This recipe for Cheddar Cheese Soup is creamy and comforting. Filled with bits of zucchini, broccoli, and carrots, it’s veggie-packed comfort food.
This is one of the best recipes for using a lot of milk.
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Soup is one of my favorite things for a go-to lunch. And this cheddar cheese soup recipe is one of my favorite soups, an all-time comfort food for me. When we were newlyweds our landlady made a soup like this often. Since my husband doesn’t like creamy soups, I loved it when Karen made it. Then I could enjoy it without feeling bad that I was making something he didn’t like.
Over the years I learned that I can have my soup and make it the way I want it, too. Once after a bout with the flu, I whipped up a batch and froze the extra.
Lo and behold! Cheddar cheese soup reheats really well in the microwave, making it a real keeper for freezer cooking. Ta-da! I can make a big batch of this soup and eat all I want!
How to make cheddar cheese soup
This cheddar cheese soup recipe will start by cooking your veggies in one pot and then making the soup base in a second pot. Start by melting your butter and the add your garlic, zucchini, carrots, and onion. You want to saute the veggies until they are tender. Then go ahead and add the broccoli and broth.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a second large pot. You will whisk in the flour and cook for a minute or two then whisk in the milk. As it simmers, this will thicken up.
How do you add cheese to soup?
Now time for the best part – the cheese! Once that has been mixed in, add in your vegetable mixture and it’s read to serve!
If I have small containers of soup in the freezer, I can easily have soup any day of the week — all year long. And any kind I like. 😉
This Cheddar Cheese Soup recipe is an adaptation of my dear landlady, Karen’s recipe. She’s also responsible for my deep and abiding love for Poblano Chiles and Cheese Enchiladas. Thank you, Karen!
What goes good with cheese soup?
Making a soup night a success doesn’t have to be difficult. A cheese soup goes great with some homemade bread – like this whole wheat beer bread recipe or a great grilled cheese.
It also pairs well with a simple salad like my Quick and Easy Caesar Salad Recipe.
How to make this good and cheap:
Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this recipe more economical:
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. When I find regular kitchen staples on sale, I buy a lot. I’m currently using a price book to track prices and that’s saving me money. For this recipe, keeping an eye on the prices of cheese and butter can help keep the price down. When I see a good deal on those produce items, I buy a lot and throw them in my freezer.
- Freezer cooking – by cooking in bulk I save time and effort. I don’t need to get take out when I can heat up a small dish of soup that I made my very own self!
How I make this recipe easy:
This recipe really couldn’t be easier than it is, but having the right kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs.
Here are the tools that I use for this recipe:
Vegetable Cheddar Cheese Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 clove garlic minced
- ½ zucchini shredded
- 1 carrots peeled and shredded
- ½ onion grated
- 1 head broccoli chopped into mini florets
- 3 cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 2 cup milk
- 8 oz cheddar cheese (shredded) (2 cups)
- salt
- black pepper
Instructions
- In large saucepot, melt butter. Add garlic, zucchini, carrots, and onion. Saute until veggies are tender. Stir in broccoli and broth. Simmer until broccoli is tender.
- Meanwhile, melt butter in large pot. Whisk in flour and cook for a minute or two. Whisk in milk until smooth. Simmer until thickened.
- Whisk in cheddar cheese. Incorporate vegetable mixture into cheese sauce, whisking until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Amy
Can anyone tell me how many servings of soup this recipe makes? I’d love to make it for a crowd and need to figure out if I’d need to double, triple, or quadruple it!
Jessica
Since I’m the only one who really eats it, it serves one. 😉 But, realistically speaking, I’m going to say 4, depending on side dishes.
Stacey
This soup looks amazing! Regardless of the time of year, we have soup night every Wednesday. I usually alternate between broccoli-cheddar, chicken noodle (with extra carrots for my 3-year old), and tomato cannellini bean. This cheddar soup with vegetables is a great way to incorporate more vegetables in a way my children are familiar with. It is definitely going into the rotation.
Dina
I’m changing my Friday night meal plan to this! So excited because I have ton of veggies in my freezer from our CSA this year. I think I’m going to add a pureed veggie to it too. I keep lots of pureed veggies in the freezer too just to stir into almost anything I’m cooking-hubby & son usually don’t have a clue they are eating an extra veggie that way. I started doing this after reading Jessica Seinfelds cook book Deceptively Delicious.
Thanks for these great recipes!
