Cheeseburger Soup

Cheeseburger Soup has all the flavors of a cheeseburger in a comforting bowl of soup. It’s the best soup with ground beef, potatoes, and cheese. Topped with bacon, croutons made from burger buns, onion, and pickles, this soup is sure to be a favorite.

overhead view of cheeseburger soup in a bowl and various toppings for it.


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Ground Beef Soup

Cheeseburger Soup may not sound like sophisticated dining, and it isn’t. But it is downright tasty with its savory blend of ground beef, potatoes, onions, cheese, and bacon! Don’t pass on this Cheeseburger Soup recipe just because of the name and the longish list of ingredients, or you’ll regret it!

Why This is the Best Recipe For Cheeseburger Soup

Cheeseburgers are not Italian, so why do so many online cheeseburger soup recipes call for Italian-style vegetables and seasonings? This version uses bold flavors you expect to find on a burger, like Worcestershire sauce, dried dry mustard, and dill pickle relish!

Recipe Ingredients

To make the best Cheeseburger Soup you have ever had, you’ll need:

  • Ground beef
  • Salt
  • Black pepper
  • White onions
  • Vegetable oil
  • All-purpose flour
  • Chicken stock
  • Potatoes
  • American cheese
  • Dry mustard
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • A hamburger bun
  • Precooked bacon or bacon bits
  • Dill pickle relish
  • Green onions
cheeseburger soup ingredients on a tray.

Ingredient Notes

You can use very lean ground beef in this recipe since you don’t need the extra fat to keep the meat from drying out.

Some people prefer Velveeta in place of the American cheese listed in the recipe.

You don’t have to use hamburger buns to make the croutons in this dish if you don’t have them on hand. Any bread is fine.

Ingredient Substitutions

If you need to, you can make a vegetarian version of this recipe by replacing the ground beef with Gardein Gluten-Free Ultimate Plant-Based Beefless Ground Crumbles, the bacon with Louisville Vegan Jerky – Toppins’ Bacon Bits, and the chicken stock with Better Than Bouillon Vegetarian No Chicken Base.

How to Make Cheeseburger Potato Soup

These are the steps to make the best cheeseburger soup:

  1. Warm a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and crumble in the ground beef.
  2. Sauté the meat until it is no longer pink. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked ground beef into a bowl and season the meat with a teaspoon of salt and a half teaspoon of black pepper.
  3. Sweat the chopped onion in the soup pot until the onions become translucent. If there isn’t enough grease from cooking the ground beef, add vegetable oil.
  4. Sprinkle flour into the pot and stir to create a roux. Allow the flour to cook until it starts to smell like cooked pastry and turns pale yellow.
cooked chopped onions and roux for cheeseburger soup in a pot.
  1. Whisk in a half cup of chicken stock and cook until it thickens. Repeat with another half cup of stock.
  2. Pour in the rest of the chicken stock and add the potatoes and cook covered for about 15 minutes, or until the potatoes slightly soften.
  3. While the potatoes cook, melt two tablespoons of butter in a pan over medium heat. Cut the hamburger bun into crouton-sized pieces and saute in the butter until crisp. Remove the toasted bread from the pan and place it on a paper towel to drain.
  4. Return the cooked ground beef to the pot along with the cheese, dry mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir to combine.
cheeseburger soup mixture in a pot.
  1. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the cheese melts and the soup is hot. Stir occasionally to prevent the cheese from burning.
  2. Serve immediately with your choice of toppings for the soup.
a bowl of cheeseburger soup with toppings in bowls beside it.

Recipe Variations

This active recipe doesn’t work well in a slow cooker, but you can cut the cooking time slightly by using an Instant Pot. You could swap the ground beef for ground turkey if you want to try to save on the amount of fat in the recipe.

How to Cook Cheeseburger Soup in an Instant Pot:

  1. Season the onions and ground beef, and sauté in the Instant Pot insert with the lid off until the meat is brown.
  2. Stir in the flour and cook for a couple more minutes.
  3. Add the diced potatoes and chicken stock.
  4. Put the lid on the Instant Pot and set the timer on high for 5 minutes. It will take some time to come up to pressure.
  5. When the timer goes off, do a quick release.
  6. Take off the lid and stir in the cheese, dry mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Switch the Instant Pot to the Keep Warm setting.
  7. Once the cheese melts, serve immediately.

