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
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This was delicious! The big kid is home from college and sick with the flu and he wanted soup. I used the recipe as a guideline and worked with what I had on hand. No carrots, so I used celery, and I used a combination of fresh broccoli and cauliflower since I didn’t have enough broccoli. I ended up needing 4 cups of broth. I didn’t think the flour was really necessary to thicken the soup, even with the extra broth, and it leaves a little bit of a flour aftertaste, so I will leave it out next time or just use cornstarch. But I love the parmesan, thyme and garlic additions. this was a really good and easy soup that you can tweak to make your own cream of ______ soup! I’m looking forward to using carrots next time, and someday I might try mushrooms! Really easy, really fast and really good.
This was delicious! The big kid is home from college and sick with the flu and he wanted soup. I used the recipe as a guideline and worked with what I had on hand. No carrots, so I used celery, and I used a combination of fresh broccoli and cauliflower since I didn’t have enough broccoli. I ended up needing 4 cups of broth. I didn’t think the flour was really necessary to thicken the soup, even with the extra broth, and it leaves a little bit of a flour aftertaste, so I will leave it out next time or just use cornstarch. But I love the parmesan, thyme and garlic additions. this was a really good and easy soup that you can tweak to make your own cream of ______ soup! I’m looking forward to using carrots next time, and someday I might try mushrooms!
Just made this recipe today and it is by far the BEST cream of broccoli soup I have ever had!! The addition of carrots and onions made it a beautiful color next to the green of the soup. I ended up pulsing the vege as my hubby likes it that way but other than than I made no changes. Super delish! Thanks for posting!
The soup is delicious. When I blended it though, the resulting mixture was a little bit chunkier than I’d like and I couldn’t get it any more fine. Does anyone know what I could do to make it blend better?
If you like the a soup a little finer you could try blending in smaller batches. And if that doesn’t work you could put it through a fine mesh sieve. I am so glad you enjoyed the soup!
This soup is the best. I just cant stop eating it. I shared it with frends and family and they love it.
It’s delicious and nutritious, thank you for sharing!
This is a fabulous recipe. I’ve made it twice and have made the following two tweaks to suit our tastes… otherwise we didn’t change a thing.
1. Cut thyme powder in half (from 1/2 to 1/4 tsp)
2. Used 2/3 1% milk and 1/3 18% cream (what we have on hand) to simulate light cream.
Also, our immersion blended doesn’t puree it so there are enough chunks we don’t need to set any aside.
This will be an ongoing part of our soups recipes. Thank you Holly!
I am so glad you love this recipe Pete!
So good!!! Thank you for this! The whole family loved it.
Simply delicious! I used leftover cooked broccoli, so I added it after the carrots cooked completely. I also used cornstarch in place of flour. I printed the recipe for my “everyday” and “entertaining” cookbook binders! Thank you!!
Made this soup today…great. the only thing I did differently was grate the carrots &doubled the recipe. Wife and I had to have seconds. It’s definitely a keeper.
very good suggestion about grating the carrots. Will try this.
Has anyone tried this soup with cauliflower instead of broccoli?
This is excellent one of the best broccoli cheese soups I have had. My 9-year-old granddaughter was the “chef” on this and proclaimed it to be amazing! We added about 1/2 cup diced pepperjack cheese along with the other cheeses and it really enhanced the flavor. Will be making this again, doubling the recipe.
Great soup! I wanted to use up some broccoli and carrots I had on hand and this worked perfectly! It was delicious!
When you mean cream is it heavy cream or sour cream?
This is light cream, I use a cream that is about 12%MF (like half and half). If you only have heavy cream, you can use that in place but you might need a little bit less.
Fabulous!! Easy to make and absolutely delicious. I even made it using just the stalks of broccoli and it was wonderful.
I’m not much of a broccoli soup person, but I wanted to try this recipe. I’m so glad I did. It’s truly delicious. I’d like it more soupy next time though. Thanks for sharing.
This recipe is so yummy, Isabel. Glad you enjoyed it too!
This was easy to make and super delicious!
I have loved every recipe I have tried from spend with pennies and am very thankful to have found this site but this one my family just didn’t enjoy much at all. We won’t making this one again.
Sorry to hear that, Stephanie but so glad you have been enjoying our other recipes! We do have a few other broccoli soups that may work better for your family: broccoli cheddar soup, or this delicious potato broccoli soup!
Perfect! Creamy and smooth. I used my food processor to blend part of the vegetables since I don’t have a stick blender. I have tried about 5 broccoli cheese soup recipes. I’m tired of seeing “better than panera” Actually I had the way over priced $10 container last week to try it. Nasty is a good description. But I love broccoli and I love cheese. And I love them together in casseroles. I really wanted a soup for that 10 degree chilly night. And after 5 recipes this is it. This really is the best broccoli cheese soup. Maybe it’s the Thyme, garlic powder, and Parmesan combined with the Cheddar. Other recipes did not use all in combination. But I’m glad my search is over!
Thank you for sharing, so happy to hear that you love the soup so much Joli!
This is the second time making this soup. I doubled up the recipe because I wanted leftovers.
It’s absolutely delicious. I’m hooked!!
Thank you!!