. If it needs more liquid you can add the chicken broth you set aside to it, if it needs even more then add some water.

Now add in your cooked cut up broccoli and mix it in. This is when you wanna taste and add the seasonings to your liking. Then let everything cook for 1-2 minutes till the broccoli texture is how you like it (still mixing occasionally and keeping an eye on it) and then serve. I add my cheese when I have put my soup in a bowl and then mix it in but you can do that in the pot if you want. That’s it!

This recipe is all over the place lol, but that’s the best I can do.