*Update (10/2011): We continue to love this soup (and eat it often)! I’ve edited the recipe just a bit to enhance with a bit of salt and flesh out some of the details. Enjoy!
I could sum up this post by the following statement from my husband while devouring this meal: “This is the ultimate perfect dinner.” Of course it could have been atmosphere since it had snowed all day and was the perfect night for soup, but still, when we were fighting over the last scoops in the pot, I knew this had to be a winner. I received this recipe from a commenter, Liz, who has tried several recipes from here. Come to find out, after a few months of back and forth commenting, we figured out we went to high school together and went to the same church growing up. What a small world – especially now that we both live several states away from where we grew up! She mentioned the other day in an email that she had used the Italian Bread Bowl recipe for her broccoli cheese soup and her kids ate it up, plus it was a no-velveeta recipe. Of course, I begged and pleaded for her recipe. While I don’t have anything against velveeta, I wanted a recipe with less processed flavors and if my kids would eat it…then I knew it would be a keeper. This soup was incredible and sure enough, my kids ate it with minimal fuss even with the broccoli. I was quite pleased (shocked, actually, but then quite pleased). Thanks, Liz! This will be made very frequently in my house!
Broccoli Cheese Soup
Printable Version
Printable Version with Picture
Note: To make my life easier, while the soup is coming together, I put the chopped broccoli in a large glass bowl, cover with saran wrap and microwave for about 3-4 minutes. It cooks perfectly and just in time to add it to the soup.
*Serves 4
INGREDIENTS:
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 small onion, diced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, preferably sharp or extra sharp
1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese
2 1/2 to 3 cups chopped, lightly steamed or blanched broccoli
DIRECTIONS:
Simmer chicken broth and chopped onion for 15-20 minutes in a covered small saucepan, until onions are soft. Heat milk in microwave for 1-2 minutes. In a separate medium-sized stockpot, melt butter then add flour, salt and pepper. Cook together, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes, then whisk in warmed milk. Stir and heat together on medium heat until soup starts to thicken, about 5-8 minutes. Add warmed chicken broth and continue to stir until well blended. Add cheeses and stir until completely melted. Stir in seamed broccoli. Add more salt and pepper to taste, if needed. Serve immediately in bowls or bread bowls.
Recipe Source: adapted very slightly from my friend, Liz K.
{ 164 comments… read them below or add one }
Next Comments →
I have made this with smoked swiss and it is outstanding
Hey! I know who gave you this recipe! I have tried it and it is very good.
Liz K is my sister-in-law. She recently told me about your blog and specifically about your buttermilk banana bread recipe(which I am going to try soon). Since then, I have been hooked on your blog! Thanks for all the wonderful recipes and inspiration!
Valerie – I’m so glad you like this. Great idea to add macaroni – my kids would love that!
This looks fantastic , I’m bookmarking this, I think the kids would really like this, thanks!
Anne – so glad you liked this and I’m grateful you commented to let me know. Your additions of potatoes and ham sound delicious!
Wow this looks fantastic! I will have to try it out!
This looks SOOO good…unfortunately I’m the only soup lover in the house. I would be frowned upon if I served this as dinner. But, I’m ok with that
Made this tonight! It was so good! Thanks so much!!
wow–quite a compliment from the hubby! it certainly looks delicious, and i’m always enticed by anything in a bread bowl…
I’ve made this soup a few times now–and it always turns out wonderfully! Heating up the milk before using it (when making the white sauce part of the recipe) is a great tip. I have also turned this into a mac-and-cheese soup by adding some cooked macaroni. That was good, too.
Emily S. – I totally agree with you on the clam chowder in bread bowls! I’m glad you liked the broccoli cheese soup – you’ll have to let me know when you try the bread bowls. Thanks for commenting!
I have tried many of your recipes and have loved them all! This soup turned out great and next time I am definitely attempting the bread bowls!! My husband and I are huge fans of bread bowls and soup, having grown up near San Francisco, nothing beats clam chowder in a bread bowl!!
I found your blog through my sisters, & had a ladies luncheon with some friends today & tried out this recipe. Loved it!!! Easy to make & tasted fabulous! Thanx
Julianne – love your comments. You always make me smile. I’m glad you liked this!
This looks yummy – especially in the bread bowl. I think I would eat chopped liver if it was served in a bread bowl!
