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Broccoli Cheese Soup

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This Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe is easy to make in less than 30 minutes and lightened up a bit with no heavy cream, yet still tastes just as cozy and comforting and delicious as ever.

Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe

Soup season has officially returned. And I, for one, am here for it.

I already have a list a mile long on my phone of new soup recipes that I’m hoping to share on the blog this winter. (Stay tuned!)  But for our very first soup recipe of the season today, I thought we could return to a cozy classic that I’ve been craving for months — classic broccoli cheese soup.

Oh my goodness, I absolutely adore a good bowl of broccoli cheddar soup. It always feels so cozy and comforting during the wintertime, especially served up in a bread bowl or with a nice crusty baguette. And I have to say that I’m especially partial to this particular broccoli cheese soup recipe, because when I’m the one cooking it from scratch, I get to control the ingredients.

For example, by contrast to most restaurant broccoli cheddar soups, this recipe is lightened-up with milk instead of lots of heavy cream. I also love making it with a good, aged, sharp white cheddar cheese, in order to add a big kick of flavor (and avoid those unnecessary orange food colorings). This recipe also allows you to control the tenderness of the broccoli, either keeping it more on the crisp side or simmering it until it’s super-soft (or pureeing the soup until it’s completely creamy). Most of all, though, I just love this recipe because it tastes super fresh and flavorful, and is made with so much broccoli.

And it’s easy to make in just 30 minutes! Soup time!

Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe | 1-Minute Video

How To Cut Broccoli | 1-Minute Video

Broccoli Cheddar Soup Ingredients:

To make this easy broccoli cheddar soup recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

  • Butter or olive oil: We will use these to sauté the veggies and form part of our roux.
  • Broccoli: 1 large head of broccoli, chopped into bite-sized florets.
  • Veggies: Onions and carrots, nice and diced.
  • Seasonings: Garlic, a touch of Dijon mustard, salt and pepper.
  • Flour: To make a roux and thicken the soup. (Feel free to use gluten-free flour if preferred.)
  • Veggie stock: Or chicken stock would also work.
  • Milk: I typically make this soup with 2% milk, but feel free to sub in your preferred kind of cow’s milk or a plain non-dairy milk.
  • Sharp cheddar cheese: The type of cheese you use will really make a difference in this soup, so I recommend springing for a good one! I’m partial to aged sharp white cheddar myself.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

How To Make Broccoli Cheddar Soup:

To make this broccoli cheese soup recipe, simply…

  1. Sauté the veggies. Cook the onion, carrots and garlic in butter (or oil) until softened.
  2. Make the roux. Stir in the flour and give it a minute or so to cook. Then stir in the chicken stock, milk and mustard until combined.
  3. Simmer. Let the soup continue to cook until it reaches a simmer. Then reduce the heat to maintain the simmer.
  4. Add remaining ingredients. Stir in the broccoli and cheddar until combined, then continue to cook the soup until the broccoli reaches your desired level of tenderness. (I like mine to stay fairly crisp, so I don’t cook mine very long.)
  5. Serve warm. Garnished with extra cheese if you’d like!

Any leftover broccoli and cheese soup can be stored in sealed containers (affiliate link) for up to 3 days. Unfortunately, this soup does not freeze well, so I don’t recommend it.

Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe

Possible Recipe Variations:

Want some more options for how to customize your own broccoli soup recipe? Feel free to:

