Rich, creamy, packed with broccoli and loaded with sharp cheddar, this easy homemade broccoli cheddar soup is exactly what a cool fall day needs.

🍲 Welcome to SOUPTEMBER™.

There are soups you eat because they’re sensible. And then there’s broccoli cheddar soup.

It’s warm. It’s creamy. It’s unapologetically cheesy. And because there are several cups of broccoli involved, we’re all going to politely agree that we’ve made an excellent vegetable-based decision. 😂 This is exactly the kind of recipe we wanted to kick off SOUPTEMBER™ with DOOZY DELISH: familiar comfort food that’s easy enough for a weeknight but good enough that you’ll actually look forward to the leftovers. The goal here is simple: lots of broccoli, real sharp cheddar, a thick and creamy broth, and absolutely no bland cheese-colored soup.

Let’s make something awesome.

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🍲 Why You’ll Love This Broccoli Cheddar Soup

This one checks all the important boxes:

• 🧀 Seriously cheesy without being overwhelmingly heavy
• 🥦 Loaded with broccoli
• 🥕 A little carrot and onion for extra flavor
• ⏱️ Ready in about 40 minutes
• 🍲 Thick, creamy and perfect for fall
• 🥖 Excellent with crusty bread
• 🧊 Great for leftovers

And you don’t need a restaurant kitchen or twelve obscure ingredients harvested during a full moon.

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🛒 Ingredients

Makes approximately 6 servings

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 4 cups fresh broccoli florets, chopped into small pieces
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• ½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon smoked or regular paprika
• Small pinch of ground nutmeg
• 2½ cups extra-sharp cheddar cheese, freshly grated
• Optional: additional cheddar for serving

🧀 Don’t skip this part

Buy a block of cheddar and grate it yourself.

Pre-shredded cheese is convenient, but it’s typically coated with anti-caking ingredients that can work against the silky texture we’re after. It takes about two minutes to grate a block of cheese.

We’re making SOUPTEMBER soup here. We can find the strength. 😂

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👨‍🍳 How to Make Broccoli Cheddar Soup

1. Start with the good stuff

Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven or heavy soup pot over medium heat.

Add the diced onion and cook for about 4–5 minutes, until softened.

Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds, just until fragrant.

Don’t burn the garlic. Burnt garlic has ruined enough perfectly innocent dinners.

2. Make the creamy base

Sprinkle the flour over the butter and onions.

Stir continuously for about 1–2 minutes.

Slowly pour in the chicken broth while whisking to keep everything smooth.

Add the half-and-half and stir well.

3. Bring in the vegetables

Add:

Broccoli + carrots + salt + pepper + garlic powder + paprika + nutmeg.

Bring everything to a gentle simmer.

Reduce the heat and cook for approximately 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the broccoli and carrots are tender.

Don’t aggressively boil the soup. Gentle heat is our friend here.

4. Choose your texture

For a chunkier soup, leave everything alone.

For that creamier restaurant-style consistency, use an immersion blender for just a few quick pulses.

Don’t completely purée it.

We want creamy soup with recognizable pieces of broccoli, not broccoli baby food.

5. CHEESE. 🧀

Reduce the heat to LOW.

Add the freshly grated cheddar a handful at a time, stirring until each addition melts before adding more.

This is important.

High heat can cause cheese to separate and become grainy. We’ve come too far to have our cheddar betray us now.

Taste and adjust the salt and pepper.

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🏆 DOOZY TIP: The Secret Is Sharp Cheddar

Don’t use mild cheddar here.

Extra-sharp cheddar gives you significantly more cheese flavor without requiring an absurd quantity of cheese.

And freshly grated cheese melts beautifully into the soup.

For an even more interesting flavor, try:

2 cups extra-sharp cheddar + ½ cup Gruyère.

That’s the slightly fancier version when we’re pretending we have our lives completely together.

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🥖 What to Serve With Broccoli Cheddar Soup

The obvious answer is crusty bread.

But it’s also terrific with:

• Garlic bread
• Toasted sourdough
• A simple salad
• Turkey sandwich
• Grilled cheese
• Bread bowl

Serving cheese soup alongside grilled cheese may technically constitute excessive cheese.

We have reviewed the evidence and decided to proceed anyway.

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💪 Want More Protein?

Here’s an easy DOOZY variation.

Add 2 cups of finely chopped cooked chicken near the end of cooking.

Suddenly you’ve got:

🍗 Chicken Broccoli Cheddar Soup

It’s heartier, substantially boosts the protein, and turns a bowl of soup into more of a complete meal.

For our own eating goals, this is the version I’d make at home.

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🧊 Storing & Reheating

Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for approximately 3–4 days.

Reheat gently over low to medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.

If it becomes too thick, add a splash of broth or milk.

Avoid boiling it during reheating because dairy and cheese remain annoyingly temperamental even after you’ve successfully cooked them once.

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💰 DOOZY DELISH SOUP ESSENTIALS

This is where I’d place 3–4 affiliate links in the published article, rather than littering every third sentence with shopping links like we’ve been kidnapped by Amazon.

🍲 A Good Dutch Oven
Perfect for soups, stews, chili and a ridiculous number of other things.

⚡ Immersion Blender
The easiest way to control the texture without transferring boiling soup into a blender, an activity clearly invented by someone who disliked their kitchen ceiling.

🧀 Box Grater
Freshly grated cheddar makes a noticeable difference here.

🥡 Soup Storage Containers
For leftovers, meal prep and freezing future soups.

Affiliate disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through one of our links, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

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🍲 THE DOOZY VERDICT

Broccoli cheddar has earned its place among the comfort-food heavyweights.

It’s creamy without needing to be ridiculously heavy, packed with broccoli, full of sharp cheddar flavor and easy enough to make without surrendering an entire Sunday afternoon.

⭐ THE AWESOME METER™

9.4/10

And adding chicken?

9.6. 😏

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🍂 Welcome to SOUPTEMBER™

This is only our first bowl.

Throughout September, DOOZY DELISH is celebrating soup season with recipes worth making when the temperatures start dropping.

No arbitrary 30-soup challenge.

No requirement to consume soup until we’re personally 40% broth.

Just wicked good soup recipes all month long.

Next bowl? We’ll see what looks ridiculously good.

🍴 TASTE AWESOME™ with DOOZY DELISH

MAKE LIFE AWESOME™

Awesomeness Awaits… So Let’s Go.™ 🍲🍂