Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Soup
This Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Soup will be your family’s new favorite cold weather dinner recipe! Perfect for busy weeknights, this creamy, comforting dish combines all the flavors of a classic cheeseburger into one hearty bowl.
When the weather turns colder, it’s soup season in our house. And this Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Soup is always on our quick dinner list. With all the flavors of a classic burger, it makes minimal mess thanks to having the crock pot do most of the work.
With flavors of ground beef, onion, spices, cream, and lots of cheese, there’s so much that your whole family will love. My kids get so excited to hear that it’s cheeseburger soup night at home. Served with waffle fries or tater tots, they will eat every bite. If you love a warm soup, be sure to also try our Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings and Chicken Parmesan Soup.
Why You’ll Love this Recipe
- Classic cheeseburger flavor the whole family will love. All the same classic flavors without the mess of cooking burgers indoors.
- Easy and affordable to make. This is a simple soup recipe to prep and cook especially during a busy week. It’s inexpensive and also makes for the best leftovers!
- Great to serve to a crowd. We love making this for tailgates or family gatherings in the fall. We keep it warm in the slow cooker so guests can serve themselves.
Leanna’s Tip: If you want to make this as a meal prep soup, we recommend making the soup base without the noodles. Refrigerate the base for 3 to 4 days in the fridge. When you’re ready to serve, boil fresh elbow pasta to stir into the reheated soup so the pasta doesn’t get too mushy.
Ingredients
- Ground beef: The base protein of the cheeseburger soup recipe.
- Diced onion: Adds sweet veggie flavor.
- Diced carrots: While it may not be traditional in a cheeseburger, we love carrots in a soup for extra flavor.
- Elbow macaroni: The noodles that cook perfectly in this soup.
- Dried basil: Gives a note of freshness.
- Dried parsley: Adds that classic herb flavor.
- Dried Oregano: A warm dried herb that helps to flavor the beef nicely.
- Chicken broth: Our broth preference to make this the most comforting soup.
- Heavy cream: Adds both decadent flavor and creamy texture to every bite.
- Shredded Colby Jack cheese: It’s not cheeseburger soup without lots of cheese! We love Colby Jack, but you could also use cheddar, Swiss, American, or even Pepper Jack for a kick!
How to Make Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Soup
1. Brown ground beef in a skillet; drain fat. Transfer to crockpot.
2. Add onion, carrots, basil, parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper. Pour in chicken broth and stir.
3. Cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4 hours, until veggies are tender.
4. Half and hour before serving, add in the macaroni. Cook until soft. Alternatively, you can add in cooked macaroni after the next step.
5. Whisk in the milk and cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted throughout the soup completely.
Expert Tips
- Brown the ground beef before adding it into the slow cooker. This step is crucial to this cheeseburger soup. This gives the soup lots of flavor and guarantees the beef will be cooked through.
- I like to cook my noodles IN the soup to add the starch to this dish, but if you don’t like that, cook the pasta and add it in at the end to heat it up in the soup.
- Use a low fat ground beef. You don’t want the soup to be greasy, so we recommend using a ground beef that’s lower in fat. If you use a higher fat beef, drain off the fat before adding it to the slow cooker.
- Add the cheese and heavy cream 30 minutes before serving. You don’t want to add them too early! This prevents the cheese and cream from curdling in the broth and making the soup a weird texture.
- Cook on low for 6 to 7 hours or high for 3 to 4 hours. You are looking for the veggies to be tender and the pasta to be cooked through.
- Serve with waffle fries or tater tots! This is my kids favorite side for this cozy burger soup. I buy them from the frozen aisle and air fry them or bake them. They love to dip them into the cheesy broth.
Serving Crock Pot Cheeseburger Soup
Crockpot: I used my favorite 6-quart crockpot from Walmart, which is at a great price!
Bowls: There is something for everyone, no matter your personal style! I used MacKenzie Childs bowls, which you can have in a larger option, smaller option, or an ice-cream bowl option that also works for soup!
For a more budget-friendly option, I also love this black-and-white coordinating set or this colorful mini terracotta Spanish style. Walmart has these dreamy gray stoneware bowls with silver rims for a great price!
I also love this set-of-four pumpkin bowls from Pottery Barn. For a Halloween twist, this assortment is adorable!
Individual Serving Plates: I layered white bowls over black-and-white checkered plates from MacKenzie Childs, which also come in a blue or pink version! For adorable and more affordable serving plates, I am obsessed with this beautiful coordinating set from Target for a great price!
Placemats: You can find similar woven placemats at JCPenney, Pottery Barn, or Walmart!
Kitchen Links: I get asked all the time about the products in the background of my kitchen. Much of it is from MacKenzie-Childs, which I have slowly grown a collection of over the years! My favorites are this checkered chopping board, my black and white checkered teapot, and the gray and white checkered utensil holder. I also have this enamel canister that you can find in small, medium, or large.
Storage
If you have any leftovers, transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge, where it should stay fresh for 2-3 days. Reheat at 30-second intervals in the microwave until you reach your desired temperature.
You can freeze crock pot cheeseburger soup as well in an airtight container for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave until warmed through.
When it comes to making this in advance, it’s a meal prep dream! Make it on a Sunday for easy leftovers for a couple of days. If you have the time, I would recommend leaving out the noodles and boiling them fresh when you reheat the soup so they aren’t too soft.
FAQs
You can always cook the beef and wash/cut the veggies up to three days ahead of time. Even make the base of the soup a few days in advance and cook the noodles with before serving.
You can mix together 1 teaspoon cornstarch with 1 teaspoon of water and add it to the soup 30 minutes before you’re finished cooking. This is called a slurry and should thicken the broth nicely.
This is because you added it too early. You want to add it towards the end of cooking. Heating heavy cream for too long can often cause it to break the soup broth.
More Cozy Soup Recipes
Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 cup diced carrots
- 1 cup elbow macaroni
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp parsley
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp pepper
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups shredded Colby Jack cheese
Instructions
- Brown ground beef in a skillet; drain fat. Transfer to crockpot.
- Add onion, carrots, basil, parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper. Pour in chicken broth and stir.
- Cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4 hours, until veggies are tender.
- Half and hour before serving, add in the macaroni. Cook until soft. Alternatively, you can add in cooked macaroni after the next step.
- Whisk in the milk and cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted throughout the soup completely.
