Vegetable Burger Soup

This is the kind of ground beef soup that feeds a family on a weeknight with almost no effort. Brown the beef, dump in the canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, frozen vegetables, and onion soup mix, then let it simmer for 20 minutes. That’s the whole recipe.

Dry onion soup mix is doing a lot of the seasoning work here, bringing garlic, dehydrated onion, and salt in one convenient packet. Combined with stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce, it creates a rich, savory broth without needing to build flavor from scratch.

The teaspoon of sugar is a small detail that makes a real difference. It rounds out the acidity of the canned tomatoes and tomato sauce, balancing the broth so it tastes smooth rather than sharp. Frozen mixed vegetables go straight from the bag into the pot, no thawing needed, and they cook through in the simmer time.

Pro Tips

• Brown the beef thoroughly. Don’t just heat it through. You want actual browning and caramelization on the meat for deeper flavor in the broth. Break it into small crumbles as it cooks.
• Drain the fat well. Excess grease will make the soup oily. Tip the pan and spoon off the rendered fat before adding liquids.
• Use stewed tomatoes, not diced. Stewed tomatoes are already cooked with seasonings and break down into the soup better.
• This soup gets better the next day. Make a double batch and reheat for lunch. The flavors concentrate overnight.

Variations

• Add pasta or rice during the last 10 minutes of simmering for a more filling, stew-like soup.
• Ground turkey swap: Use lean ground turkey instead of beef for a lighter version that still has plenty of flavor from the onion soup mix.
• Spicy kick: Add a diced jalapeno or a few dashes of hot sauce with the tomatoes.