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This Broccoli Cheese Soup is everything you want on a cold night: rich, creamy, loaded with sharp cheddar, and ladled into a crusty bread bowl. It’s made completely from scratch, with real cheese instead of anything processed, and it comes together in one pot in about 30 minutes. My kids go wild for it!
A Bowl You Get to Eat
I first had soup in a bread bowl at my aunt’s house in Louisville, and I never forgot it. There was something about tearing into that warm, crusty bread, scooping up soup with it, and then getting to eat the whole bowl at the end that felt like pure magic to me as a kid.
My own kids are soup lovers through and through. Rain, shine, or 90 degrees out, they’ll ask for a bowl. But serve this broccoli cheese soup in a bread bowl and they act like it’s their birthday.
That’s really why I keep making it this way. It takes a soup they already love and turns a regular weeknight dinner into something worth remembering.
Key Ingredients
- Sharp cheddar: You’ve got to grate it yourself from a block. Pre-shredded cheese is coated in anti-caking starch that keeps it from melting smoothly, and it’s the difference between a silky soup and a grainy one. Sharp cheddar brings the most flavor, too.
- Whole milk and half-and-half: Together they give you a rich, creamy base without needing heavy cream.
- Butter and flour: Cooked together, they make a roux that thickens the soup from the inside out.
- Nutmeg: My little secret here. Just a pinch adds a warm, cozy depth that makes people wonder what’s in it. Don’t skip it.
- Broccoli: Fresh heads cut into florets. The stems work too, just peel and chop them small so they cook through. (Want a lighter, cheese-free version? Try my brothier Broccoli Soup.)
How to Make Broccoli Cheese Soup
- Melt the butter and cook the onion until soft.
- Whisk in the flour and cook for a couple minutes to make a roux.
- Whisk in the milk and half-and-half, then season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
- Stir in the broccoli, cover, and simmer until tender.
- Blend to your liking with an immersion blender.
- Stir in the broth to loosen it up, then add the cheese and stir until melted. Ladle into bread bowls and serve.
Smooth or Chunky? You Decide!
One of the best things about this soup is that you get to choose the texture. I use an immersion blender and give mine just a few pulses, so it stays mostly creamy with some tender bites of broccoli still in there. That’s my sweet spot.
Serving little kids? Blend it more, or all the way smooth. A smoother soup is an easier sell for anyone still warming up to broccoli, and it feels extra velvety in a bread bowl.
Want real, hearty chunks instead? Skip the blender and leave it as is. Whichever way you go, blend before you stir in the cheese.
And if you love a good broccoli and cheese combo, my Broccoli Cheddar Patties are another easy, kid-approved way to serve it.
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Storage and Reheating
- To store: Let the soup cool, then keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days. Store any bread bowls separately so they don’t go soggy.
- To reheat: Warm it gently over low heat, stirring often. The trick with any cheese soup is to keep it from boiling, high heat can make the cheese break and turn grainy. Add a splash of milk or broth to loosen it as it warms.
- To freeze: This soup freezes well for up to 3 months. Let it cool completely, then store it in an airtight container or freezer bag. Thaw in the fridge overnight and reheat gently over low heat, stirring in a splash of milk or broth to bring it back together.
More Soup Recipes
However you blend it, this broccoli cheese soup is the kind of cozy, comforting dinner my whole family comes running for. Ladle it into a bread bowl and watch everyone clean their plate, bowl included.
If you make it, leave a comment and rating below. I love hearing how it turns out for your family!
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Broccoli Cheese Soup in a Bread Bowl
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup half and half
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 heads broccoli, cut into florets
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 4 bread loaves, for bowls (from a bakery or Trader Joe's)
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and cook 3 to 4 minutes, until soft.
- Sprinkle the flour over the onion and whisk to combine. Cook the onion-flour mixture 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the milk and half-and-half, whisking constantly until smooth.
- Sprinkle in the salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
- Stir in the broccoli florets. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the broccoli is tender and soup is thickened, about 12 minutes.
- Blend to your liking with an immersion blender, anywhere from a few pulses to completely smooth. (Blend before adding the cheese.)
- Stir in the chicken broth and check the consistency. The soup should be thick; if it seems too thick, add a splash more broth.
- Add the cheese and stir until melted. Serve in bread bowls.
Video
Notes
- To serve in bread bowls: Use small, round crusty loaves (a boule or sourdough works well, from bakeries or Trader Joe’s). Slice off the top, pull out the center leaving about a 1-inch wall, and ladle in the hot soup. Save the torn-out bread for dipping. No bread bowls? Regular bowls work just as well.
- Grate your own cheese from a block. Pre-shredded cheese has anti-caking starch that keeps it from melting smoothly.
- Reheating: Warm gently over low heat, stirring often, and don’t let it boil. High heat can make the cheese break and turn grainy. Add a splash of milk or broth to loosen it.
- Make it vegetarian: use vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.
I would just LOVE LOVE one of Ree’s cookbooks!
Love to make sweet potato casserole and homemade stuffing with sausage. Yum!
I loved my dad’s dressing. He would add black and green olives, bell peppers and on one end of the pan only, he would add oysters.
My favorite recipe for Thanksgiving is my Grandmother’s for Southern Style Cornbread Dressing. I just wish she was still here to make it for me, because it never tastes as good as hers did!!!
So many favorites it changes daily! Today, I would have to say creme de menthe brownies!
Love to make sweet potato casserole! And home made stuffing:)
my mother in law loves the Pioneer Woman and I would love to be able to get this cookbook for her signed! 🙂
My favorite broccoli cheese soup ever was from a restaurant, The Black Eyed Pea….have been looking for a recipe as good ever since. This looks like a contender!
I love Pioneer Woman! My favorite recipe is her cinnamon rolls..YUMMY!
My favorite holiday dish is a big pot of delicious corn chowder. I actually got the recipe during a school field trip about 25 years ago! My class went to a historic home where we were divided into groups (loom, garden and kitchen). It was my fine luck that I was assigned to the kitchen group where we made a hearty pot of corn chowder from scratch and cooked it over an open fire, just as New Englanders did in Colonial times. I fell in love with cooking that day and was so excited to try delicious final product of all our hard work and to be sent home with a copy of the recipe. That recipe (complete with the “secret ingredient” of paprika…which we were told was a favorite of the Colonial lady who had owned the home we visited) is with me still. It isn’t a standard/basic corn chowder, but rather full of vegetables and made creamy with milk and potato. The paprika gives it a lovely orange broth that is beautifully festive on my holiday table. That same recipe has been in my holiday repertoire every, single year since that field trip 25+ years ago. First my mom made it with me, then I took it to college where it stayed with me as I became a vegetarian, and it is a hit to this day each holiday. Easy, one pot, beautiful, comforting and DELICOUS it is a perfect dish! I love Ree Drummond (twitter follower!) and would love to try some of her favorite holiday favorites!
My favorite recipe for Christmas is my grandmother’s recipe for lemon meringue pie. Sometimes I even have it for my birthday in the summer. 🙂
My family’s favorite is my Sweet Potatoes recipe, it always the first thing to go!
love you, love your show, would love your cookbook!!!!!
This looks delicious!
My deceased dad’s famous bread dressing with oysters, red and green bell peppers along with green and black olives.. So delicious
Our family get’s excited at Thanksgiving because Mom (Me) makes a pumpkin swirl cheesecake with a gingersnap pecan crust that’s to die for!..