This delicious Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup can be ready in minutes, and is just like Panera’s classic soup. With the goodness of broccoli and carrots, this creamy cheesy soup is so comforting, the whole family will love it!
With the fall weather in full swing, I have been craving soup. What could be better than this delicious cheesy goodness. You know what I mean if you love cheese…and soups!
Note: This recipe has been updated with new photos and lots of good details to help you make the perfect soup!
Table of Contents
Watch How to Make Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Easy Panera Copycat Broccoli Cheese Soup
I used to have this soup at cafe’s and wondered how they make this creamy comforting soup. Ooooh…the yummy broccoli and carrots in a delicious cheesy base. Now I make this soup in the comfort of my home in the amazing Instant Pot!
I love making soups in the instant pot, so quick, and so delicious. I have over 20 Instant Pot Soup recipes. I must say, this Broccoli Cheddar Soup is one of my family’s favorites. So rich, creamy and cheesy…it is heavenly!
Don’t want cheese? Check out this Thai Butternut Squash Soup and this Vegan Cauliflower Soup. For an easy dump-and-go soup in the instant pot, check out this Vegetarian Taco Soup.
Health Benefits of Broccoli
One of the star ingredient in this soup, broccoli comes packed with nutrition and has so many health benefits:
- It is loaded with fiber, vitamin C, K iron, and potassium
- Also, it has a higher protein content than most vegetables
- It helps in lowering your blood cholesterol
- Boosts your eye-health.
Even thought the name of the soup is broccoli cheddar, I adds carrots and onions too. I love the added nutrition from all the veggies disguised in this creamy soup.
How to make Broccoli & Cheese Soup in the Pressure Cooker?
This is a super quick recipe, just make sure you have cheddar cheese at home. I made this soup in an Instant Pot, but it can easily be made in a normal pressure cooker or in a pot on the stovetop, just allow extra time to make the soup creamy.
Main Ingredients
Broccoli – I used broccoli in this recipe. I have tried this soup with frozen broccoli as well, and it works great. So go for what you have on hand. You can keep the broccoli pieces big or dice them, they will be super soft after pressure cooking, and will mix seamlessly in the soup.
Carrots – I like to add carrots to this soup as well. I grated the carrots, as my family prefers it that way. You can dice finely if you like too. Just a couple of carrots or one large carrot.
Cheese – I prefer medium or sharp cheddar in this recipe. Also, my preference is to always grate cheese freshly at home.
Roux – I add a roux made on stovetop with butter, flour and milk to thicken this soup. Other options to thicken the soup are a cornstarch slurry or just heavy cream. We love the creaminess of the roux, and is our preferred method.
Broth – You can use vegetable or chicken broth in this recipe. I use Better Than Bouillon to make the broth. It is easy to have this in the refrigerator and make broth whenever I need it for a recipe.
Method
- Let’s get started. First, start the instant pot in SAUTE mode and melt butter in it. Then add the diced onions and minced garlic and sauté for couple of minutes.
- Add broccoli, carrots, seasoning and broth. Mix it all well.
- Close the lid and pressure cook. When the instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally.
When the pressure cooking is done, melt butter on a stovetop saucepan. Add the flour and saute for a minute until it is cooked. Whisk in the milk, a little bit at a time, until you have a smooth thick consistency.
- Open the instant pot lid after the pressure has released. Stir in the roux you prepared on stovetop. Add the cheddar cheese gradually, stirring continuously, until it melts.
- If you like a smooth soup, use a whisk for stirring. If you like it chunkier, then use a regular ladle to stir in the cheese.
- Press sauté and let the soup simmer for a couple of minutes.
The soup is ready to be served. Serve in a regular bowl or a bread bowl; it is delicious either way!
Top with grated cheese or dip some crusty bread to enjoy this soup. If you like it spicy, sprinkle some chili flakes or hot sauce!
Tips
- I highly recommend to buy a block of cheese and shred it at home. The store bought pre-shredded cheese does not melt as well, as it has a coating to keep it separate in the bag.
- You can make this soup smooth or chunky based on your preference. My kids like it smoother, so I used a whisk when mixing the soup after pressure cooking. You can also use a hand blender to make this soup smooth.
- Vegan variation: To make this recipe vegan, replace the butter with your favorite plant based oil or use vegan butter. One reader used Daiya vegan cheese and almond milk and it melted perfectly to make a creamy vegan soup.
- No Flour / Gluten-free variation: Skip the all-purpose flour to make this soup gluten-free. Add the extra butter in step 1 to the instant pot and cream/milk after pressure cooking is done.
- This recipe is already low carb. You can reduce the carbs even further by replacing the roux with just heavy cream and reducing the amount of onions and carrots in the recipe.
- Don’t be afraid of the butter and cheese to get the real cafe-style flavors at home.
Common Questions
Yes, frozen broccoli works great in this recipe. The same cooking time will work for frozen broccoli too. You can also use a mix of cauliflower and broccoli.
Yes! You can follow the steps as in the recipe, but add an extra cup of broth and let the veggies simmer in the broth for about 15-20 minutes until they are tender.
Let’s the soup cool completely. Then transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Sure, the cooking time will remain the same even if you half or double the recipe.
