When you're looking for a delicious, comforting soup there's nothing better than our Instant Pot broccoli cheese soup. With heavy whipping cream, cream cheese, and cheddar cheese, it tastes just as good as Panera in just 30 mins.
Our Instant Pot broccoli cheddar soup is so good!
I don't know about you, but a cup of hearty broccoli cheddar soup is one of the finest recipes out there. If you've ever had the Panera broccoli cheese soup--which is AMAZING!--this homemade Instant Pot version is even better!
With a pressure cooking time of just 1 minute, it's hard to beat getting soup on the table faster than this. Bonus that our version is made without flour and no carrots, which makes it gluten-free and low carb too.
Since our cheesy soup is a meat free dish, we usually boost the protein by serving something like roasted chicken, beer brats, or chicken sausages on the side with a simple salad. Or why not mix in sliced sausage or rotisserie chicken to the soup itself?
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Ingredient Notes
The Panera version does include flour and shredded carrots, we felt the soup was already rich and creamy and didn't honestly need the extra flour....so we left it out.
My husband was on a keto diet this recipe was original created, so I left the carrots out, but you can just as easily add them to the pot! This is the same recipe as our low carb stovetop version, but adapted for a pressure cooker.
- butter - used to saute the onion and garlic
- garlic cloves - fresh minced garlic, jar garlic, or frozen Dorot cubes
- sweet onion - yellow onion, white, or red work too
- broccoli - cut into small bite-sized pieces
- chicken broth - or chicken bone broth (for a good protein boost), or use vegetable broth and make this a vegetarian soup
- shredded cheddar cheese - shred your own cheese from a block, please don't buy bagged cheese. It's coated in starch and doesn't melt well.
- seasonings - fine sea salt, ground black pepper, and cayenne pepper
- cream cheese
- heavy whipping cream - used to make this soup luxurious and rich, you can lighten it up a bit by using half and half
Variations
- Change the veggies: You can use a mix of both broccoli and cauliflower or why not add even more veggies like mushrooms, bell peppers, or carrots.
- Add protein: Feel free to add precooked chicken like leftover shredded chicken, or even rotisserie chicken from the store. Sliced sausage pieces or even a crumbled bacon garnish would be delicious.
Kitchen tools
This is the 6 QT Pressure Cooker we have, our recipe works for any type of Intant Pot model or pressure cooker.
How to make broccoli cheddar soup
- Melt the butter in your Instant Pot with the Saute setting on High.
- Add the diced onion and cook until starting to soften, which takes about 3-4 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add the broccoli, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and chicken broth to the pot.
- Put the lid on the pot and set the valve is set to sealing. Cook on manual high (or Pressure Cook depending on your model) for 1 minute. Immediately do a quick release.
- Stir in ½ cup of cream cheese until melted.
- Gently stir in the heavy whipping cream until the soup is heated through.
- Stir in the shredded cheddar cheese a ½ cup at a time until melted. This prevents clumping.
Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Recipe notes
- For best results, use fresh broccoli instead of frozen.
- Incorporate the cheese in slowly after pressure cooking and stir it completely before adding in more to prevent clumping.
- The soup can be pureed with an immersion blender or food processor at the end if you want a finer texture.
Common questions
Due to the dairy content, cream based soups become a little grainy after they've been frozen. It's best to eat this soup fresh, or store it in the fridge and eat within 4 days. So you can technically freeze it for up to a month, just know it will slightly change the texture.
It will become thicker after sitting, so you may need to add a little additional chicken stock, milk, or heavy cream when you reheat it.
Yes, it is! The recipe uses full-fat dairy, you're shredding our own cheese (intead of buying pre-shredded cheese with carbs), and skipping the traditional thickener (such as a roux made with butter and flour) to create a creamy broccoli soup that's great for our low carb, keto, or gluten-free readers.
Combine the broccoli, garlic, and onion in a crock-pot. (No butter is needed since you aren’t precooking the onion like the pressure cooker recipe did). Add the chicken stock, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Set your slower cooker to the LOW setting for 4-5 hours.
After 4+ hours when the broccoli and vegetables are cooked through, you’ll need to turn the heat to HIGH to finish cooking the soup.
Stir in the cream cheese until completely melted.
Mix in the shredded cheddar cheese a little at a time, if you stir it all in together, the cheese could possibly clump and stick together. Take about a ½ cup of cheese at a time, and stir until it’s melted before adding another ½ cup of cheese. Serve and enjoy!
Easy pressure cooker recipes
- Instant Pot Beer Brats
- Low Carb Taco Soup
- Instant Pot Pizza Soup
- Instant Pot Mississippi Pot Roast with Potatoes and Carrots
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Recipe
Broccoli Cheese Soup (Instant Pot, Crock-pot)
Ingredients
- 2 T butter
- ½ sweet onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 4 cups small broccoli florets
- 4 cups chicken broth or vegetable broth
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ½ cup cream cheese
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 2 cups medium cheddar shredded
Instructions
Instant Pot
- Melt the butter in your instant pot with the saute setting on high
- Saute the diced onions for 3-4 minutes, add minced garlic and cook for 30 more seconds
- Add the broccoli, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and chicken broth to the instant pot. Cook on manual high (or pressure cook depending on your model) for 1 minute. Immediately do a quick release.
