Busy Day Soup
17 Comments Apr 16, 2024
Updated May 20, 2025
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Slow Cooker Busy Day Soup is the perfect meal to have on hand to help offset the whirlwind of busy days. This flavorful meal keeps it simple with ground beef, mixed vegetables, broth, and seasonings for a dinner-saving meal the whole family is sure to enjoy.
Busy Day Soup is the kind of recipe that proves simple can still be delicious. It has a rich, savory flavor and a comforting, hearty texture that makes it satisfying without a lot of effort. With quick prep and minimal cleanup, it’s a perfect dinner solution when time is tight but you still want something that tastes like a real meal.
We also make Chicken in a Hurry or 7 can soup we are short on time.
What’s in Busy Day Soup
Besides the ground beef, this soup has many pantry staples. Find the full recipe in the recipe card below the images.
Ground Beef: Although you’ll cook this prior to adding it to the crock pot, I still recommend using a lean ground beef for less fat/grease. If you have extra slow cooker ground beef, use that!
Diced Tomatoes: This recipe calls for Italian seasoned diced tomatoes, which adds a nice tangy taste.
Mixed Vegetables: Keep it simple by using a bag of frozen vegetables.
Beef Broth: Adds a nice touch of beef flavor to the hearty soup.
Seasonings: Kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.
Onion Soup Mix: Adds an additional dose of flavor. I use the Lipton brand but you can use any brand of your choice.
Helpful Hints
Change up this recipe to make it your own!
- You can use cooked rice instead of minute rice, just use one cup. Or ladle your hot soup over the rice.
- Want to use macaroni? You’ll have to cook a cup on the stovetop before adding to this recipe at the end of the cooking time.
- Add additional broth to the leftovers, as the rice soaks up the broth.
How to Make Busy Day Soup
This soup comes together in two easy steps!
Step One – Brown the ground beef in a skillet, then drain the fat. Add the cooked beef to your slow cooker along with the diced tomatoes, frozen veggies, broth, soup mix, and seasonings—just hold off on the rice for now.
Step Two – Cover and cook on LOW for 5–6 hours or HIGH for 4. Stir in the Minute rice and cook on HIGH for another 45 minutes, or until the rice is tender. Ladle into bowls and serve warm!
Ways to Serve
Ladle a helping of the soup into bowls and top with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese or cheddar cheese. Adding a touch of sour cream adds even more flavor.
Serve alongside crusty bread, garlic breadsticks, or cornbread.
Pair with a crisp green salad tossed in a zesty vinaigrette. We love this homemade Italian dressing recipe.
For an extra kick, add a dash of hot sauce or red pepper flakes.
Busy Day Soup
Ingredients
- 1 lb. lean ground beef
- 15 oz. can Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
- 12 oz. frozen mixed vegetables
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- ½ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. black pepper
- 1 oz. lipton onion soup mix
- 32 oz. Beef broth (one carton)
WAIT TO ADD:
- 1 cup minute brand rice (uncooked)
Instructions
- Cook the ground beef in a skillet on the stove top, drain off any fat.
- Add the ground beef to the slow cooker along with the other ingredients (except the rice).
- Cook on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 4 hours.
- Add the uncooked Minute brand rice and stir. Continue cooking on HIGH For 45 minutes longer or until the rice is done.
- Serve and enjoy!
Sarah’s Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
More Slow Cooker Soup Recipes
- Kielbasa Potato Soup is filled with potatoes, cheese and cream, a cozy pub style soup.
- If you love enchiladas, then try my Green Chicken Enchilada Soup, it’s much lighter than the original form.
- A classic Slow Cooker Beef Lentil Soup, is just like grandma used to make.
- We love this easy, Slow Cooker Ham and Potato Soup which is made from scratch, is a crowd please.
- This copycat recipe for Potato Cheese Soup is a recreation from Marie Callender’s!
- Tangy Dill Pickle Soup is a fun recipe to try, and is great along with buttered bread.
Instant rice is for those that don’t like rice how AWFULL
Instant rice cooks up well in the slow cooker – standard rice does not.
Instead of the rice I am going to add canned drained, rinsed garbanzo beans.
That’s a great substituion.
just my opinion but using rice or any kind of pasta in this soup, i personally wouldn’t cook it in the soup because it soaks up all the liquid so i would add whatever it is i’m adding, already cooked and just put it in your bowl and add the soup…
Very good! One problem though. The rice soak up all the soup broth.
Can macaroni be substituted for the rice? If so, when should it be added and does it need to be cooked prior to adding?
For the best texture, I would boil the macaroni on the stove top, most pastas turn out chalky and mushy in the slow cooker.
I do not use rice of anykind, as it is a filler. I also do not add onions.
If you call rice a “filler” that would apply to each of the other ingredients as well. Also, onions are very good for you.
I see that the recipe is 5 servings. How ucis a serving size, 1 cup?
I apologize, I do not measure. It’s 1/5 of the recipe.
Yummy! Planning on making this! I have leftover rice, would that do? Or what about some kind of pasta? Macaroni or orzo?
Can you use canned vegetables
How much longer should I cook it if I use regular long grain rice?
Can you use regular rice in place of the AWFUL min, rice?
If you cook it first. Standard rice turns chalky and mushy in the slow cooker.