Broccoli Cheese Casserole Soup
A Memory In A Pot Of Soup
Broccoli Cheese Casserole Soup has all the flavors of your favorite holiday casserole in a delicious bowl of soup. This soup is very easy to make, requires just a few ingredients, and it makes great leftovers.
My Aunt Barb will tell you that she is not much of a cook, but she makes a few dishes that have stuck with me my whole life. One is her Meat Spaghetti Sauce and the other is her Broccoli Cheese Casserole.
I love her casserole so much that I had always wished I could just eat it more of it throughout the year. That was when I came up with the idea to make it into a soup!
I tested it out and it was heavenly. All the flavors of the casserole in soup form.
I also love the way Ritz Crackers taste crumbled on top of this delicious bowl of soup. The buttery flavor reminds me of the top of the casserole.
Creating All Day Flavor In Just A Few Minutes
The base of any soup should be carrots, celery, and onion. This is what gives soups the all day cooked flavors.
I added mushrooms to this mix because that is what I like to add in the broccoli and cheese casserole. If you are not a fan of mushroom, you can omit this ingredient and the soup will be just fine.
Carrot Shortcut
If you want to save time slicing and dicing, you can go ahead and buy some shredded carrots for this recipe and you will save yourself some time.
I also always suggest that if you are not handy with a knife, utilize your grocery store’s salad bar to buy already prepped vegetables to make things like soups and stews. This makes cooking for dinner so much easier.
Campbell’s Soup Is Good Food
If you are older like me, you will remember this Campbell’s advertising campaign. I am always prepared for the people who will read this recipe and come back to the Facebook comments ranting about Campbell’s soup.
I have to be honest, I really do not want to hear about it. I have used Campbell’s Soup for years and I am still alive to talk about it.
In fact, it is one of the main ingredients in one of my most popular recipes for my Grandma’s Swiss Chicken.
All of that being said, if you do not want to use the soup, I am sure you can find an easy homemade alternative to making this soup. I will not call the MSG police on you.
Sharp Cheddar Cheese
I always recommend grating your own cheese for these types of recipes. It melts much easier into the soup than the already grated cheese.
Also, no, they do not add sawdust to the already grated cheese. It is a plant cellulose, like what you find in nuts, that is added to keep it from sticking together.
It is FINE to eat but it does change the texture of the broth, so please grate your own.
Velveeta, OMG
I was almost going to make this soup with Velveeta Cheese like I use in my Decadent Macaroni and Cheese but I figured the soup police would really lose it over that ingredient.
If you would like, you can use Velveeta for this instead of the shredded sharp cheddar cheese.
Broccoli Cheese Casserole Soup Recipe
You will be glad to know that this soup freezes very well. Serve this soup with a nice scoop of warm rice and some freshly grated sharp cheddar. Sprinkle of parsley for garnish.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of sliced chopped Mushrooms
- 2 twelve ounce bags of Frozen Broccoli
- 2 cans of Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup
- 1 can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup
- 1 cup of diced Carrots
- 1 cup of diced Yellow Onion
- 1 cup of diced Celery
- 4 cups of Chicken Broth
- 2 cups of Hot Water
- 1/4 cup of Heavy Cream
- 1 teaspoon of Celery Seed
- 1 teaspoon of Celery Salt
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 3 cups of Cooked Rice
- 4 cups of grated sharp Cheddar Cheese
- Cooking Oil of your choice
Instructions
- Heat the cooking oil in a very deep sided skillet or soup pot. I use about a tablespoon.
- Add the mushrooms and sauté for 10 minutes then add the onion, celery, and carrot.
- Sauté the veggies until golden brown, then season with the celery seed, celery salt, and black pepper.
- While the vegetables cook, in a large bowl, add the 3 cans of soup and two cups of hot water and whisk until smooth.
- Add the frozen broccoli to the vegetables. I add it frozen. Sauté for about 5 minutes, then add your four cups of chicken broth.
- Now is around the time I prepare my rice. I cook my rice in my Instant Pot.
- Bring the veggies and broth to a simmer. Set the temp to low. Cover and let simmer for around 25 minutes or more. I keep an eye and stir occasionally. *You can keep some extra chicken broth on hand to thin out the soup at the end if it is too thick for you.
- After the veggies have simmered, if you like, you can use an immersion blender to make the soup smoother. Sometimes I do, sometimes I do not.
- Add the cheddar and mushroom soup mixture.
- Whisk this in well to combine, bring to a simmer and let cook for 15 minutes, simmering on low. Taste, adjust the seasonings, and you can also add more chicken broth during this step if you like a thinner broth soup.
- Stir in 2 to 3 cups of the shredded cheddar cheese and whisk well to combine. When this is all melted in, turn off the heat and add the heavy cream.
- Serve the soup in bowls, top with a scoop of rice and more of the shredded sharp cheddar and I also like to sometimes add crushed Ritz Crackers.
