Hamburger Soup
A hearty one-pot soup loaded with ground beef, three colors of bell pepper, carrots, and red potatoes in a rich tomato-beef broth. Ready in about 45 minutes.
- 2 1/2 pounds ground chuck
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 14 ounce can whole tomatoes
- 3 cups beef stock or beef broth, plus more as needed
- 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 4 carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal
- 5 red potatoes, cut into chunks
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, more to taste
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon ground oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, more to taste
- Brown the ground chuck with the diced onion, celery, and garlic in a large pot over medium-high heat, breaking the meat apart as it cooks. Once it's fully browned, remove the pot from the heat and carefully drain off as much fat as you can, discarding it once it's cooled.
- Return the pot to the heat and add the whole tomatoes, beef stock, bell peppers, carrots, red potatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and the remaining spices. Stir everything together to combine, then bring the pot to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce the heat, cover the pot, and let the soup simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender but not falling apart — check a piece with a fork toward the end to gauge doneness without overcooking them.
- Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning as needed, adding more salt, pepper, or cayenne to your preference before serving.
Chef's Note: Draining the fat after browning the beef makes a real difference here — with this much ground chuck in the pot, skipping that step would leave the finished soup greasy rather than rich, since there's already plenty of body coming from the potatoes and vegetables. This is a genuinely forgiving recipe for using up whatever vegetables you have on hand; the three colors of bell pepper are mostly for visual variety; feel free to swap in whatever peppers or extra vegetables you've got in the fridge.
Because this makes a big batch, it's an easy one to freeze in portions for later — just note that potatoes can turn a little grainy after freezing and thawing, so if you're planning to freeze a portion, it's worth adding the potatoes to that portion fresh when reheating rather than freezing them in the soup itself. Otherwise, leftovers keep well in the fridge for several days and often taste even better the next day.
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