This crock pot cheeseburger soup is extra thick and cheesy with loads of potatoes and other vegetables. This “stick to your bones” soup will become a family favorite this winter.
Introduction
This is a recipe suggested by my wife after having a similar dish at one of our favorite restaurants. Think of it as an extra-thick cheesy potato soup with some burger.
I call this an extra thick soup, but it can also be called a chowder, a thick soup based on a white sauce. A white sauce is based on a roux with flour, which is the recipe's thickening method.
The model recipe I settled on was a Taste of Home recipe that was stovetop. It was not exactly what we wanted. I wanted the crock pot. Plus, I wanted some other adjustments.
The big change was the thickness of the soup along with the crock pot conversion. I doubled the thickening and made exactly what we wanted. That was done by doubling the roux (butter and flour).
My Rating
A lower 5 or high 4. I was hungry and loved a thick cheese soup, so I'm going with the 5.
🐄The Meat
This recipe requires ground meat. Generally, that will be beef, but turkey or chicken will be fine. The burger is double the model but suggested by commenters and an obvious must-do.
The ground meat must be browned and drained before adding to the crock pot. Crock pots are great for a lot of things but cooking ground meat is not one of them. You will have clumps of meat along with all the fatty drainage in your dish. Please cook ahead.
Most of us will start with store-bought ground beef, which is fine. Just brown, break apart and drain.
There is a difference between hamburger and ground beef. Ground beef has a variable amount of fat, but the fat is from the beef being ground. Hamburger can have up to 30% fat, and fat can be added from trimming other cuts. Please choose #1, not #2.
✔️Tips
The Potatoes
A starchy potato, like Russet, is probably best here, but others can be used. I decrease the potato down a bit in the original recipe. There was more potato than want we wanted.
Also, be sure that the potato is chopped smaller than then other soups. I suggest ½ inch or a bit smaller.
Frozen diced potatoes will work fine here, also.
What cheese?
I continued my love of Velveeta. It melts well, and I do love the taste. OK, I know that is not "gourmet or foodie" like, but this is an everyday cooking blog.
Any American or cheddar cheese should be fine. Or go wild and use the cheeses of your choice.
Spices
I consider the basil and parsley flakes optional. I did them but felt they didn't add anything other than a hint of basil that didn't seem needed.
Make it Bacon Cheeseburger Soup.
Everything is better with bacon. You can add bacon as a topping. Or, for the full bacon experience, add it during the cooking.
You can add 8 pieces of cooked chopped up bacon with the browned meat.
❄️Storage
This and most soup will store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, tightly covered.
If frozen, the potatoes may lose some texture, and milk-based soups do not freeze the best. It is up to you, but for the best results, don't freeze.
♨️The Crock Pot
This recipe, as written, needs a 6-quart or bigger size crock pot. If you cut the recipe in half, use a 3 quart or larger pot.
Thickening in a Crock Pot
This recipe depends on a roux to thick the soup. A roux (pronounced roo) is the best way to thicken almost any other liquid like gravy.
Here we are using equal parts of butter and flour. Melt the butter and whisk in the flour and cook for a few minutes. Then add some liquid (milk here) and allow it to thicken before adding to the pot.
You can also use tapioca, cornstarch, or arrowroot, which are less fussy for thickening in a crock pot. What doesn't do well is just added flour to the recipe.
I do not like cornstarch here since reheating a liquid that has been thickened with cornstarch gives a gel-like consistency.
📖Crock Pot Soup Recipes
Easy Crock Pot French Onion Soup
Crock Pot Ham Bone and Bean Soup
Excellent Taco Soup in a Crock Pot
🖼️Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
Most of the ingredients are sitting in your kitchen now.
Peel and chop 3-4 medium potatoes into ½ inch cubes to make 3-4 cups. Peel and shred 2 medium carrots and chop one small onion and one stalk (rib) of celery.
Add veggies to a larger crock pot. Add 2 cups of low sodium chicken broth. Optionally add one teaspoon dry parsley and 1 teaspoon basil. Cook on low for 4 hours.
At 4 hours, brown 1 pound of ground beef. Drain the beef and add to the crock pot.
Wipe out the pan. Melt one stick (8 tablespoons) butter. Add ½ cup flour, whisk for several minutes until changing color slightly. Add 2 ½ cup milk. Whisk continuously for a few minutes while adding ¼ cup of sour cream, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper.
When thickened, add to the crock pot and mix well. Add 1 pound cheese of choice. Velveeta for me. Cook one additional hour on HIGH. Be sure the potato is tender before stopping.
Top the way you would your cheeseburger. I love some bacon, tomato, and pickle.
📖Full Recipe
Thick Crock Pot Cheeseburger Soup
Ingredients
Part one
- 3-4 medium potatoes
- 2 medium carrots
- 1 rib celery
- 1 small onion
- 2 cups chicken broth low sodium
- 1 teaspoon dry parsley - optional
- 1 teaspoon dry basil - optional
Part two
- 1 pound ground beef
- 8 tablespoons butter - 1 stick
- ½ cups flour
- 2 ½ cups milk
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 1 pound cheese of choice - Velveeta for me
- 8 strips cooked bacon-chopped - Optional
Instructions
- Peel and chop 3-4 medium potatoes into ½ inch cubes to make 3-4 cups. Peel and shred 2 medium carrots and chop one small onion and one stalk (rib) of celery.
- Add veggies to larger crock pot. Add 2 cups low sodium chicken broth. Optionally add one teaspoon dry parsley and 1 teaspoon basil. Cook on low for 4 hours.
