Grab your Cold & Hot Blender, your pressure cooker, or a soup pot and let's get to making some incredible Keto Broccoli & Cheese Soup that also happens to be low calorie! I love when that happens!
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I didn't set out to make this soup keto or even low cal, but I did set out to make it in the Ninja Foodi Cold & Hot Blender and my first attempt simply wasn't thick enough.
I almost switched gears and used the Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker so I could make a traditional roux, but thought I would try to use up some cauliflower that I had on hand and it worked perfectly!
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I use cauliflower a lot in cooking when I want to get a creamy texture without all the carbs. It's funny, because Jeff used to hate cauliflower. The smell of it cooking made him not even want to eat what I was making. I told him over and over that you will not taste the cauliflower, but he remained hesitant.
After 12 years of marriage and plenty of recipes made with cauliflower as a substitution for rice, potatoes, and cream sauces, he is no longer bothered by cauliflower. Although, I can't say he would eat a plate of it raw or even cooked, but in recipes it's all good.
Here are some other recipes where I sneak in cauliflower!
Cajun Jambalaya with Cauliflower Rice: This recipe was made right on the stove, but could also be made using the Ninja Foodi on sear/sauté. I used coconut flour to make the roux and it turned out perfect!
Cauliflower Fried Rice: This is one of my favorite things to make! The flavors and textures are just like a regular fried rice!
Air Fried Cauliflower with General Tso's Sauce: I can't say this is healthy recipe, but it is so delicious! The air fried cauliflower would make the best buffalo bites too!
One of my absolute FAVORITE recipes where I use cauliflower to replace a thick sauce is in this recipe for Guilt-Free Shrimp Alfredo!
If you are in the mood for a potato salad and don't want all the carbs, this roasted cauliflower salad tastes just like a loaded baked potato salad.
Do I Need a Special Appliance to Make this Soup?
Nope! Even though I made this broccoli & cheese soup in the (affiliate link)Ninja Foodi Cold & Hot Blender (which is an amazing blender), this recipe can be made in the Ninja Foodi, Instant Pot, or on the stove.
It's simple to make no matter which appliance you have, and I will give detailed instructions in the article.
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! Simply replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock.
You can if you aren't using the Cold & Hot Blender. Simply double all of the ingredients and use one of the other cooking methods described below.
I haven't frozen it because it doesn't last long enough around here! The issue I've run into when freezing soups where the base is mostly pureed vegetables is the soup is very thin when thawed. If you try it, please let me know how it reheats!
I recommend using it because it gives such a nice flavor to the soup, and it's really easy to roast garlic. However, you could omit it or use 1-2 cloves of minced garlic. You would want to sauté the garlic for a minute or two, and you can do that in the blender or in your pot. Here is my technique for roasting garlic: Roasted Garlic in the Ninja Foodi
How to make Keto Broccoli & Cheese Soup in the Ninja Foodi or Instant Pot
There are a few adjustments that need to be made if you are going to use your pressure cooker to make this soup.
Decrease the chicken stock to 1½ cups. There isn't going to be as much evaporation when pressure cooking as there is with other cooking methods, and you don't want your soup too thin.
Add the chicken stock (1½ cups) to the inner pot. Add the cauliflower florets, 8 ounces of the broccoli florets, salt, pepper and the bulb of roasted garlic. Put the pressure cooker lid on and turn the valve to seal. Pressure cook for 3 minutes and, when the time is up, immediately release the pressure.
Use an (affiliate link)immersion blender or you can transfer the contents of the pot to a food processor or blender to blend smooth. If using a blender or food processor, make sure to let the mixture cool before blending.
Once smooth, return the mixture to the pot. Add in the grated white cheddar cheese and the remaining broccoli florets. Heat on medium high sear/sauté, stirring frequently until the broccoli florets are cooked how you like them. The time depends on the size of the broccoli florets. The smaller they are, the faster they will cook. Stir in the cream.
