Cheeseburger soup

    With soup season comes a plethora of soups on my social media feeds that I have to attempt. One of those many many soups is the cheeseburger soup. There are many many variations of this soup but my goal was to make a hearty soup perfect for a cold winter night that also brought memories of summer. To do this I decided to make this soup with a creamy potato base, a clear broth wouldn't do it for a cheeseburger, ground beef of course, and plenty of cheddar. It ended up being cozy without totally overpowering the reminiscent feel of summer! Now, it is one of the soups that I am most requested to bring to family gatherings and potlucks!

    To start my soup, I cook a pound of beef in the bottom of my pot. I like to use a dutch oven for all of my soups but it really comes in handy for this soup because of all of the components I cook first dry. When my hamburger is just starting to brown, I add in my chopped onion, celery, and carrots and finish cooking those all together. If you want, you can skip the celery and carrots but for some reason they just make sense in a cheeseburger soup to me. It almost reminds me of the veggie tray someone always brings to a cookout that never gets eaten... except they will get eaten in this soup. 

    As my beef and veggies finish cooking, I add in my minced garlic to sauté just until they become aromatic before I dump in my chicken broth and potatoes. I like to peel my potatoes before I dice them just because my family doesn't love the skins. However, the skins actually are the part that pack the most nutrients (read more about that here) so you should definitely leave them on if you don't mind the texture. With my potatoes and broth, I like to add some salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. 

    I let my soup simmer for 10-20 minutes or until my potatoes are soft and then mix my milk with some cornstarch. Mixing the cornstarch with the milk allows it to dissolve better and create something called a slurry. If you just dump your cornstarch straight into your soup, you run the risk of having lumps of cornstarch and also your soup not thickening up correctly. 

    As soon as my cornstarch and milk are mixed, I pour them into my soup and give it a good stir. I let it sit on the stove at a light simmer for a bit to let it thicken up before I add my cheese and serve! Before serving I also like to beat up my potatoes a bit to also help thicken the soup but if you like more large potato chunks you can skip it. 

    I like to serve this soup topped with a little extra cheddar, bacon and green onion although you can add other toppings or even eat it plain! My husband is a die hard tomato on his burger kind of person so he will mix diced tomatoes into his bowl and I like to add caramelized onions to mine. The options are endless!

    What did you think of this recipe? Let me know in the comment section below!