Bacon Broccoli Cheddar Soup
6
servings10
minutes15
minutes348
kcal4
grams4
grams26
grams24
gramsThis is one of those recipes that comes together really quickly and easily once you have your ingredients prepped (bacon and broccoli cooked, cheese grated). It’s also a recipe that you can easily tweak — whether to make it more “gourmet” or to put your own spin on it. You can add herbs or other spice, you can roast the broccoli, you can use different liquids, use a different cheese, add roasted peppers, etc. Have fun with it!
WARNING: Some brands of broth and bacon are VERY high sodium and will make this soup overly salty. I used Kirkland brand from Costco for both in this recipe and it wasn’t salty.
Ingredients
5 strips bacon (170g), cooked and crumbled
1.5 cups steamed or roasted broccoli florets (150g)
2 cups low sodium chicken broth (470mL) *see note #1
3 tsp sodium citrate (15g)
4 cups loosely packed shredded sharp cheddar (280g) *see note #2
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
6 grinds fresh black pepper
Directions
- Cook the bacon. You can bake or microwave the bacon and crumble it or you can dice it and fry it up in a skillet. Drain and set aside.
- Cook the broccoli. You can steam it (fresh or frozen) or roast it for an extra depth of flavor. Once cooked and cooled, finely chop it and set aside.
- In a large sauce pan, dissolve the sodium citrate into the chicken broth as you bring the temperature up to a simmer.
- Whisk in the shredded cheese, adding one handful at a time as it melts.
- Whisk in the garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper. Then stir in the bacon crumbles and broccoli. Let simmer for an additional 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Video
Notes
- If you want to play around with the flavor, you could substitute some portion of the chicken broth with white wine or beer.
- The four cups of cheese I used were very loosely packed. Had I packed it down, it would have been closer to 3 cups. I advise measuring by weight if you can.
- If you find that your soup is thinner than you like, add another handful of shredded cheese. Just be aware that this soup feels thicker in your mouth than it looks on a spoon.
I was going online to buy the sodium citrate And it has a lot of sodium. Is this a problem for high blood pressure?
From what I understood from “The Obesity Code” by Dr. Jason Fung, it’s not the sodium that causes the high blood pressure, but the combination of high carbohydrates with the sodium.
Waiting for my sodium citrate to come in tomorrow. Excited to give this dish to my family.
HI Steve. I think your gram weight (or volume 4C) for the cheese (280 g) in this recipe may be off. Your Velvety Cheese Sauce recipe also uses 4 cups of shredded cheddar, but that recipe indicated the gram weight of the cheese to be 450 grams. (Please delete this if I am wrong or after the recipe is adjusted).
Thanks for calling that out, Paul. The weights are accurate. I believe that if I had packed the cheese in this recipe, it would have been a lot closer to 3 cups. Yet another argument for why measuring by weight makes more sense than measuring by volume.
I’ve updated the notes on both recipes accordingly.
This was OUTSTANDING!! John (son) made it on Sunday and it was very very good! Smooth, creamy AND tasty!! A COOKING NOTE: When using the sodium citrate, don’t use a salty cheese! It makes the whole dish a bit too salty! (we used Havarti, which is kind of salty)
Good tip on the cheese. Also, be aware that some broths (especially canned broths) have a ton of sodium in them, which can turn this recipe salty.
Looks wonderful….would also add a pinch of cayenne….not enough to really taste it but it always seems to perk up / enhance savory things to my taste.
Also highly recommend the following bread recipe to have with it. If you think you hate brown flax meal, this may change your mind (did for me….hated this stuff before this bread).
It is easy , fluffy, super healthy and darn near zero carbs. It can also mimic rye bread with the addition of some dried dill , onion powder, and caraway seed. It has become a staple in my diet and I have made a zillion loaves of low carb bread from everybody under the sun….keep coming back to this one. Give it a try. Its also dairy free, nut free, and of course gluten free. Great with just butter, or a thick layer of cream cheese sprinkled with “all but the bagel” seasoning.
