I made this exactly as stated the first time and found it a bit bland. The second time I added two cloves of garlic, used 28 oz. diced tomatoes and 14 oz. tomato sauce, 4 c. beef broth, 1 c. mushrooms and 1 c. peas and it made a huge difference - everything else was the same. I have also tried this once with ground bison and it was fantastic!!!
This is an excellent basic soup. After reading the reviews I decided to make it heartier with a little more flavor. I left out the celery, added 14 ounce can of kidney beans, instead of bouillon cubes use 5T beef bouillon granules, 2 - 14ounce cans of Italian style stewed tomatoes, 1t black pepper, 1 1/2t Italian seasoning, and 1/4c ketchup. Wonderful flavor...a very hearty meal when combined with Parmesan Herb bread from this site!
YUM! This was so good and I'm not a huge soup fan. I replaced the bouillon and water with three cans of low sodium beef broth and added a cup of ditalini pasta towards the end. Great change of pace from boring vegetable soup!
This is a great basic recipe that lets you play around with the ingredients a bit. I made some adjustments that my family absolutely loved - even my very fussy 3 yr old. I omitted the ketchup and basil as I'm not really fond of basil combined with beef. I instead added a dash of worchestershire sauce 1 bay leaf 1 tbsp dried oregano plus some about 2 tbsps chopped fresh parsely. Additionally for flavor I included 2 finely diced garlic cloves and a 1/2 cup of barley. I think the barley really makes this soup really hearty and tasty not to mention nutritious! You just add the barley in at the beginning with all the other ingredients and you're ready for a great cozy winter meal!
What's really nice about Hamburger Soup is that you can subtract or add any ingredient that you wish. I use cubed potato and add the liquid from the canned veggies use low-salt beef broth make a bouquet garnii with bay leaf oregano rosemary dill weed(use in place of salt) and whatever else you desire. Add heat or not and it still will come out delicious and satisfying. Make the soup your own.
This is really great but I was out of basil and subbed marjoram and I actually think it may be better this way. 1 tsp of salt is too much though once you figure in the salt from the broth and the tomato sauce. I did 1/2 tsp and it was fine. I also added 1 tsp of black pepper and three small cloves of garlic. I was out of celery so a tbsp. of celery flakes was fine. To make up for the lack of veggie chunks I did a full 16 oz of shoepeg corn. I will definitely make this again.
Oh my! This is so good! Quite possibly the BEST vegatable soup I've ever had. All did different was add some ground pepper. Served this with French Bread Rolls To Die For from this site.
I was looking for my Grandma's traditional soup, and this is it! It's so easy and you can let it go in a crockpot all day if you feel like it. Highly recommended.
Most Excellent recipe. I've made this a few times and always always make it to a T, but this last time. I did one change not meaning to all by accident. Hubby brought home tomato sauce and diced tomatoes that were seasoned with garlic, oregano and basil. And was worried that I'd over power it with the added dried basil in the recipe, but as a result...it didn't. Hubby said it was by far the best batch of Hamburger Soup yet. So I'm shining my apple on my shoulder so to speak and going to keep doing it with the seasoned tomatoes and sauce....yumm-O. Thanks very much!
I don't know how I can make my lean ground beef not dry when I cook this. Why is it dry anyway? It's surrounding by broth?
