If you’re having a busy day or week, then Easy Low Carb Cheeseburger Soup will revive your soul with just one pot, 30 minutes and maybe a little bacon. It’s low-carb food heaven….who needs a real cheeseburger when you can have Cheeseburger Soup?
Why low-carbers L.O.V.E. cheeseburger soup
Get ready to have a sublime experience when you make this Easy Low Carb Cheeseburger Soup.
Cheeseburger soup is loaded with all your keto favorites:
- bacon
- cream cheese
- cheddar cheese
- butter
- heavy whipping cream
What more could you want in a low carb comfort meal? Cook this one up tonight and thank me later!
How to make easy cheeseburger soup
Fry up your bacon in a dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pan.
Set it aside, add in the butter and cook the ground beef. Of course, here you could use some of the bacon grease already in the pan and skip the butter.
While the ground beef is cooking, continue to stir it and break up the chunks of meat. Ensure that the meat browns evenly.
Next, stir in the cream cheese, tomato paste, yellow mustard, spices and salt.
Pour in the beef broth or stock and cream and increase the heat to bring the pot to a nice simmer.
As the soup starts to bubble and simmer, stir in the cheese. Note here that this recipe works best if you grate the cheese from a block instead of using pre-grated cheese. Pre-shredded cheese doesn’t melt quite as smoothly due to the anti-caking powder and can become lumpy when melted.
Allow the soup to simmer for 5-7 minutes when it will be fully heated and have a creamy, luscious texture.
Add the bacon back into the soup and let rest for at least 5 minutes as this will allow the Cheeseburger Soup to thicken.
As the soup is keto-friendly and gluten-free, we have avoided using any flours or starches that would typically be used to thicken the soup. The brief rest time (if you can wait!) will allow the cheeses to thicken the soup.
Sprinkle some chopped pickles over the top if desired.
Cook’s Tips
- Reduce calorie content? Bacon can be reduced to 2 slices and butter can be omitted or reduced
- Leftover soup? Cheeseburger soup can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days or frozen for 3 months in an airtight container
- For best results, shred cheese from a block rather than using pre-shredded cheese. Pre-shredded cheese doesn’t melt quite as smoothly due to the anti-caking powder and can become lumpy.
- Too salty? Use unsalted butter, low-sodium broth and do not add salt or pepper. Serve with diced pickles.
- Pickle lover? Serve some chopped pickles over the top
- Thicken the soup by cooling for 5 minutes before serving will allow the cheeses to thicken the soup. For a thinner soup add more broth.
- For a creamier texture, add an additional 1/4 cup cream
- Leftover bacon grease? Store for up to one month in the refrigerator
- Use leftover bacon grease, as a substitute for cooking oil to cook almost anything, like this easy recipe for Low-Carb Burgers with Chipotle Mayo.
Low Carb Cheeseburger Soup has 4g of net carbs and is guaranteed to help you forget all your worries (at least for one night).
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Easy Low Carb Cheeseburger Soup
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon thick cut
- 2 tbsp butter unsalted
- 1 lb ground beef
- 4 oz cream cheese softened to room temperature
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp mustard (yellow)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- 0-1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 cup beef broth or beef stock
- 6 oz cheddar cheese shredded
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Chop bacon into small pieces
- Heat dutch oven or other heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat
- Add bacon and cook, stirring occasionally until browned and crispy, about 5-8 minutes
- Remove bacon to paper towel lined plate to drain and spoon out any grease from pan and save for another use (see post above for tips on how to use bacon grease)
- Melt butter in pan and add ground beef
- Cook, breaking up meat while it browns until fully cooked
- Stir in cream cheese, tomato paste, mustard, garlic powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper until smooth
- Pour in beef broth and cream and bring to a low simmer
- Stir in cheese and let simmer 5-7 minutes until fully heated and melted smooth
- Add bacon back into pan and let cool for 5-10 minutes to thicken before serving
Video
Notes
- Reduce calorie content? Bacon can be reduced to 2 slices and butter can be omitted or reduced
- Leftover soup? Cheeseburger soup can be frozen for 3 months in an airtight container.
- For best results, shred cheese from a block rather than using pre-shredded cheese. Pre-shredded cheese doesn't melt quite as smoothly due to the anti-caking powder and can become lumpy.
- Pickle lover? Serve some chopped pickles over the top
- Thicken the soup by cooling for 5 minutes before serving will allow the cheeses to thicken the soup. For a thinner soup add more broth.
- For a creamier texture, add an additional 1/4 cup cream
- Leftover bacon grease? Store for up to one month in the refrigerator
★ Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating below!
