Healthy cheeseburger soup is loaded with potatoes, carrots, cheese, and hamburger. This hearty soup will have your kids begging for more!
Are you looking for a healthy cheeseburger soup recipe that your whole family will eat?
I have the biggest, pickiest eaters ever! But all six of my boys – and their girlfriends – are begging me to make this bacon cheeseburger soup, as I speak!
They’ve been begging for two weeks now. I guess I’d better make it….
If you love grilling burgers all summer long and are sad that summer is now over, then you’ll be thrilled when you try this bacon cheeseburger soup recipe! It’s like eating a cheeseburger…. All winter long.
This hearty cheeseburger soup is chock full of potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery. The chicken broth is great for warming you up and fighting off colds. And the cheese and hamburger will stick to your bones, giving you enough energy to make it through the day without needing to sneak a snack!
What is healthy cheeseburger soup made of?
This homemade cheeseburger soup is made from delicious fall veggies! I know, I know, you’re rolling your eyes and inwardly groaning.
Your kids don’t eat veggies.
Mine either.
But what I do is either chunk the carrots big enough for them to pick out or toss them in the food processor! Crazy thing is, if kids can’t see the veggies, they’ll eat them!
You can toss the potatoes, onions, and celery in the food processor as well if you really need to.
My boys like potatoes, so they’ll eat those. But sometimes I do put the onions and celery in the food processor. My older boys (and hubby!) love seeing all the veggies in their soups, so sometimes I’ll just chunk them big enough for the little boys to easily pick out.
This recipe for cheeseburger soup calls for:
- ground beef
- onion
- carrots
- celery
- dried basil
- dried parsley
- butter
- chicken broth
- potatoes
- all-purpose flour
- sharp cheddar cheese
- milk
- sour cream
- bacon {optional}
What makes this soup so healthy is all the veggies, and the fact that it’s homemade! Homemade food is always better for you than store-bought and processed foods. Your homemade cheeseburger soup does not have all of the preservatives and other chemicals that those canned soups carry. And it’s made from real cheese, not that processed cheese.
And, if you are counting calories, you can always swap the hamburger out for a healthier option, such as ground chicken or ground turkey. Ground venison would work too.
I prefer to eat the soup as is, and just skip the bread, if I’m counting calories though. Or, just limit myself to one bowl.
How many calories are in a cup of homemade cheeseburger soup?
The original recipe for cheeseburger soup came from allrecipes.com, although I’ve tweaked it for my family, over the years. I’m no professional cook, but because I know the source, I can say with certainty that this cheeseburger soup recipe is 411 calories per cup.
I know that’s probably more calories than you care to consume if you are counting calories. But it’s the ingredients that make this soup so good for you! So, eat a light breakfast or lunch, and treat yourself to a yummy fall supper.
How long does this hearty cheeseburger soup last in the fridge?
You should probably eat this cheeseburger soup in three to four days, although I’m pretty sure it’ll keep for up to a week in the fridge.
I couldn’t tell you with certainty though – ours never makes it past day two!
I triple the recipe so that we can *try* to have leftovers. But it doesn’t always happen. I think today I’ll quadruple it.
You can also freeze cheeseburger soup. Just carefully spoon cooled soup into a quart-sized or gallon zip lock freezer bag. Push the air out and seal the bag. I’d actually double-bag it if I were you.
It’ll keep in the freezer for three to four months.
What to serve with cheeseburger soup
Serve anything that sounds good to you!
We like to make our homemade cheeseburger soup the main course, so I always serve homemade bread with ours. Crusty little loaves of bread are a great choice, along with garlic bread, or homemade buns.
Biscuits would be good as well.
You could also serve a side salad if you’d like.
For dessert, try a yummy fall dish, such as ooey gooey homemade brownies, apple crisp, or carrot cake.
Quick and easy cheeseburger soup recipe
If you are in a hurry, you can prep ahead of time, by browning the hamburger and frying the bacon a day or two ahead of time. That’ll make it easier for you to get your soup on the table in a jiffy.
Homemade cheeseburger soup ingredients
To make this hearty cheeseburger soup, you will need:
- ½ pound lean ground beef
- ¾ cup chopped onion
- ¾ cup shredded carrots
- ¾ cup chopped celery
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups cubed potatoes
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups sharp shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 ½ cups milk
- ¼ cup sour cream
- Fried, crumbled bacon or real bacon bits {optional}
This is the basic recipe. Feel free to double or triple it! I usually triple it, for my family of ten. But…my oldest wants to bring some home, and my second oldest wants to send some home with his girlfriend. And my husband wants tons of leftovers for the work week.