How to Serve Cheeseburger Soup with Pickles

Serve in a bowl with the toasted hamburger croutons, dill pickle relish, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, and bacon bits on top.

What Goes Well With Cheeseburger Potato Soup?

This hearty soup is perfect for a standalone meal, but a simple garden salad with a balsamic or Italian vinaigrette is a wonderful side dish that will help to cut some of the soup’s richness.

How to Store the Best Cheeseburger Soup

Cool the soup thoroughly and transfer to an airtight container. Store in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Can I Freeze Cheeseburger Soup?

Due to the potatoes and cheese, it’s not a good idea to store this soup in the freezer.

How Can I Reheat Cheeseburger Soup?

For the best results, heat on the stovetop:

Put the soup in a cold saucepan with some chicken stock or water and warm over medium-low heat while stirring constantly.

If you need to warm in a microwave:

Pour the soup into a microwave-safe bowl and add some water or chicken stock to thin.

Cover and microwave on high for a minute. Stir, and heat for 30 seconds more. Continue heating in 30-second increments and stirring until the soup is hot.

bowl of cheeseburger soup with toppings in bowls behind it.

Favorite Soup Recipes

Be sure to try out some more delicious soup recipes here on CopyKat!

Check out more of my easy soup recipes and the best ground beef recipes here on CopyKat!

cheeseburger soup with hamburger bun croutons on top.

Cheeseburger soup

Yes! You can make cheeseburger soup topped with hamburger bun croutons, bacon, dill pickle relish, onions, and more!
5 from 3 votes
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Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Cheeseburger soup
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 6
Calories: 431kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 2 teaspoons salt divided use
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 cup chopped white onion
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups small potatoes quartered
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded American cheese divided use
  • 1 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 hamburger bun
  • 2 teaspoons butter
  • 1 tablespoon dill pickle relish
  • 1 ounce bacon, cooked and crumbled
  • 2 tablespoons chopped green onions

Instructions

  • Sauté the ground beef in a medium-size skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and the black pepper. Continue cooking while crumbling the beef with your spoon until the beef is well browned. Drain the fat from the beef and set aside.
  • In a medium-size pot over medium heat, add the chopped onion and vegetable oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt. Stir and cook the onions until they become translucent.
  • Sprinkle the flour over the onions and cook for about 1 minute or until the flour becomes fragrant (it should smell like pie dough).
  • Add about 1/2 cup chicken broth into the pot, and stir until the mixture thickens.
  • Add another 1/2 cup broth, and stir until this thickens.
  • Then add the remaining 1 cup broth and stir until the mixture thickens.
  • Add the potatoes to the soup and cook for about 15 minutes.
  • Add the ground beef, cheese (reserve some for garnish), dry mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until well blended, and simmer until the soup is heated through.
  • While the soup is heating, cut a hamburger bun into 1/2-inch cubes.
  • Toast the bread cubes in a small skillet with the butter until they have browned. Stir occasionally, so the bread does not burn.
  • To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with toasted hamburger buns, dill pickle relish, crumbled bacon, green onions, and the reserved grated cheese.

Nutrition

Calories: 431kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 99mg | Sodium: 1702mg | Potassium: 438mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 404IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 407mg | Iron: 3mg

About Stephanie Manley

I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.

Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Cindy

      good clam chowder. I wish I could get it nice and thick like the restaurants do but don’t know how. Maybe they use Guar Gum??

      • Rob Dotzler

        5 stars
        Guar gum is fully unnecessary. Make a roux, it’s crazy easy and one of the the needed items to make some of the mother sauces. If you don’t know what mother sauces are, learn. You can make almost any good food knowing your mother sauces. A white sauce will allow you to make dozens upon dozens of meals, everything from any thick cream sauce to almost any cheese sauce. There’s nothing like broccoli with cheddar sauce. In fact, your mother sauces, if you don’t learn them, you might want to give up cooking all together. I’m not exaggerating. If you’re going to buy any cook book, start with any Better Homes and Gardens and they’ll have all those sauces covered. All the fancy chef books can wait, Racheal, Alton and Cat Cora will understand, they’d rather you learn the very basics before trying to tackle what they do.

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