This is how you make a homemade quick broccoli cheese soup without heavy cream at home! It’s the perfect dinner idea when it’s cold outside or year round really. Creamy and cheesy with fresh vegetables inside. No need to steam broccol in oven first, just add raw. It is sure to become your family’s favorite too.
When it is winter time I am all about soup for dinner! Throw in a few rolls and you have yourself a complete meal, this quick easy broccoli cheese soup recipe is one of our favorites! If you love homemade soups but don’t have the time to slave over the stove for hours and hours this is the soup for you. (affiliate links present)
Easy Broccoli Cheese Soup without Heavy Cream
Using fresh (or frozen) broccoli florets and carrots this is packed with vegetables and a creamy cheese blend you will love. In less than an hour you too can make this easy vegetable soup yourself. It is probably a lot easier than you had initially thought.
If you like it really smooth you can use an immersion blender before serving. I personally like some texture to it. I will say this is very close to a copycat Panera broccoli cheddar soup if you have tried that one.
Broccoli Cheese Soup Ingredients
- Cream cheese
- Mild or we like sharp cheddar cheese
- Fresh broccoli florets or you could use frozen small chopped broccoli
- Half and half or heavy cream
- Chicken broth or chicken stock
- Butter will give it a creamy texture, or olive oil
- 1/2 cup Onion (optional)
- Carrot and celery (optional)
- Seasonings like salt and black pepper of course, garlic powder is great
Dairy Free Substitutions
Substitutions you could make for a dairy free broccoli cheese soup would be; Daiya has a great brand of lactose free cheddar cheese. Instead of the dairy you could substitute plain almond milk or coconut canned milk full fat to keep it as creamy as possible. Nutritional information like calories, saturated fat, etc…. is listed below.
My kids love this soup. It has such a creamy cheesy flavor with the combination of cream cheese and cheddar and is a great way to get your kids to love vegetables too. Serve it as a side dish or a main dish, either way it is delicious.
How long can you keep soup warm in a slow cooker?
If you’re making this as an item for brunch you could easily make it on the stovetop as directed below. Then pour it into your crockpot on “keep warm” setting and have it ready to serve for up to 3 hours after that. You will want to stir every 30 minutes though so the edges don’t heat too much and dairy doesn’t begin to separate.
Especially when you have a lot of people over for the holidays it is a great soup to have for brunch, lunch and/or dinner. You can thin it out with more cream or milk, or make it thicker with our flour roux described below, cornstarch or arrowroot which is gluten free. This potato soup is a fabulous option to make too!
If you wanted to make this more of a healthy broccoli soup you could substitute skim milk vs. heavy cream but the texture won’t be the same. You can jump to recipe card at the bottom and can keep handy but here is a quick rundown of how this is made.
How to Make Broccoli Cheese Soup from Scratch
- Melt your butter in a pot on your stovetop over medium high heat.
- Add diced onions and saute just until softened.
- Whisk in flour mixture and slowly stir until it turns a light brown color, this will be your thickener.
- Slowly add your half and half, whisk, stirring occasionally until smooth.
- Add chicken broth and seasonings.
- Reduce heat and simmer mixture until it thickens. This will take about 10 minutes.
- Add broccoli, carrots, and celery.
- no need to know how to boil broccoli or others beforehand, it will get tender inside
- Continue to simmer until vegetables are the desired tenderness. This will take about 20 minutes.
- Shred the cheese and add that in, cook until this melts.
- Super quick and easy to make. Add cheese on top and serve!
If you wanted to add some whole but tender florets on the top I would suggest you microwave broccoli quick and serve a few pieces on top. To save leftovers allow it to cool completely first. Transfer to a sealed container and keep in the fridge. It may separate but don’t worry, stir it and microwave for 1 minute or heat on the stovetop for a few minutes until warm.
What to serve with broccoli cheese soup
I typically will just make some rolls to go with this or if I want to make this as more of a side dish I’ll serve it with baked chicken. Oyster crackers can be fun with kids so they can let them float on the top and scoop out with their spoon. Fried onions on top is another surprising favorite in our house!!
30 Minute Broccoli cheddar soup recipe
If you have a pressure cooker try our Instant Pot broccoli cheese soup which can be made quite quickly as well. For something with a little bit of meat in it but just as creamy and delicious as the one you see here I would suggest making our easy Instant Pot clam chowder. A new one we serve as a meal with rolls.
You will of course want to follow the recipe you are using, and pair the cheese that is required but some melt better than others. In general gruyere is the best cheese to melt but doesn’t go with a lot of soups. If you are using a hard cheese like cheddar you’ll want to to shred it finely for best results.
Just like our quick broccoli cheese soup recipe here we add flour in with the butter to make a roux at the beginning. Then add your heavy cream, broth and other ingredients. This flour mixture will thicken your soup nicely. Alternatively you could whisk arrowroot starch with cold water for a gluten free soup thickener and add near the end.
You need to cook soup over medium heat, no higher if it has milk products in it. Using ingredients such as cream cheese as we did here can cause your mixture to break down and have a strange grainy texture if cooked on high heat.
Quick Broccoli Cheese Soup with Heavy Cream
Equipment
- 1 pot
Ingredients
- 1/2 c onions, diced
- 6 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp garlic, chopped
- 1 c half and half, heavy cream
- 4 c chicken broth, or vegetable broth if making vegetarian
- 2 carrots, grated, optional
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 2 oz cream cheese, room temp.
- 4 tbsp flour
- 4 c broccoli florettes
- 3 c cheddar cheese, sharp is best
- 1/2 tsp cayenne
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- Melt butter in a pot on your stovetop on medium heat.
- Add diced onions and saute just until onions soften.
- Whisk in flour and slowly stir until it turns a light brown color.
- Slowly add your half and half, whisk until smooth.
- Add chicken broth and seasonings.
- Reduce heat and simmer until it thickens, about 10 minutes.
- Add broccoli, carrots, and celery.
- Continue to simmer until vegetables are the desired tenderness, about 20 minutes or so.
- Then add cheese and cook until it melts, just a few minutes. Stir and serve!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
