Panera Bread Cheddar Broccoli Soup Copycat is a rich and creamy cheddar broccoli soup, inspired by the well-known Panera Bread restaurant!
Do you love soup? Me too! Check out all these reader-favorite recipes: Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana Soup, Sausage and White Bean Soup, and Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Soup.
Why This Recipe Works
So delicious — This broccoli cheddar soup is so very good. Almost exactly like the Panera version. In fact, I’ve had taste tests with my family and no one could tell the difference! It’s the best on a cold day, so filling and warm and tasty!
Add a bread bowl — Growing up, my mom always made broccoli cheddar soup and served it in bread bowls. If you don’t know what a bread bowl is, google it right this second! And then definitely serve this soup in it next time you make it. There’s nothing like tearing off chunks of bread and dipping it right into your soup. And then, when your soup is done you have soup-coated bread left to eat. There’s just no other way to serve this Paneara copycat recipe!
Make whenever you want — No need for extra time (or money) to run to Panera to pick up their cheddar broccoli soup. All you need are a few simple ingredients and 40 minutes to get this delicious soup right on your table for dinner.
Simple ingredients — Start with broccoli, add some butter, onion, bullion, flour, cheese of course, and a few other easy ingredients you probably already have on hand. Nothing fancy needed!
Ingredients
- Butter — I use unsalted butter then add salt later to taste.
- Onion — A nice, mild white or yellow onion is best in this broccoli cheddar soup.
- Water — Tap water is fine!
- Beef bouillon — I like the concentrated flavor of bullion, but you could use veggie broth too [instead of water and bullion] if you want to keep your soup vegetarian.
- Flour — I use an all-purpose flour.
- Half & Half — I use fat free half-and-half but you can use full fat as well. (Whole milk will work in a pinch, too but won’t be as thick and creamy.)
- Broccoli florets — I love fresh florets but frozen will also do the trick (and be softer, too).
- Salt — Add salt a little at a time till you get it to your liking.
- White pepper — If you don’t have white pepper, you can use ground black pepper.
- Mild cheddar cheese — I use a shredded mild cheddar cheese but you could also use a sharp cheese if you prefer.
Here’s How You Make It
You cook the onions, make a roux, add some liquid, flavor, broccoli, and cheese and…
- Okay first, take out a small pan and sauté 1 tablespoon of butter and the chopped onions over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Then, take that off the heat and set it aside. (photo 1)
- Now take out a small saucepan and boil water to add the bouillon cubes so that they “melt.” Whisk to combine. (Or skip this step if you’re using broth.) Remove this from the heat. (photos 2-3)
- In a third deep pan or soup pot, melt another 1/4 cup of butter over medium heat. Now, slowly, slowly, whisk the flour into the butter until the mixture clumps up or forms a “ball.” (photos 4-5)
- Add the beef bouillon/water mixture (or broth) and stir it all together to combine, then slowly whisk in the half-and-half and continue to stir until the whole mixture is smooth. (If large lumps remain, mash them out with a rubber spatula.) (photos 6-9)
- Finally, add the broccoli florets and onions and bring the soup to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to low, then cover and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the broccoli is tender and easily pierced with a fork. Stir in the salt, pepper, and cheddar cheese, stirring until the cheese is melted. Serve hot and top with additional cheese if desired. (It’s always desired in my house!) (photos 10-12)
Expert Tips & Tricks
- I love my cheddar broccoli soup thick and chunky with big pieces of broccoli, but if you prefer it smooth simply toss it in the blender after the cheese has been added and melted. Pulse for a minute or two until desired consistency is reached!
- Pre-shredded cheese doesn’t melt as well as freshly shredded cheese. You won’t notice it too much in this Panera copycat broccoli cheddar soup, but for the creamiest consistency, shred your own mild cheddar.
- This Panera broccoli cheddar copycat soup will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days and in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Beef bouillon and broth are not the same thing. Broth is a liquid, while bullion comes in cubes, powders, or a paste. Both are concentrated forms of seasoning that comes from boiling down or dehydrating meat bones, veggies, and seasonings to give a meaty flavor.
If you like to make big batches of recipes like I do, then you know you’re going to have to have a way to store it for later. Personally, I’m a big fan of freezing all the things, and soup is no exception.
The best way to store soup in the freezer is to first let the soup come to room temperature, then ladle it out into freezer-safe containers, add the lid, label with item and date and pop in the freezer. I like to freeze both family-size and single-size portions of soups for easy serving.
Thaw in the fridge before reheating and serving.
More Recipes You’ll Love
- Olive Garden Minestrone Soup
- Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup
- Creamy Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Chicken and Broccoli Coconut Curry
- Roasted Broccoli
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Panera Bread Cheddar Broccoli Soup {Copycat}
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ½ medium onion - diced
- 3 cups water
- 1 tablespoon beef bouillon - (or 3 beef bouillon cubes) OR veggie broth
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup flour
- 1 ½ cups half & half - (I use fat free)
- 3 cups chopped broccoli florets
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt - (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 cups mild cheddar cheese
Instructions
- In a small pan sauté 1 tablespoon butter and onions over medium heat until onions are translucent. Remove from heat and set aside. In a small sauce pan bring water to a boil, add beef bouillon and whisk until combined. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a deep pan or soup pot melt 1/4 cup butter over medium heat. Slowly whisk in flour until mixture clumps up or forms a “ball”. Add beef bouillon/water mixture and stir to combine. Slowly whisk in half & half and continue to stir until smooth. (If large lumps remain, mash them out with a rubber spatula)
- Add broccoli florets and onions and bring soup to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and allow to simmer 15-20 minutes or until broccoli is tender and easily pierced with a fork. Stir in salt, white pepper, and cheddar cheese. Stir until cheese is melted. Serve hot and top with additional cheese if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
I like using low sodium chicken broth in a ready to serve carton.
How much do you use of the carton when you make yours?
can you use gluten free flour instead of regular? I wonder if it would change the consistency or taste…
Hi Amy! I haven’t worked much with gluten free flour so I can’t say from experience that it will work, but the purpose of flour in this recipe is a thickening agent so I think there’s a good chance that gluten free flour could do the trick. If you do try it, please let me know how it turns out so I can share that information with my other readers! 🙂
Just used gluten free flour and it turned out AMAZING! I actually had to add a little extra flour to make somewhat of a ball (kinda looked more like shiny mashed potatoes lol), but the consistency of the end product is wonderful! I may add a little extra half and half to thin it out a hair, but the flavor is definitely not lacking! Thanks for sharing this recipe! I have a feeling it may now be a rainy day staple 😉
I have used Robin Hood gluten free flour it still tastes great but it is more of a brown colour
Panera uses julienned carrots. I added 1/4 a cup to this recipe. Best one I’ve tried yet!
you used to have an amazing recipe for both non slow cooker broccoli cheddar soup. I can’t find the regular–non slow cooker one! Help!
Hi Erin, this panera bread cheddar broccoli soup copycat is the non-slow cooker version! 🙂
This was a big hit! The first time I made it I used 3 cubes of chicken broth but it came out way too salty!! But the second time I made it I used 1 & 1/2 and it was delicious, couldn’t get enough. Thank you for sharing 🙂