Creamy Cheeseburger Soup
Add Preferred SourceCheeseburger Soup is the one-pot meal I make when I need one dinner the whole table will finish, picky eaters included. It’s got the ground beef, potatoes, and sharp cheddar doing the heavy lifting, and it’s ready in about 35 minutes. The creamy base does the quiet work here: milk, a little flour, and a spoonful of sour cream stretch one pound of beef across six filling bowls.
I load my bowl with crispy bacon, chopped pickles, and green onions so every spoon tastes like the burger it’s named after. The trick that keeps it smooth is all in when the cheese goes in, which I’ll get to below.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s a one-pot, 35-minute dinner, so the only things to wash afterward are the pot and your bowls.
- A single pound of ground beef feeds six, because the potatoes, milk, and cheese carry most of the volume.
- The flavor reads as cheeseburger, not vegetable soup, so the shredded carrot and celery slip past kids who would otherwise pick them out.
- Each bowl lands at about 29 grams of protein from the beef, cheddar, and milk, so it eats like a full meal rather than a starter.
- It leans on pantry and fridge basics like dried herbs, flour, and broth, with no specialty shopping trip.
- The creamy body comes from milk, a flour slurry, and sour cream instead of heavy cream, which keeps it a little lighter on the grocery bill.
Ingredients You’ll Need
You’ll find the full measurements in the recipe card below. These are the ones worth a word before you start.
- Ground beef. One pound of lean ground beef is plenty; leaner meat means less grease to drain and a cleaner-tasting soup. Ground turkey or chicken works and often costs less, and it holds up fine in the creamy base.
- Cheddar cheese. Two cups of shredded sharp cheddar gives the boldest cheeseburger flavor. Velveeta melts more smoothly if you want a silkier, more stable pot, and a mix of the two gets you both. Shred it from a block yourself, since pre-shredded cheese is coated in anti-caking starch that can turn the soup grainy, and blocks usually cost less per ounce.
- Potatoes. Four cups of peeled, diced potatoes are what make this thick enough to eat like a chowder. Cut them into even half-inch pieces so they cook through in the 10 to 12 minutes the recipe gives them.
- All-purpose flour. A quarter cup, whisked into the milk, thickens everything without lumps. For a gluten-free version, swap in a gluten-free flour blend or use cornstarch as the thickener.
- Sour cream. Don’t skip the quarter cup stirred in at the end. It adds tang and a velvety finish that plain milk can’t give you.
How to Make Cheeseburger Soup
A complete printable recipe and the measurements in both US customary and metric are available in the recipe card below.
It’s one pot from start to finish. Here’s the order that keeps the cheese smooth and the potatoes tender.
Brown the beef
In a 3-quart saucepan or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, cook the pound of ground beef until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F on a thermometer.
Soften the vegetables
Add the butter, chopped onion, shredded carrots, celery, parsley, and basil to the same pot. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring now and then, until the vegetables soften.
Simmer the potatoes
Pour in the chicken broth and diced potatoes. Bring to a boil, then cover, lower the heat, and simmer for 10 to 12 minutes, until the potatoes are fork-tender.
Thicken the soup and melt the cheese
Mix the flour and milk until smooth. Lower the heat, then stir the mixture into the soup along with the cheese, salt, and pepper. Cook gently until the soup thickens and the cheese melts completely.
Finish with sour cream
Remove the pot from the heat before adding the sour cream, as boiling can cause it to split and make the soup grainy. Stir until smooth, then ladle into bowls.
Recipe Notes and Tips
- Keep the cheese for last and off a hard boil. Cheese stirred into a rapidly boiling pot is what makes cheeseburger soup turn grainy, so drop the heat to low and stir until it melts.
- Go easy on the potatoes if the burger flavor matters most. Four cups is the balance point; much more and it starts to taste like potato soup with beef in it.
- Thin it to suit you. The soup sets up as it stands, so stir in a little extra broth until it pours the way you like.
- I taste before adding salt. Both the broth and the cheddar carry salt, so season at the very end rather than at the start.
Recipe Variations
- Use a mix of sharp cheddar and Velveeta for a silkier texture, or swap some of the cheddar for pepper jack for a mild kick. Both are supported swaps.
