A Perfect Soup For Dinner or Meal Prep
As we head into the winter months and away from the holidays, I am going to be posting more ideas for meal prepping. I’ve found not only do I eat healthier, but I also spend way less money when I have meals prepped and ready to go for the week. This instant pot broccoli cheese soup is a great make ahead meal to throw in the fridge for lunch or to freeze in individual portions for a quick lunch. It is great when you don’t have time that week to prepare. Last week as we were wrapping up our Souper December, I made this soup for our carry in at work and it lasted great in the crock pot as well!
I have made this recipe probably on average every 2-3 months for the last 2 years since I received my instant pot for Christmas in 2017. I started with the base recipe from the blog Adventures Of a Nurse. I adjusted it to make it work for the ingredients I had on hand and to my taste.
Start with pouring in the chicken broth and then adding in the onion, nutmeg and garlic powder. This is the largest variation of the above recipe since I do not put actual onions in my recipe. I find it is a huge time saver since I don’t have to saute the onions first, and I usually do not have them on hand. Then dump in the frozen broccoli and carrots. You can use fresh or frozen carrots. If you decide to use fresh broccoli make sure to cut your time down in the pressure cooker to avoid over cooking. The finial ingredient to add prior to pressure cooking is the cream cheese, this did make me a little nervous the first time I did it though– since everything I had read prior said to not pressure cook diary products. It turned out perfect though!
Pressure cook on manual — high pressure for 6 minutes. If using fresh vegetables pressure cook on high for 4 minutes. While this is cooking prepare your other ingredients and have them handy to dump in when you are done with the next steps. Also get a blender or food processor ready to chop up your broccoli and carrots.
Once the 6 minutes has been completed, do a rapid pressure release and take the lid off carefully. Ladle out the broccoli and carrots into your food processor or blender and puree. It took me 2 batches in my food processor to get all of the large clumps out of my soup.
Add in your heavy cream and both cheeses. Set your instant pot to saute for 5 minutes, continue to stir to avoid the soup from burning to the bottom of the pan. Serve immediately or transfer to an air tight container to refrigerator or freeze for later. Let the soup cool prior to sealing these containers and placing the soup in the refrigerator or freezer.
If you are going to be traveling with your soup you can reheat your soup in a crock pot. Enjoy your soup with crackers, a sandwich or rolls!
If you enjoy our instant pot broccoli cheese soup also try our Instant Pot Cheese Vegetable Soup!
Ingredients For Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup
3 Cups Chicken Broth
1 Teaspoon Onion Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg
8 baby carrots or 1/4 bag of frozen carrots
1 1/2 (12 oz) Bag Frozen Broccoli, or 1 lb fresh broccoli
8 Oz Cream Cheese
2 Cups Heavy Cream
8 Oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese
4 Oz Colby Jack Cheese
Instant Pot Broccoli Cheese Soup
Equipment
- electric pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 3 Cups Chicken Broth
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg
- 8 Baby Carrots or ¼ bag of frozen carrots
- 1 ½ 12 oz bags Frozen Broccoli or 1 lb fresh broccoli cut
- 8 oz Cream Cheese
- 2 Cups Heavy Cream
- 8 oz Sharp Cheddar Cheese Shredded
- 4 oz Colby Jack Cheese Shredded
Instructions
- Start with pouring the chicken broth, onion powder, garlic powder, and nutmeg into the instant pot. Mix well.
- Add in the carrots, broccoli and cream cheese.
- Place the lid on your pressure cooker, place the value in sealing mode. Cook on high pressure for 6 minutes if you are using frozen broccoli or 4 minutes if you are using fresh broccoli.
- Quick release the pressure when the time is up. Strain out the larger pieces of broccoli and carrots, place them in a blender or food processor. Blend to the desired texture. Place back into the Instant Pot.
- Add in the heavy cream, shredded sharp cheddar cheese and Colby jack cheese.
- Set your Instant Pot to Saute for 5 minutes, continue to stir consistently to prevent the soup burning to the bottom of the Instant Pot insert.
- Enjoy your Broccoli Cheddar Soup!
Notes
Posted originally 12/26/2019, updated 3/9/2020.