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Easy Vegetable-Beef Soup

Easy Vegetable-Beef Soup

Name: Easy Vegetable-Beef Soup
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; 1 lb ground beef (at least 80% lean); 1 cup chopped onions; 5 cloves garlic, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning; 1/2 teaspoon pepper; 3 cups Progresso™ beef-flavored broth (from 32-oz carton); 1 bag (16 oz) frozen mixed vegetables; 1 can (14.5 oz) Muir Glen™ organic diced tomatoes, undrained; 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce

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By Betty Crocker Kitchens

Updated Oct 9, 2024

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Nothing says “I’m home” like walking in the door to the aroma of homecooked soup! Our vegetable beef soup recipe is so satisfying, it tastes like it’s been simmering away all day, but it’s easy enough to make even on weeknights. Each hearty spoonful is chock full of beef and veggies in a savory broth, to warm you from the inside out. It’s a comforting way to end a chilly day. This one-pot soup is also designed for easy clean up—it gets you out of the kitchen with very few dishes to wash.

Soup technically can be any combination of bite-size pieces of veggies, meat, poultry, or fish cooked in a liquid. Soups can be thick like chowders, thin like chicken noodle soup, smooth like a bisque or chunky like this veggie-loaded soup. Based on their heartiness and the amount served, soups can be served as a first course or the meal itself, where they are commonly paired with a sandwich, salad, and/or bread. Serve soup with the bigger (soup) spoons that came with your silverware set—they can hold some of each of the ingredients in every spoonful.

How to Make Vegetable Beef Soup

Here’s how to make vegetable beef soup that’s so easy, even a new cook will love the tasty results. Follow the recipe for all the specific instructions:

Cook the Ground Beef and Aromatic Veggies

Heat the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven to cook the beef, onions, and garlic in. We call for lean ground beef, so you get a rich beef flavor without all the grease that comes with ground beef containing more fat. Using the oil ensures that while the beef browns and the onions and garlic soften, none of them will stick to the sides or bottom of your Dutch oven. Drain the mixture by dumping it into a heatproof colander to remove any remaining beef juices that could make the soup taste greasy.

Add the Remaining Ingredients

Dried Italian seasoning and salt are added into the pot. They provide flavor to the soup when simmered together with the other ingredients. Now comes the fun part. Open the beef broth, your package of frozen mixed veggies, the canned tomatoes, and tomato sauce and dump them into the pot. Stir to mix everything well.

Simmer and Serve

Heat the easy vegetable beef soup recipe ingredients to a boil, then reduce your heat. Cover and simmer to allow the flavors to mingle and to cook the veggies. That’s it—the soup is ready to ladle into bowls and enjoy.

Adding Additional Flavor to the Soup

This vegetable beef soup has a great savory flavor the whole family will love. But you can change it up for a brand-new flavor or to use what you have on hand. Feel free to try any of these delicious ideas:

Swap the Ground Beef: Add some spicy heat by using a pound of bulk hot or sweet Italian or chorizo sausage for the ground beef.

Caramelize the Onions: Rather than cooking the onions with the ground beef and garlic, caramelize the onions first and add them with the other ingredients in step 2. This will add a rich, sweet, buttery flavor to the soup.

Add Some Zing: Perk up the flavor with a few dashes of red pepper sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or Dijon mustard. Or add a little heat with a tiny pinch of red pepper flakes, ground red pepper (cayenne), or a can of chopped green chiles with the remaining ingredients in step 3.

Change Up the Seasonings: Rather than use Italian seasoning, try a mixture of equal parts dried marjoram and thyme leaves with pepper. For a smoky flavor add a little smoked paprika or cumin. Or make a curry-flavored soup by substituting curry powder instead.

Make It Ahead: Yes, you read it correctly. Make the soup the day ahead and when you reheat it, the soup will actually have a more delicious flavor. See the storing and reheating leftovers section below for just how to do it.

Sides for Vegetable Beef Soup

Nothing tastes better with a bowl full of steaming-hot soup like warm bread from the oven or a crunchy salad. Try any one of these delectable sides, or if you’ve got a family that’s ravenous, serve one of each:

Warm from the Oven Breads

Easy Cornbread can be popped in the oven to bake while the soup simmers. Serve it with honey butter, for the most comforting meal, ever.

Dinner Rolls are easy to pop into your bread machine earlier in the day, to bake while the soup simmers, and dinner prep will be a breeze.

Cheese Garlic Biscuits have a rich cheesy flavor that when served next to this beef soup recipe makes it a meal to remember.

Crisp and Crunchy Salads

Caesar Salad is a classic family favorite that tastes amazing paired with this beef and vegetable soup.