From Elana’s Pantry https://elanaspantry.com/nut-free-keto-bread/
PS Love your website, so glad I found it. Very much look forward to more of your postings.
This turned out perfect! I wish we could add photos to boast about our versions.
This soup turned out perfect. I did add another cup of shredded cheese just because we LOVE cheese.
Thank you for the recipe & the tip about sodium citrate.
Excellent soup! We did not need the extra cheese and it was a perfect consistency. Thanks, Steve.
Just made this, delicious!!!!! I do think next time I make I’ll leave the bacon out and I did use the extra cheese. I like my broccoli cheddar soup on the thick side. Thanks for this wonderful easy recipe.
This is an amazing recipe. Just made it and I’m so happy with it. Thanks for putting in the time and effort to perfect it. Cheer!
This was good but horribly salty. Are you sure that much sodium citrate is needed?
At 6 servings, just the cheddar cheese and sodium citrate alone are over 1/3 DRV of sodium for a modest, I assume side dish bowl (1/6 of this recipe alone is not dinner for me!). That’s before introducing the bacon.
I love salt and even use MSG in my cooking (not this soup), so for me to say this is too salty is really saying something. Also, I used homemade chicken broth. Made from the carcasses of rotisserie chickens which have some sodium, but I never salt my broth when making it and its always bland sodium-wise. I added no salt to this recipe otherwise and tasted it before putting the bacon in, and it was outrageously salty at that point.
I have to salvage the leftovers since I made a double batch. Probably some water until its not so salty, then more cheese, some more broccoli and some more protien.
I even test weighed my sodium citrate to make sure there isn’t a difference in weight, and mine actually weighs less at 13.5 grams per tablespoon. Also 3 tsp…is a tablespoon…
I like the idea of smooth cheese, and at its base, this soup is good, but I’m thinking there is too much sodium citrate in this. My wife and I actually felt a little weird after eating so much sodium, and again, we are NOT afraid of salt!.
I have never had it turn out salty. The ratio of sodium citrate is what is recommended by Modernist Cuisine, ChefSteps, Milk Street, and Serious Eats. I had another user felt it was too salty and we determined that the issue was her bacon.
Thanks for such a quick reply. I cant imagine what it is then. The salty was there, heavily, before the bacon was introduced as I wrote above.
I’ll have to try it again with low sodium store-bought broth. That’s the only thing I can thing of and I did not taste the broth on its own, I’ve just never made salty broth. I’m a fairly skilled home cook, so this is a real mystery for me.
Also, the sodium citrate does not taste that salty directly on the tongue, which increases the mystery!
Out of curiosity, what is the brand of sodium citrate you’re using? I bought a large tub of it from WillPowder and I just stuck my finger in and tasted it and it was BARELY salty (far less than if I had done the same “finger taste” with table salt or sea salt).
Thanks for another great recipe.
I didn’t have many of the ingredients, including the sodium citrate. I used my own chicken broth. Barely had one cup of shredded cheese, do I made up the difference with 8 oz of cream cheese. I also n used turmeric to boost the colour.
It was just great.
Hi Steve,
I see you used sodium citrate in this recipe as opposed to xanthum gum (which can result in a slimy texture if too much).
I also saw your noodle recipe starting with the ketonAsianFlavors recipe.
I was hoping to use your suggestion of making flat noodles with a Mayo container because I wanted to make chicken casserole but can’t find a good recipe for thick cream of chicken soup like the Campbells Condensed Cream of Chicken soup is.
This recipe might be a great substitute and I’m going to try it as soup and as a base for a chicken casserole BUT I was hoping that you might find the time to experiment with more soups and try to come up with a thick cream of chicken soup.
I love your YouTube channel and everything I’ve made from your recipes have turned out great! I’m waiting for you to come out with your own cookbook!!