- Trade the beef for ground turkey, chicken, or pork; all three are supported in the recipe notes, and turkey is the swap that usually trims the cost.
- Odds and ends in the crisper go in with the onions and carrots. Mushrooms, zucchini, or bell peppers are all supported in Mandy’s notes, which is how she clears the fridge without changing the method.
- For a bacon-cheeseburger version, crisp a few strips, crumble them in at the end, and use a little of the drippings in place of some butter. It’s a supported swap, and it doesn’t change the timing.
How to Store Leftovers
To get ahead, brown the beef and simmer the potatoes in broth a day early, then refrigerate that base and finish it with the roux, cheese, and sour cream just before serving, which keeps the dairy smooth.
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, and reheat gently with a splash of broth or milk to loosen the soup as it thickens. Warm it to a full steaming heat, 165°F on a thermometer, before serving. Don’t leave the pot out to cool on the counter; get leftovers into the fridge within two hours, or one hour if the kitchen is above 90°F, and ladling it into shallow containers helps it cool faster.
Freezing is where this one gets tricky, since the milk, cheese, and sour cream can separate once thawed. If you know you’ll freeze a batch, leave those three out, freeze just the beef-and-potato base, and stir the dairy in fresh when you reheat.
What to Serve With Cheeseburger Soup
Cheeseburger soup is a full meal, but a good side rounds it out. A slice of warm garlic bread is built for dipping into the creamy broth, and a crisp broccoli salad cuts the richness with something fresh. If you want to lean all the way into the burger idea, a grilled cheese on the side or a handful of pickles in the bowl does the job.
FAQ
They’re the same idea. Chowder just describes how thick and potato-heavy a soup is, and this pot, loaded with four cups of potatoes and thickened with a roux, sits comfortably in chowder territory.
More One-Pot Dinners That Stretch a Little Into a Lot
If this one earns a place in your weeknight lineup, these pull the same trick of turning simple ingredients into a full dinner:
- Potato Soup – creamy and bacon-topped, for a night you want the bowl without the beef.
- Cheeseburger Casserole – the same burger-and-cheddar flavor baked into a pasta dish for a hands-off night.
- Cheeseburger Pasta – a one-pot skillet when you want that flavor over noodles instead of in a bowl.
- Chicken Tortilla Soup – a lighter, brothy soup for when you want a change from creamy.
- Beef Stew – another one-pot beef dinner that turns a few vegetables into a filling meal.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- ¾ cup onion chopped
- ¾ cup carrots shredded
- ¾ cup celery diced
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups peeled and diced potatoes
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 ½ cups milk
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ¼ cup sour cream
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef in a 3-quart saucepan.1 pound ground beef
- Add the butter, onion, shredded carrots, parsley, basil, and celery. Sauté until the vegetables are tender, about 5-7 minutes.¾ cup onion, ¾ cup carrots, ¾ cup celery, 1 teaspoon dried basil, 1 teaspoon dried parsley, 2 tablespoons butter
- Add the broth and potatoes to the saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10-12 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.3 cups chicken broth, 4 cups peeled and diced potatoes
- Mix the flour and milk until dissolved.¼ cup all-purpose flour, 1 ½ cups milk
- Reduce the heat to low and stir in the cheese, milk and flour mix, salt, and pepper. Simmer until the soup has thickened and the cheese has completely melted.2 cups cheddar cheese, Salt and pepper
- Remove from heat and blend in the sour cream until smooth.¼ cup sour cream
Notes
- Use lean ground beef for less grease and a cleaner soup; ground turkey, chicken, or pork all work in its place.
- Sharp cheddar gives the boldest flavor, while Velveeta melts more smoothly; a mix of the two works well, and pepper jack adds heat.
- For a gluten-free pot, swap the all-purpose flour for a gluten-free blend or use cornstarch to thicken.
- Add mushrooms, zucchini, or bell peppers with the onions and carrots to use up extra vegetables.
- Do not skip the sour cream; stir it in off the heat for tang and a smooth finish.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, and reheat gently with a splash of broth or milk to loosen the soup as it thickens.
