Our Crockpot Broccoli Cheese Soup is a simple, hearty soup that’s rich and creamy. Just 4 net carbs per bowl, loaded with nutritious goodness, and perfect for a chilly night.
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Broccoli is officially my favorite vegetable, which is weird because I feel like broccoli really gets a bad rap.
I mean, it’s so green and funky looking. Kids love to hate it. It kinda stinks when you steam it.
But, y’all, it’s just so GOOD and so easy to doctor up! I can do a million things with broccoli, like make this simple Crockpot Broccoli Cheese Soup, our famous broccoli salad or our chicken broccoli casserole.
I kind of wonder if the broccoli haters out there are mostly only hating it because they are starting with frozen broccoli rather than fresh.
When I finally discovered my love of broccoli, I quickly grew tired of chopping up heads of broccoli every other day, and I ran to Costco and bought a jumbo sized bag of frozen broccoli florets. I thought I was soooo smart.
Then I steamed that frozen broccoli and served it to my family and basically no one ever spoke to me again. They still hold a grudge.
Moral of the story: if you think you don’t like broccoli, be sure to try fresh broccoli instead of frozen. They’re different. 🙂
Anyway, let’s talk about this crockpot broccoli cheddar soup! It’s basically comfort food in a bowl, but it’s also healthy (hello, vegetables), low carb, and will feed a crowd. Love this recipe!!
Ingredient Notes:
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Veggies – I think I made my feelings on broccoli pretty clear: use fresh broccoli! It has such a better texture and flavor. You’ll chop these into florets. No need to steam first the slow cooker will work its magic! You’ll also add in half an onion and some garlic.
Dairy – You’re going to add in some heavy cream along with a whole bunch of shredded cheddar and monterey jack. For the most creamy texture, shred your cheese yourself.
Broth – We’re using chicken broth, but if you want to keep this meal vegetarian, go ahead and use veggie broth. It’s a delicious swap.
Seasoning – To add extra flavor you’ll mix in salt, pepper, ground mustard, and some red pepper flakes. The soup isn’t spicy, but has good flavor.
“What a wonderful chilly night dinner recipe. I love broccoli and cheese but have never made this soup. Could not have been easier. I worked downstairs while the crock pot was working away upstairs. Nice flavors and texture. Served it with a small salad and crusty bread and voila! — a filling and comforting meal.” – Jeanne
How To:
- Broccoli – Slow cooker broccoli cheese soup starts with a whole lotta broccoli. I use fresh, as mentioned above. I generally just buy the bags of already chopped broccoli florets because I’m lazy, but you can definitely start with a couple heads of broccoli and chop it up yourself. Toss the broccoli into a slow cooker. I use the Ninja and love it.
- Soup Mix – To your broccoli, add in some onion, garlic, chicken broth, cream, mustard powder, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. We want flavor in this soup and we’re going to get it! Cover and cook on low for about 4 hours or until your broccoli is very tender.
- Immersion Blend – The color gets a little funky after all that cooking, but just trust me. Things are going to get prettier and super delicious in a minute. Here comes the fun part: blending it up. I use an immersion blender and just pop it right in the slow cooker to do it’s thing. Here’s the one I have and love. I think it’s a worthwhile investment – it’s fairly cheap and, while I don’t use it every day (or even every week), it’s super handy to have when you need it and doesn’t take up much space.
- Traditional Blend – If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can carefully transfer the hot soup to a traditional blender and blend it in batches. Be sure to vent the steam as you blend and just be careful not to burn yourself. Back to the slow cooker for the good stuff…
- Cheese – You can’t make broccoli cheddar soup without cheddar, but I also add in Monterrey jack for extra creamy goodness. We like lots of cheese in our soup! Stir that around until the cheese is melted and you’re done! Creamy broccoli cheddar soup! So easy, right?
- Serve – We like to serve this low carb broccoli cheese soup while it’s good and hot and then top it with even more shredded cheese and some crispy bacon!
Serving Suggestions:
A big steamy bowl of broccoli cheese soup goes great with our keto cauliflower breadsticks, garlic bread chaffle, or cheddar bay biscuits.
Soup and salad is a classic combination. Try our homemade ranch dressing or our homemade thousand island dressing over a green salad.
Want to add some protein? Try serving this along with our keto stuffed mushrooms!
More Low Carb Soup Recipes:
FAQs:
This soup will last for 4-5 days if you keep it well sealed.
You can reheat it in the slow cooker if you’ve got the time, or just heat up a bowl in the microwave or however much you’d like on the stovetop.
