Panera’s broccoli cheddar soup is a favorite of so many of us. This creamy, broccoli cheddar soup is perfect for a hearty lunch. This is easy to make and it just takes frozen broccoli, fresh carrots, and two types of cheese to make this soup.
You can purchase bread bowls from the grocery store. Then you will have broccoli cheese soup just like at Panera Bread.
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About Panera Bread Restaurant
Panera Bread is a bakery-café chain of casual restaurants in the United States and Canada. There are currently more than 1,900 Panera Bread bakery-cafés offering soups, pasta, sandwiches, salads, bakery items, and specialty drinks.
The name Panera is a Spanish word that means bread basket or bread box. Find out all the things you may not know about Panera Bread.
Panera’s Homemade Soups
Panera Bread is especially known for its delicious homemade-tasting soups which change daily. Their soups use only high-quality ingredients and you can even have your soup served up in a fat, round, crunchy bread bowl.
Panera Bread Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Panera’s Broccoli Cheddar soup is a favorite with lots of us and my recipe copycats the fresh ingredients and flavors of this popular dish. There are fresh carrots and onions in here, but for the broccoli, you can use fresh or frozen if you wish. Frozen is often more convenient because it’s already chopped up.
Whichever way you go, you’ll end up with a rich, creamy soup that’s perfect for a hearty lunch and warming the soul. You are going to love this copycat Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe.
Ingredients
Here’s a list of what you need:
- Butter
- All-purpose flour
- White onion
- Half-and-half
- Broccoli
- Velveeta cheese
- Low-sodium chicken broth
- Shredded carrots
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Salt
- Ground black pepper
How to Make Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- Melt butter in a large saucepan. Stir in flour and onions. Cook for about a minute.
- Slowly add half-and-half, whisking until thickened and smooth.
- Add broccoli and processed cheese.
- Slowly add chicken, stirring occasionally, until the soup has a consistent texture.
- Add the carrots and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the cheddar cheese and cook for 10 more minutes.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve when all the cheese is fully melted and blended.
What to Serve With Broccoli Cheese Soup
I love to serve this style of soup with popovers or fresh yeast rolls with butter. Or, with a thick soup like this one, you can serve it in bread bowls just like Panera does. You can buy bread bowls from some stores.
How to Reheat Your Soup
If you have leftover soup and need to reheat it, just add a little milk because it may have thickened in your refrigerator.
A Perfect Family Soup
Panera broccoli cheese soup is so easy to duplicate, you can put it together in no time. Try this recipe—it tastes just like it does in the restaurant.
More Panera Bread Recipes
- Honey Walnut Cream Cheese
- Panera Baked Potato Soup
- Panera Bread Copycat Recipes
- Panera French Onion Soup
- Panera Macaroni and Cheese
- Panera Warm Grain Bowl
- Steak Panini
Popular Soup Recipes
Check out more of my easy soup recipes and the best Panera Bread recipes here on CopyKat!
Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup chopped white onions
- 1 cup half-and-half
- 16 ounces chopped broccoli frozen
- 16 ounces American cheese Velveeta
- 29 ounces low-sodium chicken broth 2 cans
- 1 cup carrots Julianne cut, or shredded
- 8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour and onions. Cook for about a minute,
- Slowly add the half-and-half, about 1/4 cup at a time, whisking until thickened and smooth.
- When all of the half-and-half is incorporated, add the broccoli and processed cheese.
- When the cheese is completely melted, add the chicken broth 1 cup at a time, stirring occasionally, until soup is well mixed and has a consistent texture.
- Add the carrots and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the cheddar cheese and cook for 10 minutes more.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve when all the cheese is fully melted and blended through.
Heather
Wow. I’ve been meaning to make this for a couple of years and finally just got around to it. I literally just finished the first bowl. This is BETTER than Panera. The only thing I did different was add a second head of broccoli to bulk it up a bit more.
The decision to add the extra broc came just when the soup was ready. I turned off the heat on the soup and boiled the broccoli. The soup thickened up a lot during that 15-20 minutes it sat. Added the broccoli and we were good to go.
I also was going to add some potatoes because I always wondered how the Panera soup would be with them. I boiled a few Russets just for this, but I overcooked them a little and adding them directly in the soup to cook would’ve completely decimated them. So I sliced them and kept them on the side to toss into the bowl before I added the soup. It’s a nice addition.
For anyone else, don’t forget to salt and pepper after the cheddar is melted. I tasted it before I salted and it was, meh. A couple shakes of salt and it was perfect. I don’t like salt, so I try to use as little as possible. This was probably a couple pinches worth, if that.
Stephanie
Thank you for letting me know how your soup went. I always recommend adding salt while cooking. I bet it was tasty with a few potatoes thrown in.
