Soups & stews / Chowders & creamy soups
Cheeseburger Soup with Sharp Cheddar
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Browned beef, sharp cheddar, soft potatoes, and pickles on top for the snap. Serve it with a toasted bun for dunking, and the loudest person at the table goes quiet.
The short version
Brown ground beef hard, cook onion, carrot and celery in the drippings, then stir in tomato paste, flour and broth with diced potatoes. Simmer until tender, add milk, then stir in shredded cheddar off the heat. Top with pickles. About 45 minutes.
What makes ours better
what we fixed so you don’t have to
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Brown the beef until it crisps. Browned beef has the cooked-on-a-griddle flavor of a real burger. Gray, steamed crumbles make a soup that tastes like boiled beef.
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Add burger-sauce flavors to the base. Tomato paste, Worcestershire, yellow mustard and a spoon of ketchup cook into the broth and taste exactly like the toppings on a good burger.
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Shred your own cheddar and stir it in off the heat. Pre-shredded cheese is coated in starch that keeps it from melting smoothly. Block cheddar, added off the heat, melts into a silky soup instead of a grainy one.
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Finish with pickles and a toasted bun. Chopped dill pickles add the acid and crunch that cut the richness. Buttered bun cubes toasted in the oven are the croutons.
What you need
the usual suspects
- Ground beef1 pound
- Carrots2 medium
- Celery2 rib
- Tomato paste2 tablespoons
- Yukon gold potatoes1 pound
- Yellow mustard1 tablespoon
- Ketchup1 tablespoon
- Sharp cheddar8 ounces
read it twice. buy it once.
Steps
nobody opens the oven door. looking at you, Dad.
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Brown the beef
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook, breaking it up, for 8 to 10 minutes, until deeply browned and crisp at the edges. Spoon off all but about 1 tablespoon of the fat, leaving the beef in the pot.
Resist stirring too much. Beef browns when it touches the pot, not when it's moved.
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Soften the vegetables
Add the onion, carrots, celery and salt to the beef. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until soft and starting to brown. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, until the paste darkens.
About 7 min. Cook mode has a timer for this step.
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Make the roux
Add the butter and let it melt. Sprinkle the flour over the pot and stir for 2 minutes, until no dry flour remains and everything looks like thick paste.
About 2 min. Cook mode has a timer for this step.
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Add broth and potatoes
Slowly pour in the broth, stirring to dissolve the flour. Add the potatoes, Worcestershire, mustard, ketchup and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender when pierced.
About 14 min. Cook mode has a timer for this step.
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Add the milk
Stir in the milk and warm the soup over medium-low heat for 3 minutes, just until steaming. Don't let it boil. For a thicker soup, crush a few potato chunks against the side of the pot.
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Melt in the cheese
Take the pot off the heat. Add the cheddar a handful at a time, stirring until each addition melts before adding the next. Stir in the sour cream if using. Taste and add salt and pepper.
Adding cheese to boiling soup makes it grainy and oily. Off the heat is the rule.
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Top and serve
Ladle into bowls and top with chopped pickles and toasted bun croutons. Serve hot.
Good to know
read this before somebody asks for seconds
- For bun croutons, cube two hamburger buns, toss with 2 tablespoons melted butter and a pinch of salt, and bake at 375°F for 8 to 10 minutes until crisp.
- Other toppings that work are crumbled bacon, sliced scallions, diced tomato and a drizzle of burger sauce (mayo, ketchup and pickle brine).
- Make it spicier with a diced jalapeño cooked with the vegetables, or pepper jack replacing half the cheddar.
- Storage. Refrigerate up to 3 days; the potatoes thicken it, so thin with a splash of milk when reheating gently over medium-low heat. Freezing isn't recommended because the dairy and potatoes turn grainy.
Questions, answered
the questions my cousins text me
Why is my cheeseburger soup grainy?
The cheese went in while the soup was too hot, or you used pre-shredded cheese. Take the pot off the heat and shred cheddar from a block.
Can I use ground turkey?
Yes. Use 93% lean and add a tablespoon of oil to brown it. You'll want an extra teaspoon of Worcestershire for flavor.
How do I thicken cheeseburger soup?
Crush some of the potatoes against the side of the pot, or simmer 5 more minutes before adding milk. Don't add more flour at the end; it tastes raw.
Can I use Velveeta?
You can; it melts smoothly and never gets grainy. Sharp cheddar gives the better flavor, so use cheddar and keep it off the heat.
Can I make it ahead?
Make it through the potatoes, cool, and refrigerate. Add the milk and cheese when you reheat so the dairy stays smooth.
From the table
Made it? Tell me how it went, and who went back for seconds when they thought nobody was looking.
Made it?
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Published October 29, 2026.