Easy Vegetable Beef Soup

A delicious recipe for Easy Vegetable Beef Soup made with ground beef. This recipe uses common ingredients and it can be easily doubled if you're feeding a crowd or want leftovers for lunch. With a serving of vegetables and protein, this hearty soup is a healthy and satisfying meal.

Easy Vegetable Beef Soup Recipe

It's safe to say I have a thing for vegetable beef soup recipes. One of the all-time reader favorite recipes, that happens to have hundreds of 5 star reviews, is this Hamburger Vegetable Soup.

This easy to make vegetable beef soup, that's made with ground beef, is a one pot recipe that is total comfort food and made with some easy ingredients like frozen vegetables, dried seasonings, and lean ground beef. 

Ingredients Needed

This quick version of vegetable beef soup has two secret ingredients that sound odd (trust me!) but they give this soup so much flavor. You will only need simple ingredients like frozen vegetables and ground beef to make this soup. 

• Ground Beef - I always use lean 93/7 ground beef and I still drain it. Even with the lower fat ground meat you will still have some liquid pool up as it cooks. I just drain it off before adding the other ingredients. 
• Beef Broth - The recipe calls for the full-salt version of beef broth and you need it! This soup relies on the hearty flavors from the beef broth, and the two "surprise ingredients". 
• Frozen Vegetables - You need frozen mixed vegetables + frozen corn. Put them out on the counter to thaw before you begin chopping the onion and cooking the ground beef. This way they are slightly thawed and will cook during the simmering time. 
• Soy Sauce - This is the first surprise ingredient! Traditionally you see this in Asian & Chinese inspired dishes but the salty flavor it adds goes perfectly with this soup. I use the reduced-sodium soy sauce. If you use the full salt soy sauce you might find the soup a tad too salty or not. Depending on your salt preference. 
• Molasses - I know. I know. Totally weird. But it adds a thick, dark, slightly sweet flavor to the soup and it's amazing. It's even worth buying molasses just for this recipe (that's what I did anyways). There really is no substitute but if you must, try using dark brown sugar or even dark corn syrup. But again, I've never substituted this ingredient so I can't promise the results if you choose to. 

How To Make Vegetable Soup With Ground Beef

You only need one pot to make this recipe!

Ground Beef : Brown and crumble the ground beef with the chopped onion, garlic powder, and basil. Drain the excess grease from the pot. 

Soup : Add the remaining ingredients like beef broth, tomato sauce, frozen vegetables, molasses, and soy sauce. 

Simmer : Bring the soup to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and let it simmer for at least 20-30 minutes before serving. 

Tips For Success

Here are a few of my tips for making this recipe a success in your own kitchen.

• Drain Ground Beef Grease : Make sure you drain the ground beef after cooking it. All that extra grease in the soup will give it an oily film over top. 
• Let Simmer : Make sure you let the soup simmer for 20-30 minutes so the flavors can develop. This soup is so much better after it's had time to simmer all together.

Variation & Substitution Ideas

There are a few ways that you can change up this hearty soup recipe. Here are a few ideas and things I have done. 

• Switch Out Protein : Instead of ground beef try using ground turkey or ground chicken. 
• Frozen Vegetables : Use any frozen vegetable you like!
• Tomato Sauce : I have used tomato sauce w/ garlic, basil, oregano when I've made this recipe. Instead of using plain classic tomato sauce, try using a seasoned tomato sauce. 
• Seasonings : Feel free to add additional seasonings if wanted. Fresh garlic can be used, add some Italian seasoning, add salt & pepper depending on taste preference. Lots of ways to adapt this recipe to whatever you want. 

Easy Vegetable Beef Soup FAQ's

• Serving Suggestions
  • I love to serve this recipe with my One Hour Rolls recipe. They're so buttery and soft!
  • You can also serve it with Cornbread or some Easy Breadsticks. 
• Can I Freeze Vegetable Beef Soup?
  • Yes! This soup freezes perfectly. Make sure it's cooled to room temperature. Store the soup inside a freezer-safe container (I use a gallon-sized Ziploc bag) and freeze for up to 1 month. 
  • When ready to eat, you can thaw and warm it up in a soup pot on the stove. Put the frozen soup inside the slow cooker. Or let the soup thaw in the fridge overnight. 
  • You may have to add some additional beef broth when reheating frozen leftovers or leftovers. 
• How To Store Leftovers
  • Leftovers can safely be stored in an air-tight container, in the fridge, for 3-4 days. 
  • I think it's easiest to warm up leftovers in the microwave, but you can also put them into a pot and heat up on the stove top. 

More Soup Recipes With Ground Beef

• Pasta Fagioli Soup
• Minestrone Soup
• Ground Beef Stew
• Taco Soup
• Cheeseburger Soup