Sitting down to a steaming hot bowl of Creamy Cheeseburger Soup is the perfect way to warm up on a cold blustery day here in Minnesota. This creamy and decadent soup has become one of our family favorites. In fact, my daughter asks for it to be included in her soup buffet every year for her birthday.
My love for this soup started around 4 years ago when we went out to eat and they were serving a cheeseburger soup on the salad bar. I must admit, it was not a soup that sounded particulary good to me, but my daughter (the soup lover) had a bowl of it and after asking for the third bowl, I figured I should probably try it. I took one bite and understood her new found love for this soup.
We started going to this restaurant almost every Wednesday (the only day it was on their salad bar) just for this soup. After a short while, for some unknown reason, they stopped serving it. That left my daughter and I with nothing to satisfy our cheeseburger soup cravings with. So, I got to work trying to recreate the soup. After many failed attempts, I finally found the perfect combination of cheese, hamburger, cream, and pickles (that’s right, pickles) to make it perfect.
For this soup, you will need ground beef, onion, carrots, celery, parsley flakes, butter, chicken broth, potatoes, flour, velveeta or cheddar cheese, milk, salt, pepper, sour cream and pickles.
I recommend doing all of your cutting and chopping before you begin cooking. If all of your stuff is prepped ahead of time, the cook time of the soup comes together very quickly for a speedy dinner.
First, you want to brown your ground beef, drain and set aside.
Typically, I use a large stock pot or saucepan to make this soup in, but today I prepped my meat ahead of time so I used a frying pan.
In the same pan, add one tablespoon butter and saute the onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley until the vegetables are tender (about 10 minutes).
Now, add broth, potatoes, and beef to a stock pot and bring to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
While this mixture is boiling, melt the remaining butter in a saucepan. Add flour; cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly. This is the thickener or roux (“roux” is a mixture of flour and fat that is used to thicken sauces and soups) that you will add to your soup. It is important to let this roux cook for the alotted time to let the flour cook through so that you will only be able to taste the butter and not the flour.
When your roux has cooked thoroughly, add to your soup and bring back to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and add the cheese, milk, salt and pepper; and stir until the cheese melts.
Remove from the heat and blend in sour cream and pickles. Now, you can certainly omit the pickles if you are not a pickle fan. I HIGHLY recommend adding them though. It gives a nice twang to the bite and helps to cut the richness of the cheese and sour cream.
Serve with a warm loaf of beer bread or rosemary bread and a strawberry poppyseed salad on the side and you have yourself a hearty dinner!!!
Delicious!!!
- 1 pound ground beef
- ¾ cup chopped onion
- ¾ cup shredded carrots
- ¾ cup diced celery
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
- 4 tablespoons butter, divided
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 4 cups diced peeled potatoes, uncooked
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 8 ounces Velveeta cheese, cubed
- 2-2½ cups milk
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ¾ cup finley diced dill pickle
- Using a 3 quart saucepan, brown your beef; drain and set aside.
- In the same saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of butter and saute onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley until vegetables are tender (about 10 minutes).
- Add the broth, potatoes and beef; bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat; cover an simmer for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
- Meanwhile, in a separate skillet, melt remaining butter. Add flour; cook and stir continuously for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly. Add to soup; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for an additional 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
- Stir in the cheese, milk, salt and pepper; cook and stir until cheese melts.
- Remove from heat and stir in sour cream and pickles.
**Extra Tip: This cheeseburger soup freezes very well, so I typically will make a double batch and freeze leftovers for another night or for school lunches.
Leave a Reply