Easy Cheeseburger Soup is a rich, creamy, and comforting bowl of goodness that is ready in about an hour and perfect any time of the year!
Easy Taco Soup and Easy Creamy Tomato Soup are the best busy weeknight Soup Recipes the whole family loves! This tasty Cheeseburger Potato Soup is just as easy and perfect for dinner, potlucks, or tailgates.
Sabrina’s Cheeseburger Soup Recipe
Turning easy dinners, like tacos or enchiladas, into a tasty soup is a great way to switch up weeknight meals! This soup tastes as mind-blowing as it sounds. Packed with cheddar cheese and ground beef, this creamy potato soup will be your new go-to family favorite any night of the week.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef , (80/20)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 yellow onion , chopped
- 3 medium carrots , diced
- 2 stalks celery , diced
- 4 medium russet potatoes , diced (about 4 cups)
- 4 cups chicken broth
Cheese Sauce:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- 2 cups cheddar cheese , freshly shredded
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
- Add ground beef, salt, black pepper, thyme and onions to a large dutch oven on medium heat and cook, breaking it apart, for 5-6 minutes until well browned and the onions are translucent.
- Add the carrots, celery and potatoes to the pot with the beef and onion mixture and stir well.
- Add in the chicken broth and bring to a boil.
- Reduce to a simmer and cook for 12-15 minutes until the carrots and potatoes are tender.
Cheese Sauce:
- In a second pot add the butter and flour on medium heat.
- Whisk well until the flour is cooked and well mixed with the butter.
- Whisk in the cheddar cheese until smooth then slowly whisk in the whole milk until smooth.
To Finish:
- Add the cheese sauce into the soup and stir until creamy.
- Top with cheddar cheese and croutons if desired and serve.
Nutrition
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Table of contents
About this Recipe
Cheeseburger Soup is ready in under an hour with budget-friendly ingredients like ground beef, russet potatoes, and canned cheese soup. It’s a great recipe to use leftovers and whatever is in your pantry. The best part of this soup recipe is that you can make it on the stovetop, the crockpot, or an Instant Pot, depending on how much hands-on time you have to prepare dinner.
Can This Be Made Ahead of Time?
Cream and cheese-based soups like this soup don’t freeze well, since the dairy separates as it reheats. To freeze ahead of time, prepare up until you begin the butter-flour mixture. Cool and freeze soup without dairy. Thaw overnight and reheat on the stove top. Once hot, prepare the butter-flour mixture and add cheddar soup, milk, and cheese as normal.
What to Pair With
For a hearty, yet light, main dish, serve this soup with Dinner Rolls and Roasted Broccoli or Big Mac Salad. This hamburger soup is also a great side dish along with other All-American dinner favorites like Cheeseburger Hamburger Helper.
How to Store
- Serve: Best served hot and fresh. Be sure to stir occasionally if it is sitting for a while, and don’t keep it at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
- Store: Cool soup completely before storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat on the stove top, stirring occasionally, until hot to serve.
- Freeze: Place cooled soup in a sealed container and freeze for up to 3 months. For best results, freeze without the milk and cheese mixture or stir frequently when reheating.
Alternative Cooking Techniques
Slow Cooker
- Sauté beef and onions with seasonings in a large skillet over medium-high heat until the meat is browned and the onions are translucent.
- Drain the beef mixture and place it in a slow cooker.
- Add potatoes, carrots, celery, and broth to the crock pot. Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours on low, or 2-3 hours on high.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, whisk flour and butter until butter is cooked. Whisk in cheese soup, then milk, one at a time, until fully combined.
- Stir in the cheese soup mixture into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 30 minutes.
- Garnish with shredded cheddar cheese and serve.
Instant Pot
- Turn the Instant Pot to the Sauté function and brown the beef with seasonings and onions. Drain grease.
- Deglaze the pot with 1 cup of broth to remove any browned bits sticking to the bottom and sides.
- Add potatoes, carrots, celery, and remaining broth to the Instant Pot.
- Seal the lid and pressure valve. Cook on Manual High for 5 minutes and naturally release pressure for 10 minutes before quick release.
- Prepare the flour-butter mixture with cheese soup and milk as usual.
- Turn the Instant Pot on the Soup Function and stir in the milk-cheese soup mixture. Simmer 1-2 minutes.
- Serve with shredded cheese on top.
