Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup is ready in less than 30 minutes! The perfect bowl of comfort food without leaving your house!
Love easy soup recipes? Be sure to try our Chicken Taco Soup for a family favorite dinner. Or try our hearty Lasagna Soup recipe!
Copycat Panera Recipes
My family doesn’t love traditional fast food. Which I suppose is a good thing, except when I’m looking to just pick up a quick, on the go meal I’m limited by their taste buds!
Fortunately (or not) for us, our Panera Bread has a drive through, and it’s one of the “fast food” choices we all love. Except it’s pricey. They don’t have a dollar menu!
My goal with my blog has been to create a database of recipes that my family loves.
Things like Starbucks Lemon Loaf, Panera Mac and Cheese, and Hostess Cupcakes. If my kids are craving it, I can probably recreate it!
With today’s Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe, we may never have to actually go to Panera again.
When I can make Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup at home, I know I’m saving us some money and a trip out.
Ingredient Notes
From start to finish, this Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe takes less than 30 minutes.
Real talk: It will probably take less time to make this soup at home than it would to get everyone in the car and drive to Panera. Not to mention the drive back home!
Broccoli: You can always use fresh broccoli to make Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup, but it’s ok if you want to reach into the freezer for a bag of frozen broccoli florets. We’ve all done it a time or two and they’ll be just as delicious in this soup!
Broth: Keep this soup vegetarian by using vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.
My Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe makes 3-4 decent sized bowls of soup…but you can easily double the recipe if you have hungry eaters, and this is your main dish.
You could also serve this soup as a side alongside sandwiches. Try my Turkey Cheddar Sliders or, if you want to mix favorites from different restaurants, Copycat Chick-fil-A Chicken Salad Sandwiches.
Step by Step Instructions
Want less chunks in your soup? Use an immersion blender to smooth it out! Our family loved this soup, it’s a great recipe for busy weeknights!
Today’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup can also be made in the Instant Pot! Dinner in under 30 minutes! Loaded with vegetables and cheese, you’ll love this easy, creamy Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup Recipe! It’s the BEST!
Slow cooker: Use our slow cooker broccoli cheddar soup recipe for a great, fix it and forget it meal!
More Copycat Panera Recipes
Does your family love Panera as much as mine does? Lucky for you, I have a whole list of recipes I’ve recreated from Panera.
In addition to the Broccoli Cheese Soup, our family loves
Serving Suggestions
Easy, buttery Beer Bread goes perfect with this soup! Also great to cube into bite sized pieces and use for dips!
Are you looking for a fluffy, delicious Dinner Roll? These No Knead Garlic Parmesan Dinner Rolls will please the whole family!
Easiest side dish ever. Whip up a batch of these Puff Pastry Bread Sticks to dunk in your soup!
You can also go to most bakery sections in the grocery store and find a great homemade bread bowl!
More Easy Dinner Ideas
Easy Soup Recipes
See all Soups and Stews recipes
Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup diced onions yellow or white
- 1 cup shredded carrots I used matchsticks that I cut into half inch pieces
- 2 1/2-3 cups broccoli florets chopped small
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 cup milk I use skim/fat free
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- pinch of crushed red pepper flakes or more as desired
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium high heat, melt butter. Add in onions, carrots and broccoli. Cook to soften about 5 minutes (may be more or less depending on the size vegetables you cut).
- Slowly add in broth, milk, and cream. Sprinkle with flour and add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Continue stirring and heating over medium heat until thickened. This will take about 10-15 minutes.
- Once thick, add cheese and stir until melted and smooth. Serve soup and enjoy!
Notes
- Easily double the ingredients to make more of this delicious soup!
- Use a good quality cheddar cheese for best results. And shred the cheese yourself for the creamiest results.
Video
Nutrition
Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup is ready in less than 30 minutes! The perfect bowl of comfort food without leaving your house!
Has anyone tried this with velveta cheese?
This soup is awesome!
Thank you!
Delicious, easy and just as good or better than Panera. I bought some bread bowls from Panera. We loved it!
