Cheeseburger Soup is thick and hearty enough to be eaten as a main meal because it’s basically like merging a burger and fries together and cooking them in one pot, then simmering and serving them in a bowl as a soup. This easy-to-make recipe can be prepared in 10 minutes and is packed with chunky potatoes, seasoned ground beef, shredded carrots, diced celery, and creamy cheese that combine into deliciously warm, full-flavored comfort food.
Cheese Burger Soup is handheld comfort food!
Cheeseburger Soup is an ingenious creation when you crave a burger but don’t want to heat up the grill. This sandwich-inspired dish is filled with the simple basic ingredients of the classic handheld comfort food but served as a soup that’s eaten with a spoon. A cozy soup is a perfect solution for cold winter weather, especially when the BBQ is covered in a blanket of snow and you can create the same savory flavors and textures quickly on the stovetop.
So who serves up the best burgers in town? You do, when you combine ground beef, potatoes, veggies, and smother it with cheese! Ok, there may not be a bun (unless you top it with sesame bun croutons) and the potatoes are in the bowl instead of on the side, but this soup brings together all of the delicious flavors of my favorite cheeseburger and fries in a creamy, cheesy hearty one-dish dinner.
Top it with lettuce, tomato, or even some pickles, this Cheeseburger Soup is the perfect meat and potatoes meal served as a soup. It’s the ultimate family-friendly food that keeps bellies full!
For more creamy, comforting soup solutions, check out my Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup and Crack Chicken Noodle Soup recipes.
Why we love Velveeta Cheeseburger Soup
- Quick and easy to prepare in 10 minutes.
- Made with simple ingredients that combine into a creamy, cheesy, meaty soup.
- Filled with savory flavors that taste like a juicy cheeseburger in soup form.
- Better than a burger and fries when you crave cozy and comforting food during cold weather.
- Filling enough for a main meal and always family-friendly.
Cheese Burger Soup ingredients
- Cooking oil
- Celery
- Carrot
- Onion: A yellow onion is the best onion to use for this type of recipe, but feel free to use another type of onion if you don’t have a yellow one.
- Ground beef: Any type of ground meat will work great for this recipe.
- Garlic salt: If you don’t have any garlic salt, use half garlic powder and half table salt.
- Italian seasoning
- Beef broth: You can try this with chicken or vegetable broth instead.
- Red potatoes: Yellow or russet potatoes are also options for this recipe. For yellow potatoes, the cook time will be the same. If you use russet potatoes, they will cook faster, but the cook time will also depend on how big they are chopped. Whatever you do, keep an eye on your potatoes to make sure they don’t overcook.
- Heavy cream: You can replace this with milk or half and half, though the soup won’t be quite as thick.
- Cornstarch
- Velveeta cubes: If you don’t like Velveeta, feel free to use about 2 ¾ cups of shredded cheddar cheese.
- Sour cream: Plain greek yogurt can be substituted for the sour cream.
Cheeseburger Soup with Velveeta Substitutions and Additions
- More Meat Options: You can substitute the ground beef for ground turkey, Italian sausage, ground pork, or ground chicken. For a vegetarian version, use veggie crumbles or a plant-based protein instead of meat.
- Vary The Vegetables: You can easily add in more vegetables or change the vegetables in the soup. Try mushrooms, bell peppers , or even canned tomatoes.
- Change The Cheese: Instead of Velveeta, try cheddar cheese or Colby jack cheese. For a spicier Cheeseburger Soup try it with pepper jack cheese.
- Tasty Toppings: Feel free to top your soup with your favorite garnishes, like crumbled bacon, chives, chopped green onion, oyster crackers, croutons, shredded cheese, or chopped pickles.
Creamy Cheeseburger Soup Recipe Tools
- Large pot or dutch oven
- Measuring tools
- Mixing tools
- Ladle for serving
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How to Make Creamy Cheeseburger Soup with Velveeta
This Cheeseburger Soup recipe easily makes a creamy, hearty, delicious one-dish dinner that tastes like a cheesy burger and fries in soup form. In 10 quick minutes, you can combine simple ingredients into a single pot, let it simmer, and then serve a savory and filling meal that will be a new family favorite.
- Add oil, celery, carrots, and onion to a saucepan and cook over medium high heat.
Pro Tip: Cook until the vegetables are almost soft, about 3-4 minutes. - Add in the ground beef and cook until the meat is no longer pink, about 5-6 minutes.
- Drain the excess grease and season with garlic salt and Italian seasoning.
Pro-Tip: When draining the grease, use a couple of paper towels by placing them in the saucepan and moving them around to soak up the extra grease. If you don’t drain the grease, your soup will still turn out delicious but a bit greasy. - Add the beef broth and red potatoes, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.
- Cover and simmer for 12 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
- In a separate bowl, whisk cornstarch into the heavy cream.
Pro Tip: You can also or ladle ½ cup of broth into a bowl and whisk the cornstarch into the broth until no more lumps are present. Once you have added the heavy cream, don’t turn up the heat to high or even medium-high. The cream may “split” and leave you with an undesirable texture. It will still be tasty, but it won’t look as nice. - Turn the heat to low and slowly add the cornstarch and cream mixture to the soup, continuously stirring until it has thickened.