The simplest way to thicken this broccoli cheddar soup is to just add more cheddar or more monterey jack. If you’re not watching your carbs, you can also sprinkle in some instant mashed potatoes – they make an easy thickener for soup.
The one and only time I will substitute frozen broccoli for fresh is in soup. Fresh still has the best flavor, but you can use frozen in this recipe if that’s what you have on hand.
It should freeze well for at least 2 months, just make sure that you cool it down completely before putting it in the freezer.
More Family Favorites:
Healthy Green Bean Casserole: This is traditionally served on Thanksgiving, but it’s good any night of the week since my version is easy!!
Roasted Cauliflower Soup: Roasting the cauliflower gives this soup extra flavor!
Spinach Stuffed Chicken: The most popular recipe on this blog!
Million Dollar Spaghetti: We’re using spaghetti squash to cut the carbs here. So good!
Crockpot Broccoli Cheese Soup
Ingredients
- 32 ounces broccoli florets
- ½ onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 4 cups grated cheddar
- 1 1/2 cups grated monterey jack
Instructions
- Add the broccoli, onion, garlic, chicken, broth, cream, ground mustard, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to a 6 quart slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until the broccoli is very tender.
- Use an immersion blender to blend the soup to a smooth consistency. Alternately, carefully transfer the soup to your blender in batches and blend. Be careful while blending hot soup and be sure to vent the steam when blending hot soup.
- Add the cheese to the hot soup and stir well until melted and creamy.
- Serve immediately with additional grated cheese and crumbled bacon, if desired.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Bea says
Delicious! Finally found a way I can eat broccoli lol. Once I removed all the solids to put into nija I added cheese to pot with liquid and it melted after few mintues, then added solids and perfect!!
Theresa says
Do you have a version of this that can go in the crock pot on low for 8 to 10 hours? I’m constantly in a time crunch and looking for great tasting low carb crock pot only recipes that I can dump in the crock pot and head of to work with. AND have something yummy to come home to instead of driving thru a fast food joint cause me and the hubby both are exhausted. Appreciate any suggestions.
Karly Campbell says
Hi Theresa! I haven’t tried cooking this one for that long, but you could give it a shot. The broccoli turns to mush/gets blended up either way so I don’t think that will be an issue. The only thing might get weird is the cream. I’d probably hold off and stir it in after melting in the soup or an hour or so before, if you’re home in time.
Karly Campbell says
That last comment should say “after melting the cheese in the soup” 🙂
TripinTrish says
Wish I could share a picture This was easy & turned out really good I used the frozen streamable broccoli, cooked with the broth – garlic – onion & seasoning for like 40 minutes. Then added the other ingredients & emulsified – so good, very filling & satisfying. My 9yr old daughter ate two helpings
Jim says
Really good soup! I’ve read some of the comments and if you’re too dumb to melt cheese maybe canned soup is more your speed!
Rebecca says
This recipe was easy to follow and tasted amazing. We added a little jalapeno velveeta for an added bite. Delicious! We are gonna make it again this weekend. Honestly when I heated it up the next day it was even better. We did have to add a little half & half because it was really thick.
Karly Campbell says
Sounds delicious!
Josh says
Doesn’t work don’t waste your time and money
Karly Campbell says
Hi Josh! Sorry to hear this didn’t turn out for you…can you tell me what issues you had? I’d love to help troubleshoot as this recipe gets made in our house quite often with no problems and I’ve heard from lots of other readers that they love it too.
Sheryl says
Loved this soup.I took everything out of slow cooker and into a deep pan for immersion blender.Brought the heat up and cheese melted fine.Yummy!
Vickie says
Girl, I don’t know why you call yourself “lazy” because you purchase broccoli florets vs. breaking it down yourself! You are a homemaker, raising kids and taking care of a hubby. You rule over TWO blogs, developing recipes for both. I don’t know how you keep your sanity but if it is purchasing precut broccoli, then you go girl! Let know one judge and if they do, may they walk a MONTH in your shoes! Thanks for all you do on both blogs!
Karly Campbell says
Haha, never looked at it that way, Vickie! Thanks! 🙂
Theresa says
Exactly, we are all busy, Vickie and Karly should make absolutely NO apologies… none of us for that matter.
Wendy says
Whats the cholesterol rating of this soup?
Karly Campbell says
Hi Wendy! The nutrition info that I provide is located in the recipe card. If you’re looking for more info, you’d need to plug this into an online calculator. 🙂
Maria says
Is it possible to freeze this soup?
Karly Campbell says
This should freeze fine, though I’ve honestly never tried it.
