This cheesy vegetable chowder is packed with veggies and flavor! It’s one of my family’s all-time favorite dinner recipes. Perfect for chilly evenings.
This recipe has a long history with my little family. I got the original version from my sister-in-law when my husband and I were newlyweds. We had just moved into our condo with the bright red kitchen. I have such fond memories of that kitchen!
Anyway, the only veggies in the recipe back in those days were potatoes, and it called for turkey bacon. I remember thinking “heck no!” to turkey bacon and using regular bacon instead. It made the soup soooooo salty; it’s a wonder I kept making it after that, although I never again used bacon of any kind! And it originally only served 2, which was fine at the time but not really enough for a growing family.
Fast-forward seven years and it has morphed into a cheesy, comforting vegetable chowder packed with veggies that are good for you, and give the soup some much-needed color! It is one of our family favorites–even the kids love it–and now that the weather has cooled off a little, will resume its weekly appearance on our dinner menu.
Cheesy Vegetable Chowder has consistently been one of the most popular recipes here on Lulu the Baker since I first shared it. I love hearing from readers who make it for their families once and love it so much that they add it to their own regular recipe rotation. I know you’ll love it too.
*If you’re looking for crockpot directions for Cheesy Vegetable Chowder, several commenters have left their instructions in the comments section below!
Cheesy Vegetable Chowder
This is one of my family's all-time favorite dinner recipes! It is easy to make and tastes delicious.
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup finely chopped carrot
- 1 celery stick, finely chopped (feel free to add more celery if you like celery; I don't, so I don't add much)
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 4 cups chicken broth (I usually use a mixture of low-sodium chicken broth and broth made with chicken soup base because it gives it such nice flavor)
- 2 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 Tablespoon flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 cups chopped broccoli
- 2 heaping cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
Melt the butter in a large soup pot. Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute over medium heat until tender. Add garlic and cook 1 or 2 additional minutes. Add chicken broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, and cook until potatoes are tender. Mix flour with water, add, and simmer until soup is slightly thickened. Add milk and broccoli and cook until broccoli is just tender and soup is heated through. Stir in cheese, allow to melt, and serve.
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Sounds really good š And perfect for this time of year…
This is great! A new favorite and perfect for cold weather months. Served with salmon. Yum!��
I use chopped frozen broccoli, and we add chopped chicken too! Super yummy!
The chicken sounds like a great addition!
I made this tonight. I used zucchini instead of celery, because I had one that needed to be used. My kids hate zucchini, but they LOVED this chowder! We all did! The kids asked for seconds, which happens very rarely around here. Definitely adding this to my regular routine. Thank you!
Thats a great idea! I’m going to try it.
I had fresh peas…so used those instead of brocoli….smells good, can’t wait to eat it!
Thanks for the idea! I hate celery but love and have zucchini on hand to use.
Can you estimate how long this takes to cook, total? I’d love to make it, but our evening schedules are tight and I have to plan ahead to make sure everything finishes in time for everyone to eat before we rush off again!
took me over an hour!!! I might be a slow cook, but it did take a while. worth the wait though!!
I used frozen veggies and made sure they were thawed half through. Total just took me 40 minutes š
I chopped up all the veggies during nap time (a luxury I know not everyone has) so it saved a lot of time.
About 45 minutes total, just make sure you chop everything finely so it cooks faster
I used a slow cooker..after I sauteed the onions, carrots, and celery I added it to the crock pot with everything else except the flour, water, milk and cheese and cooked it on low for 6 to 8 hours then when I was ready I just took 15 minutes out of my time to do the steps with the flour, water, milk and cheese…it turned out great
Thanks for the update Carleen! I know people have had mixed results with their slow-cookers, so I’m glad to hear it worked out for you!
I did exactly what Carleen said, but I had less time available. So I cooked it on high in the slow cooker for an hour and then dropped it down to low for 2.5 hrs. Plus I seasoned to taste at the end.It was an excelent meal for our first rainy fall day!
Amazing!!! My husband loved it! Can’t wait for leftovers š Thank you!
Thanks for the info on using a crock pot. Will try this recipe for my husband when I have to work the afternoon shift at work and he has to do his own dinner.
Another time saving short cut to use for soups, stews and chili— omit water and flour. Add instant mashed potatoes instead until desired thickness is reached.
I’ve used cauliflower puree in place of heavy cream or milk
It doesn’t take much time at all if you already have your veggies prepped and ready to go. I cut mine up and freeze them just after grocery shopping. With that said, it probably took me 30 minutes. If you don’t have things ready ahead of time, it will take much longer.