Melissa
Cannot say thank you enough…so good! I used only a cup of cheddar cheese and it was perfect!
Allan R Mayer
Fantastic recipient !!! Made a few times now, making it for company tomorrow.
I use veggie chicken flavor broth, use more mild cheddar and not use the processed cheese. I also sauté the onions and butter first, then add the flour and make the roux. Then let it just barely simmer for a while.
Meat and veggie family and friend all think this recipe is out of this world ! THEY sa the same thing about your Panera’s baked potato soup too !
Thanx for the great recipes 🙂
Lauren I Kowalczewski
HI,
While your recipes sound amazing and look even better…I’m diabetic and have Chronic Kidney Disease (among other issues). I notice that you don’t put any nutrients on your recipes. I read things all the way through before I make anything and I think I may have to leave your site because of this.
I’m sorry to leave so soon but I think these would be just too much for me.
But….keep up the good work because they all sound wonderful.
Stephanie
Thank you for your note. I am sorry at this time I do not provide any nutritional information. I haven’t found an easy solution to hand code this isn’t the recipes. I have been looking for a solution. At this time I have been unable to work this out.
Susan
I did the nutrition
528 calories
36.4 grams of fat
2.9 grams of fiber
10.9 grams of sugar
Donna
I am a cook. Doing recipe make overs for years. Perfected the Jack Daniels Sauce from Friday’s. Desserts are great to makeover. Never use a recipe. Just look at theirs and add in my own creations and most of the time they come out great.
robert
any chance you post the Jack Daniels Sauce copy cat recipe?
kaitlin
Hi- I can’t find the actual Recipe with the measurements for the ingredients.
Stephanie
I am sorry the recipe had a glitch, it is back now.
Carol Wilson
OMG, I just made & it is delish!!!!! I followed the recipe except I sauteed the onion in the butter first, than added the flour. I also used fresh broccoli because that was all I had. I simmered that in 1 can of broth, then added to the roux mix. Then I finished the way recipe said. I can’t wait to serve to family tonight!!! Fix a loaf of garlic bread with it & I’m good to go! Stephanie, thanks for sharing this fab recipe!!! I have never had Panera’s soup, but if it tastes this good, no wonder it’s such a hit!!
Nancy Franco-Clasen
I am looking forward to making this soup! I love the Panera version. I have made several of your copykat recipes and love them! I’m glad you are out there posting these recipes! Thank you!
Robert Sutton
I liked your video and you have a great attitude. I bet the soup is delicious.
Stephanie
Thank you very much Robert!
Tabby G.
Made this recipe last week and put it in bread bowls for my family of six.. they loved it i have been made promise to make it this week too. Easy to follow direction. Thanks for a wonderful recipe can’t wait to try the other ones. Glad I found your site.
Stephanie
I am glad to hear everyone enjoyed the soup you made. It makes all of the difference when you know you made a great meal.
Cierra
I don’t like large chunks of broccoli in my soup. Your picture seems to have smaller pieces. If I wanted to purée down the soup should I do it at the end or sometime during the cooking process? Thanks.
Stephanie
You could always chop it a little more. I don’t know that I would puree it, that could turn the whole soup green.
Marilyn
Going to make this for 25 people do I just 4x everything in this recipe? Marilyn
Stephanie Manley
I would do that, I would also most likely do it in two double batches so the cooking times would vary less.
Chatty
Can I freeze the soup? It made too much, but is very tasty.
Holly
I’m looking for Panera’s Autumn Squash Soup recipe… Any ideas?
Fern
This is a great recipe thanks for the post!
stephaniemanley
Thank you Fern, I hope you give the recipe a try. Do you have other flavors of soup you like from Panera?
Leslie Ferraro
Thank you Holly, this recipe is pretty perfect !!!
Brie Smith
My pregnant self was craving Panera soup at midnight lol. I found this recipe and I think it’s better then Panera. It’s very easy to make and way nicer to the wallet. Far better then sending my hubby on constant trips out for soup : P
Amack
I have to say, I normally am really skeptical about copy cat recipes of restaurants because they usually dont taste the same. I just made this today and it is pretty darn close to the restaurant. So close that I won’t be paying for Panera’s anymore! Thank you for this recipe!!!! It was delicious!!!!
stephaniemanley
Thank you. I try very hard to get recipes as close as I can. I am glad you enjoyed this one.
Denise D. Coy
Thank you Stephanie! This was a great recipe!! I was even better the next day! The only changes I made was to use only 1 can of chicken broth and use milk instead of half-and-half. Great recipe, and very simple to make! =)
stephaniemanley
I am glad the soup turned out well for you. Let me know if you have other requests in the future.
Jordan DeReus
Mine isn’t turning out thick or creamy
Stephanie
You may want to prepare the soup on a lower temperature.