Cheeseburger Beer Soup

Nothing says comfort food like the flavors of a classic cheeseburger. Now imagine them as a hearty and satisfying soup! Cheeseburger Beer Soup has all the flavors of your favorite burger – juicy beef, crispy bacon, melty cheese, and tangy toppings – in a hearty and satisfying soup. We sear the beef in thin patties to maximize that delicious crust, then deglaze the pan with beer to build incredible depth of flavor. Cozy up with a bowl of this irresistible soup!

Why I love this soup, and hope you will, too

I didn’t create this cheeseburger soup as a substitute for its namesake’s beloved sandwich. Instead, this soup is an homage to the wonderful flavors of the cheeseburger, all nestled in the warm and cozy comfort food that only soup can provide.

Reasons this soup is on repeat at Casa SoupAddict:

Unique and Flavorful – It’s not your average soup! This recipe offers a fun and delicious twist on the classic comfort food.
Perfect for game day – A crowd-pleaser that’s easy to make and fun to customize with toppings.
Packed with flavor – Beer, bacon, and melty cheese add a rich depth that keeps you coming back for more.
Family-friendly – Both kids and adults will love it! (Beer is optional.)
Easy to customize – Add your favorite burger toppings for a unique twist on every bowl.
Hearty and filling – With seared beef, savory bacon, and creamy cheese, it’s a satisfying meal in itself.
Makes great leftovers – Enjoy it for lunch the next day!

Main Ingredients, Notes, and Substitutions

Beef — I recommend lean ground beef here, the best your budget can accommodate. You really don’t need the extra fat of an 80-20 mixture, because the bacon is cooked at the same time as the beef and will provide the needed fat. Plus, using lean will keep the soup from getting little puddles of beef throughout the finished soup.

You’ll be forming patties out of the ground beef, so the question becomes, can you just buy the beef in burger form to begin with? Yes, of course you can. Personally, I buy the ground beef because the fat content that I prefer is more readily available in the one-pound package, and it’s also a little cheaper.

Bacon — Bacon is used in two ways in this soup: its rendered fat flavors the beef as it sears, and then the resulting crispy bacon pieces make excellent soup toppings. Why not keep the bacon in the soup the whole time? Because in testing I found that adding them separately at the end as toppings makes the bacon flavor stand out significantly more than being mixed into the soup. But you can do it either way. Or both!

Aromatic vegetables — As with all soups, we want to start with a solid flavor foundation, so that we’re not just creating watered down beef. The mirepoix — onions, celery, and carrots — is the perfect flavor combination.

Beer — I don’t have a particular recommendation for beer, as here it’s used much like wine to deglaze the beef and bacon fond from the pot. I usually use Guinness, but that’s just habit. A pilsner beer is just fine, and some stores will carry pilsner brands in single-purchase cans, if yours is not a beer-drinking household. If you want to skip the beer for any reason, no problem: just use an extra 1/2 cup of broth to deglaze the pan.

Potatoes — I included shredded potatoes in this recipe, not to add a touch of “french fries” to the mix, but rather to thicken the soup with potato’s starchy goodness rather than requiring a ton of flour. Russets are easy to shredded on a box grater. Just be sure not to do them too far ahead of time, because they oxidize and change color quickly. In the prep photo below, you can see them already starting to turn pink, and that was only after about 20 minutes. Also, frozen hash browns are a convenient substitute!

Cheese — Cheeseburger Beer Soup isn’t cheeseburger beer soup without the cheese! I use a blend of sharp cheddar and melty Monterey jack to create a smooth and flavorful cheesy presence. As with most recipes that rely on tasty cheese, it’s best to grate the cheeses for this soup fresh off the block. Pre-shredded cheeses usually contain preservatives to prevent mold, and also cellulose as a filler. Which is wood pulp. Edible (more or less), but it’s simply not cheese.

Cook’s Notes

• The secret to the depth of flavor in this soup is searing the ground beef, just as you would a burger. Form very flat, almost smash-burger-level thin, patties, and sear to get crispy, caramelized edges. It takes a little extra time but it makes a difference!
• The color of the beer you use will impact the color of the soup. As I mentioned, I used Guinness, so my soup in these photos is a little darker, a little peachier, than your soup might turn out if you use Corona, for example.
• A toppings bar is a fun idea for this soup. Set out your favorite burger toppings, in chopped form. My favorites are dill pickles, red onions, and croutons, but don’t forget chopped tomatoes, sliced jalapenos, bacon (of course), and extra shredded cheese.
• Make-ahead prep: I almost always do as much of the prep work as I can ahead of time, often in the mornings when I have a lot of energy. You can chop the bacon, onions, celery, and carrots ahead of time, grate the cheeses, and form the ground beef into patties. Store everything in the fridge until you’re ready to cook.

How to Make Cheeseburger Beer Soup

Ready to make the recipe? Skip to the recipe card now to get the full ingredient list, quantities, prep/cooking times, and detailed instructions. Or, keep scrolling for a visual walk-through of making the soup.

