Hamburger Soup

Recently I took the little bits to Madison County – of The Bridges of Madison County-fame – to check out Clark Tower. This massive stone tower was built in the 1920’s on top of an enormous hill with the most gorgeous, sweeping views of Madison County below.

I’ve been wanting to see it for years, and told the kids we were going to go see a castle. We were all thrilled!

The tower is located within Winterset City Park which contains one of the historic bridges, plus a huge playground, hedge maze, and a log cabin originally built in the 1850s.

The changing leaves, cool breeze, bright blue skies, and sense of outdoor adventure made for a truly perfect-feeling fall morning.

What really drove the feeling home was having a pot of cozy Hamburger Soup waiting for us to eat back at the house.

This ground beef and veggie-packed soup tastes like the canned vegetable soup of your childhood (where my fellow elder millenials at?!) made wholesome and homemade.

I can’t emphasize enough how many vegetables are packed into each bowl, yet each brothy bite tastes rich, savory, and hearty. Hamburger Soup is easily a 2-bowl-worthy recipe!

Watch How to Make It

Main Ingredients Needed

This easy vegetable hamburger soup is a clean out your fridge, freezer, and pantry kind of dish. Here’s the main ingredients you’ll need:

• Ground beef: I prefer using fattier, 80/20 or 85/15 ground beef for a more luxurious mouthfeel, but use what you like best or have on hand.
• Beef stock: high-quality beef stock or beef broth forms the savory base of the soup.
• V8 Original Vegetable Juice: surprise! V8 is my secret ingredient for adding more veggies and flavor to each bite. You can buy individual cans of it at the store.
• Fresh vegetables: thinly sliced or shredded carrots, celery, onion or shallot, and diced russet potatoes make up the fresh-veggie portion of the program.
• Frozen sweet corn: for pops of color and flavor in each spoonful.
• Canned green beans: Like any good elder millennial, I love canned green beans and kept them in my recipe as a nod to the canned vegetable soup I used to eat as a kid.
• Tomato sauce: for color and flavor.
• Italian seasoning: for a nice herby flavor.
• Seasoned salt and pepper: black pepper plus my 4 ingredient homemade seasoned salt add lots of flavor with nearly zero effort.

What to Serve It With

What I love about this hearty soup is that I don’t need to serve it with anything, as it already contains the ideal Midwestern meal trifecta of meat, vegetable, and starch.

That said, if you want to round out the dinner table, serve each bowl with a fresh green salad or any of these easy side dish recipes:

• Chicken Stew
• Gluten Free Focaccia
• Gluten Free Flatbread
• Gluten-Free Cornbread
• Gluten Free Scalloped Potatoes
• Creamy Garlic Shells
• Fresh Fruit Salad
• Seasoned Broiled Potatoes
• Cucumber Tomato Salad
• Air Fryer Asparagus

I can’t wait for you to get this hearty ground beef soup recipe simmering on your stove. It truly feeds your stomach AND soul!

How to Make This Recipe

Step 1: Saute the vegetables.

Start by heating extra virgin olive oil or butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add sliced or shredded carrots, thinly sliced celery, and chopped shallot or onion then saute until the vegetables are tender, seasoning with my homemade seasoned salt and pepper.

Add fresh garlic then saute until extremely fragrant, 1-2 minutes.

Step 2: Brown the ground beef.

Turn the heat up to medium-high then add ground beef and break it up as it cooks. Fattier ground beef like 85/15 or 80/20 stays very tender in the soup after sauting/simmering, plus it adds a ton of flavor. You can either drain the mixture then return to the pot, scoop out excess fat with a spoon, or skim off any fat that rises to the top of the soup as it simmers.

All that said, lean ground beef is fine to use, or if you want to get even leaner, ground turkey or ground chicken may also be used. I’d stay away from ground turkey breast or ground chicken breast because they tend to dry out.

Step 3: Simmer the soup.

Turn the heat to high then add a can of tomato sauce, high quality beef stock or broth, plus a can of V8 vegetable juice to add extra nutrition, seasoning, and flavor.

Lastly, add Italian seasoning, a bay leaf, a can of cut green beans, and frozen sweet corn then stir to combine and bring the soup to a boil.

Add diced russet potatoes then turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer until the potatoes are tender, 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Diced yukon gold potatoes are a good swap, though I do love the creaminess of regular ol’ russets!

Step 4: Serve

Remove the bay leaves then scoop this hearty, humble, DELICIOUS Hamburger Vegetable Soup recipe into bowls and enjoy. Then go back for another bowl. And then another. You’ll see!

How to Store, Reheat, and Freeze

My Hamburger Soup recipe makes enough to feed an army but if you have leftovers — lucky you! They reheat and freeze extremely well.

• To store: cool the soup to room temperature then scoop into a glass storage container with a lid (plastic will stain) and refrigerate for up to 5 days.
• To reheat: scoop individual-sized portions into bowls then reheat covered with a paper towel in the microwave. Alternatively you can reheat the soup in a pot on the stove over medium-high heat.
• To freeze: cool the soup to room temperature then chill in the refrigerator. Pour the chilled soup into a gallon-size Ziplock freezer bag then seal and freeze flat. Thaw the bag placed inside a dish (in case of leaks) in the fridge then reheat in a pot on the stove over medium-high heat.

I hope you love every spoonful of this nourishing, brothy, beef and veggie-packed soup. Enjoy!

More Hearty Soup Recipes

• Gluten Free Lasagna Soup
• Loaded Baked Potato Soup
• Creamy Chicken Wild Rice Soup
• Ham and Bean Soup
• Sweet Corn, Kielbasa and Potato Soup
• Italian Wedding Soup
• Black Bean Soup
• Cheesy Taco Soup

Photos by Ashley McLaughlin

Like this recipe? Share it with friends!