So, I’m gonna quadruple it this time.
How to make homemade bacon cheeseburger soup
*You can brown your burger and fry your bacon ahead of time if you’d like.
Wash, peel, and chop your carrots and potatoes. Or throw them in the food processor, so that your kids don’t realize their favorite soup actually has veggies in it.
Likewise, chop your onions and celery, or use the food processor.
In a large pot, melt 1 tablespoon of butter or margarine over medium high heat.
Add the chopped carrots, onion, celery, and ground beef.
Saute onion, right along with the beef and the vegetables in the butter, all together.
Do not drain the grease from the hamburger. The grease will flavor your soup. I know it is more calories, but they are good healthy fats.
Stir in one teaspoon of dried basil and one teaspoon of dried parsley.
Add 3 cups of chicken broth. I actually use chicken bouillon with three cups of water, but you can also use chicken soup base or chicken broth; whatever you have on hand.
Add the potatoes and bring the soup to boil, until the potatoes are tender about 10-12 minutes.
If you are adding bacon, you can add it at this point, or you can save it to garnish the soup when serving.
In a separate pan, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of the butter and add flour.
Slowly add in 1 ½ cups of milk, stirring until smooth.
Gradually add the milk mixture to the beef broth, stirring constantly.
Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce heat, to a simmer.
Sir in 2 cups of shredded cheese.
When the cheese is melted, add ¼ cup sour cream and heat through. Do not boil.
Serve with homemade bread and a side salad, if desired.
Make a cheeseburger soup bar at home!
Want to make it extra fun?
Try making a cheeseburger soup bar at home!
Instead of adding bacon to your cheeseburger soup, let your kids top the soup with bacon.
Other fun things to try:
- Pickles
- Real bacon bits
- Chopped green onions
- French fried onions
- Chopped tomatoes
- Croutons
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Sour cream
Pretty much anything you’d put on a cheeseburger can get crumbled up as a topping.
At the end of the day…
Dinner is about more than just putting food in our tummies. It’s about building relationships and creating memories.
This homemade cheeseburger soup recipe is good and healthy for your kids. It will give them the vitamins, minerals, and energy that they need, to make it through the day. And homemade soup is always good when you are fighting off fall/winter colds and flu.
But it’s more than that.
Make this soup together with your kids! Put some music on and get them dancing in the kitchen!
Then clear off that table and gather around it – no electronics allowed! Laugh and talk together as a family as you eat your dinner tonight.
And when it’s all said and done, ask your kids to help you with the dishes.
Assign each kid a job to do:
- Clear the table
- Take out the garbage
- Put away the leftovers
- Load the dishwasher
- Dry the dishes as you wash
- Be the D.J.
Yep, you read that last one right!
We take turns, but one kid gets to be the D.J., “searching up” our song requests. (My little Toots always says, “Let me ‘search that up for you!”) The rest of us, who are actually working, then take turns picking out a song for the D.J. to play.
Family dinner time is all about building relationships and memories. This healthy cheeseburger soup will have you doing that in no time!
Our family favorites:
Hearty hamburger vegetable soup with dumplings
Hearty potato soup
Hearty split pea soup
Homemade chicken and noodle soup, with dumplings
Cream of Asparagus
Healthy Cheeseburger Soup {With Bacon!}
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound lean ground beef
- 3/4 cup chopped onion
- 3/4 cup shredded carrots
- 3/4 cup chopped celery
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups cubed potatoes
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups shredded chedder cheese
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- Fried, crumbled bacon {optional}
Instructions
- Wash, peel, and chop your carrots and potatoes. Or throw them in the food processor, so that your kids don’t realize their favorite soup actually has veggies in it.
- Likewise, chop your onions and celery, or use the food processor.
- In a large pot, melt 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat.
- Add the chopped carrots, onion, celery, and ground beef.
- Brown the beef in the butter and vegetables.
- Do not drain the grease from the hamburger. The grease will flavor your soup.
- Stir in one teaspoon of dried basil and one teaspoon of dried parsley.
- Add 3 cups of chicken broth.
- Add the potatoes and bring the soup to a boil, until the potatoes are tender, about 10-12 minutes.
- If you are adding bacon, add it at this point.
- In a separate pan, mlet the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and stir in 1/4 cup of flour.
- Slowly add in the 1 1/2 cups of milk, stirring until smooth.
- Gradually add the milk mixture to the soup, stirring constantly.
- Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce the heat, to simmer.
- Stir in 2 cups of shredded cheese.
- When the cheese is melted, add 1/4 cup of sour cream and heat through. Do not boil.
