Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup is ready in less than 30 minutes! The perfect bowl of comfort food without leaving your house!
I created this recipe many years ago, and you’ll see by the recipe reviews how loved it’s become. I hope it becomes a staple in your weeknight dinner rotation too!
This recipe was originally published in January 2017. The recipe notes have been updated in February 2025.
Aimee’s Recipe Notes
Taste & Texture – Creamy, cheesy, and loaded with tender broccoli, just like the Panera favorite.
Ease of Making – Quick and easy, ready in under 30 minutes.
Cooking Method – One-pot stovetop soup for a simple, comforting meal.
Aimee’s Top Tip – Use an immersion blender for a smoother texture, or keep it chunky for more bite. Frozen broccoli works too!
My family doesn’t love traditional fast food. Which I suppose is a good thing, except when I’m looking to just pick up a quick, on the go meal I’m limited by their taste buds!
Fortunately (or not) for us, our Panera Bread has a drive through, and it’s one of the “fast food” choices we all love. Except it’s pricey. They don’t have a dollar menu!
My goal with my blog has been to create a database of recipes that my family loves.
Things like Starbucks Lemon Loaf, Panera Mac and Cheese, and Hostess Cupcakes. If my kids are craving it, I can probably recreate it!
With today’s Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe, we may never have to actually go to Panera again.
When I can make Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup at home, I know I’m saving us some money and a trip out.
Love easy soup recipes? Be sure to try my Chicken Taco Soup for a family favorite dinner. Or try my hearty Lasagna Soup recipe!
Featured Review⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
“My picky son finally let me make him this soup for him and he loved it!” -Corrie
Easy Ingredient List
From start to finish, this Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe takes less than 30 minutes.
Real talk: It will probably take less time to make this soup at home than it would to get everyone in the car and drive to Panera. Not to mention the drive back home!
Broccoli: You can always use fresh broccoli to make Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup, but it’s ok if you want to reach into the freezer for a bag of frozen broccoli florets.
Broth: Keep this soup vegetarian by using vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth.
My Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup recipe makes 3-4 decent sized bowls of soup…but you can easily double the recipe if you have hungry eaters, and this is your main dish.
You could also serve this soup as a side alongside sandwiches. Try my Turkey Cheddar Sliders or, if you want to mix favorites from different restaurants, Copycat Chick-fil-A Chicken Salad Sandwiches.
How to Make Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup
Want less chunks in your soup? Use an immersion blender to smooth it out! Our family loved this soup, it’s a great recipe for busy weeknights!
Instant Pot: Today’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup can also be made in the Instant Pot! Dinner in under 30 minutes! Loaded with vegetables and cheese, you’ll love this easy, creamy Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup Recipe!
Slow cooker: Use my slow cooker broccoli cheddar soup recipe for a great, fix it and forget it meal!
More Copycat Panera Recipes
Does your family love Panera as much as mine does? Lucky for you, I have a whole list of recipes I’ve recreated from Panera.
In addition to the Broccoli Cheese Soup, our family loves
Serving Suggestions
Easy, buttery Beer Bread goes perfect with this soup! Also great to cube into bite sized pieces and use for dips!
Of course my 5 minute Artisan bread is a great side for this soup.
Are you looking for a fluffy, delicious Dinner Roll? These No Knead Garlic Parmesan Dinner Rolls will please the whole family!
Easiest side dish ever. Whip up a batch of these Puff Pastry Bread Sticks to dunk in your soup!
You can also go to most bakery sections in the grocery store and find a great homemade bread bowl!
More Easy Dinner Ideas
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Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup diced onions yellow or white
- 1 cup shredded carrots I used matchsticks that I cut into half inch pieces
- 2 1/2-3 cups broccoli florets chopped small
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 cup milk I use skim/fat free
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- pinch of crushed red pepper flakes or more as desired
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium high heat, melt butter. Add in onions, carrots and broccoli. Cook to soften about 5 minutes (may be more or less depending on the size vegetables you cut).
- Slowly add in broth, milk, and cream. Sprinkle with flour and add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Continue stirring and heating over medium heat until thickened. This will take about 10-15 minutes.
- Once thick, add cheese and stir until melted and smooth. Serve soup and enjoy!
Notes
- Easily double the ingredients to make more of this delicious soup!
- Use a good quality cheddar cheese for best results. And shred the cheese yourself for the creamiest results.
- Store leftovers in refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Freeze soup in airtight freezer safe container for up to 3 months. Reheat on stovetop.
- See blog post for more recipe tips and tricks and directions on how to make in slow cooker and Instant Pot.
