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This keto broccoli cheese soup is velvety, smooth, and made in just 30 minutes! Better than Panera bread, this easy recipe is low in carbs but full of flavor! 2 grams net carbs per serving.
Broccoli Cheese Soup Recipe
When it comes to keto soup recipes, my favorites include chicken soup, taco soup, and this broccoli cheese soup.
During my college years, one of my favorite takeout foods was Panera bread. While their sandwiches and salads were never anything to brag about, their soups, especially their broccoli cheddar soup, were something else.
Their broccoli cheddar soup (in the bread bowl, obviously) was something I enjoyed on a regular basis, so much that my local Panera bread knew me on a first-name basis. Since starting a keto diet, I’ve tried making a homemade version and I must admit… it tastes even BETTER than the original!
This keto broccoli cheese soup recipe comes together in under 20 minutes and is all made on the stovetop. It’s made with just 5 main ingredients (spices don’t count!) and is perfectly thick and creamy. It’s full of tender broccoli pieces and full of cheesy flavor, and is the kind of soup that sticks to your ribs!
What I love about this delicious soup is that even those who don’t follow a low carb diet will fall in love with it- It’s just THAT good!
Ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe
- Butter– Unsalted butter to sautee the onions and garlic in.
- Onion and garlic– Both these vegetables add extra flavor to the soup.
- Chicken broth– Also known as chicken stock. You can use a homemade chicken broth or store bought. I like using organic chicken stock as it has no additives or added sugar.
- Heavy cream– Gives the soup an extra rich and creamy texture, without affecting the flavor.
- Broccoli– Finely chopped broccoli. Avoid using frozen broccoli as it will yield a much more thinner soup.
- Smoked paprika– Adds some smokey flavor which works very well with the cheese.
- Salt and pepper– To taste.
- Cheddar cheese– A flavorful and easy melting cheese. You can swap out half of it with red Leicester or vintage cheddar if you’d like a more intense cheese flavor. Try to shred your own cheese, as it is cheaper to do and melts into the soup seamlessly.
How do you make keto broccoli and cheese soup?
Start by adding the butter into a deep saucepan and placing it over medium heat. Once melted, add the onions and garlic and saute for several minutes, until fragrant. Add the chicken broth, heavy cream, broccoli, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil.
Now, once the soup starts boiling, reduce it to a low and let it simmer for 20 minutes. After this time, add the cheese, half a cup at a time, until fully immersed in the soup. Remove it from the heat and serve immediately.
Pro tips to make the best broccoli cheddar soup
- Be sure to chop your broccoli into fine, bite-sized pieces. This will ensure they cook evenly and are that there are no large florets throughout.
- To prevent a grainy soup, be sure to slowly add the cheese into the saucepan, not all at the same time.
- For a creamier soup, shred your own cheese. It will mix into the soup so much easier and taste that much better!
How many carbs are in broccoli cheddar soup?
This low carb broccoli cheese soup has just 2 grams of net carbs per serving. Compare that to Panera bread’s version that has over 40 grams of carbs per serving!
Storing, freezing, and reheating tips
- To store: Leftover soup can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Be sure to give it a stir before reheating.g
- To freeze: Place batches of the soup in a sealable container and store it in the freezer for up to 6 months. Thaw the soup at room temperature before reheating.
- Reheating: Either microwave the soup in 30-second intervals or in a small saucepan over medium heat.
What to serve with low carb broccoli and cheese soup
While I am partial to enjoying soups with crackers, this particular one is PERFECT when paired with bread or buns, to dip! Here are some of my favorite keto bread options to try!
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can make this soup in a slow cooker. Simply omit the butter and add all the ingredients, except for the cheese into a slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 hours. After 6 hours, slowly add the cheese and cover the pot and cook for a further 30 minutes.
Cheddar cheese is preferred, but you can use any flavorful cheese, like Colby, Tillamook, and Gouda.
For a healthy broccoli cheddar soup, replace the heavy cream with light cooking cream and replace half the cheddar cheese with reduced-fat (25%) cheddar cheese. Do not use non-fat or low-fat cheese or else it will leave your soup grainy and clumpy.
This soup is designed to have chunks of broccoli throughout but if you prefer a silky smooth soup, you can either puree it (using a hand mixer) or in a blender.
Thicken the soup by adding 1/2 teaspoon of xanthan gum or 1-2 tablespoons of arrowroot powder. The arrowroot will add some extra carbs to the overall carb count.
This recipe yields six 1 1/2 cup servings. Each serving contains 2 grams net carbs.