Pro Tip: It may take a couple of minutes to thicken. Do not turn the heat up during this process. It can be difficult to continuously stir the soup as you add the cornstarch. - Add the Velveeta cubes and stir until completely melted.
Pro-Tip: The Velveeta cheese can take a little while to melt completely, so don’t worry if you need to stir it a few extra times. As long as you haven’t left the soup simmering so long that it will overcook the potatoes, you will be fine. - Remove soup from the heat and stir in the sour cream.
- Ladle into bowls and serve warm. Enjoy!
Creamy Cheeseburger Soup storage tips
- To Store: Place any leftovers you may have into an airtight container and put them in the refrigerator. You can enjoy this leftover soup for 3-4 days.
- To Freeze: You can freeze this soup for 3-4 months in a freezer-safe container.
- To Reheat: Reheat your soup in the microwave or on the stovetop when ready to eat again.
Creamy Velveeta Cheeseburger Soup Recipe FAQs
This Cheeseburger is filling enough to be served as a main meal. However, a crusty bread is perfect for dipping or you can serve it with a small side salad.
You can absolutely make this Cheeseburger Soup in a Crock Pot or Slow Cooker. Start by browning your ground beef and draining the excess fat. Add celery, onions, carrots, potatoes, and seasoning to your slow cooker along with your beef broth. Set your crockpot to low and cook for 6 to 8 hours. Check the veggies periodically to ensure they don’t become overcooked. Once the vegetables are close to being tender, prepare your cornstarch and cream mixture and add it to the slow cooker along with the Velveeta cheese. Increase the heat to high and cook for another 20 minutes to allow the soup to thicken. Stir and serve!
I highly recommend freezing your soup the same day you cook it. Any portion you’re not ready to eat immediately should be stored in a freezer-safe container and placed in the freezer right away. You can freeze this soup for 3-4 months.
To prevent curdling, temper the cream by gradually adding hot soup to warmed cream while whisking. Remove the soup from heat before adding the cream and stir constantly during the process. Using heavy cream or full-fat alternatives can provide better stability, and adding acidic ingredients earlier in the cooking process helps avoid curdling.
More like this Easy Cheeseburger Soup!
- Instant Pot Cabbage Soup
- Instant Pot Loaded Baked Potato Soup
- Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe
- Easy Chicken Wild Rice Soup
- Easy Vegetable Chowder {Creamy & Cheesy}
- Chicken Pot Pie Soup
- 7 Can Chicken Taco Soup
- Hungarian Goulash
- Creamy Tortellini Soup
Cheeseburger Soup with Velveeta
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 2 stalks celery chopped (~ 1 cup)
- 1 large carrot shredded (~½ cup)
- ½ onion chopped (~1 cup)
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1½ tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 4 cups beef broth
- 3 red potatoes chopped into 1 inch cubes (~3 cups)
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 3-4 tbsp cornstarch
- 12 ounce (3 4-ounce) Velveeta cubes (from a 5 pack)
- ½ cup plain sour cream
Instructions
- Place the cooking oil, celery, carrots, and onion together in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Cook until the vegetables are almost soft, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add in the ground beef and cook until the ground beef is no longer pink, about 5-6 minutes.
- Drain any excess grease and then season with garlic salt and Italian seasoning.
- Add the beef broth and red potatoes to the pan.
- Bring everything to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
- Cover and let simmer for 12 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender.
- Once the potatoes are finished cooking, whisk cornstarch into the heavy cream or ladle ½ cup of broth into a bowl and whisk the cornstarch into the broth until no more lumps are present.
- Turn heat down to low and slowly add the cornstarch and heavy cream mixture to the soup while continuously stirring until the soup has thickened. It may take a couple of minutes to thicken. Do not turn the heat up during this process.
- Add the Velveeta cubes and stir until completely melted.
- Take the soup off the heat and stir in the sour cream until completely incorporated.
- Ladle into bowls and serve warm.
Jenn’s Notes
- To Store: Place any leftovers you may have into an airtight container and put them in the refrigerator. You can enjoy this leftover soup for 3-4 days.
- To Freeze: You can freeze this soup for 3-4 months in a freezer-safe container.
- To Reheat: Reheat your soup in the microwave or on the stovetop when ready to eat again.
- When draining the grease, use a couple of paper towels by placing them in the saucepan and moving them around to soak up the extra grease. If you don’t drain the grease, your soup will still turn out delicious but a bit greasy.
- It can be difficult to continuously stir the soup as you add the cornstarch. I recommend whisking the cornstarch into the heavy cream or ½ cup of broth before adding it to the soup. Even if there are lumps, this soup is very forgiving, so you will be okay.
- The Velveeta cheese can take a little while to melt completely, so don’t worry if you need to stir it a few extra times. As long as you haven’t left the soup simmering so long that it will overcook the potatoes, you will be fine.
- Once you have added the heavy cream, don’t turn up the heat to high or even medium-high. The cream may “split” and leave you with an undesirable texture. It will still be tasty, but it won’t look as nice.
