High Protein Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Creamy, comforting, and packed with protein, this broccoli cheddar soup is perfect for your cozy weeknight dinner rotation. Think velvety cheddar goodness, tender broccoli, and a secret boost of protein to keep you full and satisfied. We’re packing in 36g of protein per serving with this one, so it’s safe to say this is hearty & filling.
High Protein Broccoli Cheddar Soup Ingredient Notes
Cauliflower: Cauliflower adds body and creaminess to the soup without needing heavy cream. When blended with cottage cheese, it creates a silky base that feels indulgent while staying light. It’s also a great source of fiber and micronutrients like vitamin C. In this recipe, it’s a subtle but essential player in the soup’s texture and nutrition.
Cottage Cheese: This is the secret protein booster in the soup, blending seamlessly into the base for a creamy texture and high protein content. It lightens up the soup compared to traditional cream and adds a mild tang. Blending it with cauliflower helps make the soup velvety smooth.
Broccoli: It’s the star vegetable of the dish and it brings fiber, vitamins, and that classic green goodness to every bite. Chopped into small pieces, it cooks quickly and adds both color and texture. It balances out the richness of the cheese and keeps the soup hearty but wholesome. When tender, it soaks up the cheesy broth beautifully.
Cheddar Cheese: A mix of sharp and mild cheddar gives this soup its signature flavor—creamy, bold, and comforting. It melts into the broth to create a luscious, cheesy finish that ties all the ingredients together. Using two kinds of cheddar adds depth, while the protein content contributes to the soup’s heartiness. It’s what makes this feel like a classic broccoli cheddar soup, just upgraded.
High Protein Broccoli Cheddar Soup
4
servings25
minutes40
minutesCreamy, comforting, and packed with protein, this broccoli cheddar soup is perfect for your cozy weeknight dinner rotation. Think velvety cheddar goodness, tender broccoli, and a secret boost of protein to keep you full and satisfied. We’re packing in 36g of protein per serving with this one, so it’s safe to say this is hearty & filling.
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Ingredients
12 ounces cauliflower florets (about 4 cups)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or unsalted vegan butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, diced
6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons tapioca flour or arrowroot starch (can sub cornstarch)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, additional to taste
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, additional to taste
32 ounces low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
20 ounces broccoli florets, chopped into small pieces (about 8 cups)
16 ounces 4% milkfat cottage cheese
2 packed cups shredded cheddar cheese (1 cup mild, 1 cup sharp recommended)
Directions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the cauliflower florets and boil until fork tender, 7 to 9 minutes. Drain the water and set aside to cool.
- Heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the butter and oil. Once melted, add the shallot. Cook, stirring often, until translucent, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking and stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the tapioca flour, salt, and ground black pepper. Stir until a paste-like mixture forms. Pour in the broth and stir to release any flour stuck to the pot.
- Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Once boiling, stir in the broccoli, cover the pot, and cook until soft, 12 to 15 minutes.
- While the broccoli cooks, add the cooled cauliflower and cottage cheese to a blender. Blend on high speed until completely smooth, 45 to 60 seconds. If needed, add water or broth 1 tablespoon at a time to thin and blend until smooth.
- After the broccoli has cooked, remove the pot from the heat and remove the lid. Cool the soup for about 5 minutes. Once slightly cooled, stir in the cauliflower and cottage cheese mixture and the shredded cheese, and mix to combine, allowing the cheese to melt.
- To serve divide evenly among four bowls.
Notes
- Storage: Refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 4 days. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Reheating: From refrigerator, microwave until warm, about 2 minutes or heat in a saucepan over medium heat until warm, about 10 minutes. From frozen, thaw in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight, then heat as instructed. Be careful not to bring to a rolling boil as the cottage cheese can curdle-cook until warmed slowly.
- Texture: You can opt to make this a blended soup, either with an immersion blender or add the soup to your blender in batches and blend to your desired smoothness.
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Why not use bone broth for extra protein? Do you prefer broth for a certain reason?
Hi Mar! You could definitely use a bone broth for even more protein, I typically use low sodium chicken or veggie broth since it’s more cost effective
Do you have the nutritional information for this recipe?
