Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup is easy, creamy and full of vegetables. This soup is cheesy and makes a comforting, hearty meal the whole family will love. Add crunchy croutons and fresh parsley to finish it off.
INSTANT POT BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP
Today’s Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup is a great recipe to make in your pressure cooker and will save you time in the kitchen.
The American Dairy Association Mideast and I are teaming up to bring this delicious soup recipe to your kitchen and provide you with tips when using dairy and your instant pot.
When making this soup all the ingredients cook in one pot and is ready to eat in under 30 minutes.
You can’t beat that when making a delicious, creamy soup for your family.
The stars of this soup are the vegetables and the dairy — the broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and celery along with the milk, cream and cheese.
This vegetable combination creates flavorful soup packed with nutrition that becomes creamy with milk, cream and cheese.
The cheese and dairy in this soup provide enough protein and calcium to create a satisfying, hearty vegetarian soup.
My kids love adding croutons on top of their Broccoli Cheese Soup. I also suggest fresh parsley and a sprinkle of crushed red pepper.
I have lived in Ohio for about 4 years now and I have grown to really appreciate our agriculture that we have.
Did you know that Ohio and West Virginia dairy farmers raise more than 268,000 dairy cows on about 2,200 dairy farms?
In an average year, Ohio and West Virginia dairy cows produce approximately 5.6 billion pounds, or about 656 million gallons, of milk. That is a lot of milk! Ohio is actually ranked 11th nationally in milk production.
Live in Ohio or West Virginia? See what dairy farming family may live closest to you—your milk may come from their farm!
WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF DAIRY?
- Experts recommend 3 servings of dairy foods every day, but 85% of Americans aren’t consuming enough dairy foods each day.
- One way to help add dairy to your diet is to substitute creamy milk for water in soups.
- Milk, cheese and yogurt contain a unique package of nine essential nutrients.
- A recent survey of 1,505 moms of kids between the ages of 1-18 found that only 29% reported serving milk to their children at dinner. By not serving milk with meals, kids miss out on key nutrients like calcium, potassium, vitamin D and dietary fiber—nutrients they often don’t get enough of in their diet, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Milk is the No. 1 diet source of calcium in the diet!
- Pairing cheese with vegetables, like in today’s soup, may help to get kids to eat more veggies and dairy in their diets. Cheese is a high-quality source of protein, calcium, phosphorus and vitamin A.
- Cheese is the No. 2 source of calcium for Americans. It can provide calcium to meet nutrition recommendations and help to fill the protein gap.
INSTANT POT DAIRY COOKING TIPS
- When cooking with dairy in the Instant Pot, be careful because milk can scald or curdle quickly, and cheese can get watery.
- When using dairy products to make a creamy or cheesy recipe, add the dairy ingredients after the pressure-cooking process is complete.
- Dairy ingredients are best added during a sauté or warming step at the end of the cooking time. This way, you’ll be left with a creamier dish that isn’t watery and curdled.
WHAT GOES IN BROCCOLI CHEESE SOUP?
If you know me, you know I am all about variations to recipes, modifications and ways to make things even healthier. Lets dig in to this recipe and see how you can change things up.
Dairy: This recipe calls for a 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup cream. If you want to skip the cream you can use 1 cup milk instead. Keep in mind the cream {or half and half} gives the soup that creamy texture. Also, the more fat the milk you use has, the more creamy texture the soup will have.
Cheese: I used sharp cheddar in this soup because I like the intense flavor of that cheese. I did top my soup with a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar. You can feel free to use whatever cheese you fancy. I especially like pepper jack and gouda to mix things up.
Vegetables: I used broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery and onion in this soup. You can easily just do the broccoli and leave out the other vegetables or pick and choose based on your liking. I think the variety of vegetables gives it added nutrition and flavor though!
Spices: Every good recipe uses some kind of spices to flavor it. I used paprika and nutmeg to brighten this soup up. I also like to sprinkle crushed red pepper on the final bowl of soup. Some other spices that are nice in this soup are mustard powder and oregano.
Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup
Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup is easy, creamy and full of vegetables. This soup is cheesy and makes a comforting, hearty meal the whole family will love. Add crunchy croutons and fresh parsley to finish it off.
Ingredients
For the soup
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup sweet onion, diced
- 2 large carrots, peeled, diced
- 2 celery stalks, ends trimmed off, diced
- 6 cups broccoli florets, chopped small
- 2 cups cauliflower, chopped small
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup 2% milk {or milk of your choice}
- 1/2 cup cream or half and half
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese {or cheese of your choice}
Garnishes
- Crushed red pepper
- Fresh parsley
- Croutons
Instructions
- Turn your Instant Pot or pressure cooker to SAUTE mode and add the butter. Once the pressure cooker is hot stir the butter around the pot to make sure the pot is covered in the butter. Add the garlic and onion and cook for 2-3 minutes to soften the onion. Add a small amount of the broth and use the spoon to deglaze and the pot by scraping up all of the browned bits that were created when cooking the garlic and onion.
- Add the carrot, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, broth, paprika, nutmeg, salt and pepper and give the soup a good stir.
- Close the lid on the pressure cooker and seal, making sure the vent is pointing to sealed. Cook on Manual HIGH Pressure for 3 minutes. When it is done cooking do a quick release and let all of the steam out of the Instant Pot.
- Once the steam is released carefully open the lid.
- If you want a creamier soup use an immersion blender to puree all of the soup or remove a portion of the soup and puree that. You can also use a blender to puree a small amount of the soup. Return the soup to the Instant Pot.
- Add the milk, cream and cheese and stir well. Let sit for a minute or two until the cheese melts. Taste and adjust seasonings.
- Garnish with extra cheese, fresh parsley, croutons and crushed red pepper.
Notes
Try using a different cheese to add a variety of flavors to the soup. I like using mozzarella, pepper jack or gouda.
You can use whatever vegetables you want in this soup. I like the broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and celery but you can easily leave one or two out and just go with more of the others.
The cream creates a creamier soup but you can eliminate it. I would just adjust and use 1 cup of milk instead of the 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup cream.
To thicken your soup you can stir together 2 Tablespoons cornstarch and 2 Tablespoons cold water together. Stir this in to the soup.
For more information about dairy nutrition, to find delicious new recipes and to meet Ohio and West Virginia dairy farmers, visit www.Drink-MIlk.com, and follow the American Dairy Association Mideast on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram.
Today’s post is sponsored by ADA Mideast. As always all opinions are 100% my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that allow me to create new and exciting recipes.
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ariful
Tuesday 4th of June 2019
It seems this Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup is full of protein. will definitely try soon
polo jafri
Monday 29th of April 2019
i must say broccoli cheese soup is a full of nutritious soup.Keep inventing new dishes