Easy Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup Recipe

This Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup is a creamy, cheesy and easy recipe that is ready in just minutes! Even better than Panera Bread’s, now you can make this in your own kitchen with homemade, wholesome ingredients! 

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

EASY – With just a few ingredients and a couple of steps, this soup takes only minutes to make! And you can even make it ahead of time and keep it warm until it’s needed. This makes it a really easy recipe to feed a crowd!

WHOLESOME – Sure, we all love going to a cafe or restaurant to order our favorite soup. But a lot of those recipes are simply mass produced and reheated in a plastic bad. This Instant Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup is made with simple, real homemade ingredients. So you know exactly what you are putting into you and your family’s tummy! Also, it’s high in fiber and it’s Keto, low carb, gluten-free and easy to make vegetarian friendly!

EASY CLEANUP – Made all in one pot (your Instant Pot), cleanup is a cinch!

MAKE IT YOUR OWN – This is a good “base recipe” that you can add your own ingredient to. Add carrots, spices, pepper, garnishes or improvise on the cheese! You really can’t mess this recipe up!

Broccoli Cheddar Cheese Soup

I fell in love with broccoli cheese soup when I was a little girl. I would always request it whenever I felt under the weather or if I just needed a little comfort food. In fact, this my Instant Pot Chili, and my Instant Pot Chicken Gnocchi soup are the recipes that bring up the best memories of my childhood for me.

Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup

Ingredients

• BROCCOLI – You can use fresh broccoli or frozen broccoli. Either will work fine. We used two large fresh broccoli crowns and diced them up pretty small. But you can keep them larger if you’d like.
• ONION – A diced yellow onion that has a milder and sweeter flavor works better than a red onion.
• CHICKEN BROTH – To make this completely vegetarian, use vegetable broth. Or you can use Better than Bouillon. No need to dilute it first, just throw it in!
• SEASONINGS – Garlic powder, salt and pepper. But you can add whatever seasonings sound good to you. A little smoked paprika. Or some cayenne pepper to add a little heat.
• CHEESE – We used milk shredded cheese. But, we could have probably used sharp cheddar for a more robust flavor. Again, you can change out the cheese to your liking, using a combination of cheeses like mixing in swiss, monterey jack or even pepper jack!
• HALF AND HALF – This thickens up the soup and adds creaminess. If you want to make it even more thick and creamy, you can substitute for Heavy Cream!

Instant Pot Soup with Carrots

A lot of versions of this soup add carrots to it. We didn’t but it’s super easy to add them if you want. Just cut the carrots to desired size and shape. Some people like to shred them and some like to make them into “matchsticks”. You’ll need to use the saute function of your Instant Pot and throw in 2 tablespoons of butter. Saute the carrots (you can sauté the onion too if you’d like) until soft. Then start at step of the instructions below.

Notes, Tips and Variations

• MAKE IT THICKER – We wanted to keep this Keto friendly, so we omitted it. But you can add a tablespoon cream cheese to thicken this s0up up and make it even cheesier. You can also make a roux (with butter, flour and milk) or some cornstarch slurry to thicken it up if needed.
• DON’T USE PRE-SHREDDED CHEESE – Buy a block of cheese at the store and shred it yourself. The pre-shredded stuff doesn’t melt nearly as well.
• HOW CREAMY DO YOU WANT IT? – Depending on how creamy and smooth you want your soup, you can blend it accordingly. You can just stir or whisk it a bit by hand when it’s done cooking to keep it a little chunkier. Alternatively, you can use a hand blender or an immersion blender to make it smoother.
• GARNISHES – Top with more shredded cheese, croutons, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes or green onions.
• SERVE IT IN A BREAD BOWL – To really “wow” your guests, or give yourself a treat, serve this soup in a bread bowl. Find a round loaf of French, sourdough or Italian bread and cut out the middle to make a bowl. Then pour your soup into it!

Don’t have an Instant Pot? Enjoy all the benefits and get yours now!

Directions:
1. Place onions, broccoli, broth and spices into the instant pot.

2. Place the lid on the pot and seal shut. Close the pressure release valve. Set the instant pot to manual, high pressure for 5 minutes.

3. When the cooking cycle is complete, quick release pressure. Open the pot and stir in cheese until melted. Stir in milk.

4. Use an immersion blender to smooth the soup. Serve with additional cheese if desired.

Storage, Freezing and Reheating

You can store leftovers in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 5 days. This recipe reheats just fine in the microwave. You can reheat it on a low setting on your stovetop.

To freeze, allow the soup to fully cool and put it in freezer safe containers or ziplock baggies. It will stay good in your freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in your refrigerator and reheat.

LOOKING FOR MORE INSTANT POT SOUP RECIPES? CHECK OUT:

• OLIVE GARDEN COPYCAT ZUPPA TOSCANA
• INSTANT POT TORTELLINI
• INSTANT POT IRISH COLCANNON SOUP
  To learn more about the benefits of pressure cooking check out our Pressure Cooker Guide.

Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup

Author: A Mom's Impression

5 from 2 votes

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 20 mins

Servings: 6

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

This Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup is an easy recipe to make that is full of flavor and healthier than the original version. Using your pressure cooker, this broccoli cheddar soup in on the table in minutes.

Ingredients 

• 2 large broccoli crowns cut into pieces and stems removed
• 1 small onion diced
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese plus more for serving
• 1 cup half and half

Instructions 

• Place onions, broccoli, broth and spices into the instant pot. Place the lid on the pot and seal shut. Close the pressure release valve. Set the instant pot to manual, high pressure for 5 minutes. When cooking cycle is complete, quick release pressure. Open the pot and stir in cheese until melted. Stir in milk. Use an immersion blender to smooth the soup. Serve with additional cheese if desired.

Notes

*Note cooking time doesn't include the time it takes for your pressure cooker to come to pressure.

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

Sharing of this recipe is encouraged and appreciated. Copying of full recipe to any social media is prohibited.

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