I’m using the crock pot. i did like Carleen and sauteed the onion carrots and garlic first …
I skipped the celery and used a bit of dried celery flake for the flavor. i swapped out the potato for 1/4th of a breadfruit, and i added a small amt of chopped zucchini. oh and cauliflower instead of broccoli. OK OK OK so its not the same but a variation – thanks for tHe INSPIRATION though! I’ll report back with a verdict.
OMG! my variation was so good, i can only imagine how good the original was. Hubby is not a soup person… and he asked for seconds!
took me about 40 mins, used my food processor for the veggies saved a bunch of time!
I used my food processor and just didn’t puree it and it worked great cut a lot of chopping and cutting time down to minutes.
This can be done in a 1/2 hour using a pressure cooker ! Just thicken when you take pressure out!
This can be done in a 1/2 hour using a pressure cooker ! Just thicken when you take pressure out!
How long did you cook it for? I just got an instant pot so still playing around with it.
Did you keep the broccoli out with the milk or just add it with everything else and then pressure cook for 30 minutes? I am thinking that’s how it would work, but I just started using an instant pot and I’m not really sure… Thanks!
Hi Charlotte. I would say this takes about 30 minutes to cook, but that’s if you have all of the veggies chopped before you start. I think 45 minutes start to finish should cover you easily!
i found this pinned on pinterest and made it for dinner tonight for my husband and i. it was amazing! i mistakenly picked up smoked cheddar cheese, but it was still really good. thank you so much for sharing!
i am making some right now!!
-m
Found this on pinterest and loved it! I added Red Pepper Flakes to mine to make it a little spicy.
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Would this feed a family of 5 with some hungry teenage boys in the mix? Wondering if I should double it. Have you ever made this in a crock pot?
You can definitely get 5 bowls out of it, maybe more. It’s pretty heavy, so I doubt you will be eating more than one bowl at a time. We bought pre made bread dough and had that with it, filled us up. The most I would say is add an extra half, that way you guarantee you all get what you want, but I don’t think you would need to doubleit.
I think you would have to double batch this. I am a teenage girl with a family of 4.. and it barely fed us! haha
Have you tried freezing this? I am having a baby and trying to prepare some foods ahead of time.
We did freeze half of this and it was great still.
Sounds delicious! How many people does this serve? Also, do you think this would be freezable?
we just made this – it’s fantastic! we added a tablespoon of dijon mustard, and 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper – delicious!
Hi Tammy! I’ve never tried making it in a crockpot, but let me know if you try it and it turns out! For a family of 5 with teenage boys I would probably double it. And it is delicious left over, so if it ends up being a little too much, it will still be OK!
K and MisssNoelle–I’ve never tried freezing it, but here are my thoughts: I would certainly give it a try. I don’t think the flavor would be negatively affected by freezing. The texture might be a little different after a freeze, but if that’s the case I’d just pop it in the blender!
And I’d say this serves 4 grown-ups.
It freezes beautifully. Enjoying some now!
Saw this on Pinterest and it looks DELICIOUS!!! I’m definitely making it this weekend, with maybe some shrimp or crab meat thrown in.
Sounds delicious! I’m making this right now!
I just hopped over from Pinterest as well. I’m making this tomorrow and putting it in bread bowls from another site š Yum!
Hi, what site did you get the bread bowls from?.?
Just made this and everyone loved it! Thanks!
Making this right now. I am using potatoes peas carrots and cauliflower. I can’t wait to try it!
I just made this for dinner tonight, it was a huge hit!!! I just LOVE it!! And surprisingly my son ate it!! Thx for sharing this
It’s on the stove…can’t wait to try it! I’ve got some nice crusty bread to go along with it too. Thanks for the recipe.
btw…I found this on pinterest too! š
Just made this for dinner and I LOVE it
Ann Kelly
recipeswelove1.blogspot.com
made it tonight as well- and added in asparagus and some white cheddar. good stuff, thanks!
I also found you on pinterest – Can’t wait to try it! I wonder if it would be good to add chicken?
I just made this and it was delicious! I followed your directions exactly and it came out perfect! Thank you so much for sharing!!
I just made this for dinner tonight and it came out perfect. I followed you recipe exactly. Everyone liked it! Thanks so much for sharing!!
Just found you on pinterest, too. I’ll be making this this week and can’t wait!
I just found you from pinterest, too. This sounds so tasty and easy. I can’t wait to make this tomorrow night!
Just made this because I found it on Pinterest and it sounded DELISH! It’s a great versatile recipe, I omitted the milk and cut back on butter, everyone went back for seconds (and thirds!) I also added mushrooms and more celery. Fantastic recipe that i could add or take away from, this will be added to a weekly rotation, and I always have the ingredients on hand. Thanks for a great dish!