Shop
My
Custom
When I’m craving cozy comfort food, this cheeseburger soup always hits the spot! It’s loaded with big, bold burger flavors in a rich, cheesy broth, minus that heavy feeling you get after the drive-through. I used to love it on freezing days when we lived in Minnesota, but I’ll be honest, I still enjoy it even living somewhere warmer. And while I’ve been making this cheeseburger soup recipe since 2016, right now — when it’s been really cold in many places — is the perfect time to show you some new tips I’ve picked up along the way. Make it with me!
Why You Need My Cheeseburger Soup Recipe
- Like a bacon cheeseburger in soup form – It’s got all the juicy ground beef, smoky bacon, and melty cheese flavors you love in a classic cheeseburger, but here I skip the bun and sneak in veggies for a healthier spin.
- Creamy and cheesy – I like regular hamburger soup, but creamy soups like this one are my specialty. (If you love them too, don’t miss my tomato bisque and cauliflower soup.) My cheeseburger soup delivers that same richness, and you can customize the thickness with my tips below.
- Quick and easy – This soup has super simple ingredients and virtually no prep, so you can have it on the table in just 20 minutes! And sometimes I totally make this my entire healthy dinner all by itself.
- Healthy comfort food – Many cheeseburger soup recipes are heavy, with pasta or potatoes, starchy thickeners, and processed Velveeta. Mine is lighter and gluten free, with vegetables and clean ingredients. I promise, it’s still comforting!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Here I explain the best ingredients for my bacon cheeseburger soup recipe, what each one does, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card.
- Ground Beef – I usually go for 85/15 lean ground beef—just the right flavor without being greasy. If you use 80/20, I recommend draining it. You can also swap it for ground turkey, ground chicken, or ground pork.
- Bacon – Feel free to skip it if you don’t want your cheeseburger soup with bacon. I like to include it! I often have batches of bacon cooked in the oven ready to go and crumbled for this soup, but you can also use pre-cooked bacon bits to save time, or cook raw bacon in the beginning.
- Cauliflower – My go-to neutral fillers instead of potatoes. I use florets, but cauliflower rice works too — it’ll just cook much faster. If you’re not a fan of this vegetable at all, see my tips below for alternatives.
- Broth – I used chicken broth mostly because that’s what I always have, but beef broth or even bone broth is great if you want your soup to taste more beefy.
- Milk & Cream – I prefer the combination of almond milk (which can withstand simmering) and heavy cream for richness. Regular milk is fine if it fits your lifestyle. You can swap the cream for coconut cream if you like, but the recipe still has dairy from the cheese.
- Shredded Cheese – Sharp cheddar cheese is best for classic cheeseburger vibes, but any kind that melts well will work.
- Parsley – I used a teaspoon of dried parsley because that’s what I had when I developed this cheeseburger soup recipe, but a tablespoon of fresh works, too. You can also add other herbs, like oregano, thyme, basil, or Italian seasoning (which I actually swap in most often).
- Sea Salt & Black Pepper – I kept the seasonings basic, but feel free to add other spices, like chili powder or cumin. Also, you might need to adjust the amount of salt if the broth you have isn’t reduced-sodium like mine.
FREE 5-Ingredient Recipe EBook
GET IT NOW
How To Make Cheeseburger Soup
I have step-by-step photos here to help you visualize the recipe. For full instructions with amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card.
- Crisp the bacon. You can use a big pot or Dutch oven. This is quick if your bacon is pre-cooked, or takes a bit longer if you start with raw.
- Brown the beef. Turn up the heat, toss in the ground beef, and break it apart as it cooks until it’s browned.
- Simmer the soup. Add the cauliflower, broth, milk, parsley, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then let it simmer on medium heat until the cauliflower tender.
- Make it cheesy. Turn the heat down, and add the cream and cheddar. Stir until the cheeseburger soup is smooth and the cheese melts.
My Recipe Tips
- Don’t drain the bacon grease. It adds flavor and prevents the beef from sticking. If you’re using raw bacon and have a lot of grease, though, you might want to drain some of it.
- To avoid clumping, add the cheese gradually and stir like your soup depends on it! Don’t stop stirring, and wait for each batch to melt before adding more.
- For a more sure way to avoid clumps, whisk the cheese into 2 cups of hot broth in a bowl first. Then, stir it back into the pot. It’s more work (and dishes), so I usually don’t bother with this.
- Keep the heat low when adding the cheese. High heat can make it clump or turn grainy.
- Want a thicker texture? This soup has a cheesy broth and I love it that way, but you can easily make it thick if you want! Remove some of the liquid together with all (or most) of the cauliflower, puree in a blender, and stir back in. (This is the same trick I use for my easy broccoli cheddar soup without requiring a thickener.) You can also thicken this cheeseburger soup by adding room-temperature cream cheese and letting it melt, like I do for cream of broccoli soup.
- Want more flavor? Sometimes I saute a diced onion, diced celery or carrots, and a few cloves of minced garlic in the bacon grease before adding the beef. You can use butter or olive oil to saute them if you skip the bacon.
- Not a fan of cauliflower? I chose it because it has a neutral flavor, but you can use other veggies you’d put in vegetable soups, like broccoli or cabbage. Sometimes I use root vegetables, like turnips or rutabaga. For a more hearty option, diced potatoes work great. Keep in mind that potatoes and root veggies will take longer to cook, so just make sure they get soft.
Serving Ideas
My cheeseburger soup is already a meal on its own, but if you’re looking to round it out, here are some of my favorite sides and toppings to serve with it:
- Toppings – I like to save some extra bacon and shredded cheese for topping. You can also top it off with chopped dill pickles, caramelized onions, sour cream, or even jalapeño slices.
