Hamburger Vegetable Soup
This not your typical Hamburger Soup. While it does have a lot of the same components, you won’t find the boring, bland, flavorless soup here. This one is packed with herbs, seasoning, and a little extra ingredient that will give you a ground beef vegetable soup packed with flavor every time.
Why Vegetable Hamburger Soup stays in the rotation
A common complaint about hamburger soup is that it’s bland and flavorless. No one wants unseasoned vegetables and beef floating in broth. To have a hearty soup that everyone will love, you need to be sure it has a lot of flavor packed into the broth.
This Ground Beef Soup has all the flavors you love for a traditional Hamburger Soup, but packed with herbs and spices for flavor. There’s even a few extra ingredients to give it a hearty, full taste.
Not only is it satisfying, but it’s incredibly straightforward to cook and will be ready (in one pot!) in under 30 minutes.
Hamburger Vegetable Soup Ingredients
- Ground beef – you can use any cut of ground beef you like, but be sure to drain any extra grease before continuing with the soup instructions.
- Onion – be sure to chop it up nice and fine so no one is getting a big chunk of onion. It’ll also help flavor the ground beef as it cooks. We love using an onion chopper/veggie chopper.
- Celery – by chopping the celery up in to small pieces, it’ll help avoid getting any stringy pieces in the soup.
- Garlic – you can use fresh or jarred minced garlic. Take the short cut if you want it!
- Potatoes – we like using both russet potatoes and Yukon gold in this, but keep in mind that russet does need a bit longer to cook through.
- Beef stock – try to stick to a flavorful stock. It can make the difference overall in a soup.
- Diced tomatoes – we’re using the canned variety. We love Cento and HEB brand.
- Tomato paste – we’ll only need a little, but it will add a depth of flavor to the soup.
- Worcestershire sauce – this is a key ingredient! Don’t skip it and don’t replace it.
- Frozen mixed vegetables – we like the mix that contains corn, green beans, and carrots a house favorite.
- Dried thyme – make sure your dried thyme isn’t expired. Give it the same sniff test as the Italian seasoning. If it doesn’t have a strong scent anymore, it’s time to toss it and buy a new one.
- Beef bouillon – this will not only add a depth of flavor, but it will also add saltiness to the overall soup. It will take your stock to the next level.
- Italian seasoning – make sure it isn’t expired. Smell it and if it doesn’t have a strong scent, it’s time to throw it out and get a new one.
- Salt and pepper – go for coarse kosher or sea salt. Table salt doesn’t measure the same in recipes.
Vegetable Hamburger Soup Tools
Dutch oven
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Veggie chopper
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Wooden spoon
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Meat chopper
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How to cook Our Hamburger Vegetable Soup Recipe
- Add ground beef, onion, and celery to a large stock pot over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper.
- Sauté over medium heat until the vegetables are softened and the beef is cooked through.
- Add in the garlic and mix to combine. Let it saute for about 2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Add the potatoes, beef stock, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, Italian seasoning, dried thyme, and bouillon cube to the pot. Mix to combine.
- Bring the soup to a low boil and let it simmer for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through.
- Add the frozen vegetables. Cook until the vegetables are heated through.
Vegetable Hamburger Soup Substitutions
You can replace the ground beef with ground turkey, ground chicken, or even beef stew meat. They’re all great options.
When it comes to the onion in this soup, some people can’t stand them. Even when they’re finely diced. If finely dicing them isn’t an option, we'd recommend using either onion flakes or onion powder.
The recipe as written uses beef stock because it has a richer flavor than beef broth. You can still use broth (or even bone broth) in a pinch. If you decide to use ground turkey or chicken, we would substitute chicken stock here.
While the recipe calls for canned diced tomatoes, there is another flavorful option. You can used diced tomatoes with green chile (aka Rotel). It’ll add a little kick from the green chile.
The vegetable mix that contains corn, green beans, and carrots is a great choice, but you can use any frozen vegetable mix you like. We enjoy the one that includes frozen okra as well!
The bouillon cube shouldn’t be skipped, but if you can’t find any, beef base can work in it’s place.
Hamburger Vegetable Soup Recipe Tips
- Be aware when it comes to the type of potato you’re using. Some potatoes need less cooking time than others. Cutting them into equal sized cubes (we highly recommend a veggie chopper for this), will help them cook evenly.
- Potatoes tend to soak up the salt in dishes. If you find the soup has to cook a bit longer to cook the potatoes through, you’ll want to taste for salt at the end.
- If you’re using a lean cut of ground beef (97%), we would recommend adding a little bit of olive oil or avocado oil to the pan whenever you add the beef.
- While it can be tempting to use garlic powder in place of the minced garlic, we wouldn’t recommend it here. The garlic will give it a full flavor that garlic powder won’t do.
How to Serve Ground Beef Vegetable Soup
This straightforward recipe for Hamburger Soup makes a great complete meal on it’s own. It’s a one pot meal. However, if you’re like us and you love soaking up soup with some bread, or having a side salad, here are some great options:
- Straightforward Southern Cornbread (without Buttermilk)
- Straightforward Yeast Rolls
- Parmesan Garlic Breadsticks
- Side Salad
How to keep Vegetable Hamburger Soup
To store this hamburger soup recipe, you’ll need to let it cool completely to avoid condensation.
Once it’s cooled, place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
You can also place it in a freezer safe container and freeze it for up to 6 months. We love using Souper Cubes to freeze them into servings, and then popping them into a freezer bag.
To reheat, add the soup to a pot and heat over medium-low, stirring occasionally until it’s fully heated through.
Hamburger Vegetable Soup Recipe FAQs
Prep 10 minutesCook 20 minutesTotal 30 minutesMakes 8 people
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 whole onion diced
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 whole potatoes peeled and diced
- 5 cups beef stock
- 15 ounces diced tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 cups frozen mixed vegetables corn, green bean, carrot mix
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 cube beef bouillon
Method
- Add ground beef, onion, and celery to a large stock pot over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper.
- Saute over medium heat until the vegetables are softened and the beef is cooked through.
- Add in the garlic and mix to combine. Let it saute for about 2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Add the potatoes, beef stock, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, worcestershire sauce, italian seasoning, dried thyme, and bouillon cube to the pot. Mix to combine.
- Bring the soup to a low boil and let it simmer for about 15 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through.
- Add the frozen vegetables. Cook until the vegetables are heated through.
Notes
- Be aware when it comes to the type of potato you’re using. Some potatoes need less cooking time than others. Cutting them into equal sized cubes (we highly recommend a veggie chopper for this), will help them cook evenly.
- Potatoes tend to soak up the salt in dishes. If you find the soup has to cook a bit longer to cook the potatoes through, you’ll want to taste for salt at the end.
- If you’re using a lean cut of ground beef (97%), we would recommend adding a little bit of olive oil or avocado oil to the pan whenever you add the beef.
- While it can be tempting to use garlic powder in place of the minced garlic, we wouldn’t recommend it here. The garlic will give it a full flavor that garlic powder won’t do.
