When you’re short on time, but want a homemade dinner that is hearty and filling, this is the recipe to reach for. It has been shared hundreds of thousands of times, and is beloved by readers all over the world. The creaminess makes it more palatable for those picky eaters. Parents everywhere love how easy it is to add an extra serving of veggies with this one, too.
“We made this for the first time this week, and everyone loved it. It was super quick and easy, great for a busy week night, and my picky eaters didn’t even complain about the tomatoes. Thanks for a simple but fantastic dinner!” – Emily N.
Why This Soup is Creamier Than The Rest
If you love macaroni tomato soup, but you’re a fan of creamier bases, this is the perfect recipe for you. It blends a tomato and broth base with just enough cream cheese to give it a smoother texture.
Pro tip: make sure your cream cheese is room temperature before adding it to prevent clumping
Key Ingredients for Creamy Ground Beef and Tomato Macaroni Soup
- Ground beef: The main protein of this soup is ground beef. We like to use 85/15 ground beef, but you can sub this out for a leaner cut.
- Chicken stock: we like the flavor this gives it without overpowering the beef flavor. If you want a stronger beef flavor, switch out the chicken stock for beef stock.
- Spaghetti sauce: any brand/flavor will do. We love using the Classico Roasted Garlic one for a stronger garlic flavor in the soup. The Tomato Basil one is a good variation, too, and pairs well with the fresh basil.
- Cream cheese: 4 ounces is enough to give this soup a creamy texture without overpowering the soup.
- Elbow macaroni: regular macaroni works great, but we also love using whole wheat macaroni in this recipe. Readers have also had success using gluten free pasta in this recipe.
Tips for Perfect Pasta Texture
- Don’t overcook the pasta. To save time, space, and dishes, the pasta cooks directly in the soup. It should be served immediately to keep the pasta from continuing to cook and getting too soft.
- If you plan on freezing or keeping the soup for more than one night, we would recommend cooking the pasta separately. Add it to each serving as you eat it, and it will help keep the pasta from getting too mushy.
Reader Favorite Variations and Substitutions
- This soup is delicious as is, but it’s also really easy to personalize to better fit your family’s tastes. Below are some reader favorite twists on this yummy soup.
- Protein swap: ground beef is great, but you could also use ground sausage, ground turkey, or ground chicken.
- Vegetable additions: want to boost the veggies and nutrients? Try stirring in some spinach and letting it wilt slightly before serving. Add mushrooms or matchstick carrots when you’re cooking the onions. Add in roasted red peppers or fire roasted tomatoes for a different flavor.
- Seasoning change: many readers have suggested swapping out the salt for a 1-ounce ranch dressing mix packet instead. Other readers have also swapped out the oregano for Italian seasoning with great results.
- Pasta substitution: This is written with elbow macaroni in mind, but other readers have had great success using different types. Some other favorites include: ditalini, gluten free pasta, and rotini.
Storage and Reheating
Once the soup has cooled, you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Just remember that the pasta will continue to absorb liquid, so it will be slightly more mushy with each passing day.
If you want to prevent the macaroni from getting too soggy, cook it and store it separately. Then, add it to each serving before eating.
To reheat, you’ll want to do this one over the stove on low heat, as high heat can make the pasta extra mushy.
To freeze the soup, you’ll want to make the base only and freeze it (through step three). When you’re ready to make it, you can thaw the base in the refrigerator overnight, heat it in a saucepot, and continue cooking. Start at step four (where you add the cream cheese) and finish it off.
Frequently Asked Questions About This Ground Beef and Tomato Soup
You can substitute mascarpone for a richer flavor. Substitute neufchâtel for a lower fat option. If you want a higher protein option, use blended cottage cheese. If you want a Tomato Macaroni Soup without cream cheese at all, try this recipe.
We love to use the Classico brand. It’s decently priced and has some delicious flavor variations. See the key ingredient sections for more on this. Honestly, any kind of spaghetti sauce will work in this recipe, though.
Yes, but you’ll want to cook it slightly differently. Please see the note in the recipe card for more details.
