Slow Cooker 5-Ingredient Amish Cheeseburger Soup

This slow cooker cheeseburger soup is the kind of weeknight dinner that practically makes itself — five ingredients, no browning, and the slow cooker does all the work. Raw ground beef goes in, a few pantry staples get added, and a few hours later you've got a thick, creamy, cheesy soup that tastes like a deconstructed cheeseburger in a bowl.

Servings: 6–8
Cook Time: 6–7 hours on LOW (or 3–4 hours on HIGH)

Why You'll Love It

• Just 5 ingredients — ground beef, broth, two canned soups, and shredded cheese. That's it.

• No browning required — raw beef goes straight into the slow cooker, no skillet needed.

• Set it and forget it — six to seven hours on LOW and dinner is waiting for you.

• Rich and creamy without any fuss — the condensed soups do all the thickening work automatically.

• Great for meal prep — it reheats beautifully and keeps in the fridge for days.
  

  Ingredients

  • 1½ pounds ground beef (80–85% lean, raw)

  • 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (up to 4½ cups if you want it a little thinner)

  • 1 can (10.5 oz) condensed cream of potato soup — do not dilute

  • 1 can (10.5 oz) condensed cheddar cheese soup — do not dilute

  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, packed (up to 1¼ cups if you like it extra cheesy)

  Ingredient Notes

  • The ground beef: 85% lean is the sweet spot. 80% makes it richer (some might say too rich), and 93% is fine but a little less lush. Use what you have.

  • The chicken broth: It has to be low-sodium, or the whole thing becomes aggressively salty. The canned soups are already loaded with salt, and then you're adding shredded cheese on top of that — so please, low-sodium broth.

  • The canned soups: Do not add water. Do not dilute them. They go in as-is. This is what makes the soup thick.

  • The shredded cheese: Buy a block and shred it yourself if you can. Pre-shredded cheese has a coating that makes it melt a little oddly — it still works, but freshly shredded cheddar melts cleaner and tastes sharper. Sharp cheddar is best.
    

    Instructions

    1. Set up the slow cooker. Use a 5–6 quart slow cooker.

    2. Add the beef. Put the raw ground beef in the bottom and break it up loosely with your hands or a spoon. You don't need to crumble it into tiny bits — just rough chunks so the broth can get around it.

    3. Pour in the broth. Pour the chicken broth over everything. It's going to look a little strange — lumps of raw beef sitting in broth. Trust the process.

    4. Add the canned soups. Add both cans of condensed soup directly on top. Don't stir them separately — just open, pour, that's it. Stir the whole thing gently, just enough to loosely combine the soups and broth. A few stirs with a big spoon. Done.

    5. Cook. Put the lid on. On LOW, cook for 6–7 hours. On HIGH, cook for 3–4 hours. About halfway through, give it a stir to help break up the beef and keep things cooking evenly. If you forget, it's usually fine.

    6. Add the cheese. When the beef is cooked through and breaking apart easily, stir in the shredded cheddar a handful at a time. Don't dump it all in at once or it'll clump. Handful, stir, melt, repeat. Once it's smooth and creamy, taste it. Add black pepper if you want. Salt usually isn't needed — the canned soups and cheese have already done the work.

    7. Serve. Ladle into bowls. Set out toppings if you like — dill pickle slices, sliced green onions, extra shredded cheese, or a little drizzle of mustard for the adventurous.
       

       Variations

       • Hearty: Add diced frozen hash browns in the last hour of cooking for extra thickness and something to chew.

       • Peas: Stir in frozen peas at the very end.

       • Bacon version: Cook some bacon, crumble it, and put it on top of each bowl right before serving.

       • Feeding a crowd: Add an extra cup of broth and serve over egg noodles or cooked rice to stretch it easily.
         

         Storage

         • Fridge: Keeps for about 4 days. Let it cool completely before putting the lid on — skipping this step leads to watery leftovers from condensation.

         • Reheating: Reheat low and slow on the stove or in the microwave with a splash of broth or milk if it's gotten too thick. It will get thick in the fridge — that's just what it does.

         • Freezer: Freezes okay. Cheese soups sometimes separate a little when thawed — just stir aggressively when reheating and it comes back together. Not perfect, but fine.
           

           Serving Suggestions

           Serve it with crusty bread, dinner rolls, or garlic toast — anything you can tear and dunk. A green salad on the side if you're feeling responsible about vegetables. Pickle chips on top if you're leaning into the cheeseburger thing fully, which is recommended.

           It's simple food. It's good food. Those two things aren't always the same, but in this case they happen to line up — and that's enough.