SO GOOOD!!! 🙂 We love this! Will keep this as a staple recipe. Thanks!!! 🙂
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ This is unbelievably delish & simple. The cauliflower cottage cheese blend is amazing- going to try using it for mac-n-cheese base. Anyway, two teens adored it- served with side of whole grain toast to sop up the last bits in the bowl.
Made this with 1% cottage cheese, cornstarch, frozen cauliflower and broccoli. The soup texture came out a little curdled, still edible. IG post caption just said cottage cheese, only the blog post indicated 4% suggested (bummer). Could the cottage cheese fat content or cornstarch be why the texture is like that?
Hi! This could be because of the combination of less fat in the 1% cottage cheese and additional liquid from frozen veggies! If you make it again, try using the 4% cottage cheese, this will help thicken it up a bit more!
KB here again. Second attempt at making this soup to see if I can get rid of the subtle curdles. Happy to report it didn’t come out curdled this time! I did change up some of the ingredients, the order adding things together & used an immersion blender a couple more times, so I attribute smoother texture both to the 4% cottage cheese and additional blending.
In this attempt, I used shallot instead of white onion, chicken bone broth instead of chicken stock, again 2TB corn starch, 8oz of Cabot shredded cheese, and 4% Daisy cottage cheese. Frozen broccoli and cauliflower again.
After cooking the shallot and garlic, I added one carton of bone broth and blended. Then added the cornstarch slurry, and blended again. Brought to a boil. Added the already blended cauliflower and cottage cheese to the pot, and blended again. Finally stirred in the cheddar, and the broccoli once the cheese was melted in.
I only bought one 8oz bag of cheese which is pretty much 2 cups, but in future will consider adding a third cup of cheddar as I feel it could really use the savory flavor! I tried to order tapioca flour from instacart today, but the shopper couldn’t find it. Would like to try it with tapioca flour sometime.
My macros for the way I made it for 6 servings: 344 calories, 17g carbs, 20g fat, 27g protein.
Made this for Sunday meal prep and it is SO freakin good! Full of flavor and hit the spot on a cold day. I had it with a turkey sandwich for lunch and it was the perfect meal. Followed the recipe exactly (ended up blending everything at the end as I prefer that texture) and it came out perfectly! Thanks for another great recipe, Jenn 🩷
My kids and hubby didn’t know I snuck cottage cheese in there and everyone gobbled it up. This is my new go to broccoli soup, thank you!!
I just made this. A few thoughts. I noticed the “curdled” texture that others noticed. It went away by upping the cheese to 3 cups, instead of 2. 3 cups also helped with the “cheddarness” of the recipe, so that’s good. I cooked up some crispy bacon and cut into strips, and added some chives (freeze dried or fresh are fine) on top, for a nice garnish. The base soup wasn’t thick enough, so I doubled the cornstarch. I didn’t notice the “rue paste texture” when using cornstarch, so next time I think I’ll use flour. I used fresh cauliflower and broccoli and will likely use frozen for both next time, but have them defrost and let off some water first (this goes into my cornstarch comment. Fresh still too watery, it helped with the blending, no additional water needed, but the resulting soup needed thickening). I did notice however that I could use the WHOLE cauliflower for the soup, while the broccoli florets left a lot to waste, so I ended up chopping up the stalk and adding it to my second batch of cauliflower/cottage cheese base and I LOVE the flavor. Next time I make this, I’m going buy frozen “cut broccoli”, which is half stalk and half stem (cheaper and will work well for this recipe). Then separate the stalk from florets. Let them defrost and let off their water. Cook separately. I really think this “double broccoli cheddar” soup would blow people’s minds.
TLDR; Soup is good recipe, 1.5x the cheddar is better. Likely ends up too watery. Use extra cornstarch/thickener to fix. Possibility of “double broccoli cheddar”, by using broccoli stalk and stems for the soup base and dropping the cauliflower.
I really hope this comment makes sense. This recipe has something going for it. I think I’ll try the “double broccoli cheddar” version next time.
Umm this was amazing!! Thank you so much for this! Def a new staple in the house!
Hi! I’m allergic to cauliflower. What would you recommend as an alternative?