Easy Cheese Broccoli Soup

This quick and easy meatless meal is a great recipe to stretch your grocery budget, and a delicious cold-weather comfort food everyone will love!

Dave and I enjoy eating soup all year round, but especially on cold winter days… and cheese broccoli soup is one of those amazing comfort foods that always seems to hit the spot.

This recipe is one of Dave’s favorites… and our children all enjoy it too (probably all that cheese!) It’s a winner with our family, it’s super quick and easy to whip up, and it’s fairly frugal as well (no meat).

If you’re looking for a creamy, cheesy, family-friendly meal you can whip up in about 30 minutes on a cold day, give this one a try and let me know what you think!

Ingredients for Cheese Broccoli Soup:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 onion; minced
• 1 Tbsp. minced garlic (or approximately 3 garlic cloves)
• 4 cups water or broth
• 2 tsp. salt (I use homemade broth, which doesn’t have added salt)
• 2 large carrots; shredded
• 2 medium potatoes; peeled and diced
• 1 large head of broccoli; diced
• 2 c. milk or cream
• 1/4 c. flour (you may use 1/2 cup mashed potato flakes to be gluten-free)
• 2-3 c. shredded cheddar cheese (or 6 oz. Velveeta cheese)
• additional water or broth to thin soup as desired

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions:

Water/Broth – I always try to use bone broth from my freezer as it really adds a lot of great flavor and nutrients.

Salt – if using store-bought broth, you may not need to add much salt at all, as it usually has a decent amount of salt already.

Shredded Carrots – one of the “tricks” I use for this recipe is to shred the carrots with a cheese grater. It might sound silly, but I really prefer the consistency of shredded carrots versus diced carrots in this soup.

Potatoes — I chopped the potatoes into very tiny pieces as I prefer cream soups to be “creamy” and not “chunky”. This is totally a preference thing, but I do think it’s worth the extra effort to chop up your veggies extra tiny for this soup!

Broccoli — again, I chopped the broccoli florets into very tiny pieces. I also used a vegetable peeler to peel the tough outer skin off the stems, and then diced the “flesh” inside the stems into tiny cubes and added that to the soup.

Flour vs. Mashed Potato Flakes — I often use leftover mashed potatoes to thicken soups, especially if I’m making the soup for someone who is gluten-free. If you don’t have extra mashed potatoes, you can make your own with instant mashed potato flakes. You may need to add more liquid to the soup if you use instant potato flakes though.

Cheese — my preference is always to grate a large block of cheddar cheese into this soup. However, pre-shredded cheese will work, too; it just won’t melt as nicely or as creamy. You can also make this with Velveeta “cheese” (yes, I’m putting “cheese” in quotation marks 😂) for extra-creamy, yet slightly less nutritious soup!

How to Make Cheese Broccoli Soup

1. In a large sauce pan, melt butter and sauté onions and garlic until soft.

2. Add water/broth, salt, carrots, and potatoes and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

3. Add broccoli and continue simmering until veggies are tender.

4. In a small bowl, whisk milk and flour together and add to simmering soup. Stir until thickened.

5. Add cheese and stir until melted.

6. Add additional water or broth, as necessary, to reach the desired consistency.

7. Serve with fresh bread.

NOTE: This recipe intentionally makes a smaller batch of soup as it does not freeze well. I recommend storing any leftovers in the refrigerator and eating them within 3-4 days.