- Salads – This soup already has protein, so I pair it with lighter side salads, like cucumber tomato avocado salad or radish salad.
- Chips Or Crackers – If you’re craving some crunch, crumble some almond flour crackers, baked tortilla chips, or flaxseed crackers on top. They’re also great on the side for dunking.
Cheeseburger Soup (20-Min Recipe)
By
This 20-minute cheeseburger soup is easy, cheesy, and comforting, but lighter than most recipes. It will leave you feeling so good!
Instructions
[ See step photos See my tips ]Tap on the times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer.
-
In a large pot, brown the bacon for 1-2 minutes over medium heat, until crispy. If your bacon is uncooked, this will take longer.
-
Increase the heat to medium-high. Add the ground beef. Cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally and breaking apart with a spoon or spatula, until browned.
-
Add the cauliflower, chicken broth, almond milk, dried parsley, sea salt, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender.
-
Remove from heat. Stir in the cheddar cheese and heavy cream, until the soup is smooth and the cheese is melted.
Did you make it? Leave a review or tag me @wholesomeyum on Instagram!
Maya’s Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1 cup
- Tips: Check out my recipe tips above to help you avoid clumping the cheese, get a thicker texture if you prefer, add-ins for extra flavor, and swaps if you’re not a fan of cauliflower.
- Store: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4-5 days.
- Meal prep: This cheeseburger soup stores beautifully, so you can easily make it ahead for lunch! Sometimes I just pre-cook the bacon and beef, and chop the cauliflower, then it makes cooking faster the day-of.
- Reheat: Warm on the stove, stirring often, or microwave on medium power.
- Freeze: This soup will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months, as long as you use almond milk and not dairy milk. (The cream is just fine. ) Thaw overnight in the fridge and stir often when reheating.
- Note on nutrition info: The numbers here are based on almond milk for the milk of choice. Carbs and calories will be higher if you use regular milk.
📖 Want more recipes like this? Find this one and many more in my 30 Dinners In 30 Minutes and Winter Ebook Bundle!
I provide nutrition facts as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see my nutrition policy.
Add Your Notes Your Notes
Try More Of My Recipes
© Copyright Maya Krampf for Wholesome Yum. Please DO NOT SCREENSHOT OR COPY/PASTE recipes to social media or websites. We’d LOVE for you to share a link with photo instead.
Cheeseburger Soup
146 Comments
Barbie
0This is easy and wonderful. Be sure to add the cheese slowly like she say, it melts in really well. I’m allergic to almonds, and used all chicken broth for liquid with a tiny bit more cream. This sub worked really well. Thanks for this!!
Tami
0Can’t wait to try this recipe, I have used a similar one, but added broccoli as well. It was a fam fav!
Daniel Ray
0This soup is so good. Easy to make even for a beginner like me. Made it in my instant pot
Hibber
0I eat a high fat diet, but found this unnecessarily fatty, even with half the cream and cheese. Next time I would omit the cream and halve the cheese. I added carrot, onion and celery, as well as mashed squash, and 1 t chili powder.
Jamie
0The flavors in this soup are SO good! Love that is uses cauliflower as the base!
Sarah Skaggs
0My husband loved this so much! His favorite food made into soup!
Amy
0I would like to cook this in our instant pot.
Do you put all ingredients except for cheese and heavy cream in it? Was meat uncooked and for how long do you cook it? Thank you so much for any help. I’m new at this and am overwhelmed. Thanks, A
Maya | Wholesome Yum
1Hi Amy, You’re correct that cheese and cream should not be pressure cooked. I’ve only made this recipe on the stovetop, because it’s already so fast that the Instant Pot doesn’t save much time. But if you really want to, you can use the saute setting on your Instant Pot for the saute steps, then pressure cook for a couple minutes instead of the simmer step, then add the cream and cheese after removing the lid. Hope this helps!
Michelle
0Can you make this without cauliflower?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
1Hi Michelle, Yes, I have other options listed above in my tips.
Lori Bauer
0Wonder if anyone has tried using Parmesan instead of Cheddar? Would that work?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
1Hi Lori, I don’t think parmesan would work in place of cheddar, because it doesn’t melt the same way. If you want to use another cheese, I would choose one with similar moisture content to cheddar rather than a very hard cheese.
Sarah
0This soup is very delicious.
D.Lienhard
0A perfect recipe to add to my rotation.
Shadi Hasanzadenemati
0I’m making this for the weekend, I bet everyone is going to devour it!
Jennifer
0I love that this dish can come together so quickly – it’s going on my weeknight dinner rotation!
wilhelmina
0My family loved this soup! It is definetly going in my roster of weeknight favs. You won’t believe how much flavor it has in just 20 minutes!
Paula Montenegro
0So easy and delicious! I can’t believe it’s low carb, especially with that title! I’m saving this one to try it out very soon.
Robin Skidmore
0Could I substitute the almond milk with water + cream?
Wholesome Yum A
0That should be fine, Robin!
Ashleigh
0You know, I’d usually consider myself to be a pretty bad cook but I tried, made a mess in the kitchen, wished I was a cleaner chef and sat down to enjoy something that ACTUALLY WORKED! I’m new to this keto thing. On behalf of my tummy, thank you for this amazing recipe.
Laverne
0Just made this for dinner today! Love love it!! And so easy to make. Yummy. Thanks for the recipe!
Samantha
0Amazing!! My whole family loved it. The best part was it was quick and easy!
Marlene
0Delicious, hearty and flavorful!!! Printed for my collection and its now a part of our monthly rotation for dinner. I made this recipe using my instant pot on saute mode (no lid) about the same amount of time, turned out perfect.