Broccoli Cheese Soup in about 20 minutes. Rich, creamy, and oh-so-cheesy, this is a favorite quick meal any time of year!
Perfect for lunch, or an easy weeknight dinner with salad and loaf of french bread.
20 Minute Meal
Fresh vegetables make the best soups from cabbage to homemade tomato soup. Broccoli Cheese soup is a very quick soup to make from scratch and it has lots of flavor! If you’ve ever been to Panera, you likely know that the Panera broccoli cheddar soup is so hard to resist, this version is rich and delicious in flavor but lighter on the pocketbook (and waistline).
- Few Ingredients: I love knowing that I can make a recipe from scratch using fresh ingredients
- Quick to Make: Ready in about 20 minutes (even faster with pre-cut broccoli); perfect for a weeknight dinner
- Versatile: Add in the veggies left in your fridge from zucchini to cauliflower
We serve it with a side salad and bread for a complete meal! This soup is also amazing served in a bread bowl (and it reheats beautifully for lunches).
Prep Tip
To make this soup extra fast, prepare ingredients for the next step while the current step is cooking.
Chop the onions and carrots, while they soften in the pot, prep the broccoli. While the broccoli simmers, shred the cheese, and whisk the milk/flour. This makes the recipe flow well while ensuring it’s on the table fast!
How to Make Broccoli Cheese Soup
This broccoli cheese soup is made without Velveeta and instead is loaded with lots of real cheddar making it rich, velvety and satisfying!
- Soften onions/carrots per recipe below. Add broccoli and simmer.
- Blend the broccoli (set a little aside to add texture to the soup at the end).
- Stir in cream mixed with flour, simmer a couple of minutes. Stir in cheeses and serve.
Ingredient Tips
CHEESE
- Using a sharp cheddar adds extra cheese flavor to this recipe. You can use any kind of cheese you like, Gruyere is great too.
- Just like in a cheese sauce, add the cheese once the soup is removed from the heat. If cheese (or dairy) boils it can separate leaving a less than desirable texture. The soup should be plenty hot enough to melt the cheese to a perfect velvety consistency.
BROCCOLI
- Fresh or frozen broccoli can be used (I prefer fresh).
- You can use a regular blender (be sure not to have the lid on tightly or it can explode from the steam) but I find an inexpensive immersion blender or hand blender works perfectly (plus a hand blender means less dishes)!
To Lighten This Recipe
To make a skinnier version of broccoli cheese soup, you can substitute the cream with evaporated milk and use a light cheddar (sharp is still best for flavor). We top it with a sprinkle of pepper and sometimes a little dollop of sour cream.
We most often eat this broccoli cheese soup for lunch or a quick easy weeknight meal. I like to add a side of 30 Minute Dinner Rolls to dip into the soup and sop up any dribbles left in the bottom of my bowl! It’s great served with a fresh garden salad on the side.
Leftovers?
Diary doesn’t tend to freeze well and it can sometimes become grainy or the texture can change slightly. I would suggest keeping this broccoli cheese soup in the fridge for up to 4 days. To reheat it can be microwaved stirring occasionally or heated on the stove over medium-low.
More Broccoli Favorites
- Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower
- Chicken Broccoli Casserole
- Beef and Broccoli – Easy takeout at home!
- Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry
- Cheesy Broccoli Cauliflower Casserole – No condensed soup needed!
- Broccoli Cheese Casserole with Ham
- Lemon Oven Roasted Parmesan Broccoli – Quick 10 minute side dish!
Did you love this Broccoli Cheese Soup? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
20 Minute Broccoli Cheese Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 cup carrots diced
- 3 cups fresh broccoli
- 2 cups chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon each thyme and garlic powder
- salt & pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 ½ cups light cream
- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese shredded
- ⅓ cup parmesan cheese fresh
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, cook butter, onion and carrots over medium heat until onion softens (about 3 minutes). Add broccoli, chicken broth, and seasonings. Simmer until broccoli is softened, about 8 minutes.
- Remove 1 cup of vegetables, coarsely chop and set aside. Using an immersion blender, blend remaining vegetables and broth.
- Place flour in a small bowl. Add in cream a little at a time stirring until smooth. Bring blended vegetable mixture to a boil and whisk in cream mixture. Continue whisking until thick and bubbly, about 3-4 minutes.
- Remove from heat, stir in cheeses & reserved chopped vegetables and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Lunch, Side Dish, Soup
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Like our recipes?
Follow us on Pinterest!
Delicious! Easy to prepare. I’m a celery lover and added a half a cup of celery with the other veggies. As well bit of chopped parsley added with the cheeses.
That sounds delicious, Susan! Thanks for sharing your additions.
