If You Have This Canned Soup And A Pound Of Ground Beef, Dinner Is Ready In 20 Minutes

There's a simple hack to cut down the amount of time you spend on the cooking process (read: vegetable prep). Simply add cooked ground beef to a can — or two, depending on the size of your party — of vegetable soup, and a delicious dish can be on your dining room table in 20 minutes or less. The resulting hamburger soup is a simmered mixture of seasoned, browned ground beef, a smattering of vegetables, and savory broth. It's a hearty, crowd-pleasing one-pot meal that also happens to be budget-friendly.

Hamburger soup has long been a home-cooking staple, prized for its simplicity, versatility, and ability to turn inexpensive ingredients you likely already have in your kitchen into a filling meal. And preparing it couldn't be easier. For four servings, the general ratio is one pound of lean ground beef to two 18.8-ounce cans of ready-to-eat vegetable soup. This can easily be adjusted to suit your preferred consistency, as well as your ideal meat-to-vegetable ratio. (Condensed soups work just as well for this recipe; because they contain less liquid than their ready-to-eat counterparts, you'll need to add a full can of water for each can of condensed soup you use.) Brown seasoned ground beef in a large soup or stock pot, making sure to drain any excess fat, then add the soup — the heat from the browned beef will heat it through no time. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary, and dinner is ready, all in under 20 minutes — and if you want to enhance your soup, there are some tricks you can try to jazz up the final result.

As hamburger soup calls for so few ingredients, the beef is where you'll want to maximize flavor. The leaner the beef, the less the flavor, so it's ideal to opt for a ground beef blend of around 80% lean meat and 20% fat to ensure a rich and meaty flavor. And don't skip the step of patting your ground beef prior to searing — it's the foolproof way to get a flavorful, brown crust.

With so many brands offering chunky vegetable soups in a variety of flavor profiles, the hamburger soup world is your proverbial oyster. Add a splash of Worcestershire sauce for a burst of umami; the fermented, anchovy-based sauce adds a welcome depth and rich complexity. Soy sauce, too, adds salty umami flavor when added, giving canned soups a new flavor dimension. You can amplify that already delicious foundation with seasonings such as chipotle chili powder for a smoky vibe or use zesty Italian seasoning spiked with garlic, dried basil, and oregano. For an Indian-inspired twist, try adding warming curry powder or turmeric. Enrich the flavor of the broth and the beef flavor by whisking in a tablespoon of tomato paste or beef- or chicken-flavored bouillon.