This Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe can be made in about 20 minutes!
Rich, creamy, and oh-so-cheesy, this broccoli soup is a quick meal that is perfect for lunch or an easy weeknight dinner.
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A Cozy 20 Minute Meal
Made without Velveeta, this soup is rich, creamy, and full of real cheddar flavor.
- Move over Panera; this broccoli soup is as easy as it is delicious.
- It needs few ingredients, this homemade soup is extra flavorful.
- And it is so versatile – add in extra veggies left in the fridge, from zucchini to cauliflower.
- This broccoli cheddar soup is ready in about 20 minutes, perfect for those busy weekday nights.
How to Make Broccoli Cheese Soup
- Soften onions/carrots (as per the recipe below). Add broccoli and simmer.
- Remove some of the veggies and blend the soup.
- Stir in cream mixed with flour, and simmer for a couple of minutes. Stir in cheese and reserved vegetables and serve.
Ingredient for Broccoli Soup
- Onion & Carrot – Onion and carrot add flavor to this soup.
- Broccoli – Fresh or frozen broccoli florets can be used, no need to thaw frozen broccoli first.
- Broth – A combination of half and half and broth are the perfect blend without being too heavy. I prefer the flavor of chicken broth however, you can replace it with vegetable stock if desired. Half and half can be replaced with heavy cream or evaporated milk if desired.
- Seasoning – I add a little bit of thyme, garlic powder, salt & pepper.
- Cheese – Sharp cheddar adds the best flavor to this recipe. Feel free to add in other shredded cheeses like gruyere.
Tips
- When adding broccoli, use the broccoli stems as well.
- If you have fresh garlic cloves, use 1 clove to replace the garlic powder.
- Use a regular blender (be sure not to have the lid on tightly or it can explode from the steam) but an immersion blender works well too.
- Just like when making cheese sauce, remove the 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.
Leftovers?
Diary doesn’t tend to freeze well and it can sometimes become grainy or the texture can change slightly. This soup will keep 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 Cozy Soups
Did you love this Broccoli Cheese Soup? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 cup diced carrot
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- 2 cups chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups half and half or light cream
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- ⅓ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- In a large saucepan or pot, cook butter, onion, and carrots over medium heat until onion softens (about 3 minutes). Add the broccoli, chicken broth, thyme, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Simmer until broccoli is tender, 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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Made this. Very good! My family enjoyed it. Takes longer than 20 minutes because of all the chopping. Well worth it!
I agree! It takes double the amount of time to make (took me about 40 mins) and I was moving fast to get this on the table. Should be renamed something different. I love this soup though!
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!!