Healthy broccoli cheddar soup packed with carrots, broccoli, garlic, and cheese. This creamy velvety soup is much better than Panera’s broccoli cheddar soup and can be made in under 30 minutes for a fraction of the price! 
Soup is an essential winter meal and when it comes to picking our absolute favorite soup, this cheddar broccoli soup has earned the #1 spot. It’s a favorite of kids because of it’s creamy texture and cheesy flavor, and loved by parents because it’s secretly loaded with a ton of nutritious veggies.
If you’ve ever had Panera’s broccoli cheddar soup then you will LOVE this soup. It’s almost a copycat version of it except with much more flavor and texture.
The soup is made with an almost caramelized onion and garlic-based and thickened with a roux (butter and flour mixture) then simmered with veggie stock, broccoli, and carrots. At the very end, half & half and freshly grated cheddar cheese are added to give it a velvety smooth texture.
The result is a deliciously rich, thick and creamy broccoli soup that is loaded with the comforting flavors of broccoli and cheddar. 
HOW TO MAKE BROCCOLI CHEDDAR SOUP (BETTER THAN PANERA’S)
To make this delicious cheddar cheese you will only need a handful of ingredients, a large pot, and 30 minutes. Gather all your ingredients and let’s get cooking!
Broccoli: Fresh broccoli florets along with the stems chopped into small bite-size pieces. A 12oz bag of frozen broccoli will also work. The instructions and cooking time are exactly the same.
Carrots: You will need about 1 cup of grated, finely minced, or julienned carrots. It is about 1 large carrot or 2 small carrots. This ingredient is optional and can be adjusted to your taste preference.
Cheddar: To get the best possible flavor, we like to use an 8oz block of mild or medium cheddar cheese. You can also use 2 cups of pre-grated cheddar cheese.
Half & Half: Half and half will yield a texture that is not too thick or too thin. It can also be replaced with milk for a light soup or heavy cream for keto dieters.
Stock: Veggie or chicken stock will work great and if you don’t have any on hand, replace the stock with water and add a bouillon cube.
You will also need a chopped onion, minced garlic, butter, flour, salt pepper and paprika (can be subbed with nutmeg if desired).
Scroll down for the full recipe, video, and nutritional facts. Please don’t forget to rate the recipe below and tag us on Instagram @gimmedelicious!
CAN YOU FREEZE BROCCOLI CHEDDAR SOUP?
CAN YOU FREEZE BROCCOLI CHEDDAR SOUP?To refrigerate: Place any leftover soup in airtight containers and refrigerate for up to 3-4 days. Reheat on the stove-top over medium-low heat.
To freeze: Place in freezer-safe zip bags and freeze flat or in freezer-safe containers. To reheat, thaw completely then warm on low heat to prevent curdling.
HOW TO SERVE BROCOLLI CHEDDAR SOUP
This delicious soup is packed full of veggies and texture and can be perfectly eaten stand-alone and will make a filling meal. It can also be served in a bread bowl (like in Panera) or with crusty bread for dipping or topped with croutons! If you’re a meat-eater, you can top it with chopped grilled or shredded chicken or mix them in.
30 Minute Broccoli Cheddar Soup (Better than Panera!)
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter, ½ stick
- ½ medium onion, chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 tablespoon AP flour
- 2 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp paprika, or ground nutmeg, optional
- 3 cups broccoli florets, or 1 large head, cut into small pieces
- 1 large carrot, grated, julienned or finely chopped
- 2 cups half & half, or milk or light or heavy cream
- 8 oz block grated cheddar cheese, or 2 cups (mild, medium, or sharp )
Instructions
- Melt butter in a large dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook 3-4 minutes or until softened and light gold. Add the garlic and saute for another minute.
- Add flour and whisk for 1-2 minutes or until the flour begins to turn golden in color. Pour in the chicken stock, broccoli florets, carrots, and seasoning. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes or until the broccoli and carrots are cooked through.
- Stir in half & half and cheddar cheese and simmer for another minute. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
- Serve with toasted crusty bread or in a bread bowl if desired.
Video
Equipment
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Oh my gosh. AMAZING! I ended up doing 2.5 cups of cheddar and more salt and pepper at the end! I ate with a baguette and it was to die for!! Just like Panera.
Yum, great to hear!
Made this today and it was so good! I have been so intimidated by the other Cheddar Broccoli Soup recipes I have found so I never tried making it. This was quick, easy and delicious! Thank you!
You are so welcome!
I’m gonna try this just wondering if you can make this in crockpot
Easy delicious 30 min soup ate 2 bowls in 15. I added bacon. 😋😋
Could you sub velveeta for the grated cheese?
Yes, that works perfectly!
This is so yummy!! My husband is not a soup eater but I made it during a Chiefs game & he went back for seconds. He loved it. I’m glad I doubled the receipe.
