Hamburger Hoobie Soup

Nothing warms the body or heart like a good bowl of hot soup. You’ll warm up from the inside out when you enjoy our Hamburger Hoobie Soup and your kids will ask for the recipe when they are grown to share with their own family.

Soup is one of the easiest things to turn into a freezer meal, so you can make it ahead of time. In fact, we have a nice collection of soups and stews you can easily make. I recommend starting this soup in the morning and coming home to bliss. Just pick up some fresh bread from your supermarket or local bakery on the way home, and your soup is ready in the slow cooker when you get home. Supper is served in zero minutes.

Hamburger Hoobie Soup Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef, browned and cooled
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 28 can diced tomatoes
• 10 oz. condensed tomato soup
• 1/2 cup barley
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp. parsley
• 1/2 tsp. thyme
• pepper to taste

Ingredients for the Day of Cooking

• 2 cups water
• 3 cups beef broth

Assembly Instructions

1. Place all ingredients except water and broth in a large resealable freezer bag.
2. Remove excess air.
3. Seal and freeze.

Cooking Instructions

1. Thaw overnight in the fridge.
2. Dump bag contents into a stovetop pot.
3. Add water and broth.
4. Simmer, covered at least 2 hours.
5. Or slow cooker. The soup is actually better if it’s cooked all day in a crock pot.

What kind of ground beef should I use for this recipe?

80/20 ground beef has the most flavor but also has the most fat. I like to drain off the fat using a pasta strainer. When you buy 80/20, you also have to buy more because at least 20% of the weight is lost to grease. 90/10 or 93/7 will have the least amount of fat and sometimes doesn’t even need to be drained but may need more seasoning. It is a personal choice.

What should I do if it doesn’t have enough liquid?

You can always add more water or beef broth to the soup at the end and heat it through. This can happen if you simmer it for too long or boil it too vigorously. You may also just prefer your soup to be less chunky. All of these are valid reasons to add more liquid.

What is a bay leaf?

This herb can be purchased as whole leaves in the spice section at your supermarket. The leaves do not blend in well to soups or stews and stay hard and pointy. They can cut your mouth even after hours of simmering. However, they do add nice depth of flavor so it is common to keep the bay leaf in the soup while it is simmering and remove it before serving the soup.

Where did this recipe get its name?

When I was growing up, my brother’s best friend Andrew’s family made this soup. His mom Jenny called it Hamburger Hoobie Soup because “hoobie” is what their family called tomatoes!

Hamburger Hoobie Soup Recipe Ideas

At the time of cooking, add a half cup of rice, a few handfuls of egg noodles, or a cup of rotini or elbow pasta to this soup to increase the bulk and serve a few more people. You will need to increase the liquids by a small amount, and you can use water for that since it will be soaked up by the rice or pasta.

You can make this soup with ground chicken, ground turkey, or ground sausage. Add ground, cooked sausage at the end of cooking instead of freezing it with the soup since boiling the sausage in liquid will remove its flavor.

Switch up the veggies or add more! This soup can take the addition of diced veggies such as zucchini, squash, mushrooms, turnips, radishes, parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, or red peppers. More will not fit in the bag, but you can add more on the day of cooking if you find out suddenly you are feeding more people. Just add more veggies and water! You could also add shredded cabbage or chopped kale on the day of cooking. Switch up and change up the vegetables at will, and you will not be disappointed by the new flavors.

Change up the spices. Substitute marjoram, rosemary, or basil instead of thyme. Add red pepper flakes or a little hot sauce for heat.

If you don’t have access to beef broth, you can use beef bouillion or “Better than Bouillion” to make a substitute. Simply rehydrate the cubes or powder in hot liquid to use them. In this case, you would add all five cups of water to the soup, get it hot, and then add the equivalent bouillion to make three cups of the water turn into broth. Easy!

How do I store Hamburger Hoobie Soup?

Keep leftovers in the refrigerator. The soup can be kept for about four days in an airtight container and improves in flavor over time. Reheat the soup in the microwave or in a saucepan on the stovetop. The cooked soup should not be frozen again because the hamburger was already cooked and frozen once before.

What to Serve with Hamburger Hoobie Soup

I have always loved this soup with a slice of warm, crusty French bread, garlic bread, dinner rolls, or even biscuits. Oyster crackers add a nice crunch to the soup. A rich salad like Caesar or ranch is the perfect contrast. Serving the soup as part of a several-course meal also works.

Print

Hamburger Hoobie Soup

Prep Time

20 mins

Total Time

2 hrs

 

Servings: 8

Calories: 224 kcal

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef, browned and cooled
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 10 oz can condensed tomato soup
• 1/2 cup barley
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• pepper to taste

Instructions

Assembly Instructions

1. Place all ingredients except water and broth in a large resealable freezer bag.

2. Remove excess air.

3. Seal and freeze.

Cooking Instructions

1. Thaw overnight in the fridge.

2. Dump bag contents into a stovetop pot.

3. Add water and broth.

4. Simmer, covered at least 2 hours or cook in a slow cooker. The longer it simmers, the better.