I could live on soup. Honestly, I even if it’s a scorching hot day, I could go for Panera’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup. That’s my gold standard of soup … or was, until I perfected this homemade Broccoli Cheddar Soup recipe.

Oh my gosh, it’s amazing.

And it’s easy too.

You can use fresh broccoli or frozen, bagged broccoli in it. It doesn’t matter. You can use homemade chicken stock or store bought chicken stock. It doesn’t matter. Any combination of those tastes incredible.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup Recipe

Broccoli Cheddar Soup is the perfect one pot meal. Everything is made in a single Dutch oven.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 onion
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• 10 oz. broccoli
• 2 carrots
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Creole seasoning
• 8 oz. cheddar cheese

How To Make Broccoli Cheddar Soup:

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a Dutch oven.

Dice the onion and garlic and add it to the butter. Cook down about 10 minutes until the onion starts to get translucent.

Remove the onion and garlic from the Dutch oven.

Add the remaining three tablespoons of butter and the flour to the Dutch oven. Cook them together about five minutes.

Pour in the chicken stock.

Add the heavy cream and milk.

Simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes, stirring often.

While that’s cooking, peel and grate the carrots. Add the carrots and broccoli to the soup and cook for about 25 minutes until the vegetables begin to soften.

Add the seasoning, then add the onion and garlic mixture back, and simmer another 15 minutes.

While that’s cooking, shred the cheddar cheese.

Remove the Dutch oven from the heat and stir in the cheese until it’s melted.

Do you have to use a Dutch oven?

I got a Dutch oven as a birthday gift last year, and I’m obsessed with it. It’s large enough to handle huge quantities of liquid, which is great because when I make soup, I make a lot. It’s also the best pot I have for heating through. With other pots, you have some warmer and some cooler spots and food heats unevenly. Not in a Dutch oven.

If you don’t have a Dutch oven, you can still make this soup. A large stock pot is perfectly fine. You may need to adjust your cooking times slightly if you change the vessel you’re cooking in, but honestly, it’s no big deal.

What’s the difference between chicken stock and chicken broth?

Chicken stock is made from bones while chicken broth is made from meat, generally. If we make chicken wings, Pete will break down the wings and save the “nubs” to make homemade chicken broth.

Chicken stock has a richer taste and chicken broth has a thinner taste. Broth really adds a lot of flavor to this Broccoli Cheddar Soup, which is why you only need a little over a teaspoon of additional seasoning in this soup.

If you’re using chicken broth instead, you may have to add additional seasoning to achieve a tasty soup.

Can you use bagged shredded cheese?

Bagged shredded cheese is not your friend.

There are preservatives in bagged shredded cheese that allow it to be shipped and stored while keeping the individual pieces in tact. Without the preservatives, the cheese would turn into a clumpy mess in the bag.

Because of these preservatives, though, bagged shredded cheese doesn’t really melt as well as block cheese that you shred yourself.

So invest in a good cheese grater and shred your own cheese from now on. It will change your recipes immensely.

What kind of cheddar cheese is best in Broccoli Cheddar Soup?

The cheese adds a lot of flavor to the Broccoli Cheddar Soup, so you want to make sure you choose a flavorful cheddar.

I prefer a New York sharp cheddar in this because it adds a lot more flavor than a mild cheddar will add. If all you have is mild cheddar though, that’s fine.

Can you use frozen broccoli?

I mentioned this above, but just to reiterate: You can use either fresh or frozen broccoli in this Broccoli Cheddar Soup. It doesn’t matter.

If you use frozen broccoli, you don’t need to let it defrost before adding it to your Broccoli Cheddar Soup.

Regardless of if you use frozen or fresh broccoli, you want to make sure it’s chopped down into small pieces that will cook quickly and soften before the soup is served.

What do you serve with Broccoli Cheddar Soup?

A good, hearty bread is the perfect compliment to Broccoli Cheddar Soup. You could either serve bread on the side, like our Beer Bread or Prosciutto Bread, or make homemade croutons and serve them on top.

How do you store leftover Broccoli Cheddar Soup?

If you have any leftover Broccoli Cheddar Soup, you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for three to four days. Just wait until it has cooled completely before pouring it into a container.

Soup tastes so good the next day, so you’ll definitely love the leftovers.

Can you freeze Broccoli Cheddar Soup?

If you’d rather freeze Broccoli Cheddar Soup, you can definitely do that. Wait until it has cooled completely, then pour it into a freezer-safe container. You can keep it in the freezer for up to six months.

How can you reheat Broccoli Cheddar Soup?

If you are reheating from the fridge, you can reheat it as is. If you are reheating frozen Broccoli Cheddar Soup, be sure to keep it in the fridge until it thaws, then follow the directions below.

Reheat the Broccoli Cheddar Soup leftovers on the stove on medium heat until the soup is heated through.

You can microwave it on high for 30 seconds, stir, then continue to heat and stir at 30 second intervals until it is heated through. I would definitely use a microwavable cover over the soup before heating it in the microwave, though, because it could pop all over.

Is Broccoli Cheddar Soup gluten free?

You need to make a roux (the flour and butter portion of the recipe) in order to thicken the soup. If not, you’ll end up with a really thin, runny soup that doesn’t taste very good.

If you need to make this a gluten free Broccoli Cheddar Soup, you could substitute corn starch for the flour since corn starch doesn’t have gluten.

Corn starch has double the thickening power that flour does, so you’ll only want to use half the amount of corn starch.

Whatever you use, flour or corn starch, don’t skip this step. Your soup won’t turn out right without the roux.

Is Broccoli Cheddar Soup vegetarian?

Our version of Broccoli Cheddar Soup isn’t vegetarian because we use chicken broth to build the soup. If you wanted to make a vegetarian Broccoli Cheddar Soup, you could swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth.

I haven’t personally done this, since we’re not vegetarian, so I can’t tell you if you’d need to adjust or add any spices as well. So if you do this, be sure to let us know.

Is Broccoli Cheddar Soup keto friendly?

I wouldn’t necessarily consider Broccoli Cheddar Soup keto friendly. Every ingredient in this recipe has carbs. Some ingredients have less carbs than others, but there are still carbs.

In order to make this keto friendly, you would have to make adjustments, which would change the taste of this recipe.