That sounds amazing! Isn’t is funny how small the world can be…especially in the church. I also love that this recipe has no velveeta. i can’t wait to try it!
scrappysue – glad you liked this and that it was a hit with everyone. Thanks!
Lisa – so, so glad you liked this. Thanks for letting me know!
my friend amy recommended your blog…and basically i’m addicted!! i L-O-V-E new recipes so your blog is the perfect early Christmas present!!
mrsjackblack – I loved your blog posts on these recipes – especially your kids digging in and helping with the bread bowls. Thanks for the suggestions on the adaptations to the recipe – sounds delicious!
With the cold snowy weather we are having, that sounds absolutely PERFECT!
I made this tonight and it was amazing! We had no leftovers!
This looks DELICIOUS! Growing up, my favorite soup was always broccoli cheddar and your bread bowl looks out of this world.
Katie – your comment was so sweet – thank you! I absolutely love new recipes, too, so I’m glad it is fun for you to peruse through this site. Thanks, again!
Melanie, I am so excited to see my recipe on here! I hope everyone enjoyes this soup as much as my family does!
http://my3652009.blogspot.com/2009/08/august-10th.html
i made it! everyone loved it! thanks so much!
We just had this recipe tonight, and it was delicious! Thank you.
I tried this recipe the other night and everyone loved it! No bread bowls for us, but we still licked up every drop. The kids even ate the broccoli! I made it again and added potatoes and some leftover ham. Delicious!!Love your blog and can’t wait to try more recipes!!
With the cold snowy weather we are having, that sounds absolutely PERFECT!
Loralee – thanks for checking back in (especially with the holidays!) to let me know you liked this.
Norah – I saw your post on your blog about this recipe. I loved how big the chunks of broccoli were – I think I’ll cut mine bigger next time! Thanks for letting me know you liked it.
We made this for dinner tonight. It was flavorful and creamy. I added a small squeeze of lemon juice to brighten the flavor a bit. Yum!
This looks great, the bread bowl makes it even better!
mmmm.this soup looks perfect!!! I love the bread bowl!
Mel – I stole this recipe for a RS newlsetter…I hope that’s OK! It looked so yummy, and fairly easy. Thanks!!
Becky – so glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know!
Hi Amanda – thanks for your comment. This is not a runny soup so I don’t know what went wrong, unless your roux (the combination of butter and flour) broke and didn’t thicken with the milk. Sometimes that can happen if it gets to hot or doesn’t have time to slowly thicken. When I’ve made it, the soup is thick enough to serve in bread bowls without the bread getting soggy.
I hope if you attempt it again it works out better!
Carrie – of course I don’t mind!! Steal any recipe you want…
I made this soup tonight, and it turned out fabulous. Thanks
WOW! This looks great! I was surprised to read it had swiss. I bet that gives it such a unique taste. I’m wondering if you can cook the broccoli in the soup instead of steaming it first. I don’t have a steamer and I’m a terrible broccoli-cooker. I love that it was paired with the bread bowls.
Ahem — this was SO good. So good. So very easy and no Velveeta anywhere! Loved it.
thanks for this! you inspired me with the bread bowls and soup
my kids and i made them today, and despite my lack of bread making skills, between the soup and the bowl it was awesome!here’s links 
http://adoramama.blogspot.com/2009/01/making-bread-bowls.htmlhttp://adoramama.blogspot.com/2009/01/bread-bowl-and-soup.htmli can’t wait to try more of your delicious looking recipes!
I made this tonight and I doubled the recipe since we were feeding several people over the age of 16 and it tasted good but it was a little runny. I usually like my broccoli cheese soup to be nice and thick but for some reason my just wasn’t so thick. Is the recipe supposed to make a thinner soup or did I just do something wrong.
thanks
Heather – yay! So glad you loved this. No leftovers is a good thing in my book.
Susan – what a great idea to use fresh lemon juice to brighten up the flavor. I’m definitely adding that to the recipe for me to try next time. Thanks!
Anonymous – what a great idea to use smoked swiss. I bet it adds a fabulous flavor!
Umm… totally delish! I am still totally drooling and thinking about the desert for Christmas Eve. I can’t wait!!!!
Loved the recipe. So simple and easy. Thanks for sharing.
