What Is Soup, broccoli cheese and How Can I Use It?
If soup, broccoli cheese has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 7 recipes to try it in.
Key Points
- Condensed cheese-and-broccoli soup; an instant cheddar sauce and casserole binder, not really a bowl soup.
- Pour it over vegetables, potatoes, or rice for a one-step cheese sauce.
- Binds potato, beef-rice, and chicken bakes with cheese and broccoli flavor built in.
- Warm it gently with milk, since the cheese and flour turn grainy over hard heat.
- Swap with cheddar cheese soup plus chopped broccoli; standard can is 10.5 ounces.
What is soup, broccoli cheese?
Broccoli cheese soup is a condensed canned soup that pairs a creamy cheese sauce with bits of broccoli. It is thick and rich straight from the can, more a cheesy vegetable sauce than a thin soup.
That richness is exactly why cooks cook with it rather than just ladle it into a bowl.
Like the other condensed soups, its real job in the kitchen is as an instant cheese sauce and casserole binder, with the broccoli and cheddar flavor already built in.
How to Use It
Straight from the can it is a ready-made cheese sauce. Pour it over steamed vegetables, baked potatoes, or rice, and it does the work of a homemade cheddar sauce in one step, the idea behind Anytime Broccoli Cheese Sauce.
As a binder, it brings cheese and broccoli to a bake at once. It holds together a Beef-Rice Casserole and a Potato Broccoli Casserole, and it makes the sauce for chicken in dishes like Everyday Broccoli Cheese Chicken and Chicken Thighs in Cheesy Broccoli Sauce.
Warm it gently with a splash of milk, because the cheese and flour scorch and turn grainy over hard, dry heat.
Substitutes and Storage
Plain cheese soup or condensed cheddar cheese soup swaps in one for one; stir in a handful of chopped cooked broccoli to match. Cream of broccoli soup with a handful of shredded cheddar melted in also covers it.
From scratch, make a cheese sauce by melting cheddar into a milk-and-flour white sauce, then stir in finely chopped cooked broccoli.
Cans run about 10.5 ounces (roughly 298 grams). Skip any that bulge or leak. Unopened they keep a year or more in the pantry; once opened, refrigerate leftovers in a sealed container and use within three to four days.
Quick facts
- In Chinese
- 汤，椰菜奶酪
- British (UK) term
- Soup, broccoli cheese
- en français
- soupe, le brocoli fromage
- en español
- sopa, queso brócoli
Recipes using soup, broccoli cheese
There are 7 recipes that contain this ingredient.
Golden Chicken & Noodles
Golden chicken and noodles made in the slow cooker with broccoli cheese soup, milk, and basil. A creamy, hands-off comfort dinner that cooks all day while you're away.
Cheddary Scalloped Potatoes
Cheddar scalloped potatoes made stovetop with broccoli cheese soup, milk, and sauteed onion. A quick, creamy side dish ready in 30 minutes, no oven needed.
Potato Broccoli Casserole
Potato broccoli casserole with thinly sliced potatoes baked in broccoli cheese soup until golden and tender. Just 5 ingredients for a creamy, hands-off side dish.
Beef-Rice Casserole
Ground beef, rice, and broccoli baked in a creamy broccoli cheese sauce until bubbly and golden. A budget-friendly weeknight casserole that feeds 8 with minimal effort.
Everyday Broccoli Cheese Chicken
One-skillet broccoli cheese chicken with tender chicken breasts simmered in creamy broccoli cheese soup. A weeknight dinner ready in about 40 minutes with five pantry ingredients.
Anytime Broccoli Cheese Sauce
Quick 5-minute broccoli cheese sauce using canned soup and milk for an easy vegetable topping that transforms plain veggies into kid-friendly sides.
Chicken Thighs in Cheesy Broccoli Sauce
Browned chicken thighs simmered in a creamy broccoli cheese sauce with carrots, bell pepper, and garlic. Wok-cooked for one-pot ease and ready in an hour.
