Savory Bacon Cheeseburger Soup

Why This Savory Bacon Cheeseburger Soup Works

Bacon goes in first so the fat melts out into the pot. That bacon fat coats the bottom and later mixes with the olive oil, onions, and garlic. As the onions soften, they lose their bite and start to taste sweeter, which keeps the soup from feeling heavy even with all the meat and cheese.

Once the ground beef browns, flour goes right on the meat. During the next few minutes, the flour soaks up the fat and clings to the beef and onions. When the chicken broth and potatoes are added, that flour swells and thickens the liquid as it simmers. The soup slowly changes from a thin broth into something closer to a cheeseburger gravy that holds to the spoon and sticks to the potatoes.

As the hot, thickened soup hits the heavy cream and shredded cheddar, the cheese melts smoothly instead of sinking or clumping. The potatoes stay in place and give each bite some weight, while the chopped pickles and crispy bacon get stirred in at the end so they stay firm and don’t go soggy.

Mistakes To Avoid

Letting the flour sit in a dry clump on the beef instead of stirring it in well can cause trouble later. Dry spots of flour don’t cook in the fat, so when the broth goes in, the soup can turn lumpy and pasty instead of smooth and slightly thick.

Adding the cheese while the soup is boiling hard often makes it grainy and greasy. The high heat causes the fat to separate from the cheese, so instead of a creamy, even soup, the pot ends up with oily pools and little rubbery bits.

Throwing the potatoes in as big chunks means they may not soften in the short simmer time. The outside can seem tender while the centers stay firm or even crunchy, so every spoonful has uneven bites that don’t match the creamy base.

Skipping the step of draining excess fat from the beef leaves too much grease in the pot. Once the cream and cheese go in, the soup can feel heavy and slick, with a thick layer of fat floating on top.