  • Purée the soup: If you would like to make more of a cream of broccoli soup, just use an immersion blender to puree half or all of the soup until smooth. Or you can puree cheesy broccoli soup in a traditional blender — just be sure, as always when blending hot liquids, to blend the soup in small batches so that the hot soup doesn’t expand and explode out of the top of your blender. (I always tent the cap on my blender lid open a bit, too, and cover it with a towel to let any extra hot air escape.)
  • Add cauliflower: To make broccoli cauliflower soup, feel free to use half broccoli and half cauliflower.
  • Add extra veggies: Feel free to toss any other soup-friendly diced veggies into this soup as well. You will just either need to sauté them along with the onions, or simmer the broth a bit longer (before adding the broccoli and cheddar) to be sure that they have time to fully cook.
  • Make it gluten-free: To make gluten-free broccoli cheese soup, just be sure to use a certified GF flour blend in place of the all-purpose flour.
  • Make it vegan: Use olive oil or vegan butter (in place of the butter), plain dairy-free milk (such as almond or oat milk), and either vegan cheese or a sprinkle of nutritional yeast (in place of the cheese).
  • Use a different kind of cheese: If cheddar isn’t your thing, this soup would also taste delicious with smoked gouda, Pepperjack, gruyere or even mozzarella cheese.
  • Make Panera-style broccoli cheddar soup: The famous Panera broccoli cheddar soup recipe is a bit more indulgent, made with a mixture of heavy cream and milk. Panera also uses shredded carrots (instead of diced) and adds a pinch of white pepper to the soup, which I highly recommend if you have some on hand.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

More Creamy Soup Recipes:

If you’re looking for more creamy, cozy, comforting soup recipes, here are a few of my faves!

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Broccoli Cheese Soup

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.8 from 72 reviews
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 6 -8 servings 1x

Description

This Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe is quick and easy to make in less than 30 minutes, lightened up a bit, yet it still just as cozy and comforting and flavorful as ever.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
  • 1 medium white onion, diced
  • 2 medium carrots, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (or gluten-free flour)
  • 3 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • 8 ounces (2 cups) freshly-grated sharp cheddar cheese, plus extra for serving
  • 4 cups chopped broccoli florets (about 1 large head of broccoli)
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper

Instructions

  1. Heat butter (or oil) in a large stockpot over medium-high heat until melted.  Add onion and carrots and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent.  Stir in the garlic and sauté for an additional 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until fragrant.  Stir in the flour and sauté for an additional 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
  2. Stir in the chicken stock until it is evenly combined.  Stir in the milk and mustard until combined.  Continue cooking until the soup, stirring occasionally, until it reaches a simmer.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add in the broccoli and cheddar, and stir until combined.  Continue cooking for 2-4 more minutes, or until the broccoli reaches your desired level of tenderness.
  3. Serve immediately, garnished with extra shredded cheese if desired.

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Broccoli Cheese Soup

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272 comments on “Broccoli Cheese Soup”

  1. Love this soup! Have made it several times. Easy and delicious.






  2. We made this last night and everyone around the table couldn’t stop talking about how good it was!! Thanks for such a great recipe!






  3. I made this today and it was so good. I puréed the soup with an immersion blender and then added some really small broccoli florets that I steamed in the microwave at the end for texture, and this combo was perfect! I substituted half of the milk for unsweetened soy milk and will not do that again. You could totally taste the soy milk, but even with this misstep, it was still good.






    • Hi, instead of using soya Milk, try: Belsoy Cuisine Organic Soy Cream for Cooking. I use it everywhere cream is needed; alfredo sauce for example. Nobody will notice the difference!

  4. I just made this WOW it’s amazing! We have a huge bag of broccoli from Costco and my husband said this morning, I want broccoli cheese soup, why don’t you look up recipes? I stumbled upon this, looked easy so this was the one. Made it the letter taking your tips of shredding the carrots and I half puréed using a blender stick, still wanted it a little chunky. Thank you for this wonderful and easy recipe. I have bookmarked it :-)






  5. The whole family loves this soup. Easy recipe. I put it all in the vitamix when done to make a creamy soup.






  6. Delicious! This was easy and quick to make. It will definitely be a favorite for this fall and winter. Thanks for creating and sharing this recipe!






  7. Delicious & easy!






  8. I’ve made this several times and it is always delicious. I actually cheat and use one cup heavy cream with one cup 2 percent milk.






  9. OMG GOOD! I brought it to work and a co-worker sampled it, had to have the recipe. My 13- year old Grandson loves it too.