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Keto Broccoli Cheese Soup
Video
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a deep pot, add the butter and place it over medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and garlic and stir fry for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Add the chicken broth and heavy cream and finely chopped broccoli, smoked paprika, pepper, and salt and bring it to a boil. Once it begins to boil, reduce to low and simmer for 20 minutes until the broccoli is tender.
- Add the cheddar cheese in half a cup at a time until combined. Remove from the heat and serve with extra shredded cheese and chopped parsley on top.
ONE OF MY GO-TO RECIPES
LOVE this freaking soup!! It’s so good, I don’t even need to add cheese. The best keto recipes seem to come from your site. Keep up the good work, Big Man!
Thanks, CK!
Absolutely delicious!
Delicious beyond! I added some crumbled bacon in it too!! YUMMY! Will make often! Thank you for this.
Love that!!
This is AMAZING! Love the texture and the flavor. I love to make and freeze soups to take to work with me during the winter and this, hands down, is the best ever.
I’ve tried several recipes and I love this one best! It’s on repeat for me!
Excellent recipe. Very tasty and relatively easy to put together!
YUM!! Added chicken and it was soooo tasty!
Can I use creamcheese instead of heavy cream? I’m out
I haven’t tried but you are welcome to experiment and see!
This is the easiest, best soup ever. So cheesy!
This is a delicious recipe that is a go-to for me and my husband. It’s super easy to make.
My only question is when I upload this recipe to my cronometer app, it shows that it is 11.5 net carbs per serving. I am curious as to what the indiscrepancy is? Whenever I make this, I never end up logging it so I don’t mess up my macros 🤷♀️
Delicious soup!
I made this tonight and OMG!!! THIS RECIPE IS AMAZING!!!
Thank you!!!
Very tasty and easy to make. Can make it vegetarian by swapping out the chicken broth for vegetable broth. Can also thicken it with a bit of xanthan gum.
Yummy. I added some baked shredded chicken to it and it was awesome! This recipe is a keeper!
I love the soup, keto or not! It is so wonderful and comforting on freezing cold winter days like we’ve been having here in Ohio. I highly highly recommend this recipe for anyone who enjoys broccoli cheddar soup.
Awesome! My whole family loves it.
Best recipe for cheddar broccoli soup and I’ve tried
Thanks, Sheila!
Very tasty soup! Really enjoyed it while on keto diet. Highly recommended and easy to make
So so good. I added 8 oz ham and sprinkled 1/2 teaspoon of xanthum gum over the top and stirred in to thicken. It was creamy and delicious and even better the next day. Thanks for a great recipe!
It’s the easiest and tastiest soup ever. I used leftover pecorino Romano and aged Romano cheese, and it tasted devinel. The consistency was similar to a French onion soup.
This recipe is on my heavy rotation. The one addition I make is to cut up cubes of my go-to roasted chicken breasts to add for extra protein and substance
The best Broccoli Cheddar I’ve ever had!
Thanks, Karen!
Obsessed with this recipe- it tastes so much better than Panera!
It is most awsom soup we have ever had
For this to be low carb and no sugar, it great for my diabetes. It’s delicious! The only thing I did was to half the recipe and added a couple tbs of cream cheese. The only thing it’s missing is a big Ole piece of cornbread!!! Oooops!🫣
Try my keto cornbread recipe and still enjoy everything low carb!
Excellent soup!! I also added a few shredded carrots and about 1/2 pound of browned pork sausage. Next time I will add a whole pound. Very good!
Thank you! Great tasting, quick and easy to follow recipe.
Amazing. What a treat on a cool night!
Absolutely my favorite broccoli cheese soup recipe. ❤️
This soup is absolutely delicious. Your recipe is fast and easy. Thank you!
I’ve tried a lot of broccoli cheddar and this is the best recipe. It’s so good.
Absolutely my favorite broccoli cheese soup recipe. ❤️
Excellent!!!
The recipe is delicious and my whole family begged for seconds!
I’ve cooked this soup many times. It’s delicious!
OMG this soup turned out better than any restaurant BCS I’ve had. For mine, I did add a cup of shredded carrots, dash of cumin and nutmeg, garlic powder and onion powder, plus some cornstarch to thicken it. I also cooked mine in the crockpot.
Thank you so much for sharing! ❤️
This soup is on my soup rotation. Easy and good.
I made this for dinner for my family and everyone loved!! This will be a new family favorite 😍
I did add a few seasoning but I will definitely share with friends and family.
I love this soup!