What to serve with with soup:
You can go with a classic soup, salad, and breadsticks angle. We have a copycat Olive Garden Breadstick recipe that pairs really nicely. You can add a fresh Italian Salad, too. It’s also really delicious with a quick, sweet cornbread.
More Cozy Soup Recipes You’ll Love
Creamy Ground Beef and Macaroni Tomato Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 onion, diced
- 3 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 26 ounces spaghetti sauce
- 14 ounces diced tomatoes, drained
- 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- ¼ cup fresh basil, roughly chopped, divided
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat elbow macaroni, or regular elbow macaroni
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium heat, add the ground beef and onion and cook until the beef is no longer pink. Add in garlic and cook for a minute more.
- Add salt, pepper and oregano to the beef and stir to combine.
- Pour in chicken stock, spaghetti sauce, and diced tomatoes, then bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
- Whisk in the cream cheese until it is completely mixed in and then add 1/2 of the fresh basil.
- Pour in the pasta, stir and let cook for another 10 minutes with the lid on or until the pasta is tender.
- Spoon into bowls and garnish with the leftover basil.
Notes
Nutrition
Video
Did You Make This Recipe?We’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a review or a question in the comment section below the post.
It really brigs family to gather around the table 🙂 Thank you !
Looks delish!
I’m making it today as I have all the ingredients in the house. Thanks for sharing!
Perfect, loved it. Have made it several times.
My kids loved this one… I sprinkled the “stoup” with parmesan and served it with garlic bread, and they raved and had seconds. Thanks much!!
I always try a recipe exactly as written then make changes (if needed) the second time I make it. It really bothers me when people make changes and then criticize!
Anyway…I won’t change a single thing! This is soooo good!
This was an AMAZING dish! My family loved it! I did add mushrooms. But other than that I fallowed the recipe. I will definitely be making again! Thanks so much for sharing!
Hi Megan. We are so glad that your family liked the Ground Beef and Macaroni Tomato Soup. We just came out with a new Easy Homemade Tomato Soup. It’s our favorite and here is the link – https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/easy-homemade-tomato-soup/
It goes great with these Grilled Cheese Sliders. https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/recipe/grilled-cheese-sliders/
Easy & quick. Completely delicious!!!!
I loved this soup!!! I did make a small change. I used ground sausage, it was awesome!!
This is such a delicious soup! I made it for supper tonight–easy and tasty.
Sooo yummy! Perfect, (and quick!) comfort food for cooler weather. I used ditalini pasta instead of elbows, and I added about 1 cup more because I wanted it to be more like a pasta dish instead of soup-like. It turned out great and plenty of leftovers! Will definitely add this to my rotation this winter.
This was a big hit with my family. I added 1 packet Ranch Dressing Mix in place of the salt and it was delicious.
I made this for family dinner with my inlaws, everyone loved it, even the little ones! Will be adding this into our rotation!
My whole family loved this and my daughter said we should add it to our weekly meals. So good!
This was easy…I found I didn’t have any oregano…I used Italian seasoning…still was great…thanks
Is this freezable?
It should freeze pretty well in a freezer container or freezer bag.
this soup has a lot of flavor. adding the spaghetti for sauce gave it a nice, fresh tomato flavor. i didn’t have cream cheese. i used Mascarpone. it was delicious. i will surely make this again. thank you.
Is the macaroni supposed to be cooked?? Cuz it seems like it should be uncooked
Add the pasta in uncooked. After you add in the pasta is says to cook for 10 minutes in the directions. That’s when it will cook.
This was delicious I will add ranch like another review suggested the next time! I love your recipes just wish you had nutrition information for the recipes.
The nutrition information is right under the recipe instructions.
Do you drain the ground beef after it cooks?
Yes, you’ll want to drain the grease.
This soup is delicious. The first time I made it I added carrots with the onions and beef and used leftover tomato soup instead of sauce but cut out some water. The second time I didn’t have cream cheese and used marscapone instead. Both times it tasted great. It’s a great recipe to use up leftover pasta, sauce and tomato soup.