  10. easy–very tasty–will make again






  11. I didnt have carrots so I added extra broccoli. I also threw in some leftover ham from Thanksgiving. It was AMAZING!!






  12. So yummy!! Creamy and rich cheese flavour! A must make recipe for cold winter days.






  13. So delicious! Simply perfect — love the creamy taste without the heaviness of cream. Will try adding chickpeas pureed with chicken stock for protein next time :)






  14. I’ve made this twice now and both my partner and I have enjoyed it! It’s quick and easy and customizable. I have done it both with chopping and with shredding teh carrots, and I prefer shredding texture-wise. I also like to blend 1/3-1/2 of the soup in the food processor and add it back in before serving to make it kind of creamier. Great recipe!






  15. This was delicious! I did knock off one star because we actually thought it was too cheesy (which I thought was impossible). Other than that the flavor was excellent (even pre cheese) we will definitely make this again, but start with half the cheese.
    Thanks for a great and easy recipe!






  16. Great soup recpie, can’t go wrong!






  17. This is delicious! Just made it for a quick WFH lunch. I used full fat coconut milk out of the can instead of milk because even though this girl loves dairy, my body isn’t a huge fan (but who can deny cheese?!). No huge coconut flavor from it, but I haven’t tried the original and I’m used to the taste! I also blended part of it – yum. Next time I’m thinking I might add chunks of potatoes as well (just for fun and who doesn’t love potatoes). Thank you for this!!!






  18. Absolutely delicious. I used better than bullion vegetable base to make the broth and topped my bowl of soup off with some oyster crackers. Yum! I will definitely make this again and again.






  19. I made this tonight and it was delicious! I did add 2 small ribs of celery and a diced jalapeno pepper, plus, I used parsnips because I had no carrots. It did turn out very well! I will keep this recipe!






  20. I love gimmesomeoven recipes but this one isn’t doing it for me. The soup doesn’t have the flavorful depth I was hoping it would…even after adding more cheese, salt, and pepper. Might hand-blend it to see if that makes any difference!






  21. Great recipe!!!






  22. VERY TASTY! Also very easy and quick to make. I think the mustard makes the soup base extra delicious. I will make this again and again!






  23. I have lost count of how many times I’ve made this soup. It is a household favourite! I’ve made it with 2% milk and with almond milk. No one noticed the difference.

    Tip – chop your vegetables into small pieces. I’ve made it in a rush with larger chunks and everyone preferred it with smaller pieces of veggies.

  24. This soup went together so quickly. I had a little too much broccoli so I added another cup of chicken stock and out turned out perfect! I also used half whole milk and half heavy cream. Delicious. I think I may try broccoli and cauliflower next time. Thank you.






  25. THIS is why you’re my go to page for recipes! Another one for the books, my friend!






  26. Turned out really good I’ll be making it again

  27. Not sure where I went wrong but my cheese wouldn’t melt, please help 😭






  28. This is the best broccoli cheese soup I have ever had! I love how light and delicious it is!

    Question: I want to take this to share with my coworkers. Should I just cook it the night before and then put it in a crockpot to keep warm in the morning? Or should I cook it in the crockpot at work? Thanks!






  29. Fabulous. Love the soup and the blog.






  30. I made it! Its super easy, and super delicious! Btw Edam cheese goes well with it. Thanks for the recipe!

  31. When making the panera-style, do you leave out ge black pepper? I’ve made the basic bmversion and it is delicious!

  32. Fantastic soup! I puréed part of it as others had and since I only had skim milk, I used 1 cup and 1 cup 1/2 & 1/2, and used a little less cheese and it still was great.

  33. Delicious! I’ve tried other recipes that didn’t have much flavor, but this one is a keeper. I didn’t see when to add the salt and pepper, added them at the very end – but I wonder if the seasonings should go in with the onions and carrots.






  34. It was delicious! I used whole milk but next time I think I’ll try half/half and I added a little Paprika