- Stir in ½ cup of cream cheese until melted. Add the whipping cream and stir until the cream of broccoli soup is heated through.
- Stir in the shredded cheddar cheese a ½ cup at a time until melted. Make sure it's melted before adding another ½ cup. This prevents cheese clumping. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Slow Cooker
- Combine the broccoli, garlic, and onion in a crock-pot. Add the chicken stock, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Set your slower cooker to the LOW setting for 4-5 hours.
- After 4+ hours when the broccoli and vegetables are cooked through, you'll need to turn the heat to HIGH to finish cooking the soup.
- We HIGHLY recommend grating your cheese from a block and not using pre-shredded cheese. Pre-shredded cheese is mixed with potato starch and it often doesn't melt very well. You'll get much better results if you grate your own cheese.
- Mix in the shredded cheddar cheese a little at a time, if you stir it all in together cheese has a tendency to clump and stick. Take about a ½ cup of cheese at a time, and stir until it's melted before adding another ½ cup of cheese.
- Stir in the cream cheese until completely melted.
- Add the whipping cream and stir to combine. Serve immediately. You can substitute half n half if you want a soup slightly less rich.
- The broccoli cheddar soup thickens upon standing if it's thicker than you prefer simply add a little chicken broth until it's the desired consistency. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Smokey says
Delicious! Tried it for a quick dinner and our family loved it!
Gary says
Delicious!!!!
Caley says
Can you use frozen or steamed broccoli in this recipe?
Smokey says
Delicious! Tried it for a quick dinner and our family loved it! I used a bag of frozen broccoli and it worked well.
Mandy says
This broccoli soup was amazing!! My husband loved it. Hes on keto and this was perfect.
WholeLottaYum says
Thank you so much! I'm really glad you and your husband enjoyed the broccoli soup!
Sabrina says
This was awesome! I only had half and half but otherwise according to directions in instant pot and was do delicious!
Cassy says
Followed the directions for the crockpot version exactly and the cheese seized. Was absolutely awful and gross. Perhaps the advice to turn the heat to high was an error? High heat tends to seize cheese.
Jessie says
This sounds amazing! My dad had a heart attack last summer and has since been having problems with losing blood. To help build it back up he has been frequenting Golden Corral for their chicken liver and has fallen in love with their Broccoli Cheese Soup. So when I told him we could make it at home and save him a little money, he was so excited! I’ve never made it before but I’ve promised him a pot tomorrow. So my question is, can you use frozen or steam bag broccoli or does it have to be fresh?
Jo Warren says
Hi there,
I tried your Broccoli Cheese Soup in my Instant Pot tonight and I can say it was really tasty! I had started looking at your beer Brats in the Instant Pot when I saw this mentioned. It sounded so good, I ended up going to the grocery this morning to pick up the ingredients I didn't have in the house.
You are right about doing mise en place for all the ingredients. Once I got going it was non stop action. The only thing I think I would change would be to add more broccoli, but then I like broccoli.
I do have a question. Once the broccoli has cooked and you have released the pressure and go to add the cream cheese, do you turn the Saute function back on? I found I had to go to Saute to get the cream cheese to melt. It didn't affect adding the heavy cream and the shredded cheese melted right away.
I think this recipe is going into the monthly menu of items I eat.
Thanks, Jo
Carolyn Richardson says
My son lives with me for right now and he loves it when mom cooks up a big pot of “Clean the Fridge” soup/chowder. (I’m an exploring cook) and rarely to never do I cook recipe the same way twice. I’m, most of the time anyway, putting a spin or twist on the original recipe or tweaking the recipe to making for an interesting soup or chowder. Most of the time he just raves about my version of a recipe.
Usually, I try to freeze the leftover soup/chowder for another meal. Penney pincher? Yes ma’am indeed I am. So all that being said since you didn’t mention it in your notes, so my question of course is, can this soup be frozen and for how long would you suggest.
WholeLottaYum says
Clean the fridge soups often make the best kind of soups! I would not freeze broccoli cheese soup since cream doesn't freeze very well and often turns grainy. It should keep in the fridge for up to 5 days if you want to eat it later in the week!
shelene82 says
What is the nutritional value per serving (calories, fat, carbs, fiber, etc.)?
WholeLottaYum says
the instant pot broccoli cheese soup has been updated with the nutritional content. Thanks! Jen
Dan says
How did you come up with those net carbs!? Ours turned out to be 11g.
WholeLottaYum says
Make sure to use brands that have 0 or as close to zero carbs as possible, we generally buy Trader Joes brand and most of their whole fat dairy products are very very low carb. Some of the less expensive brands include fillers to keep the cost down but then it increases the carbs. Many block cheeses are zero carbs, but by chance someone uses pre-shredded cheese it includes starch.