Hello my little chickpeas!
Vegan copycat panera broccoli cheddar soup is going to be your new favorite fall soup. It’s cheesy, creamy, rich, comforting, 100% plant-based, oil-free and super easy to make. It’s also soy-free, is made without any dairy and is filled with nutrients.
If you’re looking for a healthier alternative to this panera bread classic soup, you have to try this one.
What ingredients will I need for this soup?
- Yellow onion
- Russet potatoes
- Frozen broccoli
- Nutritional yeast
- Non-dairy milk
- Raw cashews
- Veggie broth
- Salt
- Pepper
- Turmeric
- Garlic
How do you make the vegan broccoli cheddar soup taste like Panera?!
First, the onion and broccoli is sautéed until soft. Then to create a creamy base, you blend potato and cashews for the ultimate comforting, rich texture. Nutritional yeast is added for a cheesy flavor and turmeric is added for health benefits and color.
The combination of the potatoes, nutritional yeast, cashews, non-dairy milk and veggie broth all come together to make a soup base that mimics Panera’s very well. If you’re a nutritional yeast skeptic, I promise you it’s really good in this soup and not too strong of a flavor at all. I recommend this brand of nutritional yeast.
What makes this vegan copycat panera broccoli cheddar soup healthier than Panera?
Dairy is extremely inflammatory and it can cause many health issues such as skin conditions, auto-immune related problems, digestive discomfort, acne, IBS, and more! This soup is so much healthier because it’s 100% DAIRY-FREE! Nutritional yeast is packed with protein and b-vitamins. Potatoes are filled with minerals and anti-oxidants including vitamin C! Bet ya didn’t know that!
I also add cashews to this recipe which are great for skin health, blood health, clear skin, fiber, nail + hair health, and #plantprotein.
A few extra tips:
- This keeps in the fridge for about 4-5 days.
- Feel free to store this in the freezer for up to 2 months. Just thaw and then heat when you’re ready to eat it!
- This makes great leftovers so even if you have extra, you will love heating it up. Bring it to work, pack it in the kid’s lunches in a thermos, or simply heat it up at your desk because so many of us are working from home.
- Get a crusty bread to make a bread bowl!
How do you make a bread bowl?
Get a nice big crusty bread from your grocery store or local bakery. I got a whole grain variety from Whole Foods but they sell bakery bread basically anywhere! Scoop out the middle and hollow it out. I like to warm the hollowed out bread in the oven at 400 degrees for 5-7 minutes so it tastes super fresh and keeps the soup warmer for longer.
The bread bowl makes this the ultimate Panera copycat!
What do you do with the extra bread?
I make croutons in my air-fryer but you can also make croutons in your oven. Just simply cut it into cubes and air-fry until golden brown – it’s as easy as that. If you’re oil-free don’t add oil but if you’d like some oil simply coat in a little evoo before adding the bread to the air-fryer.
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Vegan Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup
the ingredients
- 1/2 yellow onion diced
- 2 bags frozen broccoli 20 oz of frozen broccoli
- 2 large russet potatoes peeled and cubed
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp garlic
- 1 1/2 cup veggie broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp turmeric
instructions
- In a large soup pot, saute onions and frozen broccoli in 1/2 cup veggie broth on medium high heat until cooked and the broccoli is easily broken up with a spatula.
- Boil the potatoes and cashews in another pot and cook until super soft. Then strain and add into the blender. (10-15 minutes)
- Into the blender with the cashews and potatoes add nutritional yeast, garlic, salt, pepper, non-dairy milk and water. Blend until completely smooth. If your blender has a hard time blending this up, pour half of it out and blend in two batches.
- Pour the potato cheese mixture into the soup pot with the broccoli. Pour in the rest of the veggie broth and the turmeric and stir until combined. Heat on medium until warmed all the through.
- Serve and enjoy!
In good health,
Danielle
Delicious! Had some broccoli that needed used up so I made this tonight. Will definitely make again!
Delicious, creamy and flavorful!
I made this tonight and my whole family loved it! We made mini sourdough bread bowls to eat it in. Even my dairy loving husband ate his whole bowl and didn’t ask if it was vegan. Shocking lol. You have wonderful recipes – thanks for sharing them and making our transition to WFPB so tasty.
can i use sweet potatoes instead?
Sure but the flavor will be different.
OMG! This soup was so tasty! I will definitely put this on my favorites.
How many servings/bowls does this make???
8 servings
Is it two 20 ounce bags of frozen broccoli or two bags that would total 20 ounces?
20 total!
This soup was so tasty! It satisfied my craving for a comforting ‘cheese’ soup. I omitted the croutons and the bread bowl for my own health journey but it was wonderful!
Danielle, this was fantastic. Made this exactly how it was written. My husband who is not vegan, loved it! I bought some Trader Joes vegan rosemary croissant croutons to top the soup with. Definitely will be making this again. Thank you for all the wonderful recipes you create and share with us.
This is very good. Tastes better than Panera’s. I added carrot to the Potato and Cashew part. Gave it a cheesy color plus added a little sweetness.
I made it without the carrot too and like it with the carrot the best.