I looked all over the internet and did not find a recipe for this soup that my mom made during my childhood. So I’m putting it out there. We loved it as kids. And it’s easy to make. It never really had a name. We just called it “that potato and hamburger soup with the French onion dip in it.”
Potato Hamburger Soup with French Onion Dip
2 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced
1 pound ground beef
1 small yellow onion, diced (this is how my Mom made it…I use 1 T. dry onion flakes due to an allergy DH has to fresh onion)
1 tsp. dry basil
1 tsp. dry parsley
2 chopped garlic cloves or 1/4 tsp. garlic powder (or more to taste)
1/2 tsp. celery seed
freshly ground pepper to taste (Personally, I like a lot of pepper in this soup.)
milk
1/4 c. flour / add enough milk to make one cup and whisk to remove all lumps
8 oz. French Onion Dip
salt to taste (Don’t add salt until you’ve tasted the finished soup, as the dip has a lot of salt in it.)
Boil the potatoes in water until soft. Drain. I pour the water off, just until I can’t pour more off without losing potatoes. I don’t drain all the water off. The water contains starch which helps thicken the soup.
Meanwhile, brown the ground beef and onion in a skillet. (Note: I doubled the recipe when I took these pictures…the soup was going to a church supper…filled a large crock pot when finished.)
After draining the potatoes, add the meat and onion to the pot.
Add enough milk to top the mixture by 1/2 – 1 inch.
Add the spices.
Add the flour/milk mixture and cook for ten minutes, stirring now and then, until soup has thickened. Add more milk if it’s too thick for your preference.
Turn off the heat.
Add the French onion dip to the soup and stir well. If you add it and then reheat the soup to a high temperature, the dip may curdle.
Taste and add salt if needed.
Except for the spices, which I just had to add, that’s the way I remember my mother making it. No embellishments.
Next time I make it, I will add freshly diced celery and carrots to the potatoes as they cook. And if I have fresh parsley, I’ll finely chop a small bunch of that and stir it into the finished soup.
I’m wondering how this would taste made with an envelope of Lipton onion soup mix and a container of sour cream instead of the French onion dip. Close enough to the original?
When I made the soup last night, it really brought back memories of the kitchen in our house on Oakland Avenue. Just smelling the aroma while the soup simmered took me back. I felt like I was in high school again. Yikes…
~~Rhonda
8 Comments
That looks soooo yummy! I’ve never seen a recipe for soup that called for the dip. Very convenient as well. We’re still in the soup mode so I may try this. Hope you’re having a good weekend!
Debbie, I hope you give it a try and that you enjoy it! ~~Rhonda 🙂
I made this tonight, and while i was making it i realized (before I saw your notes at the bottom) that I had no french onion dip so I took soup mix and it tasted just like the dip! Very filling soup and delicious 😀
i made this soup yesterday…IT WAS WONDERFUL… i used some of your ideas at the end of your recipe and i used kraft onion dip…well the dh was really impressed and me too…we’re have left overs tonite…thanks for sharing this recipe…will forsure make it again!!!
Chris, I’m so glad you gave the soup a try and that you liked it so much! My Mom passed away the week before Christmas and revisiting this blog post brought back a lot of memories. She made this often and we all loved it. Thank you for leaving a comment! ~~Rhonda
if you’re out of the dip, you could always use a pack or two of the soup mix and then add a little sour cream to the soup.
My grandmother was very poor when my father was little and made a poor man’s version of this. Ground beef, 2 can of white whole potatoes, a packet of onion soup mix, a can of evaporated milk and peas if she had them. Always made in her electric frying pan. I loved going to her house knowing she would make this me and now I’ve made it many times for my daughter’s who it. Easy and inexpensive. Your recipe sounds like it might taste pretty similar to hers.
Sande, thanks so much for your comment. It is interesting to hear your grandmother made a similar dish. I wonder if it is something that was well known in those years. Every time I make it, it takes me right back to my mother’s kitchen. 🙂 ~~Rhonda
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[…] stock those chicken bones make. My sister-in-law brought a Vegan chili that was wonderful. I made the hamburger and potato soup with the French onion dip in it that Mom used to make. Dad said it tasted like Mom’s, and there were no leftovers, so I think it was a hit. The […]