Ladle into bowls and top with grated yellow cheddar cheese. Serve & Enjoy!
How to make Broccoli & Cheese Soup on the Stove
Add the chicken stock, salt, pepper, roasted garlic, cauliflower florets, and 8 ounces of the broccoli florets to a large pot and heat on medium-high for about 20-30 minutes or until the broccoli and cauliflower is really soft.
Use an (affiliate link)immersion blender to blend the soup. You can also transfer the soup to a food processor or blender or use a hand masher. Let the soup cool some before using a food processor or blender.
Grate the white cheddar cheese and stir into the soup until melted. Serve and top with grated yellow cheddar.
How to make Broccoli & Cheese Soup in the Ninja Foodi Cold & Hot Blender
Chop the cauliflower and broccoli into florets about the size of a quarter.
Add the chicken stock to the blender or you can use a vegetable stock or this delicious (affiliate link)vegetable base from Minors if you wanted to keep it vegetarian.
Add the chopped cauliflower and 8 ounces of the broccoli. Reserve the other 4 ounces to add at the end. If you want a completely smooth soup without any pieces of broccoli, you can add all of the broccoli in now.
Add in the bulb of roasted garlic. I really urge you to use the roasted garlic, the flavor it gives this soup is amazing. You can add in 1 clove of minced garlic if you don't want to use roasted garlic.
Here is my recipe for roasted garlic and it is super easy to make!
How to Roast Garlic in the Ninja Foodi
Add in the salt and pepper and cubes of the white cheddar. I use the white cheddar in the soup and yellow cheddar as garnish, but you can use all white or all yellow. The white cheddar keeps the soup from getting a yellow color, but it doesn't change the flavor of the soup. Both work just fine.
The blender is going to be full. Don't worry, it will cook down very quickly.
Put the lid on the blender and pulse a few times to break up the cauliflower and broccoli. You will see the mixture start to drop down in the blender.
Select the smooth soup function. When the time is up, add in the cream and the remaining broccoli florets. Pulse 1-2 times so the broccoli is cut up some and heat on manual high cook for about 10-12 minutes.
When the broccoli is done to your liking, the soup is done.
Ladle into bowls and top with shredded cheddar. Enjoy!
Keto Broccoli & Cheese Soup
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 12 ounces cauliflower
- 12 ounces broccoli divided in recipe
- 4 ounces white cheddar
- 1 bulb roasted garlic
- ½ teaspoon fine grind sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 2 ounces yellow cheddar for garnish
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Instructions
- Add 2 cups of chicken stock to the blender. Add in 12 ounces of cauliflower florets and 8 ounces of broccoli florets. The florets should be cut up to between a nickel and quarter size.
- Add roasted garlic, salt, pepper and the cubed white cheddar cheese. Put the lid on the blender and pulse a few times to break up the broccoli and cauliflower. Select the smooth soup function
- When the time is up, add in the heavy cream and the remaining broccoli florets. Pulse 1-2 times to break up the broccoli florets and heat on high for about 10 minutes. When the broccoli is done to your liking, the soup is ready.
- Ladle into bowls and top with shredded yellow cheddar. Serve & Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
About the Recipe Author, Louise Long
Louise is a full-time recipe creator and food blogger @ The Salted Pepper. She has over 30 years of experience with cooking and recipe development. She owned a restaurant for several years and was a full-time RN until retiring to blog full-time.
She published her first cookbook in the Fall of 2018 and is very interested in writing several more.
Louise is also the creator of an online Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooking Course with over 100 instructional step-by-step videos. People absolutely rave about the course and all the value they have received from it.
Louise has several very active Facebook groups that help people with the basics of cooking and learning more about the appliances they love.
Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker & Air Crisper 101
Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill & Smoker
Louise is also a YouTube creator and you can find most of her recipes in video format on The Salted Pepper YouTube channel.
