Lightened Up Cheeseburger Soup
This delicious lightened up cheeseburger soup swaps out heavy ingredients like butter and cream for readily available lighter ingredients. It is thick, creamy and so yummy!
This soup is loaded with vegetables and thickened using a simple blended mixture of milk and flour (and of course, cheese). You’ll never even notice the butter and cream are missing…this soup is so good!
Why You’ll Love This Soup
There is a lot to love about this easy, weeknight, creamy soup!
- It is loaded with inexpensive, hearty vegetables, like potatoes, carrots, celery and onions.
- It is thick and creamy without the need for heavy ingredients, like butter, cream, half-and-half, and other common ingredients in popular cheeseburger soup recipes.
- Other than a bit of chopping, it comes together quickly and is a perfect, cozy soup for any day of the week.
- It is delicious served in bowls with dippers like crackers or bread…and also thick enough for a bread bowl, if you want to take it to the next carb-loaded level.
How to Make Cheeseburger Soup
Pro Tip: dice all the vegetables prior to starting to make the soup. It will streamline the process and make it much quicker and easier once you start cooking.
- Brown the lean ground beef, carrots, celery and onions. Drain excess grease.
- Add the potatoes, broth, parsley, and mustard powder. Simmer until the potatoes are tender.
- Blend the milk and flour until smooth. Add to the soup and cook until thickened.
- Off the heat, add the cheese a handful at a time and stir until melted.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, if needed. This is important! It’s likely you’ll need to add a bit of salt and pepper for flavor, so don’t skip this step.
Serve the soup with chopped green onions or chives, sour cream and additional shredded cheese, if desired. (But you should desire it, because YUM.) The soup will thicken considerably as it cools.
A Few Additional Notes:
- Ground Beef: for a less meaty soup, the ground beef can be decreased to 1/2 pound.
- Gluten-Free: for a gluten-free version, sub 2 tablespoons cornstarch for the 1/4 cup flour (blend and add to the soup per the recipe).
- Cheese: 1/2 of the cheddar cheese can be subbed for shredded Monterey Jack cheese, if desired (the cheese flavor will be less pronounced and the soup will be slightly creamier).
- Make-Ahead: this soup can be made on the stovetop and then transferred to a slow cooker to keep warm for several hours.
This soup is an absolute winner! It is so creamy and cheesy and cozy…pretty much all the things a really good soup should be.
If you aren’t sure about eating a soup that tastes like a cheeseburger, be assured that the “cheeseburger vibe” is less tomato, pickle and mustard and more a hearty mishmash of lean beef, cheese, and veggies. It is DEEEEELICIOUS. And I can’t wait for you to try it!
What to Serve With This:
- 1-Hour Divine Breadsticks or Easy Peasant Bread
- Fresh fruit or simple green salad
Lightened Up Cheeseburger Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 cup diced carrots
- ½ cup diced celery
- ½ cup diced onion
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Pinch of black pepper
- 4 cups peeled and diced Yukon gold or russet potatoes
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder
- 1 ½ cups milk
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour (see note for GF version)
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (see note)
- Chopped green onions or chives, sour cream, shredded cheese, for serving
Instructions
- In a 6-quart pot set over medium heat, add the ground beef, carrots, celery, onion, salt, and pepper. Cook, breaking the meat into small pieces, until the meat is no longer pink. Off the heat, drain excess grease.
- Return the pot to medium heat and add the potatoes, broth, parsley, and mustard powder. Stir to combine. Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and continue to simmer for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
- To a blender, add the milk and flour and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture into the soup and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring constantly, for 3 to 4 minutes, until the soup has thickened.
- Off the heat, add the cheese a handful at a time and stir until melted.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, if needed (important!).
- Serve with chopped green onions or chives, sour cream and additional shredded cheese, if desired. The soup will thicken considerably as it cools.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
I made this last night (preparing it fully in a pot on the stove and then transferring it to a crock pot to keep warm for in between various appointments and activities). #teenagers It was absolutely delicious and worked fabulously.
I was wondering if the potatoes would get too soft doing it this way, but they stayed the perfect texture.
I plan to make it again in a few weeks for a neighborhood chills and chili activity.
I’m so thrilled to read this – Meredith. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment with your details on using a slow cooker to keep it warm. Awesome!
This looks amazing. What percent milk is best? I wonder if I could use skim?
So easy and so yummy!
Thanks, Beth!
I haven’t tried it with skim, Teresa (I use 1% or 2%)…but I honestly think it would be ok, especially if you are used to using skim milk in other recipes.
This was a great recipe to use up a bunch of pantry and refrigerator ingredients. It was easy to make and pretty tasty too. Thanks for sharing!
I’m glad I turned to your website when I realized I forgot to put dinner in the crockpot this morning. Even my soup-haters liked it! Thanks Mel!
Yay, yay! I love it when that happens. Thanks, Janet!
You are so welcome – thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!
Thank you for another stellar recipe! I grabbed the ingredients on my way home from work. To save time, I got a container of diced celery/onion/carrot. My family loved it! My favorite topping was chopped pickles- they added a perfect crunch and acidity!
What a great idea for a delicious topping, Michelle. Thanks for the comment!
I thought the soup had a good flavor. Next time I would add only 2 cups potatoes and increase the vegetables and add more seasoning to taste. I will definitely make it again.
Thanks for your review and comment, Nancy!
Whoa! Cheeseburger Soup is one of our family’s favorites. We pop the veggies in chicken broth in the crock pot then add the ground beef, shredded cheese and roux later. Sometimes we make homemade hamburger bun croutons to go on top. It really sells the cheeseburger vibe. 😉
I bet it does! Sounds yummy!
Hi Mel, do you think this would work in a crockpot?
Hi Rhonda! Becky’s comment above may be helpful for a slow cooker version! (i.e. cooking the veggies in broth in the slow cooker and then adding the thickened milk/flour mixture and cheese and cooking until thick?) Worth a try!