Barbara says
Hoping it freezes well..am the only one here to eat it!
Stephanie says
Did it freeze well? I also am the only person who will eat this soup so I’m curious about your experience! Alternatively I was thinking of freezing it without the cheese and add the cheese when reheating; I’m not sure if that would be a good option.
Penni Hall says
I am thinking of taking this to a pot luck but an hour or so away. DO you think it would work if I did everything bud add the cheese the night before, let it cool. and reheat to add cheese?
Karly Campbell says
Hi Penni! I think it would probably work, but I can’t say for sure.
Giju says
Thank you for post these! I was just thinking today how I’d love so soup since I’m not feeling all that well! Love your posts and recipes!
Bari says
I made this a couple nights ago and can’t stop eating it! I did have one oops, only looked at recipe while shopping and got stone ground mustard instead of dry mustard. So I have no idea how this recipe is SUPPOSED to taste but it’s yummy with stone ground mustard! LOL! I read the comments as it was cooking and added W sauce then made sure to get it bubbling hot before I added the cheese at the end. Melted perfectly! I don’t have an immersion blender and wasn’t willing to spend time transferring, but as I thought, the broccoli was so soft I just used a big spoon to smash it and left some chunks on purpose. This will be added to my repertoire for sure!
Hannah Cantu says
Love this! I made this last night and it so good! I didn’t use preshredded cheese, I used blocks and cut them up in strps and cubes. It seemed to work. It saved on some carbs using the block of cheese. I will definitely be making this again!
Kelly says
Like many others, my cheese did not melt well. I followed the recipe to the T & grated my own sharp cheddar. This soup doesn’t work unless you’re ok with chewy soup. Good flavor but yucky texture. An expensive disappointment!
Karly Campbell says
Hi Kelly!
I’m guessing that the issue with the cheese not melting, is that the soup isn’t hot enough by the time the cheese is added. Every slow cooker is different and if yours runs a bit cooler, it may just need a little time covered on high to heat back up after blending. Hope that helps.
Alison says
Letting the cheese come to room temperature before adding it worked at treat, also add it slowly about 1/2 a cup at a time and mix until its completely melted before adding more. Ours turned out amazing!
Marla Norris says
I followed this recipe to a “T” as well, and sadly, although the soup had a good flavor, it turned out like sludge (and there was a lot of it!). I think using an immersion blender, made it worse. Also, I think using 32 oz. of broccoli (which I bought in the produce department), is too much broccoli. I will try this recipe again, but without using my immersion blender, and instead, I will hand cut it up into tinier pieces, and with less broccoli.
Karly Campbell says
Sorry to hear this one didn’t work well for you. I’m not sure what you mean by sludge, but the soup is supposed to be thick.
Marla says
Reply to Karly: The soup was not thick, and what I mean by “sludge” is that there were clumps of broccoli in the soup; they were like mud balls. When I added the cheese (and it was block cheese that I shredded up), it melted quickly. So I don’t know if the cheese adhered to the broccoli, causing broccoli balls, if you will, or if the broccoli got too blended up??? I don’t know what I did wrong, but like I said, I followed the directions to a T.
Cathy says
I used sharp cheddar & Pepper Jack cheese. Grated them myself. Used a 32oz bag of frozen broccoli. 4 hrs in crock pot and WOW!!! Delish!!!!
Debbie Yeager says
Do you think using broccoli and cauliflower florets would be good together for this soup?
Karly Campbell says
It would be great! 🙂
Bonnie says
Would Swiss be a good option instead of the Monterey Jack?
Karly Campbell says
It will definitely have a shaper stronger flavor, but if you like swiss it should be great. 🙂
Lisa M says
Really tasty, however , the cheese did not melt well. It was still fine to eat, just not sure what I did wrong. I grated it myself…. using the Hautly brand which is what my husband bought ( but I had never used that before. ) I usually grate Cabot and will try that again next time.
Lori Clarke says
Great recipe! The only thing i added was a splash of Worcestershire sauce, after reading the comments. Thank you for the recipe!
Karly Campbell says
Oh, that sounds like a good addition!
BRIAN SUSTEN says
How many days do you think this soup will last ?
Karly Campbell says
I think it’d last for 4-5 days in the fridge. 🙂
Kathy Young says
Haven’t made this soup yet, but it sounds yummy! I was wondering if you have to blend the soup, or can you leave it chunky? My husband said that he thinks he would rather have the chunks. What’s your thoughts on this?
Karly Campbell says
You can leave it chunky, if you like.