Hamburger Soup is my go-to dinner plan when I forgot to plan! Most the of the ingredients are fridge and pantry staples, so I almost always have everything on hand. But more than that, this is an easy, healthy, and 100% kid approved recipe that never lets me down. It’s a dinner hero!
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Ya know what’s a real pain in the butt? Finding quick, easy, and healthy dinner recipes that zero people in my house will complain about – little people and big people. Hamburger Vegetable Soup is one such culinary unicorn.
Parents love to cook it (because it’s so flippin’ easy) and kids love to eat it. I mean, it’s called hamburger soup.
I especially appreciate how flexible this soup is based on whatever vegetables or protein I happen to have on hand. The remaining ingredients are basic pantry staples, which means this recipe is always the answer to “what’s for dinner?” when I forgot to plan.
Watch: Hamburger Soup Video
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How to Make Hamburger Soup
Classic hamburger soup is made by simmering ground beef with vegetables and a starch in a savory tomato-based broth. Our vegetable heavy version incorporates bell pepper, yukon gold potatoes, and fresh green beans, making it both colorful and nutrient dense. The resulting dish is more stew than soup, and is a hearty stick-to-your-ribs dinner that the entire family loves.
- Sautee the ground beef in a dutch oven or soup pot until no longer pink. Add the onions and saute until soft. Then add the garlic and saute 1 minute more.
- Add tomato paste and work into the beef and onions.
- Add more vegetables – carrot, celery, bell pepper, and tomatoes – then pour in crushed tomatoes, beef broth, and seasonings. Stir, add a bay leaf, and simmer 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.
- Add fresh green beans and simmer 5 minutes more, or until the green beans are cooked through.
- Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Ladle into bowls and serve immediately.
Can I Make This in a Crockpot?
Yes! This recipe adapts very well to a slow cooker.
- Brown the ground beef in a skillet, then transfer to a slow cooker.
- Add the remaining ingredients except the green beans. Cook LOW 3-4 hours or HIGH 7-8 hours.
- Add the green beans in the last 30 minutes.
- Taste for seasoning and serve.
Tips for Making This Recipe
- Use crushed tomatoes, or puree a can of diced tomatoes.
- Fire roasted tomatoes will add a nice flavor boost.
- The flavor is best with homemade bone broth (either beef or chicken), but good quality store-bought broth is totally fine! Choose a low sodium variety so you can season to taste.
- Both the protein and vegetables are flexible based on what you have available – see the variations section below!
What to Serve with Hamburger Soup
Hamburger soup is super filling, so we serve it on its own with perhaps a little seasonal fruit, a green salad, or a slice of crusty sourdough bread.
Variations
- Most ground meat works. Use ground turkey, Italian sausage (casings removed), ground pork or lamb, or even venison in place of the ground beef.
- Use any potato you love – red bliss potatoes, sweet potatoes, or peeled russet potatoes all work well.
- Or use pasta! Substitute half a pound of your favorite short pasta; cook separately then stir in at the end.
- Feel free to use frozen green beans or a medley of frozen vegetables. Cook 3-4 minutes at the end, or until warmed through.
- Add more vegetables, or use alternatives: frozen corn and/or peas can be added with the green beans; add butternut squash with or in place of the potatoes; try diced zucchini with or in place of the green beans.
- Add cheese: garnish each bowl with a sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese.
This Soup Is…
- Naturally Whole30 and paleo
- Gluten free and grain free
- Allergy Friendly – nut free and dairy free.
- Incredibly nutrient dense with full servings of both Vitamins A and C
More Healthy, Hearty Soup Recipes
- Slow Cooker Beef and Butternut Squash Stew
- Vegan Stew
- Loaded Cauliflower Soup
- Spicy Chicken Taco Soup
- Extra Veggie Beef Chili
Did you make this hamburger vegetable soup recipe? I’d love to know how it turned out! Leave a comment and a rating below.
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Recipe
Easy Hamburger Vegetable Soup
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Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 large sweet onion, diced to ½″
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 large carrots, diced to ½″
- 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
- 1 bell pepper, seeds and stem removed, diced to ½″
- 12 oz yukon gold potato, diced to ½″
- 1 14-oz can crushed tomatoes, fire roasted preferred, or diced tomatoes, pureed in a blender
- 4 c beef broth
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground pepper
- 1 tbsp italian seasoning
- 1 bay leaf
- 8 oz green beans, trimmed and chopped into bite-sized pieces
Instructions
- Heat a dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the olive oil and heat until it shimmers. Add the ground beef and sautee, stirring frequently to break into pieces, until browned and no longer pink, 6-7 minutes
- Add the onion to the beef and saute until soft, stirring occasionally, 6-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring continuously, for 1 minute more.
- Add the tomato paste and work into the beef and onions; cook until the color deepens, about 2 minutes.
- Add the carrot, celery, bell pepper, and potatoes, then top with the pureed tomatoes, beef broth, salt, pepper, and italian seasoning. Give the soup a good stir, then top with a bay leaf.
- Increase the heat to high and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 20 minutes.
- Add the green beans, and stir into the soup. Simmer an additional 5 minutes until the green beans are cooked through.
