My kids say this Cheeseburger Soup is award-winning – it’s their absolute favorite! Thick and hearty with ground beef, diced potatoes, and a creamy sauce – it’s affordable, gluten-free, freezer-friendly, and absolutely delicious!
Ground beef is a staple in our house. It’s an inexpensive protein, easy to find organic or grass-fed (or with a meat subscription box), a healthy fat, and you can literally make hundreds of different recipes with it.
My husband isn’t a huge fan of ground beef (he says it’s a texture thing), but my kids and I love it!
They’re always asking to make Migas or Italian Meatballs, or if we can have a spaghetti night with my Meaty Spaghetti Sauce. Sometimes I make a batch of seasoned ground beef in the Instant Pot just so it’s ready for them in the fridge!
When the weather is cool though, we tend to lean less towards burgers on the grill and more towards soups. What better way to get the best of both worlds than Cheeseburger Soup?
Easy Cheeseburger Soup
The base of the Cheeseburger Soup recipe is ground beef (obviously), which makes this an inexpensive yet healthy meal. It also comes together pretty quickly – and can be made in the slow cooker or Instant Pot – so it’s a great choice for a fast weeknight meal too.
The Best Cheeseburger Soup can also be stretched a bit if the grocery budget is tight or there are still a few days left until the next paycheck. The ingredients themselves are affordable, so it’s a great choice to make when you’re having company over for dinner or to take to a family in need. Plus any type of creamy cheese soup is comfort food in my book!
Let me show you how easy and delicious Cheeseburger Soup can be!
What You Need to Make Ground Beef Soup
The ingredient list for this ground beef soup looks long, but don’t be intimidated. It’s the same core ingredients as every other soup recipe, plus a few items that make THIS ground beef soup stand out from all the rest.
- Ground Beef. You need one pound of lean ground beef, but I’ve used ground turkey in the past. You can also use ground chicken or ground pork if you prefer. If the budget is tight, you can first make a batch of Stretched Ground Beef and then use 2 cups of that per pound of ground beef in this recipe.
- Onion + Carrots + Celery
- Potatoes. Instead of buns, we’re using diced potatoes! Any variety will work.
- Garlic + Salt + Pepper
- Beans or Lentils. These are 100% optional and we actually prefer to leave them out. But, if you need this soup to go just a bit further, a little bit of legume can go a long way.
- Chicken Broth. Beef broth can work in a pinch.
- Ketchup + Mustard. I know it sounds weird, but trust me – this is what makes the soup taste like a cheeseburger!
- Cheese. Keep for a cheeseburger, omit for a hamburger.
It’s worth noting that Cheeseburger Soup is not soupy like Minestrone Soup or Chicken Noodle Soup. It’s thick, almost a Cheeseburger Chowder if you will. But it’s absolutely delicious!
How to Make Cheeseburger Soup Recipe
This soup is a “chop as you go” type of soup, meaning you’re chopping what’s needed for the next step as the first step is cooking. This means there’s ZERO cheeseburger soup prep work. If the pot is done but you’re still chopping, just turn the heat to low until you’re ready for the next step.
Step 1: Brown the ground beef in a large Dutch oven or stock pot, over medium heat. There’s no need to add any cooking fat. Use a potato masher to crumble ground beef as it’s cooking.
Tip: I recommend this style of potato masher a million times over versus this one or this one. You want the big, broad wires to break up the ground beef, not those tiny little holes. Plus this broad-style masher also makes the creamiest guacamole (and it mashes potatoes pretty well too!).
Step 2: When the ground beef is almost done, add the diced onion, diced celery, and diced carrots. Stir well and let the vegetables cook for 3-5 minutes or until the onions are softened.
Step 3: Add the diced potatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, beans, and 3 cups of chicken stock or broth. Bring the soup just to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, stirring occasionally. The potatoes will absorb liquid as they cook, so check in about 10-12 minutes and add the remaining 1 cup of chicken broth if needed to cook the potatoes and/or thin the soup.
Step 4: When the potatoes are fork-tender, add the ketchup, mustard, and shredded cheddar cheese. Stir well until the cheese melts. Serve hot.
Variations – Bacon Cheeseburger Soup Anyone?
- You’ll see that I included diced dill pickles, and additional cheese as optional toppings for this Cheeseburger Soup.
- In fact, why not some diced onions, or even some sour cream or yogurt?
- Add some crumbled bacon and you have a Cheesy Bacon Burger Soup Recipe!
- Substitute radishes for potatoes and you have a Keto Cheeseburger soup
- If you’re dairy-free, skip the cheese for a hearty hamburger soup.
