Keep your belly warm and satisfied on cold nights with this cheeseburger soup recipe. As the name suggests, it carries all the cheesy and indulgent goodness of a regular cheeseburger, made all the more comforting by a hearty chicken broth.
Even better, since it only features simple ingredients like veggies, dairy, and ground beef, you won’t have any trouble putting together a big, budget-friendly pot for the whole family to enjoy.
Why We Love Cheeseburger Soup
- It’s incredibly simple: This soup comes together in a few easy and straightforward steps. The ingredients only need minimum preparation and for the most part, you’ll only need to let them simmer—an ideal dish to make on any occasion.
- It’s easy to customize: Much like other soups, this dish’s toppings can also be adjusted to fit your liking and diet. We went with some classic veggies, but you can also sprinkle in bacon bits, add a few croutons, or any other ingredients. Each variation brings along different flavors that keep the dish endlessly fascinating.
- It’s the perfect comfort food: Soup is quintessential comfort food, and this one is no exception. Bonus point, it comes with the cheesy goodness of other dairy-rich food while still carrying the soul-warming quality of homemade meals.
Is This Soup Healthy?
Cheeseburgers aren’t known to be healthy, and while this soup does contain certain similar ingredients to the classic fast food, their amounts have been kept within acceptable health limits. As a result, each serving contains around 453 calories, 8.6 g saturated fat, and 573 mg sodium, which we believe is quite reasonable.
Moreover, with lean ground beef as the main ingredient, this dish comes with a decent amount of protein—approximately 28 g. Beyond the protein content, beef also provides various other nutrients, such as vitamins (A, B6, and B12) and minerals (heme iron, zinc, magnesium, calcium, etc.).
With a hefty amount of carrots and potatoes, this dish also offers a great deal of dietary fiber, which helps to improve digestion, lower cholesterol levels, and aid in weight management.
Main Ingredients
Here is everything you’ll need to whip up this delectable cheeseburger soup:
- Beef: Much like actual cheeseburgers, this recipe also calls for ground beef. Since this is a soup, we only cooked it as it is instead of molding it into patties.
- Vegetables: This part is entirely customizable, so you can go with whatever’s at your disposal. We chose potatoes, celery, and carrots as well as garlic and onion for some subtle aroma kicks.
- Cheese: We went with shredded cheddar cheese, but feel free to use other varieties.
- Dairy Products: This soup typically has a very thick and creamy texture, so we used some heavy cream and milk. If you’re lactose-intolerant, swap them out for other non-dairy substitutions, however, this might affect the dish’s overall taste and texture.
- Chicken Broth: This soup essential provides a delicate homey taste that makes the dish incredibly heart-warming.
- Spices & Seasonings: To keep things simple but still relatively flavorful, we went with salt and pepper and paprika for a hint of spiciness.
- Other Ingredients: We also added some mustard to deepen the dish’s overall flavors and flour to further enhance the thickness. For garnish and a bit of aroma, we used chopped parsley.
Substitutions
- Meat
This recipe works amazingly well with the beef’s savory depth, but also with other proteins such as turkey, chicken, shrimp, pork, or even sausages.
- Vegetables
As mentioned above, don’t hesitate to switch out the veggies each time you make this dish to keep things interesting. Mushrooms, bell peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, etc. are all great options.
- Broth
Chicken broth is our go-to choice for almost any kind of soup, but this recipe would also work with beef broth or vegetable broth.
How to Store and Reheat
This soup can last for up to 3 days when kept in airtight containers in the fridge. You can reheat it on the stovetop over medium heat. Since this dish is mostly dairy, you might need to add a bit of extra broth to loosen up the congealed texture.
What to Serve With
This cheeseburger soup is quite filling on its own, so pairing it with a simple side dish should be enough for a satisfying meal. Here are a few of our recommendations:
And if you’re like us, the soup craving never stops. Give our Ground Chicken Soup and Chicken Tortilla Soup a try if you like hearty, cozy soups like this one. For those looking for something lighter, these soups might just do the trick: Cabbage Potato Soup, Miso Soup, and Stracciatella Soup.
Cheeseburger Soup Recipe
Keep your belly warm and satisfied on cold nights with this cheeseburger soup recipe. It's so easy to make with simple ingredients like veggies, dairy, and ground beef. You won't have any trouble putting together a big, budget-friendly pot for the whole family to enjoy.
- cook TIME 30 mins
- prep TIME 7 mins
- total TIME 37 mins
- COURSE Main Dish
- CUISINE American
- SERVINGS servings
- CALORIES 453 kcal
INGREDIENTS
- 12 oz 97% lean ground beef
- 2 oz cheddar cheese (shredded)
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 14 oz potato (sliced into large cubes)
- 2 oz celery (diced)
- 6 oz carrot (julienned)
- 4 oz onion (diced)
- 1 tbsp garlic (minced)
- 2 tbsp parsley (chopped)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted chicken broth
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp traditional Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp paprika
INSTRUCTIONS
Prep:
Dice the onion: Cut the onion in half lengthwise. Turn the half vertically and make thin slices but leave the root intact. Then turn the onion horizontally and push the knife crosswise into the slices. Then, thinly slice to make small, diced pieces.
Mince the garlic: Cut off the root and remove the peel then thinly slice each clove. Rock the knife over the sliced pile a few times to finely mince the garlic.
Julienne the carrots: Use a peeler to remove the skin; cut and discard the ends. Cut the carrot crosswise into thirds. Thinly slice each third lengthwise, then stack the pieces and slice lengthwise again into matchsticks.
Slice the celery: Slice the celery stalks crosswise into small diced pieces.
Slice the potato: Remove the skin, then slice the potatoes lengthwise into thick wedges. Gather the wedges, stack them up, and slice them crosswise into medium-sized cubes.
Cook:
Sauté the aromatics: In a saucepan over medium heat, sauté 4 oz diced onion, 2 oz diced celery, and 1 tbsp minced garlic with 2 tbsp olive oil for 2 minutes until fragrant.
Add the ground beef: Add 12 oz 97% lean ground beef and stir around for 3 minutes until the meat is browned.
Add the vegetables: Add 14 oz cubed potato and 6 oz julienned carrot and stir to cook for 3 minutes.
Add the cheese: Add 2 oz shredded cheddar cheese, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, and 1 tsp paprika, and stir around until it’s fully blended into the pre-existent ingredients.
Add the broth and dairy: Add 1 1/2 cups unsalted chicken broth, 2 tbsp heavy cream, and 1 cup milk and bring to a boil then reduce the heat and let the saucepan simmer for around 20 minutes.
Cook the flour: In a separate pan, add 2 tbsp all-purpose flour and 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil and cook for around 1 or 2 minutes until the mixture thickens.
Add the cooked flour to the saucepan: Pour the cooked flour into the saucepan and cook the soup for another 3 minutes or until the texture has thickened.
Garnish and serve: Take off the heat, garnish with 2 tbsp chopped parsley, and transfer into serving plates.
NUTRITION
Tuyet Pham
Head Chef, Culinary Consultant
Luna Regina
Writer, Author
- Rocio SalazarA fantastic option for anyone looking for a tasty and easy-to-make meal.