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Low-Carb Zucchini Fries with Spicy Avocado Dipping Sauce
I have never ever left a comment on a recipe anywhere, but I had to on this one!
I started keto 3 weeks ago…our church soup lunch was coming up and I signed up to make one of the soups cuz I wanted to make sure there is something for me to eat as well, but at the same time is delicious so that others can enjoy it too! And wow, what a finger licking soup this was!
I doubled the spices as other suggested and sautéed an onion before browning the beef…I had the bacon in a separate bowl so that people can add it to their bowl as they serve it, I also had chopped up gherkins in another bowl for people to add if they wish…I omitted the cream as I thought there was no need for it…it was soooo delicious! The next time when I make it only for my family, I’ll add some spinach to the soup…there really is no need to add it from the flavour point of view, but I thought it might be nice to have some kind of veggie in there! Thank you so much! I can’t recommend it enough! It really tastes like a cheeseburger😀
Thanks for such a lovely comment and sharing how you’ve tweaked the recipe to suit sharing with others. I would never have thought of taking soup to a group event but love it!!! Super happy that you enjoyed our cheeseburger soup recipe and plan to make it again…
Thank you for a delicious new soup recipe! I just received some silicon 1-cup soup containers and have been stocking up on single portions of soup for the freezer. The only things different I did was I used sugar free ketchup because I didn’t have tomato paste, and also added a bag of frozen cauliflower to get my veggies in❤️
So glad you enjoyed our Cheeseburger Soup and made it your own. Love your idea to freeze in single portions too – super efficient and handy!
This is a wonderful, easy and delicious recipe. I typically add 2 additional cups of broth and another 1/2 cup of cream, extra amounts of the spices, plus onion powder, parsley and dill weed to it. My family raves about it every time I make it.
Thanks for sharing your version of the recipe! It sounds next level!!!
I made this tonight after a long day at work. It was absolutely incredible! So flavorful, quick and easy. My family loved it too. Thank you so much for sharing.
I’m so glad you loved it and your family too, Rhonda! It’s one of our family favorites also…
LOVE this! Added some diced onions and jalapeño’s as a garnish.
Glad you loved it. Jalapeños are a favorite of mine too!!
love this recipe
Glad you loved it, Linda!
DELICIOUS! Beer one gobbled it up. Going to try spicy sausage next .
So so glad that you enjoyed the soup! Spicy sausage will be great 😊
Can this soup be frzen?
Yes it sure can be frozen!
Sorry if this been asked, but can you make this in the crockpot?
Hi Becky, I haven’t tried it myself but I don’t see any reason why it couldn’t be cooked in the crockpot!
I am totally making this tomorrow for dinner! I am struggling to get back on Keto at the moment and soups are the way forward – this is just perfect, thank you! Sim x
I hope you love it!
Absolutely delicious.
Glad I doubled the batch to freeze some.
This is a go too for me. Completely satisfying. Thank you!
Ah… wonderful!! Double batches are the best. I love having something to pull out of the freezer for an easy meal too 👍🏼👍🏼
Love it thank you for the recipe. Please make it to where we can import them to a carb manager app.
Glad you liked the recipe! I’m afraid we can’t do anything re carb manager from our end.
Adding chopped up keto-friendly hot dogs for chili dog soup!
What a brilliant idea.. I hadn’t thought of that!
Yum yum! I didn’t have any tomato paste so I added 2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce and double all the other spices. I also used 2 tablespoons of brown mustard instead of regular mustard. It is so delicious!
I’m so happy that you liked the recipe and were able to make some good substitutions! I find it is quite a flexible recipe 👍🏼
Was I supposed to drain the ground beef? It doesn’t say to so I didn’t and my soup is very oily and looks gross. It tasted good but next time I’ll drain the fat from the ground beef.
Sorry to hear that! It may also be related to how lean the beef used is. Best to drain the fat as you said, next time so it will not appear oily.
Made this twice already! So delicious!! Thank you!!
That’s fantastic! I’m so glad it was a success for you 😀
I’m so excited to try this! I’m making it tonight.
I hope you love it! 😀
I know this is such a dumb question but you drain the grease from the hamburger after you’re done cooking it right?
Yes that is correct!
I had the same question about the grease . Why put in butter if we are draining ?
It’s really just about the taste of the soup. I drain it so the flavor is less bacony but you could use the bacon grease instead of the butter if you prefer!
NEVER. That’s the flavor! 😁
True … you can go either way 😀
I take back my previous comment, I didn’t drain the grease, I skimmed a bit off the top before adding cheese but even with the grease after you add the cheese it all blends together and is amazing.
