*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.
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I’ve been looking for a broccoli cheese soup recipe for a while, this one looks delicious. One question: what kind of milk do you use? I drink skim milk so that is what I have around the house but I’m not sure that would work well with this recipe.
Kerry – I usually use 1% but have also splurged with whole milk when I have it in the house and definitely adds to the creamy richness – but most often I stick with 1%. I’m guessing skim milk will work but your soup will probably lack a bit of richness. Let me know if you try it!
Callie – well, I have to say I’ve never had moose sausage but it actually sounds delicious in this soup. Thanks for letting me know!
Your recipes are so good! I am very thankful to have found your website through a search engine. This soup was sooo good. I am so happy to have found a recipe without the use of processed cheese.
Great job!
Thanks, Justine! I’m glad you found your way here, too…thanks for checking in on this recipe!
I just made this soup for dinner tonight, it was to die for and my step daughter ate it up!
Thanks, Mia!
Getting ready to make this in a few mins..Plan to add in Carrots and peas as well, just sounds heavenly to me
)
add some ground beef/real bacon bits/chopped clam/shrimp and it’d be perfect. Thanks for the idea, I’ll be saving this recipe.
chicken broth from the store all has msg or some re-named msg, yes even swanson. so, they do in fact have processed flavors.
continuted: unless you use homemade stock!!
pardon spelling error. has anyone tried it with homemade stock? is it still “outstanding”?
me – I buy an organic broth that doesn’t have MSG and tastes delicious. Using homemade stock is also an excellent idea to avoid processed flavors.
This would look better if there wasn’t a hair in the soup…
Kate – hmmm…since I’m the one that ate that bowl of soup, I’m pretty sure it isn’t a hair…but in any event, I guess my response would be to make sure you leave the hair out of yours if you make it!
Loved This! Just made it for supper and it went great with toasted western sandwiches! Keep the great recipes coming!
Thanks, Dede!
I found this recipe last night and just knew I had to try making it for my parents. I’m just learning to expand my cooking repertoire but I adore making soups and bread so this sounded perfect. I think mum and dad thought I was insane when I left them a note asking them to pick up broccoli today, but they say this (with the Italian bread bowls) is the best meal I’ve ever made, and have asked me to cook more often XD I’d say it’s a definite success!
We love this soup. When given choices my 4 year old daughter picked to have this for dinner tonight. We’re expecting snow and it just sounds like a great snowy night dinner.
This is an awesome soup! My toddler approves and I see this as an excellent base recipe to use other veggies lingering in the fridge.
Well it seems that you do not exactly make this soup. You just take a can of soup, and add stuff to it. This is my first visit and I can see you have many positive comments. But do you sometimes make food from scratch?.
I love it!
I made this soup last night and we loved it!
I’m so glad it doesn’t start with a can of soup and velveeta! lol
This soup was a little too rich for our family, but the flavor was good and with some tweaks to thin and lighten it up a bit, I think it will be well received!
I am in LOVE with this soup. I love that it doesn’t use Velveeta (why is that stuff so expensive when it isn’t even “real?”). I use about 1/4 to 1/3 cup pepperjack instead of the Swiss since I’m not a huge fan on Swiss and had the pepperjack on hand. It added just a slight bit of kick in the background. I made this last night for dinner and even with the husband out of town managed to finish the whole pot off at dinner tonight.
I have made this several times now and both me and my husband LOVE it. It might be one of my favorite soups! Thanks for the recipe.
I’ve made this soup once and the first time I did it I only used half of an onion because I’m not a big fan of them, but that was a mistake. Soup tasted bland and was missing something. Second time I made it I used the whole onion and I decided to add 3/4th teaspoon of cayenne pepper with the black pepper into the flour mixture. I thought it gave the soup an extra kick and one I will definitely do again in the future. Thanks for the recipe.
i love the photo of the creamy soup inside the bread. looks very delicious.
This is my favorite recipe for broccoli cheese soup. I was wondering if it could this be frozen and rethawed?
Dani – the texture might get a little strange from the milk and cheese being frozen, not to mention the broccoli getting a tad soggy…so I would probably recommend not freezing it. Having said that, if anyone else has tried it and had good success, chime in and let me know!
It was a hit in our home! Thanks for another yummy recipe!
Made this tonight and served it over baked potatoes. It was SO yummy!!! I love how all of your recipes taste so fresh!! Keep ‘em coming!
The last broccoli cheese soup I made included a lot of velveeta, half & half and butter. It was really yummy but I don’t always have those ingredients on hand, and it is a heart attack waiting to happen! I’m going to try this tonight. I might even try the bread bowls! I have a question…I don’t have swiss cheese, do you think I could use Monterey Jack?
Kendra – although it will give a slightly different flavor, monterey jack is an excellent melting cheese so I think it should sub just fine. Hope you like it!
Oh my goodness… This sounds SO GOOOOOOOD!!!.. I can’t wait to try it! Thank you for your recipe! I’m now your newest subscriber!
Hi! I hope someone can answer my question. This recipe looks great and I would love to make it to take to a family function, but I’m wondering how well it would travel or reheat or if possibly I could transfer it to a crockpot when it’s finished to keep it hot? Would that work or does it gets filmy or separated in any way? thanks!
Absolutely amazing soup and soooo easy! My super picky eaters actually had seconds
KathyB – I’ve never made this or transferred it to a slow cooker. My guess is if your slow cooker has a warm function or doesn’t cook too hot, it shouldn’t have problems separating.