- Taste for seasoning and add additional salt and pepper if needed. Ladle into soup bowls and serve immediately.
Notes
- If you can’t find a 14.5-oz can crushed tomatoes, simply puree a can of diced tomatoes in a blender.
- Frozen green beans can be substituted for fresh. Reduce simmering time to 2-3 minutes, until the green beans are just cooked through.
- LEFTOVERS: Store leftovers in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 4 days.
- FREEZER: Store in an airtight container for up to 3 months; defrost in the fridge overnight, then reheat on the stove over medium heat.
Mar
This looks like an excellent dish! Going to give it a try this week. But an FYI, when on Whole 30 you’re support to avoid legumes, so perhaps cut the green beans.
Danielle
Hi Mar! I hope you like the soup. Green beans are totally okay on a Whole30, and recently (maybe the last year or two?) the Whole30 team has also revised the rules to allow snap peas and snow peas as well. All three are more “pod” than bean, hence the update. Shelled and english-type peas are still out though.
Jill
Green beans are allowed on W30.
Andrea
When I place these ingredients in MFP I get 62 carbs per serving! I like your # better ha ha but I want to make sure which one is correct! How did you get your #? Is this listed in MFP? Thank you!
Danielle
Hi Andrea! Yes, I used My Fitness Pal to calculate, but I often cross-check the ingredients with brand labels too. And there are a few ingredients that MFP defaults to that are completely off (raw garlic is one – so bizarre!). Here’s the recipe card: https://www.myfitnesspal.com/recipe/edit_v2/23929161690557 (let me know if that link doesn’t work, I haven’t shared one yet).
Jill Bieberich
This dish was awesome! I didn’t have tomato paste but threw in a bag of homemade tomatoes with green chilies and turned out super. Thanks
Christine Hogan
I first saw a recipe for Hamburger Soup in the Chicago Tribune food section over 35 years ago. And I’ve been making a version of this for years. When Devin was old enough to ear finger food, I used to drain some of the liquid out and scramble it with eggs. Perfect finger food! One of his favorite foods to eat as a toddler.
Danielle
This was also one of both of my children’s first finger foods, and they still love it! It feels like such a win when I can find a healthy recipe that they love at that age 🙂
Swtpea821
This says paleo but potatoes aren’t part of paleo so do you have a substitution for those? Maybe sweet potatoes instead?
Swtpea821
Made this tonight and it was delicious! I substituted the Yukon potatoes for sweet potatoes and it was great! Thank you.
Heidi
My family loved this! (Including my 10 month old and 2 year old)! I used ground venison, red bell pepper, and tomato sauce, followed the rest of the recipe exactly and it turned out so good. Definitely will be making this again.
Jessica
Have made this soup many times now, and it is a perfect quick, easy and hearty soup for weeknights!
Danielle
So thrilled to hear this Jessica, thanks for sharing!
Crystal
Adding this to my meal plan this morning. I’ve been searching for good hamburger vegetable soup like my dad used to make with frozen mixed vegetables & V8. This is definitely an improvement and looks delicious. I can’t wait! Thank you!
Mikaela
Just made this tonight for dinner and it was delicious!!! The whole family loved it!! I will definitely be making this again.
Tonya
Any idea how long you would cook this in the crockpot?
Amy
hamburger soup was fantastic The only thing I had to leave out was the green pepper due to the quarantine I didn’t feel like a green pepper was important enough to get out today lol but would definitely make this again!
Charly
Made this tonight and my husband and 3 year old loved it! I kept everything the same except I didn’t have beef broth, so I used chicken broth instead. It was delicious! Easy to make and super yummy!
Thanks for the recipe!
Crystal R Bussell
I love this soup!
Amy W.
My family loves this soup, but I noticed you recently changed the herbs to Italian Seasoning rather than the previous herb measurements. Any chance you can remind me what the previous recipe called for? I didn’t have Italian Seasoning on hand last night.
Danielle
Hi Amy – sorry about that! I updated to Italian seasoning to make it easier on the prep side, since the original seasonings are basically DIY Italian seasoning. Here’s the original measurements: 1 tsp dried parsley, 1 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/4 tsp dried oregano. If you’d like a hardcopy of the original recipe, shoot me an email at hello@oursaltykitchen.com and I’ll send it over!
Bonnie
Made this today and it was so great! I did use red potatoes only because that was I had. I also add a can of Rotel tomatoes, because my husband and I like spicy.
Also, something crazy. I added at the last was about 2 oz of cream cheese, just to not waste from another recipe I made earlier that week. It was good.
Kym Bakin
Made this for the family last night since I’m detoxing this morning with a round of whole30. So nice to have recipes I can make for all of us. Everyone loved it!!! 💜
Cheryl Williams
Cook on high for 7-8 hours? 😳
I think you flip-flopped low and high cooking times?
🙂
Bethany
This soup is amazing!! My husband, kids, and I all loved it! This will become a regular in our rotation. Thank you!!
Stacey Alvarado
Great flavor. Can be generous on the Italian seasonings.
Trista
Love this soup! I make it multiple times throughout fall and winter. And almost entire I make a double batch.