Broccoli cheddar soup is ooey, gooey and oh-so-comforting, especially in the winter; but what about broccoli cheese soup calories? Is it as rich as it tastes? Are there lots of carbs in broccoli cheddar soup, too? While the soup isn't loaded with calories, it packs a punch in the sodium department.
While eating broccoli cheddar soup every once in a while is a nice treat, you shouldn't make it a daily habit, especially if you're not getting a low-sodium version. A bowl of the soup will only set you back 263 calories, but it will put you over the ideal sodium recommendation for the whole day.
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A bowl of broccoli cheese soup, which is usually 1 1/2 cups or 12 ounces, provides around 263 calories. If you get a bigger portion or you opt to eat your soup in a bread bowl, the calories increase significantly. The bread bowl itself adds an additional 670 calories to the meal.
Broccoli Cheddar Soup Calories
Although a serving of soup is usually 1 cup, when you order a "bowl" versus a cup, you typically get 1 1/2 cups, or 12 ounces, of soup. Although all broccoli cheddar soups are made slightly differently, this size portion contains about 263 calories, according to the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.
If you get a Panera Bread broccoli cheddar soup cup — a popular option in the broccoli and cheese soup world — you'll be taking in about 360 calories; but that's if you order your soup in an actual bowl. If you opt for a bread bowl instead, you'll pack on another 670 calories, for a total of 1,030 calories for the whole meal (if you eat the entire bread bowl).
Broccoli Cheese Soup Nutrition
But broccoli cheese soup nutrition isn't just about the calories. A bowl of the soup also contains:
- 16 grams of total fat
- 4.8 grams of saturated fat
- 124 milligrams of calcium
- 626 milligrams of potassium
- 2,496 IU of vitamin A
There's a pretty significant amount of carbs in broccoli cheddar soup, too. If you choose a cup of soup, you'll get 18.6 grams of carbohydrates. If you opt for a bowl, those carbs jump up to 23.3 grams. Add a bread bowl to the mix and you'll get an additional 130 grams of carbohydrates, for a total of 153.3 grams.
Some of those carbohydrates come from fiber (about 5.4 grams per bowl), while 6.41 grams are in the form of sugar.
The thing that really stands out though is the soup's sodium content. A bowl of broccoli cheddar soup packs a whopping 2,000 milligrams of sodium, which is more than the American Heart Association's ideal limit of 1,500 milligrams per day — for just one meal! The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention points out that too much sodium can cause high blood pressure and increase the risk for heart disease and stroke.
- American Heart Association: "How Much Sodium Should I Eat Per Day?"
- USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference: "Soup, Broccoli Cheese, Canned, Condensed, Commercial"
- Panera Bread: "Broccoli Cheddar Soup"
- Panera Bread: "Panera Bread Nutrition Information - US"
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: "Most Americans Should Consume Less Sodium"