Cheeseburger soup
55 min · 39 g protein · 431 cals / serving
Everything you love about a cheeseburger in a spoonable bowl: browned beef, a cheddar broth with a hit of mustard and ketchup, and pickles on top. Half the potatoes are cauliflower, which disappears into the creamy base, and lean beef keeps it from turning greasy.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb ground beef (95% lean)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tsp paprika, smoked if you have it
- 4 1/2 cups beef broth
- 1 lb gold potatoes, peeled, 1 cm (1/2-inch) dice
- 1 small head cauliflower, small florets
- 2 cups skim milk
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 1/3 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp ketchup
- 1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
To serve
- 2 reduced sodium dill pickles, diced
- 1 tomato, diced
- 2 green onions, sliced
Steps
- Brown the beef in a large pot over medium-high heat, breaking it up, until no pink remains and it reads 160°F, 6–8 minutes. Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook until the onion softens, 5 minutes, then the garlic for 30 seconds.
- Stir in the tomato paste and paprika and cook a minute, until the paste darkens.
- Add the broth, potatoes and cauliflower. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered until both are completely tender, 15 minutes. Mash about a third of the vegetables against the side of the pot to thicken the broth.
- Whisk the cornstarch into the cold milk, pour it in, and simmer gently, stirring, until the soup thickens, 2–3 minutes. Keep it below a full boil from here.
- Turn the heat to low and stir in the cheddar a handful at a time until melted, then the mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust. Serve topped with pickles, tomato and green onion.
Good to know
Why is my cheese grainy?
The soup was too hot. Cheddar seizes at a boil, so take the pot down to low before it goes in, add it in handfuls, and shred your own: pre-shredded cheese is coated in starch that keeps it from melting smoothly.
Do the pickles really belong?
They are what makes it taste like a burger rather than potato soup. The sharp, sour crunch against the creamy base is the point, so don't skip them.
Per
- Calories
- 79
- Protein
- (38%)
- 7 g
- Fat
- (35%)
- 3 g
- Carbohydrates
- (28%)
- 6 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 228 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 2588 kcal goes into the pot and 4018 g of ingredients comes out as about 3275 g of food: 79 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.