A favorite childhood comfort food, this Hamburger Soup is a cold night must have. Filled with veggies, ground beef, and noodles, it is filling and delicious.
Looking for more comforting soups? Check out this Chicken Enchilada Soup or this Chicken and Wild Rice Soup.
I love foods that remind me of my childhood. Especially when it is cold and dreary outside. I usually turn to my Homemade Bean and Bacon Soup when I’m feeling sentimental, but a little while back, I had a craving for my mom’s Hamburger Soup.
So I went to the family cookbook and used the version printed there as a starting point. And what I ended up with was a comforting soup that I could eat all winter long!
What is Hamburger Soup?
Unlike my Crock Pot Cheeseburger Soup, this soup is not called hamburger soup because it resembles a hamburger. I think this soup was a popular one back in the 70s and 80s when so many people called ground beef “hamburger”.
This is a great soup that is a budget friendly meal. Adding the macaroni noodles helps to stretch it out, making it so that you can feed even more. And I keep just about all of the ingredients on hand all the time so this is a great go-to meal for when you don’t have anything else planned.
Ingredients
- Pasta: I like to use macaroni, but you could use another small pasta, like farfalle or a small shell pasta.
- Olive Oil: This is to cook your vegetables in. You can use another oil of your choice, if desired.
- Onions, Carrots, Celery, and Garlic: This is your vegetable mix. Try to cut the onions, carrots, and celery about the same size so that they cook evenly.
- Ground Beef: I like to use a ground beef that is on the leaner side so that I don’t have to worry about draining the fat.
- Oregano, Basil, and Seasoned Salt: These are all for seasoning. You’ll also want to season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Dry Onion Soup Mix: This gives the soup lots of flavor! It is easy to find at most grocery stores on the soup aisle.
- Beef Broth: This gives the soup a rich flavor.
- Diced Tomatoes and Tomato Sauce: I love the mixture of diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. They really flavor the broth perfectly.
- Soy Sauce: This is a secret ingredient to bring all the flavors together. It doesn’t taste like soy sauce at all, but really gives the flavor some depth.
- Parmesan Cheese: I like to add on a bit of freshly grated parmesan cheese at the end when I serve the soup.
Steps to Make Hamburger Soup
- Start by cooking your pasta. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt generously. Cook the pasta until al dente, then drain and reserve.
- While the pasta is cooking, start the soup. Heat the oil, then cook your onions, carrots, and celery until they start to soften. At the very end, add in the garlic.
- Add the ground beef and continue to cook it all together, breaking up the ground beef as it cooks. Cook until the beef is browned and no longer pink. Once it is cooked, stir in your seasonings and the onion soup mix.
- Add in the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef broth, and soy sauce.
- Let the soup come to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it all simmer together for about 15 minutes.
- When you are ready to serve, stir the pasta in and let it heat through for a few minutes. Serve and top with the parmesan cheese.
Hamburger Soup Video
See how to make this hamburger soup in the video above:
Tips and Tricks
The biggest difference between this hamburger soup and minestrone is that you don’t have quite as many vegetables. But feel free to add more veggies if you’ve got some in the fridge that need used up!
I like to use fresh vegetables, but I’m pretty sure when I was growing up my mom would use canned or frozen vegetables at times, as well. Just whatever she had on hand. If you do use canned or frozen, though, they won’t need to cook as long.
This would make a great freezer meal as long as you don’t add the pasta before freezing. Just cook the pasta fresh and add it as soon as you are ready to serve.
Make Ahead and Storage Instructions
This soup recipe is fairly easy and fast to make. But if you do want to make it ahead of time, or let it simmer on the stove longer, you’ll want to make sure you wait to add the pasta. If you are feeding people at different times, you can just leave the cooked pasta on the side and add some to each portion as it is served.
If you do have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If you have added the pasta, it will soak up a lot of the soup liquid, so you may need to add some more beef broth when you reheat and reserve.
More Soup Recipes
Homemade Beef Stew
Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
Bacon Cheeseburger Chowder
Zuppa Toscana
Curried Butternut Squash Soup
New England Chicken Corn Chowder
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Hamburger Soup
Ingredients
- 1 cup macaroni noodles
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 cup sliced celery
- 1 cup sliced carrots
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon basil
- 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 envelope dry onion soup mix
- 3 cups beef broth
- 1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt generously. Add the macaroni and cook until al dente. Drain and reserve.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. Add the onion, celery, and carrots and cook until they start to soften. Add the garlic and cook another minute.
- Add the ground beef and continue to cook, breaking the beef up as it cooks. Cook until the beef is browned and the vegetables are soft. Drain any fat, if needed.
- Stir in the oregano, basil, and seasoned salt. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir for 30 seconds, then stir in the onion soup mix.
- Add the beef broth, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and soy sauce. Let the soup come to a bubble, then lower the temperature and let the soup simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Add the pasta into the soup, let it heat through for about 5 minutes, then serve topped with the parmesan cheese.
Tonya Hewitt says
I Love this recipe so much!
Barbara C says
I made this last night, because I actually had all the ingredients listed on hand. I also added cauliflower, zucchini, and mushrooms because I had those as well. The soup is delicious! Thank you
Deborah says
Thanks for the review, Barbara! That sounds delicious, and I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Polly D says
I wanted to replicate a recipe I vaguely recalled from 20 yrs ago and this one was very similar. My carrots had gone bad so I subbed mixed veg then I added stewed tomatoes instead of diced, but it came out superb! The Parmesan on top was perfect!. The whole family loved it