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Bacon Cheeseburger Soup is a hearty and creamy take on America’s favorite cheeseburger. The soup is full of flavor, easy to make and comforting.
So incredibly creamy and flavorful, this soup is guaranteed to be a hit. Easy to make, this recipe requires only one pot and widely available ingredients. The soup is packed with all the cheeseburger flavors and made even better by adding a hefty amount of bacon and not holding back on the cheese. This Bacon Cheeseburger Soup is guaranteed to please picky eaters and make weeknight dinners easy, fun and delicious.
How to Make Bacon Cheeseburger Soup
Bacon Cheeseburger Soup is a very easy recipe made in one pan, in about one hour or less, just like one of my other favorite recipes, Cheeseburger Macaroni. To make the soup you will need the basic ingredients that give it the “cheeseburger” taste and flavor. The soup is made with ground beef, and simple veggies like celery, carrots and onion.
The bacon in this soup is optional, but why keep it out when you can add it in. We all know that everything is better with bacon. The bacon is fried in the pot in the beginning, after that is removed and set aside. Next, the beef gets browned, and don’t skip this step, as browning the beef well will add extra flavor. Once the beef has been browned, it’s removed from the pot and the veggies are added. In the end, everything is combined and simmered to perfection.
I like to add sour cream and heavy cream to make the soup creamier. If you don’t have sour cream on hand, you can add plain whole milk yogurt or even cream cheese. I also used a few dried herbs to flavor the soup, like dried basil, parsley and oregano. To make the soup even more flavorful you can add 1 tablespoon of freshly minced garlic or garlic powder. Red pepper flakes are added for just a subtle spice kick, you can add more or less, based on your own preference.
When it comes to the cheese, I love using freshly grated cheddar cheese. Another creamy and delicious option is using Velveeta cheese.
Can You Freeze Cheeseburger Soup?
This cheeseburger soup recipe reheats very well. Just add a little chicken broth while reheating if the soup becomes too thick. The soup can last about 5 days in the fridge.
Since the soup contains potatoes, it can change in texture when frozen, so preferably serve if fresh. If you do decide to freeze this soup, reheat it over low heat to help maintain the creamy and smooth texture!
What Toppings Can I Add to Cheeseburger Soup?
Extra bacon and cheese are always a good idea, I like to garnish the soup with them. Also, you can add a dollop of sour cream, fresh parsley or chopped green onions and chives.
Can I Make Cheeseburger Soup With Ground Chicken?
The classic cheeseburger soup is made with beef, to resemble all the flavors that you taste when eating a juicy cheeseburger. However, you can substitute the beef with ground chicken or ground turkey, and it will still taste delicious.
Hands down, this is one of the best soups I have made. It’s cheesy and so comforting, especially when served with a fresh, warm baguette on the side. The crispy bacon takes it over the top, and all that cheddar cheese makes it so hearty and tasty!
Bacon Cheeseburger Soup
Ingredients
- 12 slices bacon chopped
- 1 pound ground beef
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 medium sweet onion chopped
- 1 cup shredded carrot
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 ¾ pounds potatoes cubed and peeled , about 4 cups
- 3-4 cups chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup whole milk or heavy cream
- ½ cup sour cream
- 16 ounces cheddar cheese shredded, about 4 cups
- chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In a large sauce pan or dutch oven, over medium-high heat, fry the bacon until crisp. Remove bacon and set aside, leaving ¼ of the drippings in the pot.
- Add the beef to the pot, don’t move it or break it for 3-4 minutes, so it gets nice and brown. Start crumbling the beef and cook until browned and no longer pink. Drain and set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium low, add the butter and once melted, add diced onion. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add the rest of the veggies: carrots, celery and potatoes. For extra flavor, cook the veggies for 7-10 minutes until tender or proceed to adding the chicken broth.
- Add 3 cups of chicken broth and the dried herbs: red pepper flakes, parsley, basil and oregano. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir and add back in the beef, stir and if the soup is too thick, add one more cup of broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, 10-12 minutes.
- Reduce heat to low. Stir in sour cream and heavy cream. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the cheese until it melts.
- Stir in ¾ of the bacon.
- Serve garnished with the remaining bacon and fresh parsley.
Video
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Soup
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Holly,
I absolutely love this recipe! We have made this several times in the past 2 years just as stated, and it is fabulous!! My whole family thinks it is to die for! Very filling. The only thing I add at the end is chopped pickles. Can’t eat a burger without pickles;) Thanks so much!!
Can you make it without the potatoes?
Sure you can! The potatoes add a lot of bulk to the soup (since it’s 4 cups) so you might like to substitute them with something else like cauliflower or diced turnip. Let us know how it goes!
Delicious! I didn’t have any bacon, but we loved it without it! I also substituted celery for a pinch of celery seed. My hubby and kids thought it was one of the best soups they’ve ever had. We gobbled up the entire pot and had no leftovers. Thanks for a great recipe! Yummy!
Is there flour added in this recipe? Not sure how it could be creamy with so much liquid.