She is very responsive to messages and eager to help in any way she can. Get more Information about Louise & contact information
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Ashley says
Thank you so much for your easy tutorials! I made this soup last night, and it was great! I'd definitely make it again. I love the addition of cauliflower to get in some extra veggies and make it healthier. I made a few substitutions to use up what I had on hand (gruyere cheese instead of cheddar, homemade veggie scrap broth, and half Greek yogurt/half soy milk for the cream, which sounds a little odd but worked fine)! Looking forward to trying more of your recipes. Also your Ninja Foodi blender videos helped me with my decision to buy one (I was being super indecisive about it! haha)
Louise says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Stephanie says
I have made several of your recipes now and this one is as awesome as the others. I used my foodi for it twice now and I found 2 cups of water with the better than bouillon roasted garlic was perfect consistency, not so thick I had to thin it out further or too thin. Louise, I love your channel and recipes, they make meals so much easier! Thank you!
Louise says
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed the soup and the recipes!
Jonathan Gorum says
I just picked up this blender yesterday and had my hand at a fruit smoothie this morning. Came out amazing. I absolutely love broccoli and cheese soup, but for my taste yours in the video appears rather thin. How would I adapt this to be more thick/cheesy? Or I guess more accurately, how would I make a more standard recipe, but in this blender? I see broccoli and cheese soup recipes for the foodi, which I have (but no immersion blender), and they add cornstarch and water at the end. Not sure if it would be the same here or could be added all together?
Also, been following your channel and recipes for a while and love your content. Keep being awesome!
Louise says
If you don't mind adding in the cauliflower, then I would simply add more cheese to thicken it. If you want one without cauliflower, that's a bit trickier. I started out testing a more traditional recipe and couldn't get the blender hot enough to thicken the soup with a cornstarch slurry. That is one downside of the blender, once the soup is starting to thicken, a thin film of the soup "burns" on the heating element and prevents enough heat transfer to activate the cornstarch. You could probably do it with a roux that you cooked on the stove though.
Jonathan Gorum says
Thanks for the quick reply Louise! I'm actually trying it right now by making a roux in the blender and going from there. Used the "make your flavor" guide in the cookbook to saute onion in butter and garlic. When that was done, added 2 tbsp of flour and cooked it more, occasionally pushing what was on the sides back in with a long silicone spatula. Eventually added just a bit of my liquid and cooked it more to help mix and get more of what was on the sides of the blade area. Then more or less followed suit as normal. I'm blending your recipe with https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/13841/creamy-cheddar-cheese-soup/. I'll let you know how it goes 😀
Jonathan Gorum says
Well, I don't think this blender was meant to make a roux. This was my first time anyway, but pretty sure I didn't cook the roux long enough and there was no good way to mix it as it cooked. Doing that separately would do the trick. The entire time this cooked I could see the flour clumped and floating. It added a terrible texture that ruined the soup. The flavor overall came out right and smelled nice and cheesy. Adding cheese afterwards and cooking longer did make it thicker, but that clumped up flour just... yeah. Next time I'll try cauliflower and extra cheese, or making a roux ahead of time. I guess we don't know how these things go if we don't try. Cheers!
Vicki Robison says
Hi Louise!
I just made my second batch of your soup in the H&C Blender...FANTASTIC! I took one of your ideas from the Chicken Corn Chowder recipe and added a couple of slices of uncooked bacon when I made the base which *I* think made it even better!
SAY, how about working on a version for Clam Chowder for us? 😉
Louise says
Oh, I bet that was so good! I have a clam chowder recipe and I bet it would be pretty easy to convert to the blender.
Suzanne Schatzle says
I just made this delicious soup in the Ninja Foodi using a regular blend (I do not have the Ninja Blender yet).
I have to say it is wonderful and being a Keto follower for life I was doubly excited to find it!!
Thank you and as always your recipes are great!
Louise says
YAY! I'm so glad it worked out well in your blender!