Sweet-Sour Green Salad with mandarin oranges, sugared almonds, and a sweet-sour dressing is a beautiful contrast of textures and flavors to our vegetable beef soup.

Apple Slaw is ready in minutes. It gets it’s crunch from both coleslaw mix and Granny Smith apples and is tossed in a cider vinegar vinaigrette, for a flavorful twist on regular coleslaw.

Storing and Reheating Leftovers

If you find yourself with leftovers—lucky you! This soup can easily be stored and reheated to enjoy another day. You can also make this soup the day before you plan to serve it. Then the flavors get a chance to hang out even longer, making the soup even more flavorful. Ladle any leftover hot soup into individual serving-size food storage (or freezer storage containers, if you’re going to freeze it); leaving them uncovered to allow the soup to cool down quickly and prevent the veggies from getting overly soft.

To store it in the refrigerator, cover and refrigerate cooled soup up to 4 days. To reheat, transfer the soup to a microwavable bowl. Cover and microwave on medium-high (70%) 2 to 3 minutes, or until the soup is simmering and hot throughout. Getting the soup hot enough is an important food safety step when reheating foods containing meat.

For freezer storage, cover and store in the freezer up to 3 months. To reheat, thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Or move the soup to a microwavable bowl. Cover and microwave on medium-low (50%) 2 or 3 minutes, breaking up the frozen soup occasionally with a spoon. Then reheat as directed for refrigerated soup (it may take less time, since it could be partially heated already).

More Delicious Soup Recipes

A hot bowl of soup is so comforting after a hard day. It’s also a great hot lunch or even a snack. What a delicious way to boost your veggie intake! Soups are easy to put together, and most soups can be made ahead and reheated, for a terrific solution for getting dinner on the table without a lot of last-minute work.

Try any of these other top-rated, scrumptious recipes, next time you’re looking for a simple, savory meal idea:

Tuscan Sausage Soup combines Italian sausage with fresh veggies, white cannellini beans, and pasta in a rich tomato-based broth.

Slow-Cooker Creamy Tomato and Tortellini Soup is like upgraded tomato soup that cooks itself. Tortellini, basil pesto, and shredded Parm give this quick-to-fix soup its amazing flavor.

Chicken Noodle Soup will soothe your soul with its old-fashioned flavor.

Our Top-Rated Chili while technically not soup, will satisfy hungry appetites while warming bellies, just like soup does, but in a heartier, spicier way.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Use Fresh Vegetables in this Recipe?

Fresh veggies would be delicious in this recipe. The tricky part is getting the timing right, so the veggies are cooked at the same time the soup has simmered long enough to blend the flavors. That’s the beauty of using a bag of mixed veggies—they all get done at the same time—and it’s long enough for the flavors to blend. Because different fresh veggies cook at different rates, the easiest way to add them without overcooking them is to add just one type.

To use fresh veggies, cut them into bite-size pieces. Using the cooking times below, subtract the cook time from the 20 minutes it takes to simmer the soup in step 3. The resulting number you get is how many minutes you’ll need to simmer the soup before adding the veggies:

Asparagus: 6 to 8 minutes
Bell Peppers: 4 to 6 minutes
Broccoli: 4 to 6 minutes
Carrots: 7 to 10 minutes
Cauliflower: 5 to 7 minutes
Potatoes: 15 to 20 minutes
Sweet Peas: 5 to 10 minutes
Sweet Potatoes: 10 to 15 minutes

Can I Make This Recipe in a Slow Cooker?

Yes—but you’ll need to thaw the frozen veggies before adding them to the slow cooker. Prepare the soup as directed in step 1. In a 4-to 6- quart slow cooker, mix the ground beef mixture with the remaining ingredients. Cover and cook on Low heat setting 6 to 8 hours or on High heat setting, 3 to 4 hours. About 20 minutes before serving, stir in the thawed vegetables. Increase the heat setting to High (if you cooked it on Low to this point); cover and cook 15 to 20 minutes longer or until the vegetables are crisp-tender.

What Other Cuts of Beef Can I Use?

For the meat and veggies to all cook to their own perfect textures, we suggest you stick with other ground meat, such as ground chicken, turkey, pork, or bulk sausage, in place of the ground beef. You could also substitute bite-size pieces of cooked chicken or a pork chop. Or try sliced precooked or smoked sausages such as chicken, bratwurst, or andouille for the ground beef. For any of these meats, cook the onions and garlic in the oil about 3 minutes, or until softened. Add the onion mixture and the cut-up cooked, precooked, or smoked meat with the remaining ingredients in step 2.