Hamburger Stew
This hearty, healthy soup features savory ground beef, loads of aromatic vegetables, and an herby, tomato-based broth. It’s gluten-free, made in one pot, ready in minutes, and impossible to stop eating.
I love my version of hamburger soup and I’m confident you will too. Most recipes for hamburger soup call for potatoes and while I’m a huge fan of the tuber, I didn’t want them in this soup. I don’t relish how potatoes get mealy or mushy if you wait too long to serve the soup. Plus, I LOVE my addition of cauliflower instead.
Since I used cauliflower instead of potatoes, this soup is freezer-friendly. That means you can make this soup in advance and freeze it, or double the batch and freeze extras, or freeze leftovers without worrying about the vegetables getting grainy or mushy when they thaw.
This soup is gluten-free because I skipped the traditional flour thickener. Most hamburger soup recipes call for coating the beef with flour before adding the broth – which helps thicken the broth and create a more gravy-like consistency. I found that you don’t need the flour at all. This soup is thick and rich and completely satisfying.
Add any veggies you want to this soup. I added onions, carrots, celery, peas, and cauliflower. You can toss in any fresh and/or frozen vegetable you have handy in addition to, or in place of the ones I used here. Great additions/substitutions would be green beans, zucchini, broccoli, corn, bell peppers, and lima beans.
What should you serve with this hamburger soup? Since this soup is crammed with protein and vegetables, you need little else. I served a warm, buttered baguette on the side and it was a complete a fabulous meal.
Hamburger Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup chopped carrots, regular or baby carrots
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped onion, any color
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cups beef broth
- 6- ounce can tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cups fresh or frozen cauliflower florets, kept frozen until ready to use
- 1/2 cup frozen peas, kept frozen until ready to use
Equipment
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan or stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery, and onion and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until soft.
- Add the beef and cook until browned, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Add the garlic, Italian seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and stir to coat. Cook for 1 minute, until the herbs are fragrant.
- Stir in the tomato paste until incorporated. Add the broth and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil. Stir in the cauliflower.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until the cauliflower is soft. Add the peas and cook for 1 minute to heat through. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.