Cheeseburger Soup (Creamy, One Pot, 29g Protein a Bowl)

Cheeseburger soup sounds like a joke until you eat a bowl: browned ground beef, soft potatoes, carrots and celery in a thick cheddar broth, finished with the toppings you would put on a burger, chopped pickles, crumbled bacon and a little more cheese. It is one pot, 45 minutes, and 29 grams of protein a bowl.

The version that went around for years uses a block of Velveeta. I wanted it creamy without processed cheese, so I tested it with a butter-and-flour roux and real sharp cheddar until the soup stayed silky instead of grainy. It is thick like my broccoli cheddar soup and every bit as cozy as my slow cooker potato soup, with the whole burger stirred in.

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Why this cheeseburger soup is creamy without Velveeta.

• A small roux does the thickening, so the cheese does not have to. Butter and flour cooked for a minute, then whisked into milk, make a stable creamy base. Cheese stirred into that base melts smoothly instead of clumping, which is exactly why processed cheese was in the original. Same method as my baked mac and cheese.
• The beef is browned hard and seasoned like a burger. Letting the beef sit and sear before breaking it up, then adding Worcestershire, mustard and a little ketchup to the pot, is what makes it taste like a cheeseburger and not a cheesy potato soup that happens to have meat in it.
• The toppings are the point. Chopped dill pickles, crumbled bacon, a little diced tomato and shredded cheddar turn a rich soup into something bright and fun. My kids build their own bowls, and the bowl has 29g protein, which you can plug into the protein calculator.

Here's what you'll need.

Lean ground beef, a yellow onion, carrots, celery, Yukon Gold potatoes, beef broth, butter, flour, whole milk, a block of sharp cheddar you shred yourself, Worcestershire, yellow mustard, a spoon of ketchup, and burger toppings: dill pickles, bacon and extra cheddar.

Here's how it all comes together.

STEP 1 — BROWN THE BEEF AND ONION

Set a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef, press it into an even layer and leave it alone for 3 minutes to get a real sear, then break it up, add the diced onion and cook 4 to 5 minutes more until browned and the onion is soft. Spoon off any fat, stir in the garlic, Worcestershire, mustard and ketchup, and cook 1 minute.

STEP 2 — ADD THE VEGETABLES AND BROTH

Add the carrots, celery and diced potatoes, then pour in the beef broth with the salt, pepper and dried basil. Bring it to a boil, lower the heat to a gentle simmer, cover and cook 15 minutes, until a potato cube squashes easily against the side of the pot with a spoon.

STEP 3 — WHISK A QUICK ROUX

While the vegetables cook, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook, whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes until it smells nutty and is pale golden. Cooking the flour this minute is what keeps the soup from tasting pasty.

STEP 4 — POUR IN THE MILK

Slowly whisk the milk into the roux until smooth, then pour the whole thing into the soup pot and stir. Let it simmer gently, uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring often, until the soup turns creamy and coats the back of a spoon. Do not let it boil hard once the milk is in.

STEP 5 — STIR IN THE CHEDDAR

Take the pot off the heat. Add the shredded cheddar a handful at a time, stirring until each handful melts before adding the next. Off the heat is the key: cheese added to a bubbling soup seizes and turns grainy. Taste and adjust the salt, since cheddar and broth vary.

STEP 6 — LADLE AND TOP LIKE A BURGER

Ladle the soup into bowls and top each one with a little extra cheddar, chopped dill pickles, crumbled bacon and a few diced tomatoes or sliced green onions. A few crushed crackers or croutons on top is the bun, if you want it.

If you love one-pot comfort food but want more of it cooking itself, soups, stews and braises that simmer while you do something else, this is the book I keep reaching for, the Ultimate Slow Cooker Mediterranean Diet Cookbook.

Things I learned while testing this recipe.

• Shred your own cheddar. Bagged shredded cheese is coated in starch so it does not clump in the bag, and that coating is what makes cheese soup grainy. A block of sharp cheddar and a box grater takes two minutes and gives you a silky soup. Sharp or extra-sharp has the most flavor per cup.
• Off the heat for the cheese, and never boil after the milk. Every grainy batch I made in testing had boiled after the dairy went in. Gentle simmer for the milk, then pull the pot off the burner and melt the cheese in slowly.
• Yukon Golds hold together. Russets break down and thicken the soup a lot (not a bad thing, but it gets gluey the next day). Yukon Golds stay in soft cubes. Cut them ½ inch so they cook at the same time as the carrots.
• Worcestershire and mustard make it taste like a burger. I made one batch without them and it tasted like cheesy potato soup. A tablespoon of Worcestershire, a tablespoon of yellow mustard and a spoon of ketchup are the difference.

Why cheeseburger soup is on repeat at my house all winter.

• One pot plus one small saucepan, forty-five minutes. Most of that time is the potatoes simmering. It is a real weeknight soup, and it reheats well enough that I make it on Sunday for lunches.
• Twenty-nine grams of protein in a bowl of comfort food. Lean beef, milk and real cheddar add up, so a bowl is a full dinner. A side salad or roasted vegetable is all you need.
• Everyone builds their own bowl. Pickles and bacon for the grown-ups, extra cheese and crackers for the kids, jalapeños for whoever wants heat. The toppings bar is half the fun, and it gets picky eaters to eat carrots and celery without noticing.

Here's what I'd serve with this.

• Air fryer Brussels sprouts — crispy and a little bitter against the rich cheddar soup.
• Roasted cauliflower — a big tray of it makes this a complete dinner.
• Mediterranean chickpea salad — cold, crunchy and lemony, the perfect contrast.
• Air fryer chicken tenders — for dipping, which the kids will absolutely do.
• Apple crisp — the easy fall dessert that follows a bowl of soup.

Just in case you have leftovers.

Storing: Cool the cheeseburger soup completely and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days. It thickens a lot in the fridge. It can be frozen for up to 2 months, though dairy soups can separate slightly; freeze it before adding the cheese if you plan ahead, and stir the cheese in when you reheat.

Reheating: Reheat gently on the stove over medium-low, stirring often and adding a splash of milk or broth to loosen it. Do not let it boil or the cheese can turn grainy. In the microwave, heat a bowl at 50% power in 1-minute bursts, stirring between each.

More easy comfort food recipes...

Broccoli cheddar soup Slow cooker potato soup Taco soup Lasagna soup

If you want the cheeseburger flavor without the soup pot, my high protein cheeseburger bowls are ready in 20 minutes. And today's other new comfort food recipe is my chicken pot pie casserole with cheddar biscuits, another creamy one-dish dinner for cold nights.

More one-pot comfort that cooks itself.

The Ultimate Slow Cooker Mediterranean Diet Cookbook is full of hearty soups, stews and braises like this one, with real ingredients and hands-off cooking that fills the house with dinner.

Get the cookbook on Amazon

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