Start off by heating a large soup pot with a tablespoon of butter. Saute the onion and garlic until they are fragrant and the onion is translucent.
Then add your cream, broth (chicken, beef, veggie, doesn’t matter), and water. Let this come to a boil. You may season in this step, we used plenty of salt, pepper and paprika.
While it’s boiling, but up or rip your broccoli into florets and measure out 12 oz. This should be about 4-6 cups depending on the size of your florets. Place the florets into the boiling soup broth and reduce to a simmer. Let the broccoli cook for 25 minutes.
Once the broccoli is cooked, add 8 oz. of cheddar cheese and stir until it is melted through. We used cubed cheese, but shredded would work better as it will melt a bit faster.
After the cheese is melted, turn off the heat. Either pour the contents of the soup into a large blender and blend until smooth or use an immersion blender. We recommend using the immersion blender because it saves you washing another appliance as you can blend right in the soup pot.
While blending, add in 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum, a little at a time. The soup should begin to thicken.