We love hearing the substitutions you used when you have been short on ingredients!
I made this soup for dinner tonight. What an incredible taste! So delicious! I will definitely be making this again! Yum!
Made mine with ground turkey, delicious!!
This was delicious!! I usually make things with ground Turkey and I did that tonight. I had some other pasta like rotini. My husband and 3 kids all loved it too! Thanks for an easy weeknight meal!
Absolutely delicious! Will definitely make again.
Made this recipe last night and it was sooooooo good and very easy to make! I even snuck in some chopped baby spinach and nobody noticed. We all liked this soup a lot! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
We made this for the first time this week, and everyone loved it. It was super quick and easy for a we, great for a busy week night, and my picky eaters didn’t even complain about the tomatoes. Thanks for a simple but fantastic dinner!
This was so good! Everyone loved even my 1.5yr finished his whole bowl. Thank you!
My entire family loved this one!
What is the serving size?
Excellent recipe!!! Definitely recommend!!
Delicious! I altered a few things: deer meat, splash of white wine vinegar with the onions and deer. Added some cayenne and crushed red pepper flakes. Used a can of stewed tomatoes, can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, small can tomato sauce, 2
Big spoonfuls of tomato paste. Eye balled most of the spices. Super yummy! And made a ton!
This recipe is soooo good! The broth is creamy…and the noodles…yummy! Followed recipe exactly with the exception of adding a little more salt for our taste. The only thing to chop is the onion, ground the beef and then dump everything else in as recipe denotes. Always excited when I find a keeper 🙂
Really love this one. I add some cut spinach to it that my whole family eats and doesn’t realize is there!
Love! Love! Love this recipe so much! I made it twice this week already I love how easy it is to make. A one pot meal! I do sprinkle it with Parmesan cheese when I add it to my bowl! So Yummy
Recipe looks delicious but I’m looking for clarification on the “spaghetti sauce” ingredient. Is that supposed to be jarred pasta sauce or a can of plain tomato sauce? Thanks!
You will want to use the jar pasta sauce (spaghetti sauce) for the most flavor.
Great recipe!! Keeper for sure
Delicious! I made it exactly as the directions said. For the spaghetti sauce I used a half jar of Prego Traditional (reduced sodium) and a half jar of Prego Italian Sausage & Garlic and the flavor is perfection! Will definitely be making this again. And soon!
Made this last night with ground turkey and we finished the whole pot! My family loved it. Thank you for the recipe.
So glad to hear that the family liked it! It is great with ground turkey too!
will this freeze or keep in refrigerator
Leftovers will keep great in the fridge for another night.
Serving size? 🙂
It’s a little over a cup. A good hearty soup.
I can’t wait to try! What is considered a serving size? Roughly one cup?
Cooking from the pantry tonight and this recipe fit the bill it hurthe bill it’s perfect and warm and yummy for a cold rainy night we are going through tropical storm right now and remember right now and this was perfect thank you for the recipe
Cooking from the pantry tonight and this recipe fit the bill it’s perfect and warm and yummy for a cold rainy night we are going through tropical storm right now and this was perfect added 1/2 of milk to make it a bit creamier and used ground sausage instead of ground beef. It was delicious thank you for the recipe
I doubled the meat (2 very athletic kiddos in the house) and used reduced fat cream cheese and gluten free pasta. This was a fantabulous soup. No I didn’t make it exactly as written, but the changes didn’t make a difference to the flavors. Both kids told me this is a make again. So it was a big hit!
Can I cook this in an instant pot?
Excellent! I will make this again, exactly as directed.
You could convert this into Instant Pot cooking, but it only takes 30 minutes from start to finish as it is. It’s a pretty quick recipe.
We are so glad to hear that your family loved the soup. It’s fun to add your own twist to recipes and make them to suit your families tastes.
A great recipe, so tasty. Thank you for posting
This soup was so easy to make and very filling. Perfect on a cold day. I will definitely make this again.
My family loves the recipe
Thanks Melanie! It’s one of our favorites too!
