If you love soup that has the flavors of some of your other favorite dishes, be sure not to miss my One Pot Lasagna Soup or our favorite Easy Cheesy Taco Soup!
Cheeseburger Soup
If you’re looking for a rich and delicious soup that brings the flavors of summer into the winter months, this easy cheeseburger soup recipe is for you! It’s made with lean ground beef, so it’s plenty filling, and has a creamy potato and cheese base that is pretty much the ultimate when it comes to satisfying hungry families. Plus, it’s topped with toasted hamburger bun croutons and bacon. Who doesn’t love bacon? It’s an easy and delicious soup to prepare, but my favorite part are all the garnishes on top that not only make this a pretty and fun soup to eat! Now before you go and turn your noses up at the pickles as a garnish, I really recommend you give them a try in this soup! It really gives it that something extra that makes you think, “wow! this soup really DOES taste like a cheeseburger!” Even my pickle-hating husband who has always picked the pickles off his cheeseburgers preferred this soup with the pickle garnish on top. After I made this last time I started brainstorming some of our other favorite burger toppings. I think next time I’m going to try adding caramelized or fried onion strings and a drizzle of BBQ sauce on top. I bet sauteed mushrooms and sliced avocado would be good too!
What is cheeseburger soup?
Cheeseburger soup is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an easy beef broth soup that combines the flavors and ingredients normally found inside of a cheeseburger but in the form of a soup. I know it sounds weird, but something about cheeseburger soup with pickles and bacon just feels right.
How to make cheeseburger soup
- Start by cutting hamburger buns into small cubes and drizzling with a little olive oil and salt. Toast in a 400 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes until golden and crisp, then set aside.
- In a large dutch oven, cook the chopped bacon until crispy, then remove and drain the bacon fat.
- In the same dutch oven, brown the ground beef over medium heat by breaking it up with a wooden spoon until no pink remains. Transfer the browned ground beef to a plate and drain the grease.
- Melt the butter in the same dutch oven over medium heat, and add in the onions, celery, and carrots. Cook the veggies until they are soften slightly, around 4-5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Sprinkle the flour over the softened vegetables and stir in. Cook for another minute longer, then stir in the Worcestershire sauce.
- Gradually whisk in the beef broth and milk, then add in the potatoes and and return the cooked ground beef to the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
- Once the soup comes to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook just until the potatoes are tender, about 10-15 minutes.
- Stir in the cheese and sour cream until melted, then remove from the heat. I prefer to use sharp cheddar cheese for this soup, although many other recipes call for Velveeta. I prefer the taste of cheddar and think the soup is plenty creamy as is, but you could do a combination of both, or use just Velveeta cheese if you prefer.
- Ladle the soup into individual bowls and top with hamburger bun croutons, diced pickles, chopped tomatoes, the cooked bacon, green onions, and more shredded cheese just before serving.
Can you freeze cheeseburger soup?
You can freeze this soup in a gallon-sized zipper topped bag, just make sure that you press the air out of it so that it takes up less space in the freezer. You may also wish to freeze it flat on a baking sheet and then turn it on its side for a more convenient storage solution. Thaw the soup in the fridge overnight and reheat, or take it from the freezer and place it in a slow cooker on low all day for a low maintenance dinner.
How to thicken cheeseburger soup?
I like to thicken this soup with a little flour that gets sprinkled over softened vegetables. Once you whisk in the broth and let everything simmer, you won’t even notice the vegetables or flour in the soup, but they create an incredibly flavorful base. The potatoes also release starch while they cook, which contributes to the creamy, silky texture of the soup. If you find that your soup isn’t as thick as you’d like, you can make a cornstarch slurry by combining equal parts cornstarch and water and add it to the soup while it’s simmering. Or if you prefer your soup on the thinner side, you can add in a little more broth or milk to thin it out. But I think this cheeseburger soup recipe is just the right consistency as written, thickened with just the flour and starch released from the potatoes.
What goes with cheeseburger soup?
We love serving a moist, sweet cornbread with a soup like this. Or a crispy green salad with Olive Garden salad dressing is another great option to serve with almost any soup!
More Easy Soup Recipes to Warm You Up
One Pot Lasagna SoupEasy Minestrone SoupZuppa ToscanaSlow Cooker Tuscan White Bean SoupCreamy Leftover Turkey Wild Rice SoupCreamy Irish Leek and Potato SoupSplit Pea SoupChicken Noodle & Dumpling SoupEasy Cheesy Taco SoupChicken Avocado Lime Soup
This post first appeared on The Salty Marshmallow, where I am a contributor. Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