Awesome!! One question. I shredded my own cheddar and added half cup at a time but I noticed a lot of cheese clumped together at bottom. I heated it up to try and melt but didn’t work. Is it supposed to be like that?
I will just say as all your recipes this tuned out amazing! Great flavor and so delicious!
Perfect for any day but definitely was perfect for our fall cool rainy day today.
Our favorite soup right now!! So bomb! Instead of all cheddar, we use about half the amount of SMOKED Gouda or cheddar. It’s a game changer! The smokiness flavor tastes amazing. So good!
This is so delicious! I added a shredded carrot to the onions & garlic. Then I added a brick of cream cheese to that, some of the broth & whisked to smooth. Added the rest of ingredients plus extra broth. Used a combo of Colby jack & cheddar. I have much to freeze. I will make this over & over!
It was a big hit!
Soup was absolutely amazing. I use a spicy cheddar. My son and I ate it all in one day we just hit it as a meal we forgot about the sides!
My husband and I love this. I am low carb so add a little carrot and better than bouillon. I take some of the veggies out and use immersion blender then add back veggies. I use a little xanthium gum to thicken. Great recipe!
OMG This is sooo good. Thank you for the recipe.
Thank you for this broccoli cheese soup recipe. It was quite unfussy and really delicious. Your website is my go-to site for keto recipes and I’ve been so pleased to find reasonable easy to understand and tasty recipe supplied by you thank you
I used to have a go-to recipe that used flour, and had not found a good lower carb substitute until now. This was amazing!
This was so easy tp make and delicious 😋
This was the most beautiful tasting soup.
Easy and quick and very delicious.
Thank you so much for all your wonderful recipes.
Best I have ever made.
Delicious!! I will definitely be making this again!
I just made this soup in my instantpot and it is excellent! Do not need to change a thing! Thank you!
Amazing keto recipe!
Made this today wow it is good
Better than Panera? That’s a pretty big claim. But first spoonful proved it true! This was delicious. Definitely going on the repeat list. Thanks for another great recipe!
Super ez and taste amazing!!!
Making it for the 3rd time in 2 months, love it!
So easy and the BEST broccoli soup I’ve ever tasted!
Hi! This is soooo delicious! We love it! Wondering if frozen broccoli would work as well as fresh?
Thanks again!!
For sure! just thaw it first 🙂
My soup is awesome! Thank you so much!
This was an amazing recipe! It was creamy and delicious. I am definitely adding this to my cooking repertoire.
Love this recipe. I make it one a month.
Outstanding! This is my “Go To” when I need a quick, hearty soup. It’s super easy and tastes amazing!
This was really tasty! My cheese did not melt well and I used hand grated. Any advice?
That’s so odd- what kind did you use?
Oh my gosh. I didn’t expect it to be this good.
Totally love it. Super easy to make. Thank you
Delicious
I used freshly grated Swiss cheese.
My go to recipe for broccoli soup.
Thanks for the recipe
Katie
I am making this right now and it sounds amazing. Can you please tell me if the broccoli is 4 cups “after” it’s finely chopped or before?
I am 42 and would consider myself a great cook.
I have NEVER (over 200 easily) commented on a recipe because i always have to “dr” them with a ton of stuff. It isnt fair to rate a recipe on my own add ins.
We are keto in my home. This recipe is AMAZING. I mean AMAZING!!!!!!
The only thing i did different was added 1 tsp xantham gum to thicken. I honestly dont think it was needed though. I added it before the cheese, which totally thickened it up.
Fantastic, fantastic recipe.
Will make this weekly.
Delicious! I added 4 oz cream cheese for thickening and a dash of red pepper flakes for an extra flavor layer. This is a keeper!
A very easy recipe to make this tasty rich soup. Definitely a recipe I will use often, whenever a tasty comfort food is desired.
Creamy and delicious! I added a chopped up chicken breast to make it more hearty….doesn’t add to the carb count.
Ok, so I usually never leave comments. But OH CRAP. I just made this, with a few mods from what I didnt have (more butter, milk since no cream & added some shaved parm & had no paprika), but let me tell you. This is the most amazing soup. Its already saved in my pinterest to make again. I messed up and added the cheese and it got curdled, so I threw the soup in 2 batches into my vitamix (with the lid cracked for steam vent) and blended it smooth. SOOOO GOOOD!!! Make this asap
Extremely delicious recipe. I had to make it a second time immediately after the first because I wanted more!
The only thing that needs adjusting is the time estimates. Finely chopping 4 cups of broccoli, half an onion, and garlic is simply not possible to do in 2 minutes. Ten is probably more reasonable.