I made this for my husband and his brother. They both loved it!!! My husband said, “We need to make this at least once a week!” He’s not a huge soup fan..but this was delicious!! Your food blog is my favorite!! thanks for everything!!
I made this recipe exactly as written~ hands down, the best broccoli cheese soup I’ve had~thanks for sharing the recipe!
Thanks for your delicious recipe. Easy to make, fast, and turned out great.
tried this tonight and LOVED it. the hubby loved it too! and while it would be great if the kiddos loved it, my kids only really love bean burritos and mac and cheese! thanks for the great recipe.
Hi!!
LOVE this recipe, but wanted to make a larger batch for a family party… Would this work to prepare it as directed and keep it warm in a crock-pot? Thanks for any info!!
Crystal
Crystal – yes, as long as your crockpot doesn’t cook too hot. The soup has a tendency to curdle a bit if left on too high of heat so as long as your low setting on your crockpot is on the low side, it should be ok, but I wouldn’t keep it in the crockpot longer than a few hours.
OMG! I made this today for my friend that came over for lunch and we both really loved it! Thanks so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I made this exactly by your recipe and I can see why this is such a hit. It was fantastic, and had such an amazing taste created by the mixture of cheeses. I will be making this again. Thanks.
This is the BEST broccoli cheese soup! We just had this last night for dinner. I’ve been looking for a good recipe for a long time and this one is the winner. I love cooking the broccoli in the microwave, so easy and it turns out perfect. Thanks so much!
I just saw this recipe and as luck would have it, my hubby was at the grocery store…just phoned him to ask him to add the shredded cheese to our list! I am going to make this very soon! I like the fact that it uses real cheese, as we are trying to stay away from preservatives. I would like to know if you have ever frozen this? There are so many things I think this would taste great on!
Me again…..scrolled through comments and see that someone already asked about freezing it. I will just double the batch and use it for meals twice that week.
I just found your blog, and am excited to try your recipes. Everything looks and sounds so good!
Tried this today to celebrate our first real snow of the winter. It was delicious! Now if I could just get then hang of bread making and attempt your bread bowls.
This is my favorite soup so I will be trying it.
I found this recipe from Pinterest and picked it because it looked so easy. Just finished making it and it’s awesome! 2 out of 3 of my kids would eat it, but my mil picked them up for the weekend, so more for the hubby and me! I should even have leftovers for lunch tomorrow! Thanks!
I love this recipe! Easy and delicious. I used to eat out when I craved broccoli cheese soup, but no longer. I love that it barely takes any time to whip up and that reheats fine for lunch throughout the week. Thanks!
Could all the ingredients be placed in a crockpot and slow-cooked?
Linda – I haven’t tried it but I don’t think this soup would fare very well being made start to finish in the crockpot (although it is fine after it is made to stay warm in a crockpot for a few hours).
Absolutely love this soup. Even my picky eater goes back for seconds and she loves chopping the broccoli for me to help (bonus)!! Thank you so much
Can’t wait to try this, Mel!
Just made this for the second time this week! YUM! The first time I doubled it and used a whole cauliflower as well as the broccoli and it was so yummy!!! Thanks Mel! You are my favorite go-to-gal for recipes!
Delicious soup! Made it for dinner tonight. My husband, who dislikes broccoli, really enjoyed it too:) Thanks for a wonderful recipe that we will enjoy time after time!
Made this last night when my slow cooker meal burned and was ruined…it was super easy, fairly quick and very delicious! I enjoy Panera’s broccoli cheddar soup, but I thought this was even better. Eating the leftovers today!
This was so tasty! My husband really enjoyed it and had never had broccoli cheese soup before. I’m so happy that I made it for his lunch today, and thanks for the delicious and easy recipe!
Yumm! Great soup. I doubled the recipe and added a potatoe. Really nice flavour and texture.
Thanks!
I’m making this for the Superbowl tomorrow. My friend is a vegetarian so I’m subbing veg broth. More excited about the soup than the game!
Hi Mel! I’m new to your blog and a newlywed and wanted to thank you for adding such clear and easy steps! Your pictures are amazing too…. I’m excited to try your recipes…
This is one of the BEST Broccoli & Cheese Soups I ever ate! I just came along your site yesterday and I absolutely love it! I made the soup today and it is fantastic, easy and I know everyone will like it, I feel it will even be great reheated! Thank you for a great recipe.
I make a very similar recipe except I make it low carb by switching out the milk & flour for half and half or cream (light or heavy or whipping, it doesnt’ matter) and it’s SO GOOD! I never buy it in the can anymore!
Love, love, love this soup. Perfect consistency–not too thick, not too thin. Love the pieces of broccoli in, too. This is my new favorite.
This looks so yummy! I can’t wait to try and make this! Thanks for sharing.
Ok, I never leave comments, but I found you via another of your recipes on Pinterest and couldn’t get off your blog!! I tried this soup tonight and it was absolutely fantastic. I really have never had better even at a restaurant. Thank you so much for the recipe. I even got my hubby (who claims is allergic to anything green) to eat it and love it.
I can’t wait to try this it looks fabulous! It’s one of my hubby’s favorite things I will have to make an attempt!
I have been searching for a recipe to make for my Mom. She loves cheddar broccoli soup and just had knee replacement surgery. I used your recipe, tripled it, and added a few extra’s. It was a definite hit!! All the knee replacement women were convinced that I was a classically trained chef!! No one missed the velveeta they all loved the addition of scallions and proscuitto!!
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