Easy Vegetable Soup with Ground Beef

You'll love the meaty flavor of this vegetable soup. It is a filling dinner AND makes a tasty lunch leftover. It's almost better the next day when all the flavors have melded together.

The recipe can be doubled or tripled for any potluck or party. And with a wedge of crusty bread, this hearty hamburger soup will become a family favorite.

You'll Keep Coming Back to This Recipe - Here's Why

• Complete. Vegetable beef soup is a complete meal with protein and vegetables in one pot. 

• Versatile. You can make the soup in various ways -- stove top, slow cooker, or Instant Pot. It's a great recipe for your most convenient cooking method.

• Convenient. This vegetable ground beef soup recipe is handy. Make it a day early and reheat.
  
  Or cook up an extra large batch and freeze half. The hearty soup ​fits your schedule.

RELATED: You may also be interested in what to serve with vegetable soup. You'll love this tasty list of sides.

Ingredients

• Extra lean ground beef. Not all ground beef is created equally. To get the best taste, choose ground chuck roast. It has a rich flavor and is 78-84% lean.
  
  You can also use sirloin instead of ground chuck with good results.

• Potato cubes. You can peel and cube whole potatoes or use frozen diced potatoes to save time.

• Vegetables. Add two cups of a variety of vegetables. My favorites are green beans, carrots, celery, and peas.
  
  You can use frozen mixed vegetables for speed or fresh vegetables if you're trying to clean out the fridge. Vegetable soup is a great way to eat produce before it goes bad.
  
  A few other veggies that pair well with the soup are red bell peppers, kale, spinach, and corn.

• Canned tomatoes. Diced or crushed tomatoes help make a delicious broth.

• Aromatics. Stir in chopped onions and minced garlic to get a ton of flavor.

• Cooking liquid. Whisk Better Than Bouillon beef base into water to get your liquid soup base. I have yet to find a regular beef broth that makes as good of a savory broth as this brand.
  
  The broth, Worcestershire sauce, and tomato broth from the canned tomatoes complete the base.

• Seasonings. Thyme, oregano, black pepper, salt, and a bay leaf are the simple seasonings.

Substitutions

• Go lighter by swapping out the hamburger meat and replacing it with ground turkey.

• Make it vegetarian by eliminating the meat and subbing lima beans, tofu, or Beyond Meat.

• Use beef stew meat instead of ground beef for a stew-like meal.

• Try vegetable or chicken broth in place of beef broth.

Directions

• BROWN the ground beef in a large soup pot, breaking the meat up as it cooks until it crumbles.
• MINCE the onion and garlic.
• SAUTE the onion and garlic with ground beef.
• DRAIN the excess fat from the pot.
• WASH, PEEL, and CHOP the potato and carrot if using fresh. (Skip if using frozen.)
• CHOP the celery and green beans is using fresh. (Skip if using frozen or canned.)
• ADD the remaining vegetables, water, Better Than Bouillon, crushed tomatoes and juice, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, oregano, black pepper, salt, and bay leaf.
• BRING TO BOIL over medium-high heat.
• SIMMER the soup for 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.
• REMOVE FROM HEAT and stir to blend ingredients. Remove the bay leaf.
• TASTE and adjust the seasonings, if necessary.
• SERVE hot with a slice of fresh bread or a dinner roll.

Variations

If you want a hands-free way of making hamburger vegetable soup, try using the slow cooker or Instant Pot.

• Make in a slow cooker. Brown the ground beef in a skillet. Peel and chop the vegetables if using fresh. Pour everything into a slow cooker.
  
  Cover and cook on low for 3 to 4 hours or until the vegetables are soft.
  
  Remove the bay leaf and serve.

• Make Instant Pot Hamburger Soup. Brown the ground beef in the Instant Pot on the Saute mode. Drain the excess oil. Add the rest of the ingredients.
  
  Cover and bring to high pressure. Cook for 10 minutes. Allow the Instant Pot to depressurize.
  
  Stir the soup and serve after pulling out any bay leaves.

Make Ahead Options

This is an easy dinner recipe, but there are a few tricks that can save you a little bit of time.

• Brown the meat up to two days ahead and keep it refrigerated.

• If you make the soup with fresh vegetables, chop leftovers up as you go.
  
  For example, if you used half a bell pepper for a salad, chop up the rest while you're making the salad. Store it in the fridge until it's soup day.

How to Store Leftover Soup

​This is one of my favorite soups to eat the next day. It's fantastic to take to work for lunch on a chilly day.

Store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The soup will last for 3 or 4 days when kept in the fridge.

How to Reheat Easy Hamburger Soup

Use a soup pan on the stove to reheat a large portion. Cover the pan and heat on medium heat until the soup boils. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 minute.

To reheat an individual portion, use the microwave. Place the soup in a large bowl and cover it with a paper towel. Heat for 1 minute. Stir, test the temperature, and heat for an additional minute if needed.

How to Freeze

This is a good soup recipe for meal prep because it freezes so well. You can make a big batch to freeze for the entire family or separate the meaty soup into individual portions.

Here's how.

• For a freezer meal for the family, pour the soup in an airtight freezer-safe container.
  
  You can also ladle it carefully into a freezer-safe bag. Fill it only about ⅔ full. Then, squeeze out the air before zipping it shut. I recommend double bagging to help prevent leaking.

• For individual portions, scoop the soup into smaller freezer containers.

Label the container with the contents and the date for either freezing method. The hamburger soup recipe can be frozen for up to 6 months.

To Thaw

Remove the soup from the freezer the night before (especially the large portions). Reheat on the stove or the microwave (depending on the portion size).

What to Serve with Ground Beef Vegetable Soup

Saltine crackers, bread, or salads are all excellent side dishes to serve with vegetable soup. Here are a few favorites:

• Biscuits from pancake mix
• Cinnamon rolls
• Caesar or garden salad
• Ambrosia salad

FAQ

Craving More Homemade Soups?

Try these family favorites:

• Butternut squash soup
• Pumpkin soup
• Split pea soup
• Cajun 15-bean soup
• Taco soup
• Turkey soup