Creamy hamburger hash brown soup is full of hearty, meaty, and creamy flavor – super simple!
I love creamy, easy dutch oven soups in winter that are full of flavor – and this soup is the perfect dinner for an easy meal that cooks in just a couple hours with almost no work!
I came up with this recipe by accident. I wanted to make some loaded baked potato soup (my husband’s favorite), but we were all out of potatoes.
I had some hash browns in our freezer that I wanted to use up and figured that potato is potato, and decided to see if it would taste any good.
After a bit of tweaking to bring out a roasted hash brown flavor, I realized quickly that this soup was going to be a massive hit – and I am SO glad I tried out such a random substitution!
This soup has all the delicious flavor you love in baked potato soup, with a rich and buttery hash brown flavor.
Hot tip: It’s important to pre-cook the hash browns in the dutch oven, stirring them occasionally to crisp up the hash browns evenly – or to quickly brown them in a pan before adding to the dutch oven. I also add pre-browned ground beef – but it doesn’t have to be fully cooked.
I like to brown ground beef in big batches and then use it in tacos, spaghetti, and other dishes – so this works perfectly into an easy weekly meal plan!
You could even toss all the ingredients into a slow cooker as is, but the pre-browning steps really bring out a richer, more buttery flavor.
Creamy Slow Cooker Hash Brown and Hamburger Soup
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1 lb frozen hash browns
- 1 lb ground beef, browned
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 8 oz chicken stock
- 1½ cup heavy cream
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 cups extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- fresh chives or cilantro, diced
- In a large dutch oven, add butter and hash browns and cook on medium for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to mix well and prevent burning.
- Add ground beef and onion, and mix into hashbrowns, cook 10-15 minutes, until onions have slightly browned and hashbrowns are a light caramel color.
- Add stock and garlic powder and and let simmer on low for one hour.
- Stir in cream, salt, and pepper into soup and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Add to bowls and top with grated cheddar cheese, chives, or cilantro.
- Enjoy!