I’m so glad it worked out well even without draining! It’s quite a flexible recipe 😊
I’m wondering, I have keto noodles, if there is enough broth, or if I add less beef, could I add noodles (maybe pre cooked?) how that might work. Could I end up with my childhood favorite hamburger helper style if not soup? I would be okay with that. Any thoughts?
For sure…give it a go. You could prepare the keto noodles are per the instructions and add them in when you serve the soup. I think it would be great, though I haven’t actually tried this (yet!)
Omg….this is the best and is so very filling!! I followed the instructions, but only doubled the spices as one reviewer suggested. You will not be disappointed at all. Thanks so much for this recipe!
I’m so glad it worked out well for you. It is very filling and certainly makes a good main course for a soup!
This is the best soup I’ve ever had!
That’s high praise!! Thank you so much …
just made this after going on low carb diet,wonderful soup ,i will be making this regularly.
thank you abbie
Hey Cliff, I’m so glad the soup worked out well for you!! Hopefully it well help you stay on track with low-carb. Best of luck!
This is one of my new favorite keto recipes and my boyfriend loves it too! This is my second time making it and I forgot to pick up plain cream cheese at the store this week. I ended up using the chive and onion cream cheese I had on hand and it was delicious with that! If you like onions on your burgers I definitely recommend making the swap. Thanks for a great recipe!
Brilliant! I love the chive and onion cream cheese swap. That would’ve taken it to the next level for sure! Sometimes the best finds happen accidentally…glad you and your boyfriend loved the recipe 🙂
This soup was so easy and soooooo good!!! It will definitely be added to our favorites. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for commenting Lori and glad you found the recipe so easy to make…we aim to please!!!
WOW. I am going to be making this regularly. There’s nothing that tempts me more on the Keto diet than a greasy burger, and this tastes EXACTLY like a bacon cheeseburger.
Only thing I changed was adding 2 extra cups of water along with the broth. I might drain a little of the grease after browning the beef, too, but I did use 73% lean so maybe wouldn’t need to if I had used 80%.
Hey Deanna, I love hearing that this recipe satisfied your cravings for bacon cheeseburger!! Adding some water would definitely help to make it less thick (and last longer!). I hope you keep making it 🙂
It was delicious. I will make sure I use low sodium broth next time. And no added salt. I use Wright brand bacon and it is on the salty side. We had no leftovers to freeze.
It can be a bit on the salty side so using low sodium broth is definitely a great idea. I’m so happy that you enjoyed the soup and that there was nothing leftover 👍🏼. Dang !
I’m on the hunt for a great keto recipe. My dad and step mom are on keto and I was going to suprise them with a meal they wont have to cook. After reading the comments I’d say this is the winner! I hope they like it!
Fingers crossed that they will love it! Let us know how it goes 😀
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Glad you liked the recipe! It will be fine in an airtight container, in the fridge for 2-3 days. 🙂
Do you not drain the grease from the ground beef after you brown it?
Yes, you absolutely can do that but you don’t need to. I don’t usually bother. It may depend on the ground meat you use as it can really vary.
This looks so good! It seems like ones kids would like to eat too!
Yes you’re right! It’s really popular with the kids. I can’t promise they’ll all like it but it’s usually a winner 😋
Have you tried freezing this soup? I’d like to make a double batch and have extras on hand in the freezer if this doesn’t compromise the soup.
Yes, Angie I have and it was perfectly fine. I must admit that I wasn’t sure how well it would freeze because of the bacon but it was great. I would be fine for up to 3 months in an airtight container!!
Unbelievable. This is so good. I used shredded Velveeta cheddar and original . Added fresh broccoli with the cheese. Absolutely wonderful
I’m so glad you liked our low-carb cheeseburger soup! Love the addition of the broccoli too…it’s a great idea to boost the green veggies.
Delicious! Added some chile paste for umami flavor. So good and easy to make! Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe!
Chili paste – what a great idea! That would really take Cheeseburger Soup to the next level – love it !!!
Delicious soup. I omitted the mustard per personal taste. I did though add a package of riced cauliflower/broccoli just to make it filling enough for a meal at lunch time. This is really yummy.
I love that idea – adding cauliflower rice and broccoli is a brilliant addition. Great to get some veggies in. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Just made it, very delicious. Of course I modify it as I make it. Less salt, more garlic, more cheese, but more spice.
But I am also the kind of cook who smells the herbs and spices and add them if I think they would go good. I use a recipe as a basis.
I love this approach, Larry! You gotta make it your own 🙂
I’m chuckling about those who thought this was too salty because I added twice that much and then still added more at the table. I’ll admit I like my food a little salty, but when living a keto WOL, salt is very important. Anyway, we loved the recipe! I added turmeric, onion powder, and used mozzarella cheese (had that on hand) and also about a tsp of xanthan gum to thicken it up. This is a great base to add all kinds of things! Thank you!
