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Soup has long been hailed as a staple comfort food, offering warmth, nourishment, and a sense of home in every spoonful. I like to prep for busy weeknights, and while more common during cold weather, a big pot of soup effortlessly brings families together around the dinner table year-round.
This bacon cheeseburger soup recipe soup was a hit in cooking class. Let’s delve into what makes this soup such a beloved option, for the entire family.
Why Soup is a Great Meal
Soup packs a lot of nutrients into one bowl. It’s a great way to get more vegetables into our kids and my experience has been that kids really like the soups we make in class. We included carrots, celery, potatoes, and a yellow onion to make this a very hearty soup recipe. You can use russet potatoes, red potatoes, or even sweet potatoes (which is what I used in the video).
Is Dairy Needed to Make A Creamy Soup?
There are many ways to make a creamy soup without dairy. In cooking class the kids learn options like, coconut milk, cashew cream, and even blending up chickpeas to make a soup “creamy” without the use of dairy.
This recipe is dairy-free, so we omitted the sources of dairy. You will find recipes for this particular soup that use many forms of dairy, like sour cream, cream cheese or heavy cream, or even velveeta cheese. Interestingly, I have found that using nutritional yeast gives it enough cheesy flavor, without having to add dairy.
I have made it with and without coconut milk, and have found I like both ways, but my family prefers it without the coconut milk, which is how I recorded the video.
Why Dairy-Free
Many people following a keto diet advocate for dairy and while many can have dairy, it is my experience that many cannot. The struggle that my clients have faced is they don’t know how to swap out ingredients which is why I focus on teaching options.
Sure, you can make a keto cheeseburger soup and use dairy in place of the nutritional yeast in my recipe. You can keep it a low carb soup recipe by omitting the potatoes and carrots. And you can make it dairy-free by using nutritional yeast. Knowing these options is what I strive to teach.
Americans have become obsession, maybe even addicted, to cheese. We love our cheesy casseroles and cheesy soup. We put cheese on everything. In the Processed Food Addiction Book the research shows that cheese (pasteurized and processed) activates the morphine pathway in the brain which is why we call it a “comfort food.”
Maybe we shouldn’t be activating the morphine pathway in our brains so often. So this easy bacon cheeseburger soup is a great recipe to try out nutritional yeast and ditch the sharp cheddar cheese.
A Good Cheeseburger in Soup Form
So, what is it about bacon cheeseburger soup that appeals to kids? For starters, it’s a flavorful soup. Kids are drawn to the familiar taste of bacon, ground chuck, and dill pickles which are all prominent ingredients in this soup. The addition of potatoes adds a comforting and familiar texture, reminiscent of classic comfort foods. Plus, the playful twist on a beloved burger favorite makes it exciting and enticing for young taste buds.
Moreover, bacon cheeseburger soup offers a fun and interactive eating experience. Kids can customize their bowls with their favorite toppings, whether it’s an extra dollop of ketchup, mustard, pickle relish, or chopped bacon on top. This element of personalization empowers kids to make their meal their own, fostering a sense of independence and creativity in the kitchen.
Let’s Address the Elephant (or the Animals) in the Room
My recipes are clean-eating, easy recipes. With a big movement towards plant-based, some would argue that my recipes including lean ground beef, or crispy bacon, are not clean. After working personally with thousands of clients I can tell you that there is no one-size-fits-all diet. What I have found is that cutting out processed food and cooking from scratch is biggest contributor to our health.
Sourcing clean animal protein, humanely raised and processed, without preservatives like BHA and BHT will also contribute to clean eating. The thick cut bacon I used was “uncured,” therefore nitrite and nitrate free. We have been led to believe that bacon grease is bad for us, yet, my grandparents used lard. If you learn anything here, I hope it is that you have options. This is a paleo-friendly, dairy-free, easy cheeseburger soup recipe.
Printable Recipe Card
As shown in the video, this version is dairy-free and not creamy. I teach the kids “learn how to make something, then make it your own.”
Freedom Kitchen teaches easy ways to make our favorite recipes healthier. This comforting soup could be made with ground chicken or ground turkey next time, or you could omit the ground meat and make this more of a vegetable soup.
Bacon Cheeseburger Soup
Equipment
- Large Stock Pot
Ingredients
- 6-12 Bacon slices
- 1 Pound ground beef
- 1 Onion
- 2 Carrots
- 2 Stalks celery
- 2 Potatoes, white or sweet
- ¼ c Pickle juice
- 3 T Dijon or grainy mustard
- 4 c Beef broth, chicken broth, or veggie broth
- ½ c Nutritional yeast
- 1 can Tomato paste, 3.5 oz can
- ½ cup Pickles, diced
- 1 can Full fat coconut milk, optional, to make it creamy
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, cut your bacon into pieces and brown.
- Use the bacon fat and cook ground beef. (It took 22 minutes for the bacon and beef to brown. During that time you can peel and chop your vegetables.)
- Add in tomato paste and sauté for three minutes.
- Add onion, carrots, celery, and sweet potato and sauté for 3-5 minutes.
- Add pickle juice, mustard, nutritional yeast and broth. Adding coconut milk is optional.
- Simmer for 30-60 minutes until all the veggies are soft.
- Serve, if desired, with pickles, fresh onion, mustard, pickle relish, green onion, or chopped bacon.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
There’s just something inherently comforting about a warm bowl of soup. It warms you up from the inside out and soothes both body and soul. Soup has a way of evoking memories of home-cooked meals, family gatherings, and cherished moments shared with loved ones. I hope this becomes a favorite soup for your family.