Oh my goodness!! I have been using a different “Panera copy cat” recipe for years and it was good, but YOURS IS SPOT ON INCREDIBLE! Before I added the freshly shredded cheese I tasted the soup and it was already awesome, so the cheese just put it over the top😊 The only thing I added was a finely minced garlic clove, but that’s just because I love garlic😉 My husband can’t wait for his bowl! Thanks so much for sharing your version Aimee!
Aww how kind, thank you Joanne!
I have made this soup twice already and we love it. It is so easy. My husband is GF and mostly dairy free so I used Cornstarch instead flour. Also in place of the milk a combination of Goats milk and Coconut milk diluted. For the heavy cream I use a can of coconut milk because it is thick. This works great for us. Thank you so much.
This soup was SO GOOD! I tripled the recipe because my in-laws came over and I wanted leftovers my 3 picky daughters ages 8,5 and 3 loved it and wanted seconds! Everyone raved about it and my mother-in-law left with the recipe! I didn’t have all purpose flour and only had cake flour and honestly it worked perfectly.. I shredded sharp cheddar and then a little bit of mild cheddar and the taste was amazing! This is definitely a favorite now ☺️
This is the best soup ever! I never post reviews but this one is well worth it ❤️. My husband said double it the next time 👍. Thank you for sharing this with us 👍❤️
This was amazing after farm chores in the snow!
Any suggestions for making this gluten-free? I have an allergy kiddo. Thanks!
2 Table spoon cornstarch sub for 1/4 flour
Cornstarch mixed in cold milk before adding
This was really great! I was worried about the amount of flour but kept stirring and it turned out perfectly! 🤤
I’ve made this recipe several times but usually thicken it at the end with cornstarch. Today I got brave and added the flour as recommended as I was afraid of lumps. It turned out beautifully and I reminded myself that sometimes I just need to trust the author and the process!
It was -38 Celsius in my neck of the woods this morning but it’s warmed up to a balmy -29 by mid-afternoon. This soup is wonderful comfort food for this weather.
Stay warm and enjoy the soup 🙂
You say it makes 3-4 good size servings,, would you say it makes 4 cups or how many actual measurements in cups if had to guess?
Thanks!
Amazing! I did the flour first and then added the other ingredients. Also added in a clove of garlic. Delicious
This is my go to recipe for cheddar broccoli soup! Sooooo good! Thank you
This soup was so easy to make and is delicious!
Would vegetable broth work instead of chicken broth? We don’t eat meat
Yes absolutely! Enjoy I did 😋
Made this today for the first time. I tripled the recipe since I had a big bag of broccoli from Costco. I appreciate that you can click on recipe for double and triple amounts. I held back a little on the kosher salt because I worried it’d be too salty with all that cheese. It was perfect. Everyone loved it. I sauteed vegis for about 10 minutes, since I tripled the recipe. The flour clumped a little, so I might make a roux next time. So yummy.
They think we’ll have leftovers for days. But in reality, probably only 1 day with 3 dudes in the house, lol. My 17 y.o. said it tastes exactly like Panera. Thank you for the recipe!
The Panara Broccoli Cheddar Soup was delicious. So easy to do that I will make it again, but will cook the broccoli up a little while in the broth, and then follow the recipe as stated. It was a little bit too crunchy for my taste, but the rest of the family loved it! I’m thinking about trying it with cauliflower, or using the base for potato soup and adding some bacon. ????
Swap fresh broccoli for frozen, it’s weird I know but it tastes so much better
Yes! The steamable broccoli is so much better! I microwaved mine 3 minutes before adding to my onion and carrots. I also added about half block of pepper jack cheese. Ahhhhmazing!!!! This is the BEST soup I’ve ever made! I served mine in bread boules.
Can this be made and put into containers to freeze?
I haven’t tried to freeze it, but others have had great success!
The soup was excellent. So easy to make. A little too thick for me so I added a little more broth and milk. Definitely will make again.