What brand of spaghetti sauce do you use?
Any spaghetti sauce will do. We have used Raos, and all the way down to store brands. They all taste great.
Delicious! I added some fire roasted peppers and used fire roasted diced tomatoes. Next time I think I will cook the pasta on the side rather than directly in the soup as it did get a little too soft. Thank you for the recipe! Will definitely add to my soup rotation.
I made this for a potluck Christmas lunch party, and it was the only soup to get devoured completely! I will definitely be making again. It was hearty and delicious! Great recipe!
Would sour cream work in place of cream cheese?
You can substitute sour cream for cream cheese in recipes. The taste will be different since they don’t taste the same. But the soup will still be delicious.
Really really like this recipe. My family all agreed that it was delicious. Simple ingredients and comes together pretty quickly as a one-pot meal.
Some modifications based on what I had available:
– I used homemade beef-tomato stock instead of chicken stock
– I used herbed cream cheese instead of plain
– I threw in 2 full cups of noodles and would consider 2 1/2 cups next time
– I did not add the can of tomatoes (because my stock was already tomato-flavoured)
Will happily make this again!
Thanks for sharing the modifications you made. It’s always great to know in case viewers don’t have every ingredient.
Can I make this in the crockpot?
You could make it in the crockpot but you will need to make some adjustments. Cooking the beef and onion together first. When adding in the pasta at the very end, you will want that to be cooked beforehand.
We’ve made this a staple in our regular rotation. We have a family of 6 and it’s always a hit. So nice to have recipes that are a “home run”. This is a great recipe!
I’ve made this recipe twice. It uses simple ingredients, doesn’t take much time to whip up and is delicious and filling.
This recipe is really tasty! My only issue when making it is that the macaroni continues to absorb the sauce after cooking it. Within 30 minutes the pasta becomes large and over cooked. I am wondering if anyone has tried to cook the pasta separately and then add it to the soup. Wonder if this will fix the problem. It really is delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
You can absolutely try making it that way! Let us know how it turns out!
This was fun to make and very yummy! I used a chunky vegetable spaghetti sauce to add more veggies and flavor.
The is was a delicious soup! I made it tonight for dinner as it is now soup season, I made it exactly how the recipe says too, except I added 2 extra cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of water, as well as I peeled 3 carrots and cut them into small pieces to put into the soup. It reminded me of a minestrone soup, sort of with ground beef. Our daughter went mmmmm so good after every bite, and my hubby said he really enjoyed it as well, but that it would be better as a lunch instead. Thank you so very much for this recipe! 10/10 would recommend!!
This is definitely a crowd pleaser. I make this recipe as written and family and guests are fans. I often use my homemade chicken bone broth for more added goodness! Thanks for sharing.
This was so delicious! I mistakenly poured in the entire box of elbow noodles (1lb) along with everything else as written. It turned into a hamburger helper like meal. It was DYNAMITE!!!! My hubby and I nearly licked the bowl clean. It heated up amazingly too. Soooo good!
This was absolutely delicious! I did add a ranch seasoning packet in place of the salt like many others suggested. Can’t wait to make this again!!!
Very nice! I didn’t have diced so I used big can of whole tomatoes. The flavors are really warm. Makes a lot of soup!
Pretty sure this is my new all time favorite soup!!! Wow!
I’ve had this before, but this time the cream cheese didn’t mix in just kinda a little pebbles in there. I did use a whipped cream cheese. Also, I think the recipe could be more clear about cooked or uncooked macaroni as I did cook it first because I wasn’t sure.
This is a great recipe for our chilly Alaskan days. I have made this several times, usually with homemade beef or chicken bone broth. Everyone around the table agrees, it’s a keeper for meal rotations! Thanks for sharing.
I am confused about why all the ratings are 5 stars. I made this because is that, and was then very disappointed. The noodles cooking in the soup became way overcooked and mushy, and then soaked up all the juice. So the soup turned into a very rich pasta. I brought to a dinner where I was to bring soup and was laughed at.