Hearty Cowboy Soup Recipe (easy and fast)
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Why you’ll love this recipe
- Inexpensive simple ingredients, easy to make and ready in under 30 minutes.
- Loaded with beef, potatoes and vegetables.
- Naturally dairy and gluten-free.
- High protein, low calorie and filled with nutritious ingredients.
What is cowboy soup?
You don’t have to be serving hungry cowboys to love this one! Perfect on a cold winter day, this cowboy soup is hearty and satisfying. Filled with meat, beans, and veggies this is an excellent use of leftover veggies before they go bad. This easy soup recipe is the best soup when you want something healthy but also filling and flavorful.
Can I make this in the slow cooker or instant pot?
Yes! If you want dinner ready when you get home, the crock pot is the way to go. Brown the meat and add to the crockpot. Then, add all remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. If you lose some liquid, add additional beef broth. For the instant pot, do the same steps and cook for 15 minutes. However, you can brown the meat directly in the base of the instant pot on sauté vs. stovetop.
Ingredients and Substitutes:
These are the main ingredients and substitutions. See recipe card below for full ingredients list and instructions for cowboy soup.
Ground Beef: lean ground beef (95/4%) so your broth is not oily. You can substitute with any ground meat: chicken, turkey or sausage.
Potatoes: any potato, including sweet potatoes. You can also omit.
Rotel: If you cannot find Rotel tomatoes, use a can of diced tomatoes and a small can of green chiles.
Ranch Beans: if you cannot find Ranch Style Beans, substitute with a can of chili beans, pinto beans, black beans or kidney beans.
Frozen Vegetables: or fresh.
Jalapeno: adjust your spice level with the jalapeno. For mild to no spice omit entirely.
Beef Broth
How to make Cowboy Soup
Step 1
Over medium-high heat, add 1 Tbsp. olive oil to the large pot or dutch oven. Once hot, add the ground beef and break into pieces to cook. Cook over medium until almost completely cooked and no longer pink.
Add onions and garlic to the pot and simmer until the onions begin to turn translucent. Stir often so the bottom does not burn.
Step 2
Add chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper to the meat and mix together well the combine.
Add all the remaining ingredients, stir to combine and bring to a boil.
Step 3
Once boiling lower the heat to simmer and cook covered for 20 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender.
Step 4
Serve and enjoy!
Serving and storing
Top with broken tortilla chips, hot sauce, sliced jalapeño, shredded cheese, a dollop of sour cream or Greek yogurt. This cowboy soup is great as a standalone dish but you can also serve with a side salad or some fresh garlic bread.
Store any leftover cowboy soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days or freeze for up to three months.
Tracking macros and eating soups
Soups and stews are hard when it comes to measuring and weighing your servings. You would need to separate all ingredients and make each soup individualy for a 100% accurate macro count. For a general macro count, I suggest weighing your final dish and dividing by the number of servings. Weigh your potatoes and fresh ingredients for the most accurate macro count before adding to the soup. It won’t be 100% accurate because varying cook times will lose more or less weight but you will have a general idea.
If you like this recipe be sure to check out some of our other easy meals!
- Vegetarian Hamburger Helper
- Air Fryer Smashed Potatoes
- Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta
- Creamy Cajun Shrimp Pasta with Sausage
Cowboy Soup
📱 MyFitnessPal & MacrosFirst App Users
You can find this recipe and many others on MyFitnessPal and MacrosFirst by searching: Ohsnapmacros – Cowboy Soup
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. lean ground beef 96/4
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lbs. russet potatoes chopped
- 10 oz. Rotel 10 oz. can Rotel
- 15 oz. Ranch Style Beans
- 12 oz. frozen mixed vegetables 12 oz. of frozen mixed vegetables
- 1 jalapeno seeds removed and chopped (optional)
- 5 cups Beef Broth
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tsp. chili powder
- 2 tsp. ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
Instructions
- Over medium heat add 1 Tbsp. olive oil to the large dutch oven or soup pot. Once hot add the ground beef and break into pieces to cook. Cook over medium until almost completely cooked and no longer pink. Add onions and garlic to the pot and simmer until the onions begin to turn translucent. Stir often so the bottom does not burn.
- Add chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper to the meat and mix together well the combine. Add all the remaining ingredients, stir to combine and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling lower the heat to simmer and cook covered for 20 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender.
Notes
- Nutritional facts are an estimate and will vary with substitutions.
- For the most accurate serving measurement, weigh your final dish and divide by the number of servings.
- If you want less heat, omit the jalapeños. You can add it on when serving if desired.
I swapped the ground beef for beef stew meat and put it all in the crockpot and it was soooo good. Makes a great winter dinner for the familu
YUM!! That sounds amazing!!
This was so flavorful and good! The whole family loved it. It was quick and easy to make. I didn’t alter any of the ingredients. Will definitely be making this again.
Made this tonight for the first time and it was a hit! Hubby went back for seconds so that’s how I know it was a hit. It will be a keeper for these cold days ahead.
Definitely how you know!! So glad you loved it!
This recipe was easy and definitely filling! It made for a great meal to take to a friend that was recently in the hospital, along with cornbread and toppings and enough to feed my whole family too with leftovers. However, I feel like it lacked some flavor, I need more seasonings or something in my soup. Still like it, just didn’t love it like I do all of your other recipes I have made!
It’s definitely hard to meet everyone’s preferred spices level. I’m glad you were able to enjoy it and bring it to a friend in need!
So easy and delicious! I divide it into six large, ~450 calorie servings, instead of 10 servings. Very filling, and more in the calorie range that I personally like my meals to be. Especially when it’s this good, you’re going to want a bigger bowl of it! Plus the macros are on point!
Delicious! A family favorite in less than 40 minutes!
A fast favorite – super easy to throw together. Dinner or for meal prep. Filling and delicious!
Glad to hear it!
So quick and delicious! It’s made our monthly rotation 🙂
i am not sure if i have already commented on this recipe because we use your recipes weekly! but this is a staple in our house! add some sweet heat jalapeños too!
Another great meal that the whole family will eat, thanks for sharing macro friendly recipes that my kids will eat too! It’s so nice to not have to fix multiple meals each night! ❤️
Had it for dinner tonight. So good. I added a few tortilla chips, a little grated cheese, a spoon full of sour cream on top. So good. Yum.
Making again today! Freezes great for other family too. It’s so good and easy – best kind of recipe 😋
This soup was amazing! Your recipes never disappoint. I love how much spice and flavor you add-other recipes are usually lacking but yours are always so flavorful and I never have to add any additional spice.
I loved this recipe!! I also love how easy it was!! So good and so ready for soup season!!
Made this soup the other night and actually decided to use my crockpot. Although, it would have been super easy to make on my stovetop as well.
Soup has amazing flavors and is a monthly staple in my home!
Is this spicy? If so, can I omit green chilies and just add two cans diced tomatoes?
You could but the main heat source is the jalapeños. I’d omit jalapeño and lower chili powder if necessary. The green chilis in the rotel won’t do too much IMO.