I remember when I was young loving to read the story Stone Soup. I loved how tricky the young man in the story was, slowly getting the old woman to add more and more food to the water to turn it into a scrumptious soup. It seemed so simple and sounded so delicious!
While I’m not going to be telling you to add a stone to your soup today I am going to give you a simple yet terrific recipe for a yummy hamburger soup that tastes perfectly pleasant as is or can be a wonderful base for your own “stone” soup creation. Additionally, I’ll give you multiple ideas of things to add that can give you a seemingly limitless amount of variations for this soup.
Ingredients for Hamburger Soup
Gather your ingredients. You’ll be starting out with a very basic recipe.
- 1 pound of hamburger
- 2 cups of chopped carrots
- 3 cups of potatoes
- 1/4 cup of onions
- 2 cups of tomato juice
- 3 cups of water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 4 beef bouillon cubes
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
First, shape your hamburger into mini meatballs and quickly brown in a frying pan.
Helpful hint: If you’re in a hurry you can simply brown the hamburger. The small crumbles work just as well and taste just as good as the mini meatballs.
Second, while the meatballs are cooking pour the tomato juice into a 5-quart or larger stock pot. In my opinion, the tomato juice is what helps make this soup so good. I’ve tried recipes using tomato soup or just plain water and beef bouillon but I always come back to the juice. I use juice that’s been canned at home, but store-bought is perfectly fine as well.
Third, add the water, bay leaves, salt, and beef bouillon to the tomato juice.
Fourth, peel and chop the carrots, potatoes, and onions. The measurements for these are just to give you an idea. Feel free to add more or less to your liking.
Next, add in the cooked meatballs.
Once all the ingredients are in the pot, heat on the stove to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer until the carrots are tender and the potatoes are done. It usually takes about an hour for my soup to be ready.
Helpful hint: You can also make this recipe in the crockpot. Brown your hamburger, throw all the ingredients into your slow cooker and heat for 4-6 hours.
I love watching and hearing the hamburger soup bubble. The sight, sound, and smell of it just screams autumn to me. This is a perfect dinner for a cool fall evening!
When the vegetables are done let the soup cool slightly, then dish it up with a ladle.
Helpful hint: Clearly don’t forget to remove the bay leaves before serving!
Finally, enjoy a hearty bowl of your hamburger soup. It goes great with a roll or a scone!
Other Ingredients
Here are just a few ideas of some other flavorful foods you can add to your hamburger soup. Have fun mixing and matching and finding what you and your family love best:
Simple Hamburger Soup
A simple recipe for yummy hamburger soup that tastes perfectly pleasant as is or can be a wonderful base for your own hamburger soup creation.
- 1 lb hamburger
- 2 cups chopped carrots
- 3 cups diced potatoes
- 1/4 cup onions
- 2 cups tomato juice
- 3 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 beef bouillon cubs
- pepper to taste
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Shape hamburger into mini meatballs and brown in frying pan.
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Pour tomato juice into 5-quart or larger stock pot.
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Add water, bay leaves, salt, and beef bouillon to tomato juice.
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Peel, chop, then add carrots, potatoes, and onions to the pot.
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Add in cooked meatballs.
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Bring all ingredients to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until carrots are tender and potatoes are done.
Find more great soup recipes here:
Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
Avgolemono Soup: Creamy Chicken and Rice
~Kimberly