Rich n’ creamy Slow Cooker Broccoli Cheese Soup! So tasty you’ll crave it all year round.
Normally four days into December we have a boat-load of snow outside but this year Winter is being weird. Weird in a really good way though. I always say that I love snow – for one week of the year. Christmas week. After that I’m done with it and I want to pack it up in a box and put it away until next year. I don’t do cold. I mean, I do cold because I have to and I have no choice when living along the rocky mountains here in Utah, it’s sort of a package deal. But I don’t do cold in the sense that I dread it for months before it even gets here. Come August I’m silently dying a little inside just thinking about the cold weather that I know is on its way.
Even though we don’t have snow on the ground, we are definitely getting some chilly weather coming through which is okay by me because even though I don’t love the cold weather (as previously discussed in detail), I do love a cozy over-sized sweater and thick cable knit socks. We get the full four seasons here and I’m a fan of the variety it allows my wardrobe.
If you live somewhere that really gets all four seasons you know exactly what I’m talking about. And if you’re anything like me, you have boxes out in the garage or in the basement labeled “SUMMER” and “WINTER”. When the snow melts and things are warming up, I pack up the scarves and sweaters and swap them out for the flip flops and demin cut-offs.
Right now it’s sweater-not-parka-weather. Pretty cold but not blizzardy if you know what I mean. So it’s cozy comfort food for dinner every single night. Pastas, casseroles, and buckets upon buckets of soup.
I LOVE SOUP.
So. much.
Broccoli cheese soup is at the top of my favorite soups list. This version is rich and creamy – just how I like it!!- with lots of broccoli and my secret ingredient for flavor and creaminess – cream cheese. A bit of cream cheese takes this soup from good to ohmygoshsoyummy. Yep, one word. And it’s easy, you just throw it all in your crock pot and come back a few hours to later to give it a stir and add all of that sharp cheddar cheese that gives the soup that signature richness.
Hello cheeeesy broccoli soup, please get in my belly!
What people are saying about this Slow Cooker Broccoli Cheese Soup
“Uncover soup and add the sharp cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper. Stir until the cheese melts into the soup. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Serve warm and top with additional shredded cheese if desired. Enjoy!” – Katie
“GREAT RECIPE!! This was my first time making broccoli cheese soup and it was delicious!! I had the same “curdling” problem (which I don’t really think is curdling). I just used a hand held mixer which I planned on doing anyway because I didn’t chop the broccoli into fine pieces. It solved the problem and made a wonderful soup!! Thanks for the recipe 
” – Amy
“This soup turned out really delicious! I had no curdling when I used Lorena’s advice of stirring the cream cheese into the roux/milk mixture after removing from the heat. Followed the directions other than that except for giving it a few pulses with an immersion blender before adding the cheese. I Think I’ll add some carrots next time – THANK YOU for a great recipe!” – Dana
“I tried this today and it turned out perfectly. I cooked it on low for 4 hours. There was zero curdling. I made sure to add the half and half slowly, and worked out all or any lumps. It was perfect. Thats all I can say. I don’t know what others are doing to make it not work, but they must have done something wrong. It was really excellent.” – Snibb
Slow Cooker Broccoli Cheese Soup
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 5 tablespoons flour
- 3 cups milk - see note
- 3 cups chicken broth - (or vegetable broth for vegetarian)
- ½ onion - diced
- 3-4 cups chopped broccoli florets - (just the bushy tops – discard the stems or use them for another recipe)
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese - (yellow)
- 2 teaspoons salt - (or to taste)
- 1-4 teaspoons black pepper - (or to taste)
- optional: extra cheese for topping
Instructions
- In a large sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. When melted, stir in the flour until mixture clumps up. Very gradually whisk in the milk until all milk has been added and a thick white sauce forms.
- Add chopped onions, broccoli, garlic, Italian seasoning, and cream cheese to your slow cooker. Add the sauce from the pan, and the chicken broth. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 4-6 hours.
- Uncover soup and add the sharp cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper. Stir until the cheese melts into the soup. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed. Serve warm and top with additional shredded cheese if desired. Enjoy!
Hi Tiffany!! What a great recipe! I wanted to share with you my success! I made this last week for our Soup/Chili cook off at work and won People’s Choice! I did make a couple of changes…I like a really creamy soup so I used 3 c of heavy cream and only 2 c of chicken both. My husband said it was fantastic and someone at work said I need to make it once a week and sell it! She also said she wanted to marry it! LOL
hahaha! I would definitely marry this soup! I love the heavy cream swap, extra richness!!
I was extra careful after reading everyone’s comments and mine still came out with curdles. Not really sure what I could have done wrong. Once I added the cheese at the end it helped a little bit and I still ate it….lol. Maybe I won’t use fat free milk next time? Does that make a difference?
Hi Cari, it definitely could have been the fat free milk!
I’m trying to prepare this the night before so my mom can easily just dump into crockpot and turn on while babysitting kids tomorrow. Is there anyway to make the stove top portion ahead and then refrigerate overnight then add to crockpot in morning?
Hi Megan, I haven’t tried that but I think it should work just fine!
Thank you for the recipe.
I tried it out today and came across the same issues others have mentioned about it being watery and some clumps.
The clumps seem to be cream cheese, I took a bit out by itself to taste.
The milk with the roux wasn’t thickening very well which probably led to the wateryness. I used the 4 tablespoons of butter, 5 tablespoons of whole wheat flour, 2 cups of 1/2&1/2, and 1 cup of almond milk. It just wasn’t thickening on medium heat. Over about 10-15 min I added the liquids and decided to keep it on while I prepared the onions, broccoli, and garlic. It started to thicken some near the end of prep but with my time for today I had to get it in the slow cooker. I think this probably needs about an hour to thicken, but not sure how to solve the cream cheese. Any suggestions?
I also had a problem with this being very watery, and I made sure to let my roux get pretty thick. I just don’t think dairy can be cooked over heat (even on low heat in a slow cooker) for several hours without issues arising. I’ve never had a problem making broccoli cheese soup in a pot over the stove. It doesn’t seem to be a good idea to make it in the slow cooker – something about it doesn’t work. I also had little white chunks in mine, which I tasted and it was the cream cheese. I used an immersion blender at the end which helped, but I will not be attempting broccoli cheese soup in a slow cooker again.
can you just use the stalks instead of the bushy tops
I think that could work!