Try this recipe and let me know if how you like it. If you are looking for more soup options, check out this collection of 17 Instant Pot Vegetarian Soup recipes for more delicious soups!
Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Ingredients
Seasoning (adjust to taste)
- Salt, to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon Red Chili Flakes
For stovetop
- 2 tablespoon Butter
- 2 tablespoon All purpose flour
- 1 cup Milk , or cream
Instructions
- Start the instant pot in SAUTE mode and melt butter in it. Add diced onions and minced garlic and saute for 2 minutes.
- Add broccoli, carrots, seasoning and broth. Mix it all well. Press Cancel and close the instant pot lid with vent in sealing position.
- Set the instant pot on MANUAL or pressure cook mode at high pressure for 5 minutes.
- When the instant pot beeps, let the pressure release naturally. Open the lid.
On Stovetop
- When the pressure cooking is done, melt butter on a stovetop saucepan. Add the flour and saute for a minute until it is cooked. Whisk in the milk, a little bit at a time, until you have a smooth thick consistency.
Mix it together
- Stir in the roux prepared on the stovetop and the cheddar cheese gradually to the instant pot, stirring continuously, until it melts.
- Change the instant pot to SAUTE mode and let the soup simmer for a couple of minutes.
- Soup is ready to be served. Garnish with some grated cheese, black pepper or red chili flakes and enjoy with crusty bread.
Video
Notes
- In step 1, add all the butter (including what is mentioned in stovetop section). Add diced onions and minced garlic and saute for 2 minutes.
- Add flour and saute for a minute until it is cooked. Add the broth and mix it well with the flour to a smooth consistency. Add broccoli, carrots and seasoning.
- After this follow the steps to close the lid and pressure cook. Stir in the cream after releasing pressure. Stovetop steps can be skipped.
This is my favorite broccoli cheddar soup recipe out of the several I have tried. I double it to make sure we have leftovers. But it’s a little thinner than we’d like. Any suggestions on thickening it up, without reducing the liquids?
Hello Danielle – I am glad you liked this broccoli cheddar soup. My suggestion would be to add a little more flour to the butter when making the roux, to thicken the soup. Hope that helps!
I make a lot of soups in my Instant Pot but this was the first broccoli cheddar soup that I made and I need look no further. It is so delicious and came together so quickly! Thank you for sharing your recipe!
Hey Chari – So happy to hear you enjoyed the soup 🙂
Broccoli Cheddar is my daughter’s favorite soup, and we’ve found a keeper with this recipe! I’ve made it twice: once with celery and once without. My family prefers it without. Thanks for sharing!
Hey Joy – So glad to hear that your family enjoyed the soup. Thank you for sharing your review!
The soup is delicious. Thanks for the recipe. If I want to double the amount, do I need to increase cooking time?
Thank you, Anna. Glad you enjoyed the soup! If you double the recipe, the cooking time will remain the same. Instant pot will just take longer to come to pressure.
Delicious soup! I made it with almond milk and increased the chicken stock, broccoli and onions by about a third. YUM.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the soup 🙂
This was a great recipe! Thank you for sharing it. I was so scared the cheese would curdle but it didn’t, yay! It has a little something missing, and I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s not missing enough to make me not make this again. It was great and the whole family ate it. Thank you again!
Hi Leah – Glad to hear your family enjoyed the soup. I would love to hear if you figure what is missing in the soup 🙂
I’ve always used a small amount of dry mustard in my broccoli cheddar soup. Maybe you could try that? Just a suggestion, this soup is fantastic.
Thank you and great suggestion, Kimberly. I hope that is the missing ingredient for Leah.
Just made this and my family and I loved it! I tried to follow the ingredients exactly, but I didn’t have cream so I used 2% milk. It still turned out amazing! Thank you. Will definitely make again.
Hey Lisa – Using milk works too. Many readers have used milk in place of cream in this recipe. So happy you and your family enjoyed the soup 🙂
I just made this. Followed directions. Set it on pressure cook high as it states. I have a IP80. The line underneath also was high. Should it be on normal? The display read “burn” so naturally I had to end the cooking process. I just got this cooker and this is only my3 3rd meal. Tastes good and thankfully not burnt. Can I doubles the receipt with not going above the lines it states in the inner pot? I don’t understand it is soupy (cliquid) and not dry. What did i do wrong? Thank you. Please just email me the solution.
Hey Barbara – I am glad you liked the taste of the soup. I created this recipe in the 6qt, and I have been hearing that the newer instant pot versions are more sensitive and that the 8qt needs more liquid, so that may be the reason for the Burn sign. I believe it will be okay to double the recipe in an 8qt instant pot.
Great thank you. I will experiment to get the right combinations
Hi! When you sauté, are you using the high setting? My pot defaults to the lowest and I wasn’t sure if I should be bumping it up hotter?!
Soup was amazing.. I halfed it for my mini and ended up eating the whole thing myself lol
Hey Karli – I usually keep mine on Saute (Normal), but feel free to use the setting that works. IF you are monitoring it while on saute, go for the (More) setting too. Happy to hear you enjoyed the soup!
Followed the recipe exactly and it was fantastic! However, it says 6 servings which I thought was a bit high. I had to add in another 2 cups of chicken stock and a half of cup of milk as well as more cheese at the end to feed my family of 5. I’ll just double the recipe next time!