This Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup is a Panera Bread copycat recipe that uses simple ingredients and is ready in just 30 minutes!
Quick Overview: Saute vegetables right inside of the pot, high-pressure the broth and veggies, create a roux with butter and flour on the stovetop, and finish by adding roux to the Instant Pot for a thick and creamy, delicious Instant Pot broccoli cheese soup for an easy Instant Pot recipe.
Love copycat recipes? Broccoli cheddar soup is one of Panera’s most popular recipes and the next time you’re craving it, try this easy recipe for some quick comfort food that may just become one of your new favorite things!
When to serve: Serve this great recipe, something that the whole family will love, (yes, even picky eaters!) on a busy weeknight or for something warm and comforting on the weekends in a bread bowl!
See our easy soup recipes that are perfect for the cooler months or to serve a crowd!
Jump to:
Ingredients
Made with REAL ingredients like shredded cheddar cheese, chicken broth (you can even make my homemade chicken broth recipe), and milk, this broccoli cheese soup recipe is made from scratch but is quick to make!
You may even have all, or at least a handful of ingredients on hand already, to make this soup!
- Butter – salted or unsalted butter will work!
- Celery – Chop in to small pieces, or very fine if you have a picky eater and want to try to slip it past them.
- Garlic – cloves, minced (but feel free to use the pre-minced garlic that you can buy at the store, to speed things up).
- Flour – all purpose flour is ideal for this recipe
- Milk – Whole, 2%, 1%, and skim are fine to use but whole milk is preferred
- Chicken broth – Feel free to use homemade chicken broth, chicken stock, storebought broth or even granules to make your own broth
- Broccoli florets – we use fresh broccoli florets and find that works better than watery, frozen broccoli.
- Carrots – shred the carrot, fine, or even buy pre-shredded carrots (about ½ cup or so of shredded can equal one carrot, shredded)
- Salt – amounts suggested in the recipe card but salt to taste
- Black pepper – just a pinch of pepper is needed for the perfect spice
- Shredded cheddar cheese – you can definitely speed things up by buying shredded cheese in the grocery store. However, if you have time to shred your own, you’ll get much better results, as shredding your own doesn’t contain the powdery substance that most store bought, pre-shredded cheeses do.
Substitutions and Variations
- Vegetables – If you aren’t a fan of the vegetables used in this recipe, you can simply omit them. However, do note that removing things like the onion, can really change the flavor of the soup overall so you may have a different result than what the recipe calls for.
- Cheese – although this recipe calls for shredded cheddar, if you only have different kinds of cheeses on hand, don’t be afriad to try it. It may result in a slightly different flavor if using something far from cheddar. You can also a mild cheddar or a sharp cheddar cheese.
- Milk – If you only have heavy cream or half and half on hand, you can definitely use it instead but do note that using something thicker than milk can result in a thicker soup.
- Broth – This recipe calls for chicken broth but you can easily substitute it for vegetable broth if you prefer a vegetarian soup.
You can find the complete list of ingredients and directions can be found in the recipe card below.
Instructions for this Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe
- Turn your Instant Pot to the sauté function and add 2 tablespoons of butter.
- When the butter melted, add the diced onion and celery. Sauté until the vegetables are tender. Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Add chicken broth to the cooked onions, garlic, and celery.
- Add broccoli and carrots to the Instant Pot.
Lock your lid in place and make sure your vent is sealed. Pressure for 2 minutes.
When the time is up, quick release the pressure and allow the steam to vent until you can open the lid.
- In the meantime, in a medium saucepan, melt 1⁄2 cup of butter. Slowly whisk in flour until blended and creamy. Set aside.
Turn your Instant Pot on to the sauté function.
- Add a cup of the hot broth from your instant pot to your butter/flour mixture and continue to whisk until blended.
Next, add the butter/flour mixture to your instant pot. Whisk until soup thickens.
- Heat up your milk in microwave UNTIL VERY WARM. DO NOT BOIL. This will prevent the milk from curdling when adding it to the hot soup.
- Add the shredded cheese and stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper.
What to Serve with this Soup
If you have a bread bowl to serve this delicious soup in, it really hits the spot but it’s not necessary and you can absolutely use a regular bowl! You can also make this easy Italian bread recipe, these Bisquick Cheddar Biscuits or Foccacia bread to serve with the soup, and dip pieces of bread in the soup!
For side dishes, any of these salad recipes go wonderfully with this soup!
More soup recipes: This Instant Pot cauliflower soup is a similar recipe that you’ll love adding to the rotation. Also, our buffalo chicken soup is another soup that gives that creamy, comforting texture!
Love using your Instant Pot? Our readers have really fallen in love with this Cheeseburger Macaroni in the Instant Pot and it’s one of our favorite Instant Pot recipes too! (Over 100 reviews!)
Top tip
We all love a good shortcut but sometimes those shortcuts can make a recipe sacrifice flavor. So if you have time and don’t mind spending a little bit of time, shred your own cheese. The creaminess of the real, shredded cheddar, is hard to beat! Plus, the storebought shredded cheese can contain an “anti-caking” ingredient that doesn’t allow cheese to melt as well as self-shredded.
Faq’s
It could be because the milk wasn’t properly added to the soup, and it caused it to curdle. See the steps below on how to add colder milk to the warmer soup for the best results.
Yes. It freezes really well, for up to 3 months. Just make sure to allow the soup to fully cool before placing in a freezer-safe container to freeze.
If using pre-shredded cheese from the store, and it had too much of the “anti-caking” properties, that doesn’t allow it to melt smoothly.
Storage
When leftover soup has cooled, place in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rating below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!
Recipe
Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Equipment
- Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker)
Ingredients
- 10 Tablespoons butter divide
- onion small, chopped
- 2 celery stalks large, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup flour
- 2 cups milk
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 3 cups broccoli chopped
- 1 carrot large, shredded
- 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot to the sauté function and add 2 tablespoons of butter.
- When the butter melted, add the diced onion and celery.Sauté until the vegetables are tender. Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Add chicken broth to the cooked onions, garlic, and celery.
- Add broccoli and carrots to the Instant Pot. Lock your lid in place and make sure your vent is sealed. Pressure for 2 minutes. When the time is up, release the pressure and allow the steam to vent until you can open the lid.
- In the meantime, in a medium saucepan, melt 1⁄2 cup of butter. Slowly whisk in flour untilblended and creamy. Set aside.
- Turn your Instant Pot on to the sauté function.Add a cup of the hot broth from your instant pot to your butter/flour mixture and continue towhisk until blended.
- Next, add the butter/flour mixture to your instant pot. Whisk until soup thickens.
- Heat up your milk in microwave UNTIL VERY WARM. DO NOT BOIL. This will prevent the milk from curdling when adding it to the hot soup. Pour in to soup.
- Add the shredded cheese and stir until melted. Season with salt and pepper.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Comments
No Comments