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This simple, hearty Crock Pot Hamburger Soup recipe is a great option when you want a big bowl of cozy soup that will fill you up. Veggie packed, full of flavor, and simple to prep. This will be a family favorite and they will happily eat leftovers as well!
This crockpot hamburger soup recipe is a cozy classic dish that we love to have throughout the colder months.
Soup and chili recipes are on repeat when the temperature drops, and adding some beef to any hearty soup will give it a flavor and protein kick that will fuel you while making you nice and cozy.
If you are love delicious beef recipes, make sure to try these family favorites as well: Crock Pot Shredded Beef, Crockpot Chuck Roast Recipe, Slow Cooker Chili Recipe (No Beans) or my favorite beefy comfort food, this Ground Beef Pot Pie!
Why You Will Love This Crock Pot Hamburger Soup:
- It’s super easy to prepare. We love simple slow cooker recipes that are dump and walk away type of meals. This hamburger soup requires a bit more work than others with chopping and browning the beef, but once that is done, it’s a matter of adding everything in and stirring!
- Uses simple kitchen staples as ingredients. We have all of the ingredients needed to make this soup on hand 99% of the time. Makes for a perfect dinner option when I am trying to make a meal using what we have now.
- Easily varied. You can make this hamburger vegetable soup spicy, use different veggies, change out the potatoes for pasta or rice, lots of options to make this one your own.
- It’s very freezer friendly! Not all recipes freeze well, but this one is amazing after frozen still. I like to freeze individual servings to have on hand for myself for lunch or a simple dinner on my own!
Ingredient Notes:
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- beef: you can use any type of ground beef to make this recipe, so long as you make sure to drain as much of the oil off of it after browning. I most often use a 90% lean ground sirloin, but ground chuck or another level of lean ground beef is perfectly fine in this hamburger soup.
- fire-roasted tomatoes: I have made this recipe with regular canned diced tomatoes as well as the fire-roasted variation. The fire-roasted just add an extra level of flavor to the soup, and while I strongly recommend using them, the recipe will still be great if you use regular tomatoes! (Also, only one can is pictured, but 3 cans are used in the full recipe.)
- broth: for obvious reasons, beef broth or beef stock is suggested in this recipe. You can certainly use chicken broth or even vegetable broth if that is what you have on hand.
Recipe Substitutions and Variations:
- use a different meat. Use ground turkey, ground chicken or another favorite ground meat instead of the beef
- vary the vegetables in this recipe, you can use a bag of frozen mixed vegetables that include green beans if desired, add spinach, mushrooms, diced bell pepper and more!
- add a splash or two of red wine to add an extra level of flavor
- use rotel, the diced tomatoes with diced green chiles instead of the fire-roasted tomatoes–use taco seasoning instead of the Italian seasoning if you switch the tomatoes
- omit the potatoes and add about 1 1/2 to 2 cups cooked pasta or rice before serving
- simmer the soup with a parmesan rind. I use it in this Vegetable Meatball Soup and it’s so amazing how it adds more flavor to a simple soup!
Step-By-Step Instructions:
Step 1: Add the diced potatoes, carrots, celery, tomatoes, tomato sauce, seasoning, garlic, bay leaves and stir to combine.
Step 2: Sauté the onions in a skillet at medium-high heat in olive oil and then add the beef and heat until browned. Drain excess grease and add to crock pot with other ingredients.
Step 3: Add the broth and Worcestershire sauce into the pot and stir to combine.
Step 4: Cover the slow cooker and set to low heat for 6-8 hours or until the carrots, celery are soft and the potatoes are fork tender.
Step 5: add the tomato paste, peas and corn to the pot about 15-20 minutes before serving.
Step 6: Adjust seasoning to taste, add more tomato paste to make the soup thicker or extra broth to thin it out. Serve with shredded cheese over top!
Recipe Tips
- Make sure to brown the ground beef before adding it to the slow cooker. The result of adding raw ground beef to the crock pot is not ideal. The soup ends up extra greasy and the flavor is lacking in the beef as well as it tends to have a rubbery texture.
- You can make this recipe a day in advance. I think this delicious soup recipe is even better the next day. Make it a day ahead of when you plan to serve it. Then add it back to the slow cooker and set it to warm an hour or two before serving.
Storage:
To store leftover crockpot hamburger soup, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for 3-4 days.
This soup freezes really well too. After it is completely cooled, add it to a freezer safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
Common Questions:
While it is safe to put raw ground beef into the crockpot, it is not recommended. It will make the soup extra greasy, the texture will be more rubbery and it will lack flavor. I don’t recommend adding the ground beef before browning into this recipe.
Adding frozen, uncooked ground beef to a slow cooker is consider a health risk and not recommended. It may not reach a safe temperature and will cause bacteria to multiply that will then cause food borne illness.
Draining excess grease is ideal so that the soup doesn’t end up super oily and greasy. If you don’t drain it, you may be able to scoop some of it off the top before serving this soup.
Other Soup and Chili REcipes:
Soups & Chilis
Easy Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup
Slow Cooker
Crockpot Chicken Wild Rice Soup
Soups & Chilis
Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Chili
Soups & Chilis
Chunky Italian Vegetable Soup
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Crock Pot Hamburger Soup
Equipment
- Crock Pot (6 quart)
Ingredients
- 1 T olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 lb lean ground beef
- 4 carrots, chopped
- 3 celery, chopped
- 2 Yukon potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces, about 4 cups
- 3 cans fire-roasted tomatoes (15 oz.)
- 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 T Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes, optional
- 4 c beef broth, more for thinner broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 1 c frozen corn
- ½-1 c frozen peas
Instructions
- Add the diced potatoes, carrots, celery, tomatoes, tomato sauce, seasoning, garlic, bay leaves and stir to combine.
- Sauté the onions in a skillet at medium-high heat in olive oil and then add the beef and heat until browned and no longer pink inside. Drain excess grease and add to crock pot with other ingredients.
- Add the broth and Worcestershire sauce into the pot and stir to combine.
- Cover the slow cooker and set to low heat for 6-8 hours or 3-5 hours on high, or until the carrots, celery are soft and the potatoes are fork tender.
- About 15-20 minutes before serving, add in the peas, corn and tomato paste and stir. The tomato paste will thicken up the broth, add less if prefer a thinner broth.
- Adjust seasoning to taste, adjust the thickness of the soup with more broth or tomato paste if needed. Serve with shredded cheese over top!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I cooked this on low for 8 hours, and then on high for 2.5 hours, and the potatoes were still hard. The rest of it was good though.
Interesting–how big were your potato pieces? That should technically be more than enough time for the potatoes to soften so I am wondering what may have happened.
This soup is on repeat in our house lately–I am thawing some from the freezer now. Hope you love this one as much as we do–let me know in the comments if you try it!