4.49 from 3776 votes

Busy Day Soup

Busy Day Soup is perfect for those busy weeknights. It’s quick to make and requires little effort. Who loves easy recipes? Rich and savory broth, tender pasta, and loads of veggies and beef in each bite. 

Busy Day Soup - An easy soup recipe your family will love! It's quick to make and takes little effort. Perfect for those busy weeknights.


Busy Day Soup

What I love about Busy Day Soup is that you can throw all the ingredients into the pot and let your stove work its magic.

It has a few low prep ingredients like ground beef, onion soup mix, mixed frozen veggies, diced tomatoes and macaroni.

It’s perfect for days where you don’t know what to make for dinner. If you’re like me, those days are frequent.

Get our FREE
e-cookbook

    We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at anytime.

    This fall is a busy season for our family. My youngest daughter rides horses a couple times a week and is also taking swimming lessons. She is in Bronze Medallion and hopes to be a lifeguard. It’s a lot of shuttling back and forth. Good times.

    When I want a simple, hearty meal, I turn to this soup recipe. Serve it with soda crackers or a buttered roll. It’s so tasty and filling.

    Busy Day Soup - An easy soup recipe your family will love! It's quick to make and takes little effort. Perfect for those busy weeknights.

    How to Make Busy Day Soup

    Grab a large soup pot, and brown the ground beef. Drain off the fat after it’s cooked so your soup isn’t greasy.

    Pour in the water, onion soup mix and tomatoes with their juices. Simmer for 1 hour on medium low heat.

    After the 1 hour mark, add in the uncooked macaroni noodles and frozen mixed vegetables. Cook for another 15 minutes on medium heat. The noodles and frozen veggies will cook until they are tender.

    You don’t need to thaw the vegetables. Just throw them in right from the freezer. That is what I love about this recipe, it truly is so simple to make and pull together. 

    Serve it up hot! It makes about 6 servings and tastes even better the next day heated up. It’s just the two of us at home now so we always have leftovers.

    Busy Day Soup - An easy soup recipe your family will love! It's quick to make and takes little effort. Perfect for those busy weeknights.

    Can I Swap Meat in Soup 

    Sure, you are more than welcome to use ground turkey, pork, or even ground chicken. Just cook the meat until it is fully done. You could even take the skins off bratwurst and use them. I am sure it would add a nice level of flavor. 

    Or maybe you want to layer the flavor of two meats. Beef and sausage are always a fantastic pairing and really can elevate the flavor. 

    Busy Day Soup - An easy soup recipe your family will love! It's quick to make and takes little effort. Perfect for those busy weeknights.

    Vegetables in Soup

    The veggies used in this soup can be adjusted to fit your tastebuds. If you have fresh veggies you want to prep and slice up, go for it. Or if you have a bag of frozen vegetables in the freezer that sound tasty, use them instead. 

    Feel free to raid your pantry or freezer and use what you have on hand. Just get creative and pick items that you like the flavor of. Then I think you will enjoy the flavor of the soup. 

    Busy Day Soup - An easy soup recipe your family will love! It's quick to make and takes little effort. Perfect for those busy weeknights.

    Can I Change Out the Pasta in this Soup

    Yes, if you don’t have any macaroni on hand, feel free to change it up. Reach for shells, rotini, ziti, etc. Any pasta will work you just want to ensure your pasta fully cooks. You could even break up spaghetti noodles to place in the soup. 

    I do feel that depending on the pasta the flavor of the soup varies slightly. But, overall any flavor is amazing paired with all the broth and vegetables. 

    Busy Day Soup - An easy soup recipe your family will love! It's quick to make and takes little effort. Perfect for those busy weeknights.

    Helpful Kitchen Tools

    This post contains affiliate links.

    Toppings for Busy Day Soup

    • Sprinkle with fresh parsley or even Italian seasoning for color and flavor. 
    • Shred and sprinkle cheese that adds a nice cheesy flavor. 
    • Add on some crackers or even crunchy croutons to soak up the savory broth. 
    • Splash of hot sauce to elevate the heat factor. 

    You can truly do so much to this soup to elevate the flavor. I love it how it is, but sometimes we add on some toppings to change up the flavor of the soup. 

    Meal Prep with Leftover Soup 

    This soup is incredible for placing in single serve containers and storing in the fridge. Meal prep for quick on the go lunches for when you need something quick. I think the flavor just blends even more as it sits in the fridge. 

    In terms of freezing, you will find you can freeze this soup. The vegetables will change a bit in texture as they thaw, but the flavor of this soup is still amazing and tasty. Pasta, as well, can become a bit mushy, so if you know you are going to freeze, cook to al dente. 

    How to Make in the Slow Cooker

    You can also make Busy Day Soup in the slow cooker. Cook the ground beef first on the stove.  Add all the ingredients except the pasta to the slow cooker. Cook on low heat for 6 hours. Add in the uncooked pasta when there is only 30 minutes left of cooking time.

    Craving More Soup Recipes 

    • Stuffed Pepper Soup | If you enjoy stuffed peppers, you will love this incredible soup recipe. You get all the flavors of stuffed peppers but without all the work. 
    • Dill Pickle Soup | Serve up this comforting and filling soup. If you know someone who loves pickles, this soup was made for them. 
    • Cauliflower Soup with Bacon | You have a creamy soup that is loaded with cauliflower flavor and then topped with crispy bacon in every single bite. 

