Hamburger Soup is a quick and easy meal loaded with vegetables, lean beef, diced tomatoes and potatoes. It’s great made ahead of time, budget friendly, reheats well and freezes perfectly.
We serve this easy Hamburger Soup with a fresh green salad and some crusty bread for the perfect meal!
I love a good soup as a weeknight meal. Hearty soups are satisfying & simple and they are loaded with vegetables and healthy ingredients! Soup is the perfect cool weather food or delicious weeknight dinner!
You can make them totally low cal like a Weight Loss Vegetable Soup, nice and hearty like a Chicken Wild Rice Soup or rich and creamy like a Slow Cooker Corn Chowder!
This Hamburger Soup is simple classic comfort food, hearty, healthy and satisfying. Perfect on a cool evening to warm your belly from the inside out.
I have to say that while we’ve always referred to this as hamburger soup, I know you guys have tons of other names for it! Hamburger soup, vegetable soup, hangover soup, poor man’s soup, bachelor’s stew… just to name a few.
Regardless of what you call it, you’ll definitely want to make it!
How to Make Hamburger Soup
A rich tomato broth is filled with ground beef, tender potatoes and vegetables. Sometimes the most simple ingredients make the best ever meals.
This hamburger soup is not only delicious, it’s easy to make with ingredients you likely have on hand.
I start with a mixture of lean beef, onion and garlic browned and drained. You can use any kind of ground meat in this recipe including ground turkey.
Beef broth is the best broth option to add lots of great flavor; I personally prefer the low sodium variety.
Hamburger Soup with Vegetables
I use a mixture of frozen vegetables to make this super easy (no chopping, no prepping) but it’s also a great way to use up any veggies in your fridge. Carrots, celery, peas, beans, zucchini… pretty much anything goes, sometimes we make this even with cabbage!
This version of Hamburger Soup uses potatoes since that’s how we always had it growing up. If you don’t have potatoes on hand (or just prefer pasta) you can add any type of pasta into this recipe!
I add an extra 1 cup of broth (or water) and let the pasta simmer until tender. Macaroni, shells and rotini are favorites to make this into a delicious and hearty macaroni beef soup!
What to Serve with Hamburger Soup
While the soup is simmering, I prepare a quick chopped salad and slice up a loaf of french bread (almost always served with Homemade Garlic Butter) for a complete meal.
If you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, this soup is great reheated for lunches all week but even better, it freezes perfectly!
I prop up a freezer bag in my little baggie holder and fill each baggie with one serving.
When I need a quick lunch, I take it out of the freezer the night before or in the morning and microwave for a perfect meal. (And then sometimes add a little sprinkle of cheese before serving).
This has been a family favorite forever!
It gets rave reviews from everyone who tries it, it’s quick and easy to make, reheats well and is versatile. The perfect soup.
This is also an excellent gifting soup.
If you know anyone that’s recently had a baby or surgery, or is just having an extra crazy week with the kids, this is the soup to drop off.
Add along a side of 30 Minute Dinner Rolls for the perfect meal!
It stretches to feed a crowd with that salad and bread and will last a few days.
Easy Hamburger Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 medium potatoes peeled and diced
- 3 ½ cups beef broth
- 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juice
- 1 can condensed tomato soup
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 bay leaf
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 cups mixed vegetables fresh or frozen
Instructions
- Brown onion, ground beef and garlic until no pink remains. Drain any fat.
- Add potatoes, broth, tomatoes, tomato soup, Worcestershire sauce, seasoning and bay leaves. Simmer covered 10 minutes.
- Stir in vegetables. Simmer 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
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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Great cold weather soup!
Hello Holly. I just made this recipe and it was excellent. I used wide egg noodles instead of pasta and cooked them separately before blending them into the soup. The soup may be a little bland for some tastes. I served with hot sauce which helped. Can you suggest what adds to make to create a spicier version? Thank you.
So glad you loved it Donald! You could add some red pepper flakes along with the seasonings or a finely minced jalapeno if you’d like!
This soup recipe I made for a friend who had surgery, she loved it and so flavorful and easy thanks.
Rebecca
This is great although I had to substitute some veggies to use what I had on hand the base of the recipe is great, 2 bowls each. LOL I also added a pinch of cayenne for a bit of heat, this will be a go to recipe this winter, it is also low cal and not too terrible on the carbs. I omitted the corn and just kept the potatoes to keep the carb count down, didn’t even miss them. Thanks for sharing.
Would chicken broth work okay instead of beef broth?
You can use chicken broth instead of beef broth if you prefer, Sunelle! Let us know how it turns out :)
Simple and terrific. I did 48 oz. Of beef broth, added another tsp. of Worcestershire sauce and some brown sugar to offset the tomato acid. My 97 year old FIL ❤️❤️❤️ it! Thank you.
I just added two stalks of chopped celery to the beef, onion, and garlic while they cooked. This is an excellent hamburger soup recipe. Paired very well with garlic toast! This one is bookmarked, and made often during the fall and winter months.
Could you make this in an Insta Pot? What amount of water and time would you recommend?
Hi Raish, we have never made this soup in the Instant Pot so I am not sure. But we do have some great Instant Pot recipes here. If you try making this soup in an IP, let us know how it turns out!
Delicious soup! I’ve never been a fan of beef soup, but this recipe is so good!
Thank you!
Absolutely delicious!!! l made this last night and I’m going to the store today to buy the ingredients again to make a new pot once we finish this first one.
This is the 2nd time I’v’e made this for my parents. They absolutely love it, me too.
Thank you.
Love this recipe! I’ve never frozen it, though. How long does it last if frozen?
It should be good for 2-3 months in the freezer!
I made this today for the first time and it was delicious! I had to make just a couple substitutions. I didn’t have canned condensed soup and didn’t want to go to the store for just that one item, so I found a simple homemade condensed soup recipe via a google search that worked great. I didn’t have diced tomatoes, but did have a can of stewed sliced tomatoes, so I chopped them up a bit and added them instead. Thanks for the great recipe. I’m sure I’ll be making this on a regular basis moving forward.
Ahhhhhmazing!!! Sooooo good!! Comfort food in a pinch. Thanks so much love ❤️
Excellent recipe! I will be using this as my front runner on Hamburger soup from now on!
My entire family praised this and wants again. Will make that happen this winter! I am a fan of petite diced tomatoes and that was what I used in this. This might be soup but is very hearty. we are pepper fans and I use to taste!
I forgot to add my 5 stars in my review!
Just love this recipe! I have made it numerous times. I don’t understand those saying it lacks flavor??? The flavor is delicious! Maybe they needed to add more salt and pepper?
Today was our first little “cold front” in Florida, so I came back to this recipe for the perfect soup day. I added some celery I needed to use up, went very well in the soup.
Thank you for such a lovely recipe.
What size can of condensed soup does this recipe use?
A 10.5 ounce can of condensed tomato soup.
can I use a larger can of condensed soup rather than using the tomatoes my son hates tomatoes if he sees them in pieces he doesn’t mind tomato sauce spaghetti sauce or tomato soup
Hi Karen, this recipe is very forgiving so you can alter it to your preferences. I think a little more soup in place of the tomatoes sounds like a good idea.
love your recipes
PERFECT!