I love Broccoli Cheddar Soup (and soup season in general). It’s such a classic soup and it reminds me of childhood. I remember when I was in junior high going to Panera Bread for a quick dinner after tennis practice and the broccoli cheddar soup (in a bread bowl) always hit the spot!
Our broccoli cheddar soup recipe is simple and can be made in just 30 minutes. It’s super flavorful and has the perfect balance of a salty, cheesy soup base with loads of perfectly cooked broccoli goodness!
How to Make Our Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- Place large pot over medium heat and melt butter. Add onion and sweat, about 5 minutes.
- Add flour to butter and onion mixture.Stir together and cook for about 2 minutes. This will remove the raw flour flavor.
- Stir in chicken stock and season generously with salt and pepper. You want to make sure that no flour lumps are left after adding the stock.
- Add celery and broccoli.
- Stir together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Let simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Stir in milk and continue to simmer until soup is thick enough to just coat the back of a wooden spoon, 2 to 3 minutes. The soup should still have a thinner, ‘soupy’ texture.
- Remove pot from heat and stir in cheddar in small handfuls, waiting until cheese melts to add more cheese. Adding the cheese slowly will help to create a smooth soup in the end.
- Continue to add more cheese to the soup until the soup has thickened and has a smooth velvety texture. Season with salt and pepper and top with more cheddar. Serve.
Tools You Will Need
Tips to Make the BEST Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Our broccoli cheddar soup recipe is very easy to make but there are a couple important factors to make it successfully.
- It’s important to remember that low and slow for adding the cheese is key. Remove the pot from the heat and add the cheese in small handfuls. Removing the pot from the heat will ensure your soup doesn’t separate, while still maintaining enough heat to melt the cheese.
- Also make sure the added shredded cheese fully incorporates and melts into the soup before adding more. This will guarantee the soup stays creamy and smooth. If the cheese is added too quickly you run the risk of your soup becoming gritty.
Make Ahead Instructions for Our Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Make Ahead
Our soup can be made up to 3 days ahead of time, stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
To reheat, pour soup into a pot and place over medium-low to low heat. Stir soup occasionally to ensure it heats back up evenly. It’s important that the soup comes back up to temperature slowly so that it stays thick, creamy and smooth. Reheating the soup too quickly can make the soup gritty and lose its body.
If you find that your soup still gets too thin after its been heated scoop 1/2 cup of the warm soup into a small bowl and whisk together with 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch until smooth. Pour mixture back into the pot, stir together and simmer until soup slightly thickens.
Can I Freeze This Soup?
We really don’t recommend freezing this recipe because the consistency will be very thin and the texture will be off (gritty) once it’s thawed and heated back up. The cornstarch slurry trick also doesn’t work nearly as well for when the soup has been frozen.
Best Way to Serve Our Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Our favorite way to serve this soup is to ladle it into a crusty, sourdough bread bowl! The last bits of the soup absorb into the inner crust of the bowl and it’s so satisfying to tear away pieces of the soup soaked bread bowl and scarf them down as you finish up the soup.
More Delicious Soup Recipes You Will Love
Easy Broccoli Cheddar Soup
INGREDIENTS
soup
- 5 tbsp unsalted butter
- ½ onion chopped
- ⅓ cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 celery stalk finely diced
- 2½ cup broccoli chopped into bite sized pieces
- 2 cups whole milk
- 2 cups shredded cheddar
- salt and pepper to taste
garnish
- 1 cup shredded cheddar
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place large pot over medium heat and melt butter. Add onion and sweat, about 5 minutes.
- Whisk in flour and cook for about 2 minutes.
- Stir in chicken stock and season generously with salt and pepper.
- Stir in celery and broccoli and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Let simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
- Stir in milk and continue to simmer until soup is thick enough to just coat the back of a wooden spoon, 2 to 3 minutes. (soup should still have a 'soupy' texture)
- Remove pot from heat and stir in cheddar in small handfuls, waiting until cheese melts to add more cheese.
- Season with salt and pepper and top with more cheddar. Serve.
NOTES
- It’s important to remember that low and slow for adding the cheese is key. Remove the pot from the heat and add the cheese in small handfuls. Removing the pot from the heat will ensure your soup doesn’t separate, while still maintaining enough heat to melt the cheese.
- Also make sure the added shredded cheese fully incorporates and melts into the soup before adding more. This will guarantee the soup stays creamy and smooth. If the cheese is added too quickly you run the risk of your soup becoming gritty.
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Didn’t care for broccoli cheddar soup until I made this for my family. Absolutely delicious! I am now a fan. The only one I had tried was Panera’s and I didn’t like it. This recipe was easy and very good.
Turned out great! And it was quick and easy which I appreciated. Will definitely make this again. Thank you for posting
I gave this recipe a five 1/2 fast, simple, tasty and just a kick it up a little bit. I added some Frank’s hot sauce.
Cheesy broccoli soup. Decadent and delish!!! Oh my
A Great and Easy dish to soup to make the video uploading makes it more easier to make it.
If I’m doubling this recipe, do I double all ingredients? it’s probably a simple yes that just seemed like allot of butter
Correct, everything is doubled. It’s really not a lot of butter considering doubling the recipe makes about 3 quarts of soup
This is probably the best broccoli and cheese soup. I added some air fried bacon and I added a large handful of shredded carrots. Thank you for adding the part about taking the soup off the heat and add the cheese.
Great recipe! Made as instructed and it was delicious! I added a little more cheese and some bacon bits to add a llttle more umami.
Made this soup today and yummy yummy yummy! I didn’t get the thickness I desired but the soup was delicious!
Just made this last night…probably the best broccoli cheddar soup I’ve ever made, great recipe…I did add some carrots as I had some that needed to be used…great flavor. Loved the tip about adding cheese a little at a time, definitely makes it creamier and great texture!
So happy you enjoyed this recipe!!!
Thanks for the recipe! Just thinking about holding a bowl of warm delicious soup makes me feel so happy!
This was really easy to make! A+
I used a lot of vegetables I had in my fridge and it came out so well.
This was a great recipe— easy and very tasty. I did up the broccoli a little just because I had some that I wanted to use up and it was still really good! Your advise on taking the pan off the heat to mix in the cheese was spot on! I’ve wrecked so many other sauces because there is too much heat. Thanks for the great recipe:)
So happy you enjoyed the soup!
This was so good! AND SO SIMPLE!
This is my favorite broccoli cheddar soup! The whole family loved it. Thanks!
This recipe is great for kids. They loved it.
Made this last night and it’s so easy and delicious. A keeper for sure!
Super easy and so delicious. I have made it every week for a month. I am usually really awful with making soups but I was able to do this one easily!
Suggestion for replacing flour (also not cornstarch)?
I saw that you mentioned a cornstarch slurry in the background, but not in the recipe. When are you adding this?
That’s only if you need to reheat the soup :)
Only have frozen broccoli. Will this work?
Yes! I would just thaw the broccoli first so that the excess water doesn’t thin the soup out
Being a regular reader, spoonforkbacon never disappoints you. Thank you for a new recipe.
yum, still cold at night so soup still works, thank you!
Score! I think I have all of this stuff on hand. Yum!