Slow cooker chicken broccoli cheese soup is a hearty meal prepared entirely in your slow cooker. This creamy cheese soup is filled with shredded chicken breasts, broccoli, and carrots.
Slow cookers are a great time saver when it comes to making a home cooked meal. This chicken broccoli cheese soup is made entirely in the slow cooker, with no stove top cooking involved.
This creamy cheese soup is filled with flavorful herbs, spices, vegetables, and shredded chicken. A great weeknight meal or hearty homemade dinner on the weekends.
Broccoli, onion, and carrots are added to the slow cooker, then topped with boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The creamy, cheesy sauce comes together in the last 30 minutes of cooking.
Ingredients and substitutions
For this recipe, you'll need a pound of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I find that most chicken breasts run very large nowadays, so you may only need two or three for this recipe.
Broccoli florets can be substituted with frozen broccoli. This may slow your cooking time slightly.
Half & half can be substituted with whole milk for a slightly thinner soup.
I highly recommend using freshly shredded sharp cheddar cheese off the block for this recipe. Pre-shredded cheeses are often coated in anti-clumping powders. When melted, these powders will cause your soup to have a grainy texture. For this reason, I do not recommend using pre-shredded cheese.
Sharp cheddar can be substituted with pepper jack cheese for a kick of heat, or monterey jack or gruyere cheeses for a milder, creamy flavor.
What kind of chicken to use
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts are ideal for this recipe. They will cook in the same amount of time as the vegetables added to your soup.
If using thinner cuts of chicken, like thin sliced chicken breasts or chicken tenders, your soup will need much less cooking time and your vegetables may not cook through entirely.
Chicken breasts can be substituted with boneless chicken thighs if desired.
I do not recommend using bone-in chicken breasts because they'll take longer to cook through and your vegetables will over-cook in that time.
What size slow cooker to use
To make the recipe as written for four servings, I recommend a 3 quart slow cooker (as shown in the photos above).
If doubling this recipe, you'll want to use a 5 or 6 quart slow cooker.
Leftovers and reheating
This soup keeps fairly well as a leftover for 2-3 days in a sealed container in the refrigerator. To reheat, pour into a saucepan and heat over medium heat until hot throughout, about 10 minutes.
I do not recommend freezing dairy-based soups as they tend to separate when thawing and reheating.
Slow Cooker Chicken Broccoli Cheese Soup
Ingredients
- 16 ounces boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 4 cups broccoli florets
- 1 onion diced
- 2 carrots grated
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 cups half & half
- 2 cups freshly shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Instructions
- In a slow cooker, add onion, broccoli florets, carrots, chicken broth, salt, pepper, paprika, and thyme. Stir to combine. Add chicken breasts in a single layer on top.
- Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours, or until chicken is cooked through. Cooking time will depend on thickness of chicken beasts.
- Remove chicken breasts, shred with a fork, then return chicken to slow cooker.
- In a bowl, combine cornstarch with about ¼ cup of your half & half and whisk into a smooth slurry. Add cornstarch mixture, remaining half & half, and shredded cheese to slow cooker and stir to combine.
- Cover and cook for an additional 30 minutes on low before serving.
Equipment Recommendations
Notes
- I recommend using freshly shredded cheese from a block, not pre-shredded bagged cheese. Pre-shredded cheeses are coated in anti-clumping powders that will make your soup grainy when melted.
- Half & half can be substituted with whole milk for a slightly thinner soup.
- Leftovers will keep for 2-3 days in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
- I do not recommend freezing dairy-based soups, they tend to separate when thawed.
Hi there, can I use frozen broccoli for this or is it fresh? Thank you so much for your time and help!!
Broccoli florets can be substituted with frozen broccoli. This may slow your cooking time slightly.
So you are saying fresh is the only way to go?!
I'm saying that fresh broccoli can be substituted with frozen broccoli.
Thank you so much. You are a huge help!! I will be making this very soon and I will report back.
By the way....how do you think Mexican cheese will turn out instead of cheddar?
You can find a list of cheeses substitutes in the post, but any melty cheeses, like pepper jack or gruyere would work well. As long as it's not a pre-shredded, bagged cheese. They're coated in anti-clumping powders that get grainy when melted.