Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Soup season is here, and this cheap, easy ground beef soup is one I make four or five times every winter. It’s made with simple pantry staples, humble vegetables, and whatever was on sale at the grocery store—because great comfort food doesn’t need to be expensive.
This one-pot ground beef soup recipe starts with browned ground beef and tomato paste for deep flavour, then builds with onions, carrots, celery, cabbage, rice (or barley), and a surprise ingredient that adds serious umami. The result? A rich, hearty, old-fashioned soup that tastes like home.
Perfect for:
✅ Budget cooking & frugal meals
✅ Cold weather & winter dinners
✅ Easy weeknight comfort food
✅ Using up leftover vegetables
✅ Pantry-based, flexible recipes
You can swap the rice for pearl barley, change the root vegetables, or even use different ground meats. This soup is endlessly adaptable and always delicious.
If you’re looking for a cheap homemade soup, a ground beef dinner idea, or a nostalgic comfort food recipe, this one’s for you.
👉 Like, subscribe, and share if you love simple, old-school cooking made with what you have on hand.
🥕 Ingredients (Flexible & Budget-Friendly)
Ground beef
Tomato paste
Onion, carrot, celery
Cabbage
Turnip (optional)
Rice or barley
Garlic, thyme, cloves, bay leaf
Beef stock or water
Marmite / Vegemite (optional but powerful)
Ingredients:
500g (1lb) ground beef
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
60 mL (¼ cup) tomato paste
1 minced clove garlic
2 bay leaves
1 pinch ground cloves
2 mL (½ tsp) dried thyme
2 mL (½ tsp) marjoram
2 mL (½ tsp) salt
2 mL (½ tsp) pepper
750 mL (3 cups) chopped cabbage
125 mL (½ cup) uncooked rice
1L (4 cups) chicken or beef stock
500 mL (2 cups) water + more if needed
30 mL (2 Tbsp) Marmite
Method:
In large soup pot, brown beef over medium-high heat, breaking up with back of spoon.
Add onion, garlic, carrots and celery; cook, stirring until softened.
Stir in tomato paste and cook 1-2 minutes.
Add bay leaves, cloves, thyme, marjoram, salt, and pepper.
Stir in cabbage, rice, stock, water, and Marmite.
Bring to boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer until cabbage is tender, and rice is cooked through about 20 minutes.
Discard bay leaves.
More info about Hope Air: hopeair.ca
hopeair.ca/impact-report-2024
Here is the link to our Apron: searchandrescuedenim.com/products/s-r-x-glen-friends-chef-apron?country=IO&variant=50865649877152
searchandrescuedenim.com/GLENANDFRIENDSCOOKING
Discount code to be used at checkout: GLENANDFRIENDSCOOKING
Buy us a cup of tea: ko-fi.com/glenandfriendscooking
Help us out with a PayPal donation: paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=T4FPGUQABAUTE
Join this channel:
youtube.com/channel/UCsU15yvILBmnHPeAf4SFVaQ/join
This channel is nothing without you our viewers! Thanks for watching the Old Cookbook Show and our Historical Cooking.
#LeGourmetTV #GlenAndFriendsCooking
Check out our Aviation and Flying Channel: youtube.com/glenshangar
Soup season is here, and this cheap, easy ground beef soup is one I make four or five times every winter. It’s made with simple pantry staples, humble vegetables, and whatever was on sale at the grocery store—because great comfort food doesn’t need to be expensive.
This one-pot ground beef soup recipe starts with browned ground beef and tomato paste for deep flavour, then builds with onions, carrots, celery, cabbage, rice (or barley), and a surprise ingredient that adds serious umami. The result? A rich, hearty, old-fashioned soup that tastes like home.
Perfect for:
✅ Budget cooking & frugal meals
✅ Cold weather & winter dinners
✅ Easy weeknight comfort food
✅ Using up leftover vegetables
✅ Pantry-based, flexible recipes
You can swap the rice for pearl barley, change the root vegetables, or even use different ground meats. This soup is endlessly adaptable and always delicious.
If you’re looking for a cheap homemade soup, a ground beef dinner idea, or a nostalgic comfort food recipe, this one’s for you.
👉 Like, subscribe, and share if you love simple, old-school cooking made with what you have on hand.
🥕 Ingredients (Flexible & Budget-Friendly)
Ground beef
Tomato paste
Onion, carrot, celery
Cabbage
Turnip (optional)
Rice or barley
Garlic, thyme, cloves, bay leaf
Beef stock or water
Marmite / Vegemite (optional but powerful)
Ingredients:
500g (1lb) ground beef
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
60 mL (¼ cup) tomato paste
1 minced clove garlic
2 bay leaves
1 pinch ground cloves
2 mL (½ tsp) dried thyme
2 mL (½ tsp) marjoram
2 mL (½ tsp) salt
2 mL (½ tsp) pepper
750 mL (3 cups) chopped cabbage
125 mL (½ cup) uncooked rice
1L (4 cups) chicken or beef stock
500 mL (2 cups) water + more if needed
30 mL (2 Tbsp) Marmite
Method:
In large soup pot, brown beef over medium-high heat, breaking up with back of spoon.
Add onion, garlic, carrots and celery; cook, stirring until softened.
Stir in tomato paste and cook 1-2 minutes.
Add bay leaves, cloves, thyme, marjoram, salt, and pepper.
Stir in cabbage, rice, stock, water, and Marmite.
Bring to boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer until cabbage is tender, and rice is cooked through about 20 minutes.
Discard bay leaves.
More info about Hope Air: hopeair.ca
hopeair.ca/impact-report-2024
Here is the link to our Apron: searchandrescuedenim.com/products/s-r-x-glen-friends-chef-apron?country=IO&variant=50865649877152
searchandrescuedenim.com/GLENANDFRIENDSCOOKING
Discount code to be used at checkout: GLENANDFRIENDSCOOKING
Buy us a cup of tea: ko-fi.com/glenandfriendscooking
Help us out with a PayPal donation: paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=T4FPGUQABAUTE
Join this channel:
youtube.com/channel/UCsU15yvILBmnHPeAf4SFVaQ/join
This channel is nothing without you our viewers! Thanks for watching the Old Cookbook Show and our Historical Cooking.
#LeGourmetTV #GlenAndFriendsCooking
Check out our Aviation and Flying Channel: youtube.com/glenshangar