Delicious. Really did take ~ 20 minutes. My picky adult daughter liked it also. She doesn’t like much of anything I cook.
We are so happy to hear that, April! Glad she enjoyed this recipe too.
This was delicious! I used many broccoli stalks diced small, as well as florets, and made a total pig of myself.
Marking this as I’ll make it again.
Really good! Especially on such a cold day. Just the right amount of spice. I used more broccoli than called for and I used one cup of cream and 1/2 cup of 1% milk since it was what I had. It’s a nice, filling soup with the cheese. It will be my new go to recipe. Thank you!
Another hit! Plus it’s raining outside. Thanks Holly for another recipe that works for me
This soup is amazing, I tried every soup and yous is the bestes, my husband loved it.
This is amazing. I tried with a hand blender and it really did nothing, so put it in my heat safe Oster blender for a few worked just fine. Thank you!
I didn’t have any cream or condensed milk so used creamy unsweetened cashew milk in its place, grated my own sharp cheddar cheese. The soup was delicious, even without the Parmesan. I will be making this quick and easy soup again for sure!
This soup is fabulous and tastes like you spent hours on it . I used frozen broccoli and some frozen cauliflower. I do not have an immersion blender . When the broccoli ,cauliflower, diced onion and carrot were soft, I easily and quickly mashed with a potato masher.
I always use pre shredded parm and cheddar. Where I live there is nothing added to the shredded cheeses so I never have issues with melting. Thanks for a great and easy recipe.
This is a random question but so I want to make cheesy broccoli. But I also want to make this soup. If I made the soup, would it still taste sorta like a cheesy broccoli. Just have the soup like stuff around it? lol
First, Some Random Girl that Likes Soup – I love it ♥️ It feels like the perfect description for myself too! I think it would be fine to use the cheesy broccoli, since you use an immersion blender it should blend all the ingredients together anyways and make it taste delicious still.
Very easy to make, delicious and filling. I must have done something wrong because the texture was a little odd. I did shred my own carrots, I am sure this made a difference in the texture. I will try again with store shredded carrots and real parmesan. 10/10!
Tried this recipe today. Absolutely delicious! Didn’t have any fresh Parmesan, so I sprinkled a little of the”jarred” variety on my serving. My husband didn’t add any”parm”, said it was fantastic without it.
Tried this creamy broccoli soup it was absolutely wonderful. I will share with my friends and will make it again and again. Thank you.
Very cheesy, very good! I just had hiatal hernia surgery and on a restricted diet. I can’t eat anything that must be chewed, I saw this and thought that’s better than all pudding, ice cream and jello. Those are good, but need something that’s good for you too!
Very filling! Very easy to make.I made this and I’m only the 4th day after surgery.
Thanks
Wow Tamara, that makes my day! So happy you love this soup! You could also try
Creamy Celery Soup
Zucchini Soup
Creamy Turnip Soup
Butternut Squash Soup
Potato broccoli soup
Egg Drop Soup
Creamy Asparagus Soup
Sweet Potato Soup
And for something totally different, Beer Cheese Soup!
Just made this soup for dinner and it was so good! Easy to make and very filling. I also made some croutons and the different textures made it just so tasty. Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe.
You’re welcome Cimi, that sounds great!
your broccoli soup is delicious. everyone in my family loves it. Its the best one i have made.
I must say it’s the best I’ve tasted, didn’t have any light cream so I diluted 35% cream with 2% milk and threw in a few fresh crispy bacon bits from this morning. Awesome recipe!
I had high hopes with this recipe. But it turned out gritty. I was hoping it’d be smoother, like a cream of asparagus. Mine tasted like a bowl of tin tips of raw broccoli mixed in with cream and thickened. Not a whole lot of flavor. Too me anyway. Hubby thought it was good but he loves broccoli. (And I put lots of bacon in his bowl. Which he loves!)
I’ve never made this soup so don’t know if it’s suppose to have a gritty texture. Is this soup supposed to be gritty?
I followed the recipe(and video) exactly. But I used a standing blender to puree it. Then added the light cream and white sharp cheddar and parmesan cheese.
We have not found this recipe to be gritty. It could possibly be that you didn’t fully emulsify the vegetables and broth, or the type of cheese you used (especially if it was a pre-shredded cheese). Hope that helps!
Ok. I’d like to revise my review above. I just added some butter and lots more chicken broth. Also a little bit more half and half. Nuked a taste test and sprinkled with parmesan. It’s definitely better. Yummy. It’s now more of a soup.
Glad it worked for you after all Jan!
Just made this broccoli soup. Very easy and delicious. I made the lighter version with evaporated milk. Will make again!
Just made this soup it turned out amazing. So filling. I added carrots and celery and fresh garlic.