Video
Nutrition
Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup is ready in less than 30 minutes! The perfect bowl of comfort food without leaving your house!
My go to broccoli recipe. So good and creamy.
Is the nutrition info for the whole recipe or per serving?
Per serving, as you wouldn’t eat the whole recipe alone.
Used HOT Monterey Jack, 13 oz. Evaporated milk, 1C half and half, shredded carrot, bone broth w/ chicken Better than bouillon added, very tasty.
Used 12oz can evaporated milk, 1C half and half, bone broth with better than chicken bouillon added, shredded carrot, hot Monterey Jack. Very tasty
This is a great copy-cat recipe! I love the soup at Panera and I’m happy I can make it at home, too.
Thank you, Aimee!
You’re welcome!
I loved your soup. I can’t compare it to Panera’s as I have never had it. I live in Canada. My husband loved it and will be making it often. Maybe today
I have made this recipe several times and it’s one of my favorites! I usually double the recipe for a big batch and my family will eat soup for a few days ❤️
I’m so glad your family loves it!
Spot-on!!! So easy and much cheaper! I’ve spent so much $$ at Panera for this soup, it is the ultimate comfort food for me, but so savory and filling too! I used 2 cups of whole milk instead of low-fat milk + heavy cream, also used reduced sodium chicken broth instead of regular and ended up adding more broth to make it thinner. It was still a bit salty for me, and I love salt! I’ll use 1 tsp salt next time. I also used a 12 oz bag of frozen broccoli since that’s what I had, I thawed it first and microwaved to soften, but it was the perfect amount and not mushy at all. Refrigerates into a VERY thick consistency, but some hot water mixed in was still absolutely delicious! My bf wasn’t sure if he’d like it but loved the way it turned out. We were fighting for leftovers. I am tired of summer and craving fall, so this was the perfect dish! And SO much easier than other recipes I looked at! THANK YOU for this — this is now my go-to recipe for broccoli cheddar soup that I will use going forward!
Loved this recipe. It was very tasty. The only ingredient I didn’t use was the milk. I also cooked it in a crockpot. I can’t wait to make it again. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
I am on board to try this recipe, but being older and having issues ( both me and my husband) with sodium and blood pressure, can we use low sodium broth and where does the sodium content come from anyway?
Grace, I am not the author, but I’ve made this and use only low-sodium broth! Even then the salt was a bit much for me (I have blood pressure issues as well), so I’m going to reduce the salt to 1 tsp next time I make it. It doesn’t take away from the flavor at all — still very delicious!
Love this soup! The best I’ve ever had! I have a friend that is vegetarian what could I sub instead of the chicken broth?
Vegetable broth works great!
Excellent! The only changes I made were to use homemade couches broth, subbed 1/2&1/2 for the whipping cream and omitted the red pepper flakes. Delicious! Next time I will add a bag of frozen riced cauliflower or chunks.
4.27/24 We had lunch at Panera’s yesterday and my husband had their Broccoli Cheddar Soup. I made your recipe today and he said it was better. I did have some larger pieces of broccoli in mine and he really loved it.
Thanks, this is a keeper and next time I’m doubling the recipe.
This has become a family favorite soup, it’s just so good! I always double it and the leftovers the next day are just as good, if not better!
I love to hear this!
This was fantastic! It was better than Panera’s and I never thought I would be saying that. Thank you so much for all your fabulous recipes!
Thank you!
My husband swears it’s better than Panera. I think it’s pretty on point with Panera. Amazing job. Thank you for making me look like I know how to cook lol.
I can’t tell you how many times I have made this soup! It has to be the best cheddar broccoli soup there is! I have to give it up to you I use a lot of your recipes and they are some of my favorites! Like your sugar cookies recipe best sugar cookie I ever had!! Thank you so very much for sharing😊
Thank you for the kind words. It was wonderful to read this morning 🙂
Does it freeze well??
Yes, it’s a little thicker but it’s totally fine for freezing I’ve done it multiple times. This soup is sooo tasty!! I always at least double the recipe or triple just to freeze!!
Great soup! I made it for the first time tonight and it was absolutely delicious. I used red cheddar cheese from Aldi and it elevated the dish so much. Definitely worth making if you love Paneras broccoli cheddar soup.
This was the 2 nd time I made this soup in the past month! It is delicious! I used half sharp cheddar and half medium cheddar and it was awesome.
Tonight I used whole wheat flour and it taste just as good.
Thank you for this recipe. My family loves it.
So happy to hear this!
Made this for dinner, soo good thank you!!