Keto Cheeseburger Soup Recipe {Comforting & Delicious}
You’ll love this delicious, Easy Keto Cheeseburger Soup. With riced cauliflower, a cheesy broth, seasonings, and flavorful ground beef, this healthy cheeseburger soup hits the spot without potatoes, Velveta cheese, or flour. This low-carb, gluten-free soup is hearty, comforting, and a great weeknight meal.
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Keto Cheeseburger Soup Recipe
It is finally starting to cool down here in Tennessee, and I am so excited for soups and stews. Yesterday, I couldn’t stop thinking about making soup. As I was perusing Pinterest, I found several delicious soup recipes, but none were keto-friendly.
I started thinking about how I could change up a Cheeseburger Soup recipe that I used to enjoy to be low-carb. I added riced cauliflower instead of potatoes, which was better than I expected. Usually, I’m not a huge fan of cauliflower. However, when you saute it in butter and add it to soup with a yummy ground beef/cheesy base, the flavors merge, and the result is delicious. This easy stovetop recipe makes a hearty and delicious soup. I think it tastes even better rewarmed to cover lunch for a few days.
If you love cheeseburgers, try my bunless burger or keto big mac salad recipe!
Is Cheeseburger Soup Keto Friendly?
Traditionally, cheeseburger soup contains potatoes, four, and Velveeta cheese. This keto-friendly version of Cheeseburger Soup has cauliflower rice and shredded cheese instead. With only two net carbs per serving, this keto version is high in fat and low in carbs.
I’ve included step-by-step pictures below, but scroll to the post’s bottom for the recipe card with the complete list of ingredients and instructions.
Ingredients for Keto Bacon Cheeseburger Soup:
Ground beef – I prefer a ground beef with moderate fat, such as 80/20. The fat adds additional flavor for big cheeseburger taste.
Onion diced/garlic cloves – onion and garlic is a must for just about every soup.
Butter – Used for the fat to saute the riced cauliflower for flavor
Riced cauliflower – adds bulk and body to the soup. I prefer riced cauliflower as it cuts down on the “strong cauliflower” flavor. I’ve found if you can saute it in butter and seasonings, it helps change the taste completely.
Chicken broth – provides the base for this hearty soup
Heavy whipping cream / Cream Cheese – Adds additional flavor, fat, and helps thickens the base of the soup.
Shredded cheddar cheese – make sure to shred the cheese yourself as preshredded cheese doesn’t melt as smoothly
basil, parsley, nutmeg, salt & pepper – don’t be afraid of seasonings!
Step 1: `Start with a large dutch oven. Often, cauliflower is bland and mushy. Frying it in butter first adds delicious texture and flavor to this keto cheeseburger soup with cream cheese.
Step 2: Brown ground beef until it is no longer pink, then stir in the spices and other ingredients in a large pot. Simmering the ingredients together creates a depth of bold flavors. I always keep browned ground beef on hand in the freezer. This saves so much time when making any recipe for ground beef. Add the spices, broth, and heavy cream to the ground beef mixture.
Variation Tip: I used chicken broth in my recipe, but you could substitute beef broth.
Step 3: Make sure to shred the cheese yourself to avoid fillers that can make it clump instead of melting smoothly. Add a bit at a time, stirring gently between each addition.
Variations to this Recipe:
- Sub ground chicken or ground turkey for the protein
- Use beef broth instead of chicken broth
- Sub larger chunks of cauliflower instead of riced cauliflower
- Use various types of cheese
- Add green peppers for additional flavor.
- Use ground chicken or turkey in place of the ground beef
- Saute other veggies with the riced cauliflower, such as carrots or celery
- Use bacon grease instead of butter to saute the rice cauliflower
How to Thicken Low-Carb Cheeseburger Soup:
- Simmer on low with the lid off until thickened
- Add more cream cheese.
- Use 1/2 tsp xanthan gum to thicken. To use xanthan gum, sprinkle it on top of the soup, then let it sit for approx 10min to thicken. It will seem like it is not working, but after a few minutes, the soup will begin to reduce. Adding too much will cause a slimy texture.
- Remove about a cup of the soup from the pot and use an immersion blender. Then pour the mixture back into the soup.
How to Store Low-Carb Cheeseburger Soup?
Low Carb Cheeseburger Soup can be refrigerated for 3-4 days. You may need to add extra broth to the soup as it tends to thicken in the fridge. Since dairy products such as heavy whipping cream and cream cheese often break down when frozen, this soup may not freeze well.
Serve in a large bowl and garnish with cheese, bacon, or another favorite topping.
This soup is so delicious! My family loved it, and it made me one happy mamma to know my family enjoyed such a healthy meal. Plus, it was easy to clean up, leaving more time to spend with my family, which is always a bonus!
What to Serve with Keto Cheeseburger Soup?
An easy fresh garden salad would go perfectly with such a hearty soup to make a delicious, healthy meal.