- At 4 hours, brown 1 pound of ground beef. Drain the beef and add to the crock pot. Also, you may add the optional bacon at this point.
- Wipe out pan. Melt one stick (8 tablespoons) butter. Add ½ cup flour, whisk for several minutes until changing color slightly. Add 2 ½ cup milk. Whisk continuously for a few minutes while adding ¼ cup of sour cream, ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.
- When thick, add to crock pot and mix well. Add 1 pound cheese of choice. Velveeta for me. Cook one additional hour on HIGH. Be sure the potato is tender before stopping.
- Top the way you would your cheeseburger. I love some bacon, tomato and pickle.
My Private Notes
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- As written, this needs a larger crock pot of 6 qt. or larger. A half recipe would fit in a 3 qt. crock pot.
- Use the cheese of your choice-usually American, cheddar, or Velveeta.
- Make it bacon cheeseburger soup by adding 8 pieces of bacon, cooked and chopped up, when adding the browned meat.
- Cut the potato small (½ inch maximum) and be sure the potato is tender before stopping.
- This is good in the refrigerator for 3-4 days but will have texture issues if frozen.
- If you want a somewhat thinner more soup-like result, cut the butter and flour in half.
- I estimate a serving size of about 1 ½ cups each but the exact amount of soup can vary a bit.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Originally Published January 7, 2018. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Amy
This was delicious! We made a half recipe in our 3-quart crockpot. I sliced the potatoes with a mandoline slicer instead of dicing them. I used less parsley and basil, and added a little garlic powder with a dash of herb-and-garlic seasoning. My husband and I have enough for leftovers, but the soup seems to be disappearing fast. So good on a cold December night.
Shari
Thank you!!! I didn’t have time for the crock pot, but a Dutch oven worked well. I substituted heavy cream for milk because I had a little left. Also, may I suggest a tablespoon of mustard? I added it and it was a nice enhancement to the cheeseburger feel, but it didn’t overpower it. (Yummy in scrambled eggs too.). Thank you for this recipe!!! 😊😊👍👍👍
Dawn
Hi, i used red potatoes, sautéed white mushrooms sweet multicolored peppers and white onion with garlic and other spices. Used a pound and a half of hamburg because I like more meat. two cans of diced tomatoes. Cooked the hamburger along with the peppers and onions and mushrooms and put that in the crockpot first then I did the milk, flour, butter and sour cream on the stove added the 2 cups of chicken broth to the crockpot along with two beef bouillon cubes and added it all together and put it on low for 5 1/2 hours! I came out amazing I like to build flavor profiles with my spices and for it to be more of like a cheeseburger I went with peppers,onions and mushrooms instead of the carrots and celery.
Ronnie Sims
How would I make this dairy free and gluten-free
DrDan
Hi Ronnie,
Welcome to the blog.
I would not recommend it.
You can try arrow root for the thicken and whatever you normally for the dairy elements but I have my doubts about the outcome. Whenever you need to substitute of more than one thing, it gets dicey and you would be substituting for most of the soup. Just not a good idea.
Sorry.
Dan
Katie
Hi, we are in the process of making this today. What would happen if I added the ground hamburger in the beginning with the veggies? I will be gone all day. Also, I don't see the onion in the list of ingredients, does it matter what kind, or can I substitute with onion powder? Thanks!
DrDan
Hi Katie,
Welcome to the site.
Adding the cooked burger at the beginning is fine. But not the dairy things. I combined them to say with one pan. But the burger can be at any time.
There is one small onion. You could use the equal amount of powder with I think about 2 teaspoons would do it.
Fixing the ingredient list in a minute.
Dan
Katie
Thank you! It was DELICIOUS! I will say I did have to add double the chicken broth because of adding the meat early but I doubt it changed the taste, maybe just not as thick. Thank you again - I will be making this for my husband's fire department Alot this winter I'm sure
DrDan
Hi Katie,
Glad it worked well for you. If I was cooking for a fire department, I would do this chili https://www.101cookingfortwo.com/ultra-simple-crock-pot-white-chicken/
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Walter
"Larger Crock pot" doesn't help. What size did you use, 8 Qt. or 10 Qt? Can I double this recipe?
DrDan
Hi Walter,
This filled a 6 1/2 qt pot to about 50%. Usually keep a pot at 50-75% max and I like to aim for 60% max. So 6 qt or above. Less full is ok.
Doubling is a no. It just won't fit well
Jill Tempest
Absolutely delicious!!!!! I used the handy dandy converter at the bottom of the recipe to make 4 servings! I love not having to figure out all the measurements. Everything was perfect. Easy to prepare. Easy to follow instructions. Great taste! My only variation was to leave the skin on the potatoes. Get a bit more fiber as well as appealing to my lazy self. Will make again!
sandra
I have been making the Taste of Home version for years, now I will try this crockpot version. This soup was my intro to Velveeta cheese (i'm European) and everyone told me to avoid it. However after many experiments I have found this is actually the best product for the job. Don't be put off.
DrDan
Hi Sandra,
Thanks for the note. Since you're familiar with this recipe, be aware of the changes I made. A bit to there veggies/potatoes but mostly the thickness. If you want approximately what the thickness your have had, go with the cut down butter and flour. If you like it extra thickness that my wife and I wanted, go with the instructions.
Again, thanks for the note.
Dan
Karen
I think I'm missing something. How much cheese, and when do you add it?
DrDan
Add I reread this over 20 times... I'm getting old. Fixed