One of the first things I learned when I embarked on my budget-food journey is just how easy, filling, and inexpensive soup is. Homemade soups are a breeze to throw together and they’re always so much tastier than store-bought canned soup. This vegetable beef soup is a great example. It’s chock-full of colorful veggies, filling ground beef, and the most delicious broth ever. Serve it up with a nice crusty bread for dipping and lunch is served!
What’s in Vegetable Beef Soup?
This classic soup combines ground beef, potatoes, tomatoes, peas, corn, carrots, and green beans in a flavorful broth. To make this soup a bit easier, I’ve used a frozen vegetable mix to cut down on the amount of peeling and chopping needed to prepare the soup. That makes this Vegetable Beef Soup extra fast and easy. :)
To give this vegetable beef soup more flavor, we’ve added a healthy dose of Italian seasoning and some Worcestershire sauce to the broth for extra depth. Make sure you’re using a full-flavored beef broth for maximum deliciousness. I like to use Better Than Bouillon to make flavorful broth for my soups.
“This soup is so good! We made it with chuck roast and added some fresh diced tomatoes to use them up. We paired it with your hot honey cornbread and it was amazing! So easy, flavorful, and filling.”
samantha
Beef Options
I used ground beef in my vegetable beef soup because it was the least expensive and the easiest to use. If you use a higher fat ground beef, you have the option to drain the fat off after browning, or leave it in for extra flavor and richness.
If you have room in your budget and would rather have chunks of beef in your soup, choose a chuck roast or bottom round roast, cut into 1-inch pieces. Simply brown the beef in the pot before adding the rest of the ingredients. No need to cook through during the browning stage, as it will cook through while the soup is simmered.
What Else Can I Add?
This is my favorite part of any recipe. What else can you add to vegetable beef soup to make it your own? Try adding some of these ingredients:
- Barley
- Chopped cabbage
- Celery
- Cauliflower florets
- Parsnips
- Crushed red pepper
- Finely chopped kale
Vegetable Beef Soup
Servings 6 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1 lb. ground beef ($6.49)
- 1 russet potato (about ¾ lb.) ($0.79)
- 1 28oz. can diced tomatoes ($1.19)
- 1.5 tsp Italian seasoning ($0.15)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 4 cups beef broth ($0.52)
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce ($0.12)
- 12 oz. frozen vegetables (corn, carrots, green beans) ($1.00)
- salt to taste ($0.05)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion and garlic to a soup pot along with the olive oil. Sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent.
- Add the ground beef to the pot and continue to sauté until the ground beef is cooked through. If using a higher fat content ground beef, you can drain the excess fat, if you prefer.
- While the beef is cooking, peel and dice the russet potato into ½-inch cubes.
- Add the cubed potatoes, diced tomatoes (with juices), Italian seasoning, pepper, beef broth, and Worcestershire sauce to the pot. Stir to combine.
- Turn the heat up to medium-high and allow the soup to come up to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low and let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender.
- Add the frozen vegetables to the pot and allow the soup to come back up to a simmer. Simmer the vegetables in the soup for about five minutes.
- Finally, taste the soup and add salt to help the flavors pop. Start with ½ tsp, if desired, and add more until it reaches your desired level.
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Nutrition
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How to Make Vegetable Beef Soup – Step by Step Photos
Dice one yellow onion and mince 2 cloves of garlic. Add the onion and garlic to a soup pot along with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Sauté over medium heat until the onions are soft and translucent.
Add 1 lb. ground beef and continue to sauté until the beef is cooked through. If you’re using a higher fat content ground beef you can drain off the excess fat, if preferred.
While the beef is browning, peel and dice one russet potato (about ¾ lb.) into ½-inch pieces. Add the diced potatoes to the pot with one 28oz. can diced tomatoes (with juices), 1.5 tsp Italian seasoning, ¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper, 4 cups beef broth, and 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce. Stir to combine.
Turn the heat up to medium-high and allow the soup to come up to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low and let it continue to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork-tender.
Add a 12oz. bag of frozen vegetables (corn, carrots, green beans), stir to combine and allow it to come back up to a simmer. Simmer the vegetables in the soup for about five more minutes.
