Instant Pot Creamy Tomato Hamburger Soup {Paleo, Whole30}
Curling up with a warm bowl of this Instant Pot Creamy Tomato Hamburger Soup might be one of my favorite things to do on a chilly winter night. Creamy, comforting, made from squeaky clean ingredients and veggie-loaded, this soup is a complete meal that your family is going to devour...and you are going to adore since you can make it in minutes in your handy dandy Instant Pot.
This soup comes with a back story, guys. It's been part of my life for many years and has been with me through many seasons of life.
As a child, I remember my mother making a version of this soup on chilly fall and winter nights for dinner. I don't recall her exact recipe....and I don't think I haven ever seen it actually written down (call me out if I'm wrong, Ma), but I remember being *so jazzed* when I saw her cooking hamburger soup for dinner. While the veggies my mom used always changed (I assume because she used whatever was handy and needed to be used up), the soup always had a creamy tomato base and was loaded with crumbled hamburger.
Everyone has a handful of recipes that were staples during their childhood, and hamburger soup was definately one of mine!
Fast forward to my college years....and me being dirt poor. I was living with (equally dirt poor) friends and we would literally scrape together whatever edible provisions we had on hand to make this soup on repeat. Back then, we affectionately called it "Stone Soup" after the childhood folk tale in which a hungry stranger convinces the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal that everyone enjoys.
In many ways, hamburger soup was Stone Soup, since it was a community meal made up of whatever we had. It was easy, always fed everyone and could usually be made without us needing to go to the store.
One person would bring the carrots.
Someone else brought the hamburger.
Another person brought some sort of other veggie.
And I was always in charge of the tomato soup.....and the cooking.
And just like I remembered from my childhood, the soup was always different...but always delicious, filling and stuck with us through many all-night study sessions.
And now, here I am. Far from childhood and those college years, but still making hamburger soup. While my method and even some ingredients have changed over the years, the flavor of the hamburger soup my mother used to make me when I was little still shines through in each bite. It is still a staple in my home...
Then, now....and probably always.....
Are you looking for more quick recipes that effortless get veggies into your diet? Check out my ebook, Veggie-Loaded Love, for oodles of veggie-packed recipes...including Veggie-Loaded Chicken Soup with Instant Pot AND Slow Cooker instructions! It's a staple in our house and totally will be in your's as well!
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 1/2 tablespoons avocado or coconut oil
- 3/4 cup non-dairy milk (cashew, almond or coconut milk will work)
- 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 large garlic cloves, peeled
- 4 cups broth or stock
- 1 28-oz can crushed or diced tomatoes
- 1 6-oz can tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
- 3 large carrots, washed and diced
- 2 cups loosely packed kale, deribbed and roughly chopped
- black pepper, to taste
