This post is all about the easiest and most delicious one pot broccoli cheddar soup!
Panera’s broccoli cheddar soup recipe is one of my favorite soups I think I’ve ever had. This delicious broccoli cheddar soup is full of chunks of broccoli, cheesy flavor and carrots.
Paired with a crusty bread, like sourdough bread or a bread bowl, this creamy soup is perfect for soup season. In my opinion, it’s even perfect on a regular day when you need that homemade good stuff, instead of running out and paying $20 for a bread bowl! I seriously eat this broccoli cheese soup recipe year round.
This delicious soup is full of simple ingredients, leading to an easy recipe and making clean up a breeze. I’ve even thought about putting this onto a recipe card to add to my recipe collection!
I guarantee you, this best broccoli cheddar soup is sure to be a new family favorite! It’s considered to be a healthy soup. The only thing you have to be cautious of is how many servings you go back for haha.
This is such a great recipe y’all. I just made it last week and it was such a cozy recipe for the cold weather we had!
How to Make One Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup
One pot broccoli cheddar soup is so easy because it’s made in literally one large pot! The three main ingredients are the broccoli, the cheese and the carrots. All important in their own ways, coming together to make the best soups of all time.
For the broccoli, you can use leftover broccoli, fresh broccoli or frozen broccoli. The downfall to frozen broccoli is that it’s already blanched. So when you add that to the soupy mixture, it gets extremely soft. Fresh, uncooked broccoli will have somewhat of a crunch factor to it.
As far as the cheese goes, fresh is always better as well. It melts down quicker and better into the soup. If you’re into lazy cooking, like your girl here – well, we won’t call it lazy – we’ll call it “thinking smarter not harder” 😉 , you’ll just grab the pre packaged cheese from your dairy section.
The biggest thing with the cheese is that you have to grab SHARP cheddar cheese. You need to have sharp cheddar in order for it to have that cheesy flavor punch.
Next, the carrots! I loveee any form of carrots. But in order for them to properly cook into this soup, they need to be very thinly sliced.
You can either buy whole carrots and julienne them yourself, or just grab the already cut for you “matchstick” carrots in the pre packaged produce section.
Let’s move on to the full list of ingredients and how much of each ingredient you should use. Then we’ll cover the prep!
Related Post: 10 Minute Savory White Chicken Chili
Ingredients for One Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup
(a dupe for Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup)
1/4 of a cup or 4 tablespoons of butter
1/2 medium chopped onion
1/4 of a cup all purpose flour
2 cups half and half ( replace with whole milk or heavy cream for keto )
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 lb or about 3 cups of broccoli chopped into broccoli pieces ( I prefer fresh broccoli florets but you could also use frozen broccoli )
1 cup matchstick carrots ( or buy your own carrots and julienne them! )
8 ounces or 2 cups pre-shredded cheese ( I use sharp cheddar cheese like mentioned above ) or you can grate your own cheese
1/4 of a teaspoon nutmeg (optional but it helps with the flavor)
salt and black pepper
For vegetarian/vegan swaps: swap the chicken broth for vegetable broth, and the cheese for vegan cheese.
For gluten free: swap the flour for King Arthur’s Gluten Free flour. (we use this for our chocolate chip cookies! If you’ve never tried them, the recipe is here)
Alright! Onto the prep stages!
Prep for One Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes
Serving size: 6
- Start by melting 1/4 cup butter into a large saucepan ( or large “pot” ) .
- Sauté your onions in the melted butter until they are tender.
- Sprinkle the flour over the onion and butter mixture.
- Cook and stir over medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
- Whisk in the half & half as well as the chicken stock ( at this point bring in the milk or heavy cream for those choosing a lighter/keto option).
- Add in the broccoli and carrots.
- Simmer over low heat for 20-25 minutes or until the broccoli and carrots are tender.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- You can leave the soup as a thicker soup or blend about 1 cup of the soup separately – with an immersion blender – and stir it in for a smoother consistency soup.
- Keep at a low heat and add the shredded sharp cheese. If your heat is too high your soup can get lumpy.
- Stir in the nutmeg if you choose to add it in!
- Serve with a crusty bread – like I mentioned earlier, sourdough. Add a little bit of cheese ontop and let your cheese melt before digging in!
Macro Info: serving: 1 calories: 413 cal, carbohydrates: 19g, protein: 17g, fat: 31g
Related Post: 5 Quick Easy and Healthy Recipes under 10 Minutes
This cheddar broccoli soup can easily be made in a dutch oven or slow cooker. After stored in an airtight container, within the fridge, it’s even better the next day.
Only keep this soup mixture for 3 days after cooking it!
Enameled Cast Iron 5 Quart Dutch Oven Pot
Ninja MC1001 Foodi PossibleCooker PRO 8.5 Quart – 8-in-1 Slow Cooker
Bento Box Lunch Container w/ Protective Non-slip Exterior
The next time you go to make soup, I hope you pull out this recipe! It’s truly one of my favorite things. And I hope you enjoy it now that you know how to make you’re very own homemade broccoli cheddar soup! That, yes, is just as good.. if not better than the Panera Bread broccoli cheddar soup!
This post was all about making the best ever one pot broccoli cheddar soup!
xoxo,
Comment your thoughts!