    For other delicious soup recipes, try my New England Clam Chowder, Hamburger Soup, Cream of Celery SoupCream of Carrot SoupCheeseburger Chowder, Sausage & Cabbage Soup and Cabbage Roll Soup.

    What are your favourite recipes for busy days?

    Busy Day Soup - An easy soup recipe your family will love! It's quick to make and takes little effort. Perfect for those busy weeknights.
    4.49 from 3776 votes

    Busy Day Soup

    Created by Stacie Vaughan
    Servings 6
    Prep Time 5 minutes
    Cook Time 1 hour 25 minutes
    Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
    An easy soup recipe your family will love! It’s quick to make and takes little effort. Perfect for those busy weeknights.

    Ingredients
     
     

    • 1 lb ground beef
    • 1 packet onion soup mix
    • 1 ¾ cup mixed frozen vegetables
    • 5 cups water
    • 1 can diced tomatoes 28oz can
    • 1 cup macaroni uncooked

    Instructions

    • In a large soup pot, brown ground beef. Drain fat.
    • Pour in water, onion soup mix and tomatoes with juice. Simmer for 1 hour on medium low.
    • Add macaroni and frozen vegetables. Cook 15 minutes longer on medium heat. Serve hot.

    Video

    Notes

    If soup is too thick, add more water to thin out.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1bowl | Calories: 230kcal | Carbohydrates: 28.5g | Protein: 22.1g | Fat: 3.1g | Saturated Fat: 1.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.4g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 45.2mg | Sodium: 522.4mg | Fiber: 5.1g | Sugar: 5g

    The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

    Course Soups
    Cuisine American
    Keyword busy day soup, easy recipes, ground beef, soup recipes

    Did you make this recipe?

    I’d love to see it! Make sure to share it on your favorite social platform.

    Want Even More Recipes?

    Join Moms Best Recipes to find more delicious family recipes.


    The Best of Simply Stacie ebook cover.

    free ebook!

    The Best of Simply Stacie

    When you subscribe to the newsletter for the latest updates!

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    534 Comments

    1. We love easy recipes especially since all of our days are busy! This recipe is being Featured at the next Merry Monday party in a roundup of 7 or Less Ingredient Recipes. Hope to see you back next week.

    2. Has anyone tried replacing the water with beef broth?  I might try this.??

        1. Charlotte Harpole says:

          How easy and tasty. I made it. My husband and I loved it..

      1. I just put the soup on and I substituted 3 of the 5 cups with beef broth, I’ll let ya know how it turns out! 

      2. I finished making the soup and this is what I ended up substituting all together, 
        4 cups ( I Box ) beef broth AND then 2 cups of water . I’ve never made this soup before so I can’t compare it to just using the 5 cups of water, but with the substitutions it’s delicious! 

        1. Did you still put the onion mix in

      3. I added a beef bouillon cube to it. Loved the recipe except I used a can of veg all instead of frozen veggies. It was delicious.  Definitely a keeper and so easy

    3. What would I need to modify in order to use a crockpot?

      1. I would brown the ground beef first and then add all the ingredients to the slow cooker. I think low for 6 hours would work.

      2. Dawn gibson says:

        I did this for only 3 hours and do not recommend.  The macaroni was like glue. I felt like the soup needed more flavor

        1. To prevent gluey macaroni in the slow cooker, boil the noodles separately and add them in to the soup right before serving.

        2. I just made the busy day soup for the first time today. My husband is a soup eater, so I double the recipe. I did add extra soup mix to the pot. It’s really a great soup and easy to make. Thank you for sharing.

    4. Do the noodles go into this recipe uncooked?

    5. My family and I had this for dinner last night. I loved how easy it was and that I didn’t have to chop up anything. I did make a couple of changes. I used 4 cups (or 1 box) of beef broth, 1 cup of water, and 1 heaping TBSP of better than bouillon paste. I also seasoned it with salt and pepper and a little garlic powder. It was delicious! I think this is a great blank canvas for you to experiment with spices and seasonings and adjust it to how you like it. We served this with grilled cheese sandwiches. Yummy!

      1. I’m making it right now with your suggestions!

      2. If I use the suggestion of a previous poster for beef broth and Better Than Bouillon paste, would you still use the packet of onion soup mix or are these substitutes for that?

      3. I did the same and turned out great.  Making it for church meal tonight

    6. Annie Scroggins says:

      It is getting cooler weather and soup time. I LOVE LOVE SOUPS ALL KINDS. I MAKE A LARGE STOCKPOT AND PUT SOME IN THE FREEZER AND THEN SOME TO NEIGHBORS. I love TACO SOUPS ESPECIALLY

    7. Does the meat simmer for an hour? Or go in after with veggies and noodles?

    8. Looks amazing, can’t wait to try it.

    9. Do you one packet that comes in the onion soup mix box or both packets? 

    10. Great soup I used beef broth 32oz. instead of water. I added water later because it was thick not much.

    Similar Posts