It was fabulous! Best recipe I’ve had on keto. I love the creamy texture and all of the cheese!
This is delicious and so easy. My crew (kids included) loved it AND it’s Keto friendly!! Thank you!!! I made some easy keto cheddar biscuits to go with this.
Excellent soup! Thick and creamy. Thank you
It’s beautiful and easy to make.
This is delicious! We ended up doing some substitutions for things we didn’t have on hand; we substituted the broccoli for riced cauliflower and chopped white mushrooms. Also, we did cajun seasoning and celery salt instead of the paprika. The cheddar we added was freshly grated and the soup tasted amazing. Will try it with broccoli next time ^_^
I did, I’ll try shredding it myself next time and lowering the heat, thanks!
Did you use pre-shredded cheese? That often won’t melt the same as block cheese because of what they add to keep the pieces from sticking together. Also is shut off the heat before adding cheese. It will stay hot enough to melt, especially if you shredded it before you start cooking and leave it out to come to room temp. Hope that helps.
This was so good, thank you x
I don’t know why it took me so long to look for a keto version of this!
Quick question, a lot of my cheese kind of sunk to the bottom and stuck to the broccoli and never really melted well, do you have any advice to get it to combine? (I added pretty small amounts at a time)
This is the best broccoli cheddar soup I’ve ever had, period, forget the keto part. I followed the recipe exactly except I added a bit of crumbled bacon on top at the end with the extra shredded cheese, simply amazing.
I never leave reviews, but I felt I had to on this one! This soup is sooo good and easy to make I just LOVED it! Five stars for sure!! I thickened it with xanthan gum and made keto biscuits for dipping, so yummy!! Thanks for the recipe!!!
This recipe is absolutely perfect!!! Better than any restaurant soup I’ve had!!! This will go straight into the family cookbook and passed along to the younger generations. Absolutely delicious! Thank you!
I made this soup today. My husband is a big fan of cream soups.
The only change I made was to add xanthum gum to thicken the soup. I have an allergy to flour so I have found other ingredients to thicken recipes.
It turned out delicious!
This is Broccoli cheese soup is awesome I don’t normally rate Broccoli but I loved it. I tweaked it a bit by replacing half cheddar with 100g of soft cheese, added 2 tablespoons of ground Almonds. Also removed 2 cups of soup n blended separately then added it back to make it thicker n creamy. I can imagine having this during autumn n winter evenings.
This was really good. A couple of edits….
I took out the garlic as I thought it would overpower. Added a large handful of matchstick carrots at the end of the onion step, then at the end added 3TB of cream cheese (not whipped) and about 1tsp of cumin. I was also pretty heavy in the black pepper seasoning throughout. Very satisfying – thanks for recipe!
Oh man this stuff is AMAZING and I have never had broccoli cheese soup but you can bet this is going to be a staple in my freezer!!
Very good! Added more onion and garlic. Blending does make it seem a little thicker.
Made this tonight for dinner and it was a big hit for keto and non keto eaters, small and large children and adults. Thank you!
Simmering now, smells
Delicious! Thank you so much for the recipe
I am blown away at how amazing this is!! And I’ve tried tons of broccoli cheese soups all over the place. Very easy to make and way better than anything you’d pay for.
Can you use frozen broccoli?
You sure can!
Just made this soup and it was delicious thank you
This was very easy to make and I found it super filling. I thickened by taking out some of the broccoli and set it aside. Then I used my emersion blender on the soup. Then put the broccoli back in. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
Amazing soup! I added some chopped chicken & sprinkled bacon on top before serving. Will definitely make again! Thanks for the recipe.
A comfort food favorite. Thanks I enjoyed this recipe!
Hey Arman!
I need to tell you that I absolutely loved this recipe last week, I am making it again now. My 10 year old doesn’t ever want to eat his broccoli, and he crushed that soup! Thank you so much. So good!
Thank you so much, Katie!
I just made this for a group of 9 so I doubled the recipe and wow it was delicious! I’ve never received so many compliments
So great to hear that!
Love this soup. I add more stock a little better than bouillon (I’m low carb not Keto) and take chunks out, use Emerson blender then add back with a touch of xanthium gum to thicken
This is delicious! The flavor is so good for something so low in calories. It tastes healthier than panera Cheddar broccoli and is easy to make.
Delish! I have made a panera copycat recipe, this was easier to make and maybe a bit tastier. I did add extra smoked paprika.
Great, tasted perfect did use the xanthum gum to thicken. Unbelievable good. Thankyou