The Ultimate Cheeseburger Soup recipe is filled with ground beef, potatoes, cheese and frozen veggies for an easy, hearty take on a cheeseburger – you'll love this creamy soup!
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Ingredients in cheeseburger soup
You’ll need a pound of ground beef for this recipe. I recommend extra lean. That means it is at least 96% lean and a maximum of 4% fat. If you use beef with more fat, you will want to drain the fat after browning the meat. You don’t want grease in your soup broth. Ground beef with more fat is known to be moist, but because you are serving this in soup with broth, you don’t have to worry about drying out the meat during cooking.
Other ingredients you will need besides pantry items such as spices are:
- Onion
- Celery
- Potato – I recommend using a Russet potato for this soup. This big mealy potato will soak up lots of flavor from the broth
- Beef broth
- Diced tomatoes
- Frozen veggies
- Cheddar cheese
How to make cheeseburger soup
This soup is all made in one pot and can be on the table in about 45 minutes. It's a super easy dinner idea! Here's how to make it step-by-step:
- Brown the ground beef
- Add onion and celery
- Add potatoes and seasonings
- Add diced tomatoes and broth and simmer for 25 minutes
- Stir in frozen vegetables and cook for five more minutes
- Stir in cheese after removing from heat
Making crock pot cheeseburger soup
You can make this soup in your crock pot as well.
I do recommend that you brown your meat before putting it in the crock pot. This is something you can meal prep ahead of time though. You can do this up to four days before you plan to make the soup.
All the other ingredients can be tossed in the crock pot and allowed to cook for four hours on high or six hours on low.
Making this in the Instant Pot
If you use an Instant Pot, this is still a one pot meal and done in much less time.
- Thanks to the saute feature on the Instant Pot, you can brown the meat in the same pot that you will cook the rest of the soup.
- After browning the meat, put all the other ingredients in the Instant Pot and set the timer for five minutes.
- Allow the pressure to release naturally for at least ten minutes. Soup will produce a foam in the Instant Pot, and this foam could shoot through the valve because of the amount of pressure in the pot.
- Add cheese just before serving.
Ingredient substitutions
You’ll love the taste and ease of this cheeseburger soup recipe so I’m sure it will become a staple in your winter meal rotation! But if you want to change it up a bit, try some of these substitutions:
- Use ground chicken or turkey instead of ground beef
- Using frozen veggies is a quick way to make this meal. No cutting required! But you can change the blend of frozen veggies or add fresh veggies to the mix. Some that taste great in this soup are carrots, green beans, peas, cauliflower, lima beans and corn.
- Add some sour cream at the end with the cheese for an even creamier soup.
- Top the soup with everyone’s favorite – bacon!
What to serve with cheeseburger soup
Of course, I automatically think of serving bread with soup. Cheesy bread tastes great and reminds me of the missing bun for the cheeseburger. But if you want something lighter, try one of these sides:
- Salad
- Steamed broccoli
- Roasted carrots
- Kale salad
Making the soup thicker
The potatoes release a lot of starch into the soup, thickening it nicely. But if you want it thicker or if you are leaving out the potatoes to make it lower carb, try some of these methods of thickening your soup:
- Add flour or cornstarch. Add it when you are sauteing the vegetables though so it doesn’t clump up. Instead it will stick to the veggies and thicken the soup as it cooks.
- Add sour cream at the end of cooking.
- Use Velveeta cheese, or simply double the cheese suggested below.
- Use another potato.
Storing and reheating
You can store the fully cooked soup in the refrigerator for five days.
When you are ready to eat it, you can reheat it in the microwave for 2 minutes (add extra shredded cheese melted on top for extra flavour!). You can also reheat in a saucepan on the stove top for 5 minutes for a fresher flavour.
This recipe is also great for meal prep. It makes six servings so you can divide this cheeseburger soup into single serving containers. It’s a great warm lunch on a cold winter day!
Freezing cheeseburger soup
You can freeze this cheeseburger soup recipe for up to three months. I recommend storing individual servings in glass bowls with lids for easy reheating as this soup is the perfect last minute lunch or dinner idea.
Thaw the soup in the refrigerator the night before you want to eat it, or reheat your individual portion in the microwave for 6-7 minutes, stirring halfway through.
You could also brown the ground beef and store it in the freezer for up to three months. This would make it quicker to cook fresh, no matter what method you chose.
More hearty soup recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this soup into your weekly lunches.
- I get all my grass-fed ground beef from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months
Meal prep challenge
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The Ultimate Cheeseburger Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb extra-lean ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 russet potato, diced in 1-inch pieces
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper
- 1 (796mL) can diced tomatoes
- 4 cups beef broth
- 2 cups frozen veggies
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Saute ground beef in a large pot or Dutch oven over med-high heat, cooking until browned. Add onions and celery, sauteing for 2-3 minutes until softened.
- Add in potatoes, garlic, mustard, Worcestershire, thyme and salt & pepper, stirring until combined. Add diced tomatoes and beef broth, bringing to a boil then simmering for 25 minutes.
- Add frozen vegetables, then cook another 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in cheese, then stir and enjoy!
Instant Pot instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute mode then brown the ground beef. After browning, put all the other ingredients besides cheese in the Instant Pot and set to cook on high pressure for five minutes.
- Allow the pressure to release naturally (10-20 minutes). Remove lid, stir in cheese, then serve and enjoy!
Slow cooker instructions
- Brown the ground beef in a skillet on the stove before putting it in the crock pot. Add all the other ingredients (besides cheese) to the crock pot and cook for four hours on high or six hours on low. Stir in cheese at the end.
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