This isn’t a very thick soup, although you could thicken it with flour or potato flakes if you’d like. I have added a video to the recipe. I hope that helps.
This was absolutely delicious. I did add a tablespoon of ketchup, a tablespoon of grainy mustard, and a tablespoon of dill relish. It tasted like a comforting bowl of cheeseburgers and fries! It was perfect for a blustery, chilly fall day!
Can’t wait to try this!!!!
:-)
A-MAZE-BALLS!!!!!
ANOTHER insane recipe! I needed to use up potatoes and said something about potato soup to my daughter. She said it sounded good, and then I mentioned cheeseburger soup and she was like, “YES!” I came straight here and did a search , and you did not disappoint. Five of us had this for supper tonight, and my other daughter said this “may be the best thing you’ve made.” Granted, she says that about every time I try something new, but still. Your poor husband must have a heck of a time controlling his eating; your recipes are amazing!
Yay!! So glad your family loved it Drew.
It’s also not a soup, this is a variation.
I love your recipes but my granny taught me to always use beef broth based soup and add cream cheese to creamy soup. And she ran a successful supper club for 40 years. Thanks for sharing.
This recipe needs two major tweaks.
1. Use Velveeta vs. standard cheddar cheese
2. Strain the hot broth after cooking the veggies. Place in a blender and add the milk (or cream) and sour cream. Blend until completely smooth and then add back to the meat/veg mixture.
If you don’t do these two steps your soup will be YGLY, as it will curdle. Also, instead of an onion I substituted two bunches of green onions. I finely slice the white portions and cooked with the rest of the veggies. Reserved the green portions to sprinkle on top of each serving. I made this soup twice and the tweaked batch was quite good vs. following the original recipe.
Thank you for your feedback Dinah. Sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy the soup as much as we do. Thank you for trying it!
No real cook should ever use velveeta! It is not real cheese, sorry.
Real cooks can use whatever ingredients they enjoy—Velveeta included!
This soup was delicious and got a thumbs up from even my picky 10 year old. Has anyone tried this in the crockpot or instant pot?
Hi Kim, we haven’t tried this recipe in the crockpot but it should work. If you try it please let us know how it goes.
The instructions say nothing about when to add the 16 oz. of cheddar cheese?? Is this supposed to be added with the milk and sour cream? Please clarify.
The cheese is added in step 8.
Loved this soup! I just have one question. Why did you use chicken broth instead of beef broth? I’m seeing this a lot and am confused. If you have a beef base why use chicken broth? Inquiring minds need to know. I used beef broth. This soup is amazing, Who would have thought that ground beef could be so rich and comforting? Thanks for yet another great soup recipe!
Hi Barbara! Chicken broth has a lighter flavor than beef stock, so we find it doesn’t overpower the rest of the flavors in the soup. So happy you liked it!
Is this gluten free
Hi Angela, that will depend on the ingredients you use. Most ingredients are naturally gluten-free and those that aren’t you can usually find gluten-free versions of quite easily. Enjoy!
I’m writing this while I finish eating my first bowl… AMAZING!
I added chopped up pickle to my bowl as someone else suggested, took it to a whole other level!
That is such a great addition Mallory. So happy you loved it!
Make sure to use a large pot for this recipe. I used a large saucepan and ended up having to transfer everything to a larger pot. Also, I added chopped dill pickles to each bowl…yum!
Yum Victoria!
OMGooTness I am burning my tongue rn bc I cannot wait another moment for another bite. This is absoflippnlutely dee-lish!!! I did what you suggested with the ground beef, and thought maybe I let it get a teensy too brown, but nope! I love that suggestion… I swear it did make it more burgery! I did thrown in a bit of minced garlic once the veggies were tender; a dash of red pepper flakes (totally my 4-kid friendly; I will be shipping them off if they do not LOVE this!!), and half velveeta, half cheddar. I kept sneaking tastes before additions (ie cream, cheese…) and swore I should stop bc it couldn’t get better… but as sure as I sit here now.. wowsers.. thank you! Defy best cbsrecipe out there!
Thank you so much Montana! I am glad you liked the soup!
Me and My Husband, loved this Soup! Very Delicious and good to the last drop! I will make again and again!
So happy to hear that you and your husband love this soup! It’s a fave here too!
What is the Serving Size????? I know it is 1/8 of the whole pot; but there must be a serving size.
Each serving will be just over approximately one cup. Enjoy Loretta!
Can this dish be frozen? It was amazing but there are only 2 of us. So lots of leftovers.
If you’d like to freeze this dish, I would suggest freezing a portion before adding the dairy and cheese. Dairy doesn’t always freeze that well.
Wonderful soup!! I will make this an ongoing meal. I had always wanted to find a recipe like this, but until I signed on to your site, I was unable to find one that was as good as yours! One question though – I was not able to open the nutritional information. Would you mind letting me know what it is?
Thanks so much!
Thank you so much, I’m glad you loved it! I have updated the recipe with nutrition information above.