Wow, I just made this and it’s so delicious! I used low sodium vegetable broth and smoked paprika. I always find broccoli cheese soup in restaurants to be too salty. This was perfect
Yum, thanks for taking the time to leave a review 🙂
Amazing recipe. I made it for myself and even though I was down with flu, it was an easy recipe to make. Delicious and soothing. True comfort food
I have made many different types of broccoli cheddar soup. This one is by far the easiest and most flavorful. I’ve made it twice, now. The best compliment is when a foodie friend asks for the recipe.
I’m wandering if this can be made with cauliflower? I loved the broccoli cheese soup so much.
OMG, this was AMAZING. The only thing I did different was to wrap mine in bacon (which kept all that goodness inside). It was truly to DIE FOR!!!!!
I’m having 15 people for dinner how many people does your recipe serve?
This recipe serves 4 people so you would need to make 4x the amount. The recipe servings can be easily adjusted above 🙂
so delicious and easy! thanks for this awesome video!
OMG!!! This has got to be the best broccoli cheddar soup I’ve ever had… most definitely better than Panera’s!! I did add more salt, pepper and paprika at the end. Simply the best!!
Could I use fat free half & half?
Yes, you can. It won’t be as creamy but it should work 🙂
I made this recipe tonight exactly as written. I did double the recipe. It is perfect!! So good! This will be my new go to broccoli cheese soup go to recipe.
How many cups total do you think this makes?
This should make at least 6-8 cups of soup.
What if you want to cook in a crock pot or slow cooker what do yuh suggest for cooking time
This recipe is so easy to make! I doubled it. I also used half extra sharp and half mild cheddar. The flavor was spot on! I chose to use whole milk since you are making a roux and there is already a ton of cheese. It turned out perfect!
Delicious recipe! However, mine had a “chalky” taste that I can’t quite put my finger on. I doubled the recipe and used heavy whipping cream. I used Sargento Medium Cheddar slices.
Do you think the chalkiness was the heavy whipping cream or the type of cheese I used??
Thank you!! Other than that, it was delicious!
The chalky taste may be from the pre-shredded cheese if you used any. They add potato starch to keep it from clumping. Next time, I would shred a block of fresh cheddar cheese 🙂
It could also be maybe you didnt let the flour mixture cook enough? Sometimes if you don’t mix it for a good two minutes or so the flour wont all be incorporated
From my experience the chalkiness could possibly have come from not cooking the roux long enough. You have to cook the flour until it becomes light golden brown, approximately 5- 7 minutes.
Followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious! My 4 year old actual said it “tastes better than Panera!” And was super quick! Nicely done!
So happy to hear that, Fatimah!
Excellent. I did need to add more chicken broth (I added 4 cups) because there really was not much liquid in the pot to simmer for the 15 minutes without it sticking and burning. Will be making again.
Thanks for the feedback! so glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I used three cups of vegetable broth instead of two and substituted 1/2 cup of sour cream for the two cups of half-and-half. I used instant mashed potatoes for a gluten-free thickener, instead of flour. I semi-pureed most of the soup with an immersion blender. The soup is very savory!
This recipe is great! First time I followed it exactly and we loved it! My husband has a big appetite so the 2nd time I added some Yukon gold potatoes with the onions so they’d cook through and OMG! Ultimate comfort food. This is now permanently on the menu in our house. Thank you!
This was so delicious and easy to make. My family enjoyed it!
Hot damn that’s good cooking! Didn’t change a thing. I can’t wait to make it again and I’m doubling the recipe next time. Was thinking about making it for Thanksgiving but I can’t wait that long to eat it again. Thank you for a spectacular recipe.
Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
This was really good. My husband loved this soup. I did double this for extra. Yummy!!
So glad to hear that, Shannon!
I made for the first time like 3 weeks ago. DELICIOUS! I made again tonight and doubled…. it tasted nothing like it did the first time. I was so disappointed. I don’t know what I did wrong.
I’m not sure why it didn’t taste as good the 2nd time! Did you make sure you doubled all the ingredients? sometimes cooking in smaller batches makes the food taste better for some reason 🙂
So yummy and easy!
PERFECT soup. All I did differently was cut the carrots into circular thin pieces because I like them chunkier and I quadrupled the recipe because we LOVE soup. (kept flour the same though and the thickness was perfect)
Yum, thanks for the feedback!
The cheddar cheese I used refused to melt so definitely the recipe is more than 30 minutes.
Hmm.. that might depend on the brand of cheese you used. Was the cheese pre-shredded?
If you used preshredded cheese it won’t melt well because of the ingredients they add to keep it from clumping together.
Can I make this without the cheese?
Yes, it will taste great too!
Great recipe, I didn’t have enough broccoli but I added extra carrot and it was good. I changed it a little, adding more paprika and some cayenne pepper, and used almond milk and it turned out really good