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!
I browned about 2 Tablespoons of butter and sautéed it with the flour so the soup wouldn’t have a flour taste to it. I also substituted chicken broth with bone broth (did not taste as good). Made it again using chicken broth and it tasted great! I prefer my soup more brothy than thick so I added more broth. Didn’t compromised the taste
I made this for the second time tonight and it was great! The only thing I changed was the order of adding things. I made a roux first and then mixed in the milk and broth. While I was doing that, I steamed all the veggies. I added the veggies in once they were soft, stirred for a few minutes, then added the cheese. It was perfect! If anybody is worried about having clumps of flour in theirs, this order will fix that.
Can you keep this warm in the crock pot if you make it in the morning?
Looking forward to trying this! Did you use mild, medium, or sharp cheddar?
I prefer sharp cheddar!
I’ve made this a few times in the last several weeks, and the only thing I would not do again is add that much extra salt, if any. I used unsalted butter and low sodium chicken broth as stated.
Came across this on Pinterest and had my husband pick up
The ingredients so I could make it tonight. Really easy. No
Issues. I did mix the flour and butter before adding veggies.
The butter did not burn. The veggies were plenty soft.
The soup does not taste floury.
It turned out perfect. The only oops was my husband
Grabbed a block of Colby instead of cheddar.????
Still good.????????
Thank you
So easy and SOOOO DELISH. Thank you for sharing your recipe
Temperatu In Oh is 15 degrees with lots of snow. This was the perfect meal for today. I’ve made this before using another recipe, but think this is definitely the best and closest to Panera. Thank you!
Thank you! Stay warm 🙂
I made this and ate it right after the cheese melted. I was not thrilled, it seemed to have to much flour. I tried it the next day and WOW it was delicious. My suggestion is to let it sit a day before eating. I will make this again and again.
I cheated and used frozen broccoli florets and in a separate pot, brought my chicken stock up to a boil and then added the broccoli to soften before adding to the rest of the mixture. I also added some finely chopped kale to the broth with the broccoli for added nutrition- you can’t even tell it’s in there! It’s so good!
Can you make this in the crockpot?
I just made this today . ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️! Absolutely delicious!
Thank you 🙂
Made this soup last night. Next time I have to use a different cheese to put in. The cheddar cheese we added made the soup extremely salty!
Oh sorry to hear that! Yes, some cheeses have a salty taste, I always stick with Cabot 🙂 Next time don’t add any salt until the cheese is in, then you can decide if it even needs some 🙂 ENJOY!
Made this incredibly easy soup today for our office dinner this evening. We work nights and we each take a turn bringing in dinner. This recipe was fast and easy. I even used frozen broccoli florettes! For an added kick, I added some crumbled bacon. The soup is phenomenal!!!! Thank you for sharing!
I’m so glad you liked it, hopefully your coworkers do as well! LOVE the addition of bacon 🙂
This looks so yummy, all I want to add to it is crusty bread, and maybe a campfire !
Mine doesn’t taste that good – what did I do wrong? and there are clumps of flour in it
I would say it needed more whisking after you added the flour…and as to why it doesn’t taste good, clumpy flour could be it. Otherwise I would say, add more salt and pepper and use a good brand of cheese! makes a difference 🙂
What is the nutritional information on this recipe? Low carb??
I haven’t froze this exact broccoli soup recipe before, but I have froze another broccoli soup recipe in mason jars and it freezes super good! Perfect for the lunch box
Do you have the calorie count for this recipe?
How can I convert this recipe to crockpot?