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!
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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!
This was so good – I’ll definitely be making it regularly this fall and winter. I was really surprised how much I like the ground beef in the soup, I can’t say that’s ever appealed to me, but it is lovely and an easier/cheaper option than just beef. My husband loved this too and just asked if I’d try making it with shredded chicken for supper tonight! Thank you, Budget Bytes. Another winner.
This soup was excellent and I’d definitely make it again. I didn’t have any canned tomatoes (oops) and it was still very tasty without it. I used the remnants of the end of a ketchup for some tomato-y taste. For part of the beef stock, I used leftover juices from our beef roast the other night. Husband and I both loved it and I will definitely make this again in the future.
It blows my mind that I have never made a single Budget Bytes recipe that wasn’t a hit! This was super easy and forgiving of my subbing tomato sauce for canned tomatoes and onion soup mix and water for beef broth. I used fresh potato, carrot and turnip and tossed in a can of corn and a can of green peas at the end. Thank you!
Made this for supper tonight. I knew I would have limited cooking time today, so I precooked some barley and browned the ground beef with the onions and garlic last night. It was delicious. Easy to make too. I like how chunky the soup was too.
We call this recipe hamburger soup. It is almost identical to one I make. It is also very forgiving. I usually use a bag of frozen soup vegetables but you can sub in just about anything you have on hand. If I don’t have a potato on hand I throw in a can of drained and rinsed kidney beans. That lone zucchini in your fridge – yep it can go in there too. Thank you for posting it.
I made a veggie beef soup in my crock pot using leftover frozen tough beef fajita meat slices, i added a can of undrained corn, sev shots of worchesertire (?) sauce, squirt of sambal, 1/2 cup of hot chili picante sauce, 2 cups baby carrots, 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/3 large can of tomato puree, handful of sliced cherry tomatoes, 4 tblspns cajun seasoning, 2 cups fresh frozen green beans, 1/3 cup chopped celery, 1 small diced jalapeno pepper, 1/2 cup of dry black beans, I also used 6 cups of homemade beef broth I made the night before in my crock pot (amazing), plus all of the other ingredients u listed. I think this was the BEST ever beef veggie soup I have made – it was AMAZING!! We’re trying to eat out less and eat healthier. We have a lot of projects going on right now…I also put 7 individual containers of this soup in the freezer for future eats.
Looks good,my sister’s are planning to come visit soon,it would be a good time
I substituted the potatoes with barley and ditalini noodles. It mixed in well with the stewed tomatoes and Italian seasonings and ground beef. We loved it!
I’m obsessed with this recipe. We did add some fresh carrot and celery in the beginning, a little chili flake while cooking, and some lemon juice just before serving. But I could happily eat this weekly and not get sick of it, which is rare for me. Thank you so much! It’s going in regular rotation.
Could you use ground turkey in this instead of ground beef?
That’s fine!
Love this flavorful easy recipe 😋!
Manwich bold flavor has the built-in richness and thickness of tomatoes and other veggies plus the seasoning in it adds quite nicely to everything and boosts up the nutrition and saves on adding alot of your own rather pricey herbs and spices.
My 12 year old loves this soup! I am making it weekly now, and it’s very easy. Sometimes I use ground turkey instead of beef.
Soup was ok but thinner than what I was hoping for and the flavor was a little bland. Not a bad freezer meal though.
In lieu of beef broth I have used V8 juice and the results were tasty wasty!
That’s what my grandma would use and she always made the best soup ever. Was already planning to substitute V8