Toppings Ideas for Keto Cheeseburger Soup:
- add cooked bacon to make a bacon cheeseburger soup
- extra shredded cheddar cheese
- chives.
- Chopped dill pickles
More Delicious Keto Soup Recipes to Try:
- Queso Keto Taco Soup
- Keto Broccoli & Cheese Soup
- Chicken Fajita Soup
- Keto Chili
- Bacon Cauliflower Soup
- Low Carb Cheesy Smoked Sausage Soup
Don’t Miss Any New Recipes:
Don’t miss any recipes like this, Keto Cheeseburger Soup. If you aren’t already following my Easy Keto/Low Carb Recipe Page on Facebook, where I post all my new recipes and content, join here. Follow me on Pinterest for inspiration, recipe ideas, and more low-carb/keto recipes here.
How to Get Started on the Keto Diet
If you are just getting started following the keto/low-carb diet and would like more information, tons of fantastic resources and help are available. Amazon also has several excellent books you may want to check out here. You can also find many low-carb/keto recipes in my Keto Recipe Index.
Keto Cheeseburger Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 of a small onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3 Tablespoons butter
- 1 12 oz frozen riced cauliflower
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 1 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream
- 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese freshly shredded (not prepackaged)
- 3 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
- 1 tsp basil
- 1 tsp parsley
- 1/2 tsp pink salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
Instructions
- Cook riced cauliflower in the microwave according to package directions.
- Brown ground beef drain and set aside. (I brown mine in advance and freeze it in 1 lb portions.)
- In a large saucepan, saute onion and minced garlic in one tablespoon of butter until translucent.
- Add the other 2 tablespoons of butter and the riced cauliflower to the onion/garlic mixture and saute for 5 minutes, stirring so that it doesn't stick.
- Add ground beef, chicken broth, heavy whipping cream, and spices.
- Bring soup mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add cheddar cheese a cup at a time, stirring with a whisk so that it melts evenly.
- Once the cheese is melted, add the softened cream cheese, so the soup thickens.
- I used an immersion blender in about 1 cup of soup to thicken it further. Simmer for 5 minutes to allow the soup to thicken.
- Serve!
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Video
Notes
What to Serve with Keto Cheeseburger Soup?
An easy fresh garden salad would go perfectly with such a hearty soup to make a delicious, healthy meal.Toppings Ideas for Keto Cheeseburger Soup:
- add cooked bacon to make a bacon cheeseburger soup
- extra shredded cheddar cheese
- chives
- chopped pickles
This soup looks so amazing. I am going to try this over the weekend. I see this recipe makes 8 servings but what is the serving size? A cup or 1/2 cup? Thanks so much for your wonderful recipes.
I didn’t measure the exact size, I just counted the number of servings I dished out. You are so welcome. Glad you are enjoying them.
Wha can you substitute for xanthem gum if you dont have it?
I’m not sure.
Here’s some subs for xanthan gum. https://gluten-free-bread.org/make-substitutions-xanthan-gum-baking
Great! Thanks for sharing.
Any suggestions for subbing something else for chicken broth? My husband is allergic to poultry. Could we do a veggie or beef?
I think either would work.
Can this be made without the Xanthum gum?
It can, but the soup would be very thin and runny.
I’m going to try this with coconut cream instead of whipping cream and nutritional yeast instead of the cheese.
Great! Sounds like a great idea.
If you make it in a crock pot, do you not add the Xanthum gum until the end, just before serving?
I would wait until about 30 minutes before serving.
This is amazing!!! I’m just wondering if you would freeze this? Also my soup turned out thick so I didn’t have to add the xantham gum. Not sure why but it was delicious so it didn’t matter.
I haven’t tried freezing so I can’t say for sure. Glad you enjoyed it.
I could not find xantham gun at my local grocery. Could you recommend using something else? Would it be okay just to skip it?
You could skip it if you’d like. It won’t change the taste but the consistency will be thinner.
Target carries it ?
I ordered it from Amazon
I made this last night and it was really good! Thank you
Awesome!
I’m going to try a ground turkey version!
Perfect!
How many cups in a serving, and is there anything i can do to cut the fat down?
I did not measure exactly I just divided into equal servings. It is up to you if you’d like to cut the fat, however I follow a Keto Diet and it is high fat. You could perhaps reduce the cheese.
do you cook the meet before prior?
Yes, I do cook the meat beforehand.
Great idea to use the riced cauliflower instead of any potatoes. I saw a ‘low fat’ version of a cheeseburger soup on another site and thought, nah this can be made keto! Google search brought me here. Im making this tonight. Im not super strict on my keto, so I’ll prolly use a few T of flour to thicken since I dont have xantham gum.
btw, Im checking out the biscuit recipe next, Ive been craving some biscuit and gravy!
So glad you found this version! I hope you enjoyed it.
Could you leave out the riced cauliflower
I’m planning to try broccoli instead of cauliflower ?
Let me know how it turns out!
Why do you use freshly grated cheese instead of packaged?
The packaged cheese contains ingredients to keep it from clumping that add carbs.