- For an extra creamy soup, stir in a bit of sour cream right into the soup (once you’ve removed it from the heat)
- Or you can make a roux: in a small saucepan, melt a couple of tablespoons of butter and add equal parts flour. Stir and cook the flour for 2 minutes. Ladle a scoop of broth from the soup into the saucepan and whisk well, removing any clumps. Repeat this 1-2 more times until you have a thick sauce, but it’s no longer pasty. Pour the entire contents of the saucepan into your soup and stir to thicken.
- A teaspoon of dried parsley flakes or dried basil as a garnish can help make it look a bit more presentable to picky eaters.
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- If you have hamburger buns, why not toast them up and make bun croutons?! Follow my homemade crouton method here.
FAQs for my Favorite Beef Soup Recipes
What can I substitute for ground beef?
You can substitute ground turkey, ground chicken, ground pork, or even Italian sausage if you prefer. If the budget is tight, you can first make a batch of Stretched Ground Beef and then use 2 cups of that in this recipe.
Can you substitute Velveeta for the shredded cheese?
You can, but it’s not something I recommend because Velveeta cheese isn’t actually cheese. (Have you read the ingredient list?) If you don’t like sharp cheddar cheese, consider using pepper jack cheese, Swiss cheese, or Colby jack cheese. You can even stir in cream cheese!
How do you store cheeseburger soup? Can I freeze it?
Once the soup has cooled, you can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-5 days. Repurposed spaghetti jars are great for this.
You can freeze the soup too, once it’s cool. I recommend freezing in either quarts or gallons, depending on the size of your family.
Be sure to reheat this soup before enjoying it as leftovers. This soup doesn’t taste that great at room temperature (unlike Zuppa Toscana), so we don’t pack it for school lunches.
How can I cook cheeseburger soup in the crock pot?
To make crockpot cheeseburger soup, follow the same instructions as the recipe card below, but brown the ground beef in a skillet instead, drain the excess grease, and transfer the cooked ground beef to the slow cooker. Add everything else and cook on high for 4-6 hours, or on low for 6-8 hours.
How to Reheat Award-Winning Cheeseburger Soup
I prefer to reheat cheeseburger soup on the stove, but my sister-in-law has reheated soup in her air fryer before. If you use the microwave, be sure to place a Tupperware lid over the bowl to prevent splattering and making a mess.
More Delicious Soup Recipes
- Tomato Basil Soup
- Homemade Tortilla Soup
- Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Soup
- Instant Pot White Bean and Sausage Soup
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Print RecipeMy kids say this Cheeseburger Soup is award-winning – it’s their absolute favorite! Thick and hearty with ground beef, diced potatoes, and a creamy sauce – it’s affordable, gluten-free, freezer-friendly, and absolutely delicious!
- Prep Time: 0 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: serves 6
- Category: Soup and Salad
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 cup diced onion, (1 lg)
- 1 cup diced celery (3–4 ribs)
- 1 cup diced carrots (4 med)
- 2 lbs potatoes (any), diced
- ½ tsp garlic
- 1–2 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 1 (15 oz) can kidney or white beans or lentils (optional)
- 3–4 cups chicken broth
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup plain or spicy brown mustard
- ½–1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Optional toppings:
- Crumbled bacon
- Diced pickles
- Additional cheese
- ¼ – ½ cup sour cream
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven or stock pot, brown the ground beef over medium heat. There’s no need to add any cooking fat. Use a potato masher to crumble the ground beef as it’s cooking.
- When the ground beef is almost done, add the diced onion, diced celery, and diced carrots. Stir well and let the vegetables cook for 3-5 minutes or until the onions are softened.
- Add the diced potatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, beans, and 3 cups of chicken broth, and bring the soup just to a boil. Stir and reduce heat to a simmer. The potatoes will absorb liquid as they cook, so check in about 10-12 minutes and add the remaining 1 cup of chicken stock if needed to cook the potatoes and/or thin the soup.
- When the potatoes are fork-tender, add the ketchup, mustard, and shredded cheddar cheese. Stir well until the cheese melts. Serve hot.
Notes
- You can substitute with ground turkey, ground pork, or ground chicken. If the budget is tight, consider making one batch of Stretched Ground Beef and subbing 2 cups into this recipe. If you do this, skip step 1 of cooking, add 1 Tbsp olive oil to the pan before adding the diced vegetables, and add the stretched ground beef with the potatoes.
- You can use any type of potato. I typically don’t peel them first, but you can if you’d like. I recommend dicing to ¼” so they’re easy to eat in the soup.
- The beans/lentils are optional but do help to stretch the soup. You can also use an additional one pound of ground beef if you prefer.
- Substitute vegetable stock if you don’t have chicken stock.
- I don’t recommend horseradish mustard for this recipe, but if you can find dill mustard, it’s absolutely fantastic!
- I like to use sharp cheddar cheese, but any shredded cheese will work. Pepperjack would be great for a little bit of heat!
Nutrition
- Calories: 337
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