Variations
- Bacon: Make a Bacon Cheeseburger Soup by adding 6-8 slices of cooked bacon with the potatoes and carrots. Serve with bacon bits as a garnish.
- Chicken: You can swap out the beef in the recipe and try using Grilled Chicken.
- Potatoes: Swap out the russet potatoes with Yukon gold potatoes or red potatoes. You can also use a bag of shredded hash browns; just add them in frozen and allow them to cook with the carrots.
- Veggies: Add canned or frozen veggies you have on like corn, broccoli, bell peppers, diced tomatoes, or green chiles, to make this soup more hearty.
- Cheese: Slice up a block of Velvetta cheese, use canned cheese soup, or homemade Cheddar Cheese Soup to replace the shredded cheddar cheese.
- Toppings: Top your soup with sour cream, pickles, green onions, diced jalapeños, diced tomatoes, or croutons. Try it with the sesame seed burger croutons from Big Mac Pasta Salad!
Related Recipes
More Tasty Soups
These photos were in a previous version of this post
Comfort food at it’s finest without the guilt! I also add a little bit of dill pickle relish at serving it’s awesome!
What a great idea Ed!
AH-MAZ-ING! Absolutely killer flavor and such a great recipe to make extra to eat for lunch later in the week.
Thanks for the 5 star rating, Stephanie. I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
This recipe is seriously my favorite!! Big fan of cheeseburger soup over here!!
Yay! Glad to know it’s such a hit.
This soup is delicious and the potatoes just made it so filling and creamy!
I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the 5 stars, Laura.
Hi, Sabrina! Love your website! The Cheeseburger Soup sounds wonderful and I’d love to try it. However, I’m confused about the Cheese Sauce instructions/ingredients – does it call for condensed cheese soup and cheese sauce…? I don’t actually see condensed soup in either ingredient list, either. Please clarify for me. Thanks so much!
So sorry, this wasn’t edited correctly when it was posted. The recipe used shredded cheddar cheese. The recipe card should read correctly now. Enjoy!
Why isn’t the cheese soup listed in the ingredient list?
I decided to try it with shredded cheese instead and forgot to edit. I’m sorry but the recipe card should read correctly now.
Am I missing an ingredient somewhere? In the instructions, it says to add condensed cheese soup to the cheese sauce, but the ingredients doesn’t call for that. Or can you substitute the canned for the homemade?
Why would you need to make a roux with cheese, if you are using canned soup thinned with milk as you have in the instructions?
I’ve corrected it to read correctly. Clearly I needed more coffee before hitting post on this recipe.
I do not see condensed cheese soup in the ingredient list but it is in the instructions to add it to the cheese sauce. Is it a necessary ingredient?
No, I decided to use all from scratch ingredients instead. Sorry for the confusion.
Sabrina,
Is there condensed cheese soup in this recipe? I am confused. I would love to try your recipe. I see that you talk about condensed cheese soup in your post, and see it again in the instructions of the recipe but do not see it listed in the ingredient list.
After retesting, I decided to use shredded cheddar cheese instead to make the sauce. I’ve edited the recipe card to read correctly now.
Your Cheeseburger soup posted today, in the instructions for cheese sauce #3 says to add condensed cheese soup, but not listed in the ingredients. Was that an error?
Yes, it was. I’m so sorry. The recipe card should read correctly now.
In the cheese sauce instructions you added a can of condensed cheese soup, was this an error or in place of the shredded cheddar cheese. Thanks.
Yes it was. So sorry about. I’ve edited it to ready correctly now. Thanks for your patience.
Hello! This recipe is incomplete. In the instructions for the Cheese Sauce it says to add the canned cheese sauce to the pan. However, there is no mention of canned Cheese Sauce in the ingredients list. How much do we use?
Sorry for the confusion. I’ve edited the recipe card to read more clearly now. Thanks for letting me know.
I belong to a group of ten retired teachers who have met monthly for 45 years. Now when the order of the day is to meet in outdoor spaces six feet apart, it’s my turn to bring dessert in October. Do you have any suggestions for our outdoor gathering? Thanks Sabrina!
Oh my gosh, how fun! I’ve got a few sheet cake recipe that make feeding a crowd much easier, either chocolate or cherry chocolate. I also just posted Halloween Pretzel Hugs that are super easy to make for something more festive for the season. Have fun and stay safe!