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A close-up view of a black soup bowl filled with broccoli cheddar soup topped with melty shredded cheese and broccoli florets.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Keyword: broccoli cheddar soup with no cream, how to make broccoli cheddar soup, soup recipes
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 326kcal
This Broccoli Cheddar Soup recipe is the ultimate in comfort soup. Veggies, broth, and cheddar. It just doesn't get much better than that! So good! Making the chicken stock the day before really puts the soup over the top, but you can use store-bought broth and still get decent results.
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Equipment

  • 1 Large pot

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1 leek white and pale green parts, sliced
  • 1 carrot chopped, or thinly sliced
  • 1 celery rib chopped
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • heads broccoli stems and tops cut into florets (save some florets for steaming or blanching for garnish)
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 5 cups chicken broth
  • 8 oz cheddar cheese shredded
  • 2 tsp Kosher salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper

Instructions

  • In a large pot, preferably a Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the butter and stir until melted.
    2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  • Add the leek, carrot, celery, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until they are tender, about 8 minutes.
    1 leek, 1 carrot, 1 celery rib, 1 garlic clove
  • Stir in the broccoli.
    1½ heads broccoli
  • Sprinkle the broccoli mixture with the flour and mix well.
    ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • Stir in the broth and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
    5 cups chicken broth
  • Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, with the lid on, but ajar, until the broccoli is very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove form the heat.
  • Purée the soup with a hand-held immersion blender, or very carefully, working in batches, transfer the soup to a blender and purée.
  • Add the soup back into the pot and simmer over medium-low heat.
  • A handful at a time, add the Cheddar cheese to the soup, and let it melt.
    8 oz cheddar cheese
  • Season with salt and pepper.
    2 tsp Kosher salt, 1 tsp black pepper
  • Serve piping hot topped with a few blanched florets!

Notes

See the video near the top of the blog post for visual guidance. If you liked the video, please subscribe to our YouTube channel
You'll need about 1 and a half heads of broccoli (about 2 lbs). Use both the stems and florets.
We recommend going with quality block cheddar cheese and then shredding it with a food processor (with the shredding attachment) or with a box grater.   
The soup will keep covered in the fridge for 5 days and can be frozen for up to 2 months. Reheat on the stove over medium heat until bubbly and heated through. 

Nutrition

Calories: 326kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 52mg | Sodium: 1810mg | Potassium: 619mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 3397IU | Vitamin C: 138mg | Calcium: 364mg | Iron: 2mg