Hamburger Soup
Posted Feb 14, 2025
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This hamburger soup is an easy, delicious, family-friendly soup recipe. It takes only a few minutes to prepare, then it cooks all day in the slow cooker, so the flavors intensify and it’s ready to go at dinner time.
This hamburger soup recipe is a delicious, hearty meal perfect for busy weeknights.
Hamburger sup is bold and flavorful and loaded with nutritious ingredients like vegetables, beans, and ground beef. Adding macaroni makes is extra-hearty and an entire meal in one bowl.
You can make it in the slow cooker of course, but I also give instructions in the recipe card to make it on the stovetop!
We love to serve it with some crusty bread and a sprinkle of cheddar cheese.
Hamburger Soup: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Ground beef. ground turkey or chicken can be used, if desired. But I recommend beef.
- Chicken broth. beef broth or vegetable broth are both great substitutions.
- Kidney beans. Use your favorite type of bean – white beans and black beans are good choices.
- Carrots & bell pepper. you can substitute your favorite vegetables, some suggestions include: celery, zucchini, green beans, etc.
- Elbow macaroni. Choose your favorite pasta.
How to Make Hamburger Soup
We’ll walk through how to make this recipe step-by-step, and be sure to watch the video for further guidance.
Begin by cooking the ground beef onion and minced garlic in a large skillet until the beef is lightly browned, breaking up the meat as it cooks.
Then, In the container of a slow cooker, combine chicken broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, beans, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, sea salt and pepper and stir to combine.
Next, add the carrots, bell pepper, and cooked ground beef mixture and stir.
Cover the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours (recommended) or high for 3 hours.
In the last one hour of cooking, add the elbow macaroni (if cooking on low it needs to cook for 1 hour, if cooking on high it will cook faster).
Cover and cook until the macaroni is soft.
Once the macaroni is cooked, taste and adjust salt, pepper and spice as desired.
Serve
Serve the hamburger soup warm with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese. We love serving it with fresh bread like no knead bread, pretzel bread or french bread, or cheesy biscuits!
Store
Store leftover hamburger soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Freeze
To freeze, let the soup cool to room temperature. Then, transfer it to freezer-friendly containers and freeze for up to 2 months. I recommend freezing it in individually-sized portions.
Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat in a pot on the stove over medium-low heat.
Hamburger Soup Recipe FAQS
Yes, put the ingredients in a pot on the stovetop, then bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are slightly soft. Then, add the pasta and cook until al dente and serve.
Yes, you can double it and cook it in one large crock pot or two smaller pots.
No, I don’t recommend draining the meat, as the fat adds flavor to the soup. However, if you prefer you can.
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Slow Cooker Hamburger Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ yellow onion (finely diced)
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 4 cups chicken broth (1 quart)
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 15 ounces diced tomatoes
- 15 ounces kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
- 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup carrots (diced)
- 1 bell pepper (diced)
- 1 cup elbow macaroni
- Cheddar cheese for serving
Instructions
- In a large skillet, cook ground beef onion and minced garlic until beef is lightly browned, breaking up the meat as it cooks.
- In the container of a slow cooker, combine chicken broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, beans, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, sea salt and pepper and stir to combine.
- Then, add the carrots, bell pepper, and cooked ground beef mixture and stir.
- Cook on low for 6 hours (recommended) or high for 3 hours .
- Add the elbow macaroni in the last 1 hour of cooking (if cooking on low it needs to cook for 1 hour, if cooking on high it will cook faster).
- Once the macaroni is cooked, taste and adjust salt, pepper and spice as desired.
- Serve warm with a sprinkle of cheddar cheese.
Video
Notes
- Ground beef. ground turkey or chicken work well, you will need to cook leaner meats in 1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil.
- Chicken broth. beef broth or vegetable broth.
- Kidney beans. great northern beans, cannellini beans, black beans, etc.
- Carrots & bell pepper. substitute your favorite vegetables like celery, zucchini, green beans, etc.
- Elbow macaroni. any small pasta shape works well.
- Cook ground beef, onion, garlic carrots and bell peppers until ground beef is no longer pink.
- Add broth, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, beans, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, salt and pepper, cover and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Once boiling, add the elbow macaroni and boil with the lid slightly ajar (not completely off or too much liquid will evaporate), until the macaroni is soft (15-20 minutes).
- Serve!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
