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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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 Soup, Cream of Carrot Soup, Cheeseburger Chowder, Sausage & Cabbage Soup and Cabbage Roll Soup.
What are your favourite recipes for busy days?
Busy Day Soup
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
Nutrition
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.
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Busy day soup that takes 1.5 hours? This is more of a Sunday meal for my family.
If you omitted the ground beef, could you shorten the 1 hour time at the beginning? Looking to make a veggie version, thanks!
I would probably still cook it for an hour so the flavours have a chance to develop more.
Soup was excellent and my 6 and 8 yo loved it so win win! I used venison instead of beef as it was all I had. Subbed homemade veggie stock instead of water since I had to use it up. The only mistake I made was putting extra pasta and it cooked up more than I thought it would. So beware unless you want extra pasta to only put in the amount the recipe says. Will definitely make again!
My mother always believed in adding separately/fully cooked pasta to bowls of soup. She believed that not only did adding uncooked pasta to soup suck up the broth, but it also “soured the leftover soup”. I have always followed her lead. Try it.
I am a new mom and this recipe was quite easy to do. I made this for the first time last night. I took the advice of others and used a 32 oz box (4 cups) of beef broth and 1 cup water. I also went a head and doubled the recipe, so my husband and I would have another couple of meals over the coming weeks. Thank you for such a delicious easy soup!
I love the soup!!!! I just made it and it’s delicious…thankyou for posting it..it’s filling and I sided it with nice Italian bread..
My husband found this recipe and I’m surprised at how quick and easy it was to make plus it was flavorful! I added a can of tomato sauce to the water and Gallic salt, pepper and a dash of Worcester sauce. I was not sure if the 1hour simmer required the lid on the pot or not so I put it on (hope that’s correct)! Looking forward to trying another recipe! My family loved it!
Topped with cheese to individual bowls. So good!
Hit with my kids. Also added an extra 1/2 cup macaroni, 1 can tomato soup, worchestire sauce, garlic powder and salt. Will try beef broth next time too! This is in the rotation 🙂
Absolutely Delicious !! I didn’t have onion soup mix , so I used onion powder & celery salt. Served it piping hot, sprinkled some mozzarella cheese on top & crusty bread along side . So good !!
This was amazing .. I followed the recipe but made a few changes and additions.. 5 cups of beef broth instead of water, a can of tomato sauce, chopped onion, 2 packages of onion soup mix instead of 1, and Ditalini pasta instead of macaroni. Threw everything in the crockpot to cook (except beef and onions were cooked skillet and drained) and the last 20 minutes I added the pasta.
I have made this soup several times now, and is great every time. Tonight I am using chicken instead of beef.