Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup |Cooking With Amanda

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Have you always wondered if it is possible to re-create your favorite restaurant recipes at home? You can! In fact, we have an entire section here on Better Recipes dedicated to "Copycat" restaurant recipes. Check it out: http://restaurant.betterrecipes.com

Don't forget, we are hosting a recipe contest this week searching for your Best Copycat Recipes Ever! We are giving away a weekly prize of $250 and a grand prize of $10,000! Read all about it and enter today: http://www.betterrecipes.com/contests/best-copy-cat-restaurant-recipe-ever

In the spirit of "copycat" recipes, I decided to try and recreate one of my favorites – the Broccoli Cheddar Soup in a Bread Bowl from Panera.

Keep reading for the recipe…

First, I had to do a little bit of "research" right?

This is a photo of the actual Broccoli Cheddar Soup in a Bread Bowl from the Panera near my house. I think their bread is outstanding and I love the soup. My only critique is that I wish there were more veggies! Larger pieces of broccoli and more carrots would be nice.

Here is my version! As you can tell, I bumped up the veggies a lot in this recipe. I also tried to use milk instead of any heavy cream to keep the calories and fat out of the stratosphere. I bought a small sourdough boule from my grocery store, but I have to admit, Panera's bread bowls win.

I also found that this recipe freezes well. I made a batch and put the extra servings in the freezer. When I reheated it a week or so later, it still tasted great!