P Reis
I made this tonight as part of the Pantry Challenge but with butternut squash as you’d mentioned earlier in the week (or last week? Brain is not remembering). It was WONDERFUL! Because it was such a different squash flavor, I made significant tweaks. First, I halved the butternut squash and roasted it (with a touch of olive oil brushed on) for 30 minutes — not long enough to make it very mushy, just long enough to give a nice roasted flavor and also allow me to still cut it into cubes (it separates from the peel easier this way too).
I omitted the zucchini and also the broccoli. I more or less followed the rest of the instructions, adding the squash when the broccoli and zuke would have gone in EXCEPT: once I’d added the broth (I used veggie), I brought it to a boil, then simmered for about 20 minutes and took the immersion blender to the veggie mix before adding in the cheese blend. For seasonings, I used salt and pepper, nutmeg, and some cinnamon. Next time I will add some ground cloves too. I didn’t have any this time. You could also do caraway seed or go savory with rosemary, but the sweeter flavor was sounding really good to me.
Thanks for another great recipe!
Jessica
@P Reis, I’m new to butternut soup. Do you have to puree it? I mean would most people think it was weird to have chunks of squash in the soup?
P Reis
@Jessica, No, I don’t think it would be weird at all. It’s personal preference, and I think this could be made either way. On this particular night the combination of the cheese and squash just called out for pureeing! It was super creamy and delish for a cold night.
Amy
Good soup! We had it this evening. I took out some of the zucchini, carrot, onion, broth and broccoli mixture and pureed it for my 8 month old – perfect! Then finished the soup as directed for the rest of us. Also added about 1/2 cup of pre-cooked hamburger meat that I had leftover from this weekend.
Thanks for the great recipes!
Carolyn
I made this soup last night – it was great. I made a few changes to use up what I had on hand – I used yellow squash instead of zucchini, 1/2 of the milk was changed to chicken stock. I added extra carrots and some crispy fried rice.
Great recipe – thanks.
Kathleen
I made this soup this weekend and it was great. I left out the carrots since we running low and probably put in 3 times as much zucchini because we have a ton but over all the reviews have been great and I am pleased. I also used powdered milk to make my cream sauce to keep the cost down and it turned out great.
Thanks so much for sharing a new zucchini favorite for my little family!
Jessica
Sounds like some very creative tweaks. Good for you!
Amy
Made this for lunch today and it was AWESOME!!! I’ve been feeling under the weather all week and this seriously hit the spot! This will definitely be a repeat at our house 🙂
Amy
Um…..DUH! I just reread your post where you said it freezes well. SORRY!
Amy
Fishmama….do you think this would freeze well?
Kristine
Can I just tell you I am pregnant with my third and this was *EXACTLY* what I was craving! I have a pot ready right now, waiting for my husband to get home so I can chow down! Thanks for the recipe!
Nancy
I could do soup year round but the rest of my family says no unless it’s cool weather. And, I’ll have to admit that when it is still 105 degrees at dinner time, I’d rather have a salad.
Kelly-AtMySink
I love soup all year long! I think this soup would be fabulous in a bread bowl. YUM!
Shelah
We do soup in the summer. (But not stews…what’s the difference? ??))
Every Friday night we have soup and challah bread.
I’d puree some of this (before adding cheese since melted cheese doesn’t puree so well) so sweet babe#1 won’t complain about “things in her soup”.
Rebecca
I actually have all of these ingredients in my kitchen right now. I might just have to try this for dinner tonight. Thanks for such a simple looking soup recipe.
sarah k. @ the pajama chef
mmm that looks good!
Brianna
Hi dear!
This looks SUPER delish and its going in my RECIPE BOOKMARKS NOW!
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my GIVE THANKS SITE is http://www.mygivethankswalk.org/brianna
AllieZirkle
Definately! We did chicken noodle with summer veggies on Wednesday. I also love corn chowder with fresh corn. Yum!
This cheddar soup looks tasty!
Ashley
I love soup any time of year. I wish my family liked it as much as I do. Unfortunately I have to settle for having it in the fall and winter. This recipe looks great!
michelle
Funny I guess as some think, We still soup quite a bit in the summer. My kids can’t go a few weeks without potato soup or ghoulash or chicken noodle soup lol. This soup is right up my alley and sounds great, I just dehydrated a bunch of broccoli can’t wait to try this one!!! Thanks Michelle