Thick Crock Pot Cheeseburger Soup

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.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• 🐄The Meat
• ✔️Tips
• ❄️Storage
• ♨️The Crock Pot
• 📖Crock Pot Soup Recipes
• 🖼️Step-by-Step Instructions
• 📖 Recipe

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

Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

Excellent Taco Soup in a Crock Pot

🖼️Step-by-Step 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.

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📖 Recipe

Thick Crock Pot Cheeseburger Soup

From Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

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.

Tap to leave a Rating

4.75 from 20 votes

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Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 5 hours

Total Time 5 hours 20 minutes

Servings #/Adjust if desired 8 a

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

US CustomaryConvert to Metric

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

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• 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. 
  

Recipe Notes

Pro Tips

1. As written, this needs a larger crock pot of 6 qt. or larger. A half recipe would fit in a 3 qt. crock pot.
2. Use the cheese of your choice-usually American, cheddar, or Velveeta.
3. Make it bacon cheeseburger soup by adding 8 pieces of bacon, cooked and chopped up, when adding the browned meat.
4. Cut the potato small (½ inch maximum) and be sure the potato is tender before stopping.
5. This is good in the refrigerator for 3-4 days but will have texture issues if frozen.
6. If you want a somewhat thinner more soup-like result, cut the butter and flour in half.
7. I estimate a serving size of about 1 ½ cups each but the exact amount of soup can vary a bit.

Have More Questions? See the Table of Contents

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

Calories : 610 kcalCarbohydrates : 29 gProtein : 35 gFat : 39 gSaturated Fat : 23 gCholesterol : 142 mgSodium : 716 mgPotassium : 862 mgFiber : 2 gSugar : 6 gVitamin A : 3668 IUVitamin C : 7 mgCalcium : 550 mgIron : 3 mg

Serving size is my estimate of a normal size unless stated otherwise. The number of servings per recipe is stated above. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.

Course :Soup

Cuisine :American

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Originally Published January 7, 2018. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.