Finally, taste the soup and add salt to your liking. The amount of salt needed will depend on the salt content of the broth you used, but you’ll likely need at least a little to help the flavors pop.
I garnished with a little chopped parsley for color, but it’s not needed for flavor. I do tend to put a little freshly cracked pepper or each bowl for a little extra pop, though!
I’m in Australia and work in grams. I can’t work out if the tomatoes in the recipe are a regular size tin/can or a larger one?
A regular one is about 400grams here.
Hi Rebecca! A 28-ounce can will be almost 800 grams. Here is a link to a calculator that can help you convert measurements: https://www.rapidtables.com/convert/weight/ounce-to-gram.html XOXO -Monti
Thanks so much for getting back to me. We had it tonight – it was delicious!
Almost like a bolognese soup with veggies!
Cheap and easy.! Will definitely be having again :)
This dish was a complete winner with my family. Will be making this again … often :)
Loved this yummy simple recipe! I definitely want to make it again with wild rice instead of potatoes. Thanks Beth!
Delicious and easy! I gave this one a try in the Instant Pot and it turned out great. Sauteed the onions and garlic, then tossed in the beef for browning. Once that was done, I added in everything else except the frozen vegetables and cooked it on manual (high pressure) for 5 minutes. Natural release for 10 minutes, manually released the rest, then added the salt and frozen veg at the end. Love how flexible this recipe is with ingredients, and it was perfect for lunch on a cold, rainy day.
This is a quick, easy and flavorful recipe. I didn’t have ground beef so I used ground turkey. The soup was still very good, although I think next time I will definitely use ground beef. Also, I didn’t have an onion, so I used onion powder. I also think I will season my meat with a little salt and pepper as it’s cooking. The ground turkey I used tasted a little bland to me, even after I added salt at the end. My husband enjoyed this very much and I will definitely make again, but with ground beef and a real onion. Looking forward to round two of this dish.
Big W! So delicious!
Absolutely delicious! I used beyond beef and it turned out great. After sauteeing the onions/garlic and browning the protein, I put those and all the rest of the ingredients (except for the frozen veg) to a slow cooker. Slow cooked on high for about 3 hours, with the veg for another half hour and it was perfect! Will definitely make again!
I have made this before and it is delish! Tonight, I am making it again but instead of ground beef I am using ground turkey (since that is what I have on hand). I have some “ultra-rich” homemade vegetable/chicken broth to use up and I am using that instead of beef broth.
I love this soup recipe! I make a variation of it every few weeks and my kids love it! So easy to do it in the slow cooker on the sauté setting and then cook it for a few hours. Warm for dinner on busy nights! Amazing. :)
Made this soup today as I had most of the ingredients and it helped clear my fridge. Substitutions were easy and my soup looks exactly like the pictures. Very satisfying and flavorful meal.
Made this soup today as I had most of the ingredients and needed to clear my freezer. Easy substitutions. Very satisfying and flavorful meal. A real treat on a cold day.
Excellent and quick to make. I always add a 12oz can of V-8 juice for extra umami.
I’m allergic to fish. What is a good substitute for the worcestershire fish sauce? Maybe soy sauce?
You could add some soy sauce, it will taste different than Worcestershire sauce, but it will still add some depth. You probably won’t need to add as much or any salt at the end if adding soy sauce.
I’m about to try this recipe I’m using stew meat as well as ground beef together going try make a bigger batch if you will.. I see some green peas among other veg in picture(I’m sneaking in a bag of mix veg also w. Peas. Other than that I can’t wait for taste time.. Thank you for recipe..
Wow, this sounds so good! I don’t eat beef – would this be just as good with turkey ground meat and chicken broth substitutions? Anything else to make this as flavorful? Thanks.
If I didn’t eat beef, but otherwise had no compunctious about red meats, lamb would be an excellent substitute.
I don’t think this one would be quite right with turkey meat or chicken broth, but you might like my Minestrone recipe!
Yum! This reminds me of my childhood – my mom would keep a ziploc bag in the freezer and anytime we had leftover veggies from dinner, she would dump them in that bag for an eventual vegetable soup! Can’t wait to try it myself!