I can’t wait to try this!!!! At my high school we had some sort of broccoli cheese soup poured over a baked potato. I ate that at least once a week! I used to always use a roll to get the rest of the soup that spilled over the potato. Yum! I can hardly wait!
Anonymous – yes, I think shredded chicken would make a great addition to the soup. I would add the precooked chicken at the end and heat through. Good luck!
Laura – how nice are you? Thanks for such a sweet compliment. It really made my day!
Melanie,
This looks so good. I told my husband tonight that your blog is my favorite food blog. Thanks for all the wonderful recipes. I need to print some of these off and make them soon! My husband saw this picture and agreed that I should do this one soon!
Hi! Do you think it would be good to add some shredded chicken to the soup?
Thank you and I absolutely adore your blog!
Mel, soo soo good!! Loved it! Except at my house, I had to make it on a night that Mark wasn’t home, and we called it “Baby dinosaur trees in hot magma”. Success! Thank you! You are my hero.
Becky – you are hilarious! I’m going to try your “baby dinosaur” explanation and see what my kids think.
Hi Melanie! I haven’t tried making bread yet, but where can I find these bread bowls, supermarket, bakery? I’d love to buy some.
Also, would this soup freeze well or at the very least, be ok to reheat the next day?
Thanks!
Anonymous – I’m pretty sure you can find bread bowls in most supermarket bakeries. I don’t think this soup would freeze very well, but it does reheat well the next day!
Thanks so much for another great recipe! My husband and I both loved this. I finally got the update up on my blog. I will definitely be making this again – so simple and so good!
Hey Megan – I saw the post on your blog and I’m so glad you liked this. Thanks for letting me know!
I just commented on your Italian Bread Bowl recipe, but I thought I’d come over here and let you know that my family loved this recipe, only we had to change it just a little. I think I added too much chicken broth, as it was on the runny side, and I didn’t have any swiss cheese, so I ended up adding closer to four cups of sharp cheddar cheese to get it to the consistency we wanted. I also added some garlic salt since we’re huge fans of garlic. The end result was perfect – exactly what I was hoping it would be! Thank you so much, I’m having so much fun going through your blog and finding great recipes I can’t wait to try!
Hey Emily – I saw your comment on the bread bowl recipe and it’s fun to see one pop up over here, too. I’m glad this soup turned out for you despite the hiccups early on. Thanks for letting me know!
We had this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic. I am very excited because Broccoli Cheese soup is one of my favorites, but I’ve never successfully made it a home.
Thank you for sharing!
Katy – I’m making this soup for dinner this week, so we must be on the same wavelength. I’m glad you liked it – thanks for letting me know!
Just made this for lunch and it was delicious! Try adding the steamer water from steaming the broccoli for extra richness. Thanks so much for sharing, Kalena
Kalena – thanks for letting me know you liked this and for the tip for extra richness!
My husband just called over “oh man, this is so good, I am licking the bowl like it is cake batter!”
Thank you!
Kristi – very funny!! Glad it was a hit!
I don’t buy broth in cans, only the carboard packages. How much broth in ounces is in a can? I am estimating using 1/2 box of broth…hopefully that’s not way too much. We’ll see. Looks yummy!
Mom in MA – I actually buy the broth in boxes too, and for the equivalent of one can of chicken broth, I measure out 1 3/4 cups of broth. Hope that helps!
Made this last night…. OMG!! It was delicious! The hubby loved it! Thanks!
Aaron and Grace – yay! So glad this was a hit. Thanks for letting me know.
J Fo – WHAT? Times ten? I cannot believe that. Talk about a ton of work…but I am SO glad it was worth it and you liked the end result!
Hi! Just made this x 10 for a freezer meal group that I’m in. It only took me about 4 hours!
But it was so yummy that it was worth the time for sure. I’m glad to have you as a go to girl when I’m out of ideas for dinner. Thanks!
Allison – so glad you liked this! And thanks for the great compliment…I really appreciate it.
Thanks for another great recipe–we’re enjoying it right now! You are definitely my go-to gal for yummy stuff and your presentation is always beautiful too–your blog is very visually pleasing!
Stacie – I wasn’t sure if I read that right at first – SIX times the recipe? Wow. That is a lot of work. I’m glad it turned out well! Thanks for letting me know.