You’ve made my day, Colleen! A few people find it too salty so I guess it shows the wide range of tastes amongst us. I’m thrilled that you like it and love your additions, especially the xantham gum to thicken the soup. 🙂
Hi! Stuck in the house today because I am in Chicago and I think you know what it’s like here today….-27 wind chill -50 so good day to experiment! Just started following low carbs and this fit the bill. Next time I will lighten up on the salt! Thank you for giving me a delicious meal!
I hear you Beverly!! Good to hear our cheeseburger soup is warming you up in chilly Chicago. You might also like our Chicken Taco Soup. Hope things thaw out there soon 🙂
This soup is amazing! I’ve been missing my vegetable beef soup recipe from my Mom, loaded with potatoes and corn, but this is my new favorite since going to the Keto way of eating. Thank you!
I’m so happy that you found a hearty keto soup recipe to replace your Mom’s recipe!! I’m sure you’ll find lots more keto-friendly foods to replace the carb heavy one too. Keep experimenting 😉
This soup is AMAZING!!! I only had precooked bacon so I cooked the meat with butter and avocado oil and cut up my precooked bacon to add at the end I like thicker soups so this was perfect. I may make this again next weekend too.
So glad you enjoyed the soup and put your own spin on it. The more bacon the better we say!!! 🙂
This had great flavor but I feel like there was way too much meat for not a lot of broth. I would likely add more broth next time. It was pretty much just a bowl of meat.
No problem Rachael! Great idea to add more broth and maybe less beef next time if you prefer a less “meaty” soup. I can understand that – I hope you try it again and make it to your own taste 🙂
Was extremely excited to make , only to be let down by the overwhelming taste of salt. I didnt realize it had 1858 mg sodium in it. I used unsalted butter, but did use beef bullion I had on hand. I even used lower sodium bacon. Want to make again, with someway of reducing the sodium. It did taste like a cheeseburger!
Some people do find it to be salty so it’s a good idea to use unsalted butter, low-sodium broth and leave the added salt out completely. That should reduce the salt a lot. Adding some pickles to the finished soup will also complement the saltiness.
So so soooo good! Hubby says it tasted better than actual cheeseburgers!
Wow! That’s an amazing vote of approval….love it when the hubby’s are happy 🙂
Kids and husband loved it and have requested it again. Super easy to make.
That awesome, Virginia! You’ve hit the jackpot when both kids AND husband love a dish…
This was awesome, thanks! And the macros are probably the best I’ve seen on a meal (I did accidentally pull out 70% ground beef – so I used only 1 T butter. I always calculate my own macros and this is perfect!) My husband did comment it tasted salty (funny, he usually tolerates salt better than I). I didn’t put in much. But I’m thinking the bacon adds salt, and I think the broth I used might have added a lot too. It’s going to depend on the actual brands/ingredients used. I think next time I’ll look for low-sodium broth and that way I can better control overall saltiness. But I still thought it was great – maybe because I was really hungry lol. But it’s cold out and I was hungry and this really hit the spot! Thanks! !
I’m so thrilled that you loved the soup!! I agree that it can be quite salty for some, so great idea to use a low-sodium broth next time. 🙂
Just curious if you have tried this recipe in the crockpot? I’m wanting to try it and see how it tastes after you let it cook and simmer all day
I think it would work fine! After cooking the meat, add everything except the cheese and cream to the slow cooker. Cook for 2-3 hours on high or 4-6 on low. Then add the cream and cheese and stir until heated through.
I made this last evening. 10/25/18 I doubled the batch and it was gone in a flash! Even my picky teen gobbled it down! So yummy! Thank you for the share.
That’s fabulous! So glad you and your teenager enjoyed it ….they are not always easy to please 🙂
This is going to become a favorite in my house! My husband and I loved it. A lot of times we try new recipes and end up having a second dinner. Not this time! It was filling and it cured my craving for a burger. If you’re on the fence, I highly recommend giving this a try!! Thanks for sharing!
I’m thrilled that you and your husband enjoyed the cheeseburger soup!!!
I made this tonight and topped with bacon and chopped pickle. I felt like I was drinking In-N-Out secret sauce packets! 😏 Now we’re trying to figure out what to actually eat for dinner.
Sorry you didn’t enjoy the soup, Staci. I get that it’s not for everyone 🙁
My daughter is eating Keto friendly food, so I made this soup the other night and it was great! Full of good flavor and a great comfort soup! Thanks for the recipe!
