Bacon Cheeseburger Soup at home

This is your favorite hearty bacon cheeseburger served up in a rich and hearty soup form. While most cheeseburger soups are packed with processed Velveeta cheese, this one is not.

Instead, it has two types of satisfying cheese along with a few plain tricks to ensure you have a creamy, thick, and rich soup.

You will come back to this cheeseburger potato soup

There is so much to love about this cheeseburger potato soup. Not only is it straightforward to cook, but it’s a house staple that even the kids will love.

It’s creamy, thick, and cheesy while giving you all the flavors you love about bacon cheeseburgers.

This rich and hearty soup is savory and best of all, doesn’t use Velveeta like a lot of the other recipes out there. It’s still packed full of flavor with seasoned cooked ground beef, bacon, cheese, potatoes, and veggies.

We'll show you how to cook this cheesy and creamy soup without Velveeta. It’s the well-balanced Cheeseburger Soup that will make it into a regular dinner rotation.

Ingredients for ground beef soup

• Bacon
• Ground beef
• Burger seasoning
• Onion powder
• Carrots
• Celery
• Dried basil
• Dried parsley
• Garlic
• Beef stock
• Water
• Yukon gold potatoes
• Butter
• All purpose flour
• Sharp cheddar
• Pepper jack
• Milk
• Salt
• Pepper
• Sour cream
• Toppings: shredded cheddar, chopped pickles, chopped bacon, finely chopped parsley

Substitutions and alterations

The full cook, measurements, and instructions times are detailed out in the recipe card at the bottom of this page.

Ground beef – You can replace the ground beef in this recipe with ground turkey or any other ground red meat. Options like ground bison or ground elk both work well.

Burger seasoning – you can use any of your favorite burger seasoning or all purpose seasoning

Onion powder – we've written this recipe in a way that avoids large pieces of onion. You could omit the onion powder and use a fresh chopped onion instead. You’ll want to add it in with the other vegetables to saute.

Beef stock – beef stock is going to give you a house favorite flavor, but you can also use beef broth or bone broth. You could also use chicken broth in a pinch.

Yukon gold potatoes – If you can’t get your hands on Yukon gold potatoes, russet potatoes will work as well.

Cheese – With the split of cheddar and pepper jack, you get an underlying spice without it actually being spicy. You can use all cheddar or all pepper jack if you want as well.

Sour cream – You can replace the sour cream with heavy whipping cream (heavy cream) instead. Be careful when you add it so that it doesn’t curdle. Cream cheese would also work as well.

How to cook cheeseburger chowder

1. Heat a large stock pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat.
2. Add the bacon and cook until crispy and cooked through. Remove from the pot and add to a paper towel lined plate to drain the excess grease.
3. Add the ground beef to the stock pot. Season it with burger seasoning, break it up, and cook it through until it is completely browned.
4. Add the carrots, celery, onion powder, dried basil, and dried parsley to the pot. Saute until the vegetables are softened.
5. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.

1. Add the broth and potatoes to the pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer it for about 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
2. In a separate small skillet, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour until it’s smooth and bubbly.
3. Add the flour mixture to the soup and mix to combine.
4. Add the bacon back to the soup, reserving some for topping.
5. Add in the cheese, milk, salt, and pepper and mix together until it’s smooth and the cheese has melted.
6. Add in the sour cream and stir.
7. Serve topped with extra chopped bacon, shredded cheese, and chopped pickles.

Tips and tricks

Most bacon has a high salt content, as does cheese. You’ll want to be careful with how salty of a stock you use and how much additional salt you add to the soup.

The roux helps make this soup creamy. Make sure the roux is smooth and bubbly before adding it to the soup to avoid clumping.

Try to keep the heat lower when you melt the cheese and add the sour cream. A lower heat will help it from clumping together and they’ll melt in smoother.

You can also make this in the crock pot or slow cooker. Be sure to cook the ground beef and bacon separately before adding the other ingredients to the crock pot. Add everything to the slow cooker except for the roux, cheese, and sour cream. Add those in once the soup has completed cooking.

Kitchen tools to make bacon cheeseburger soup

Dutch oven

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Meat chopper

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Measuring cups

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Measuring spoons

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Wooden spoon

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Veggie chopper

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Silicone whisk

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Grater

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Liquid measuring cups

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How to keep and reheat bacon cheeseburger soup

Storing: Allow the soup to cool completely. Place the soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days.

You can also freeze this cheeseburger soup. Once it’s placed in the airtight container, it can be placed in the freezer for up to 6 months.

The cheese and dairy may cause it to have some texture changes once it’s been frozen and thawed. The taste will be the same, but the texture may be different.

Reheating: Cheeseburger soup is best reheated on the stovetop. Place it in a saucepan and reheat over low heat, stirring occasionally until heated through.

If you’re reheating from frozen, you’ll want to thaw overnight in the refrigerator first.

What to serve with cheeseburger soup

Cheeseburger soup is excellent on its own, but you can also pair it with some bread, a salad, or even a sandwich. It’s great topped with chopped pickles, crispy bacon, shredded cheese, green onions, and Croutons.

• Straightforward Yeast Rolls
• Parmesan Breadsticks
• House Salad

FAQs for this bacon cheeseburger soup recipe

Prep 10 minutesCook 30 minutesTotal 40 minutesMakes 12 servings

Ingredients

• 1 lb bacon chopped
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 tablespoon burger seasoning
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 2 whole carrots peeled and finely diced
• 4 stalks celery finely diced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 4 cups beef stock
• 4 cups water
• 2 lbs yukon gold potatoes peeled and diced
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 6 ounces sharp cheddar grated
• 6 ounces pepper jack grated
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• Topped with: shredded cheddar chopped pickles, chopped bacon, finely chopped parsley

Method

1. Heat a large stock pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat.
2. Add the bacon and cook until crispy and cooked through. Remove from the pot and add to a paper towel lined plate to drain the excess grease.
3. Add the ground beef to the stock pot. Season it with burger seasoning, break it up, cooking through, until it is completely browned.
4. Add the carrots, celery, onion powder, dried basil, and dried parsley to the pot. Saute until the vegetables are softened.
5. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
6. Add the broth and potatoes to the pot and bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer it for about 10-15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
7. In a separate small skillet, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour until it’s smooth and bubbly.
8. Add the flour mixture to the soup and mix to combine.
9. Add the bacon back to the soup, reserving some for topping.
10. Add in the cheese, milk, salt, and pepper and mix together until it’s smooth and the cheese has melted.
11. Add in the sour cream and stir.
12. Serve topped with extra chopped bacon, shredded cheese, and chopped pickles.

Notes

• Most bacon has a high salt content, as does cheese. You’ll want to be careful with how salty of a broth you use and how much additional salt you add to the soup.
• The roux helps make this soup creamy. Make sure the roux is smooth and bubbly before adding it to the soup to avoid clumping.