Made this tonight for my son’s 3rd birthday party. It was a hit! I 6 timed the recipe with no problems. I added a little season salt and garlic powder at the end. I ordered bread bowls from a nearby bakery (I wasn’t going to attempt making them for my first time for 20 people).
Thanks for the awesome recipe!
I stumbled onto your blog a few month ago and have tried several recipes (al of which I have really liked). This soup was SO good though that I just had to comment. I LOVE creamy cheesy soups, but my husband usually doesn’t. I have now made this twice in the last month and both times he went back for seconds and commented on how good it was. YUM! Thanks for the recipe.
Allison – thanks for your comment! I’m so glad you liked this soup and that your husband liked it, despite his aversion to creamy soups. That’s a success!
I made this yummy soup last night, the husband loved it like I figured he would and so did I. The kids wouldn’t try it though because of the broccoli…I saymore for us!
MelanieL – I agree, more soup for the one who made it if the kids don’t like it! So glad it was a hit with you and your husband.
You are a Genious! with all your recipe’s. That’s all I have to say. Thanks for sharing.
Brittany – how nice are you? Thank you for the sweet comment…
Hi – so this was the first recipe I've tried off of your site. I've been married for 13 years and have never been the recipient of such glowing praise for a meal! My husband loved, loved this – and he is a fussy, heartburn-y, no spicy kind of guy. THANKS for allowing my husband to compliment my cooking! That simply doesn't happen at this house!
Please tell me what I did wrong… the soup turned out really gritty-like, not smooth at all like it should be. Did I do something wrong or is this just how it's supposed to be? It tasted great, just not the texture that I was going for.
Anonymous – because this soup recipe doesn't have processed cheese in it, it has a different texture than a broccoli cheese soup made with, say, Velveeta cheese. It should still be thick and creamy and smooth, but you may get a little texture difference because of the flour. Although, it shouldn't be super gritty. Sometimes if the flour and butter isn't cooked for a few minutes before adding the milk, you can get a strong flour taste. Hope that helps!
Anonymous – I'm sorry for the long delay in responding – I'm not sure how I missed your comment but I apologize. I'm so glad that your husband liked this soup and that he was praising you for it. You deserve it!
Made this tonight with the bread bowls to go along with it…it was oh my goodness, so yummy! Thank you for posting all these recipes for me to try! This weekend my husband and I are having a date night in and I'm making your shrimp enchilada recipe. So excited!
I made this tonight with the Italian Bread bowls. It was so yummy! Even my 5 year old who hates corn ate the broccoli!! I was also excited to see a recipe without the velveeta! Thank you so much for the awesome recipes! I am trying your Pineapple Meatballs tomorrow night, can’t wait to see how it goes!!
Do you care if I post the recipe on another blog with links back to your website? If not, I can just post the link. My friends and I have a blog that we all put our favorite recipes on to share with one another.
Hi Kensi – I’m glad you liked this soup (especially glad your five year old ate it up!) and I hope you like the pineapple meatballs. I don’t mind at all if you post the recipes and really appreciate you posting a link back to my site. Thank you!
I absolutely adore your recipes that you post on here! I’ve already tried out several of your cookie recipes and am going to do the broccoli cheese soup for dinner tonight!
I had to add your button to my blog cuz everytime I wanted to find your blog I had to sort through a friend of mines facebook page to find the link to here that she posted!
Thanks, Randie! I’m glad you’ve liked the recipes you’ve tried and I hope this broccoli cheese soup worked out well for you.
Once again, your recipes NEVER fail! The fall weather is just barely starting to set in and my husband called to tell me he forgot his jacket for classes tonight and he was freezing. I went straight to your soups for dinner. I added a little bit of Real Bacon Bits to it too because that sounded good too. SO delightful… i’ll be making this again soon I know it! Thanks for all your WONDERFUL recipes!
Mickie – your comment made me realize I’m excited soup season is here so I can make this one again. This is one of my favorite soups ever. Glad you loved it too!
I made this yesterday and it was so good and easy! Thank you so much for all of these great recipes! I also made the Italian Bread Bowls to go with it. Yumm!
Thanks, Lisa!
Are you going to add a printable copy soon?
Auntie Patch – just added a printable link!
made this for dinner the other night. added a little more chicken broth and also added a package of moose sausage that I browned up separately. It was so good! nice and thick-pleased the entire household. will def. make it again!
Next Comments →
{ 8 trackbacks }