It’s a great recipe for kids…glad your daughter liked it! I hope you try some of our other recipes – I cook them for my family all the time.
This soup was AH-MAZING! I fixed it for our family tonight and it was a hit! Will definitely be serving it again. Thanks so much for the recipe!
That makes me so happy to hear! Thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed it 🙂
This was amazing! Thank you for sharing!
I’m so happy that you like the soup, Tamra! It’s great to hear when readers enjoy my recipes.
Omgosh!!!! Just made your soup!! Big hit in our home!!! Absolutely delicious!!! 👍Tyvm!
Hey there! I’m so happy that the soup was successful… Thanks for letting us know and I hope you enjoy it many more times 🙂
An amazing low carb soup recipe. Very delicious and filling. I added more cheese because you can never go wrong with cheese. I also added sautéed onions and pickles at the end. Thank you so much for the recipe.😊
I’m so glad you like it! It would have been extra delicious with the sauteed onions and pickles. Yum!
I could never leave out the farm fresh butter and I love the idea of adding diced pickles to the finished soup. I think I might add a finely diced jalapeno to make it a “What-a-soup” like the What-A-Burgers of Texas fame. Thanks for sharing a nice gluten free soup like this.
That would be awesome….jalapenos would make a great addition! I’m going to try that next time I make cheeseburger soup!
Made this exactly as written. I really wanted to love this recipe. Sorry Abbie, but this was way too salty! The amount of mustard was over powering. My husband didn’t care for this soup either. Threw out what was left. Wouldn’t even feed it to the dog because it was so salty. Giving one star because it had cheese. I wanted to make sure I did made this correctly. The mustard was from the bottle and not the dry ground mustard, and the 6 oz of shredded cheese was by weight, and not by volume.
I’m sorry you didn’t like the soup, Denise. This recipe does have strong flavor, I agree and it is obviously not for everyone! Based on your feedback, I will alter the salt to read 1/2-1 tsp so readers can add less salt if they wish.
I just finished eat this soup and I have no words to tell how much it helped me. I was quite hungry, it’s too cold around here and I was very late to fix my low-carb lunch properly. This soup was like magic!
Thank you for your wonderful creations, Abbie!
I’m so glad you liked the soup. You’ve made my day!
My family loved this, even my picky-eater grand-daughter. I did add onions, omitted the butter, and used ketchup instead of tomato paste. Will definitely make it again.
I’m so glad you liked it and that your grand-daughter did too!
Abbie, Abbie, Abbie, what have you done here!!
This is close to perfect winter weekend food. We have football, wine, fireplace…and your cheeseburger soup. Bliss.
We used dijon and sweet Hungarian paprika – otherwise, we followed the recipe to the letter. As I was eating this, I couldn’t help but think how it would taste with a gherkin to dip in the soup, or sliced on top. Next time, we will try this and let you know how it goes!
Bravo.
I’m glad you liked it! I love your variations and your idea of the gherkin to dip is pure genius. I may add that to the recipe 🙂
My daughter hates mustard… if I omit this I wonder if it will be missed!
Just leave it out – it will still be delicious!
Made this with my nine year old son, he said looks “gross” but tastes awesome! Coming from mr. Picky eater himself that’s a high compliment! 🙂
Love it! Thanks so much for sharing this.. sounds exactly like something my kids would say!! 😂
I made this for dinner tonight, it was delicious! My husband said it didn’t look appetizing but tasted great!
I added a 1/2 cup or so of chopped onions, I know this adds to the carb count a bit but it was really good. So you have the room for the additional carb I would recommend it. I added them after taking the bacon out , fried the onion and then added the hamburger to the onion…delicious!
Onion would add such great flavor to this recipe! I’m going to try it with them next time I make this. Excellent suggestion – thank you 🙂
I would love some of this now, the weather has been on the cooler side even for those of us on the West Coast. I might add a tiny bit of cayenne or habanero pepper to it. Thanks for sharing!
That would be a delicious addition – I like a bit of extra spice too!
Looks good, next time beef is on sale near me I am going to give this a go. Thank for sharing.
I have never heard of cheeseburger soup before, but I am intrigued! It looks super yummy.
And I can’t agree more, although the internet is a great source of information and communication, we don’t have time to just exist, think and breathe! I am trying hard now to just actually wait in line, not pull out the phone and leave it when I don’t actually need it. But it’s hard, we are just so addicted, unfortunately.
This sounds so delicious! I’ve been wanting soup for a while and bacon- yes please!
Yum, cheeseburger soup sounds just right for me. We are all soup lovers, especially the boys. I think they will like this very much 🙂
Let me know how they like it!
This soup sounds so appetizing I just want to go and make it immediately!