Pre-cook prep notes

• Chop the bacon into 1″ pieces.
• Divide the lean ground beef into 3 or 4 patties and flatten. Season each side with your favorite steak spices. Or even just salt and pepper.
• Dice the onions, celery, and carrots into equal sizes.
• Shred the cheese using the large holes of a box grater or shredding disk with a food processor.
• Wait as long as possible to shred the potato, as the shreds will quickly oxide and turn color, which will affect the color of your soup.

Step 1: Cook the bacon and sear the beef

Start the bacon cooking over medium heat. When the surface is nice and hot, add the beef patties—they probably won’t all fit at once, so plan two or more batches. Let the beef sear on one side, and then flip to cook the other side. Transfer the patties as they finish cooking to a plate, and repeat with the remaining beef.

When the bacon is crisp, transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

Step 2: Saute the aromatics and deglaze the pot

Add the onions, celery, and carrots to the pot and sweat until softened.

Pour in the beer and use a spatula to scrap up the bits of fond left behind by the beef and bacon. Let the alcohol cook off for a few minutes.

Step 3: Thicken and season the soup base

Add the flour and seasonings to the vegetable mixture and stir well. The base will be thick and gravy-like.

Step 4: Cook the soup

Add the broth to the pot and increase the heat to bring the soup up to a bubble. While the soup simmers, chop the beef into small pieces.

Add the beef and the shredded potatoes to the soup. Continue cooking until the potatoes break down into the liquids (about 3 to 4 minutes).

Step 5: Finish the soup

Pour in the dairy, and then stir in the cheese a handful at a time, until the soup is nice and creamy. Serve with your favorite toppings (and the bacon!).

Storing

Cheeseburger Beer Soup is both refrigerator and freezer-friendly. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days, and in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, and then reheat slowly to retain the creaminess of the soup.

As a recipe developer, I test my creations multiple times before they hit the blog. And all I can say about this soup is that, throughout early fall when I was working on it, I found myself saying, “Oh, hm, I think it’s time to test the Cheeseburger Beer Soup again.” Even though it had already gone through its paces a half dozen times. Lol. I hope you’ll try it and find it worth repeating often, too.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Cheeseburger Beer Soup

This Cheeseburger Beer Soup is everything you love about a cheeseburger in soup form! Made with seared ground beef, bacon, beer, and melty cheese, then topped with your favorite burger toppings. Pure comfort food in a bowl!

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time55 minutes mins

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cheeseburger beer soup, cheeseburger soup

Servings: 4

Author: Karen Gibson

Ingredients

• 2-3 slices thick bacon , chopped into 1″ pieces
• 1 pound lean ground beef , formed into 3 or 4 thin patties
• 1 teaspoon steak seasoning*
• 1/2 cup diced onions
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/4 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 cup beer
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup peeled , shredded potato (about an 8-ounce russet)
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 2 cups shredded cheese

Suggested toppings:

• Chopped pickles
• Chopped tomatoes
• Diced red onions
• Bacon pieces
• More shredded cheese
• Croutons

Instructions

• Add the chopped bacon to a 4 or 5 quart Dutch oven or soup pot set over medium heat. Season the beef patties with the steak seasoning on both sides. When the fat starts to render and sizzle, scootch the bacon off to one side and add one or two beef patties to the cleared space (whatever will fit). Let the meat sear on the first side, and then flip to sear the second side. Meanwhile, keep moving the bacon pieces to help them cook, and let any rendered fat spread out to where the beef is cooking. Transfer the cooked patties to a plate, and repeat with the remaining beef. When the last patty is cooked, also remove the crisped bacon to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.
• There should still be fat in the pot. If not, add a drizzle of olive or avocado oil. Add the onions, celery, and carrots to the pan and saute until softened, about 6 to 8 minutes. Pour the beer into the pot and deglaze the fond with a spatula, scraping the bits up into the liquid. Depending on what kind of beer you used, the liquid will be dark or light (I used Guinness, so it’s quite dark). The alcohol will cook off after a few minutes.
• Add the flour, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and smoked paprika to the vegetable mixture and stir to create a thick base, almost gravy-like.
• Increase the heat to medium-high and add the chicken broth. Let the broth come up to a bubble and simmer for 10 minutes. While the soup simmers, chop the beef patties into 1/2″ pieces. Add the shredded potatoes and the beef to the soup. Let the potato shreds cook down for 4 to 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to low.
• Stir in the dairy, followed by the shredded cheeses, a handful at a time, until thoroughly combined into the soup. Serve the soup along with your favorite toppings (don’t forget the bacon!).

Notes

*use your favorite, or just even salt and pepper

Nutritional information, if shown, is provided as a courtesy only, and is not to be taken as medical information or advice. The nutritional values of your preparation of this recipe are impacted by several factors, including, but not limited to, the ingredient brands you use, any substitutions or measurement changes you make, and measuring accuracy.