A favorite childhood soup, Noodles and Ground Beef Soup (Campbell's Copycat Recipe) is filled with three noodle shapes, ground beef, finely diced carrots, and green peppers in a flavorful beef broth.
Growing up Campbell's Noodles and Ground Beef Soup was my absolute favorite. I didn't know it by that name, though, my grandmother always called it "Three Kinds of Noodle Soup" because it had three different shapes of noodles. I don't remember what kind of noodles it had exactly, just that they were thin, medium, and thicker noodles, so that's what I used. You can use any kind of noodles you want in this recipe, though I do recommend home style noodles.
Campbell's Noodles and Ground Beef Soup was discontinued sometime in the late 90's or early 2000's from what I can remember. I found one article that says it was 2005, but I don't remember having eaten it for years before that. It's a pretty simple soup to make, and great for both kids and grown-ups!
My version makes a lot of soup, but it freezes well so you can easily have it for dinner twice in one month. You can also use the new recipe card feature below to adjust the serving size and amount of ingredients easily. Normally I would cook the noodles for soup separately to prevent them from becoming mushy, but in this soup I wanted the noodles soft, just like my childhood favorite.
Noodles and Ground Beef Soup
Soups are one of my favorite things to make, and I've shared almost 40 soup recipes, with more coming!
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Noodles and Ground Beef Soup (Campbell's Copycat)
Ingredients
- 3 pounds lean ground beef (80% lean)
- 2 cups finely diced carrots
- 1 cup finely diced green bell pepper
- 14.5 ounces canned diced tomatoes , undrained
- 12 cups beef broth (reduced fat and sodium)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 4 cups assorted dried noodles , uncooked (pictured are store-bought home-style Cicatelli, Fileja, and Busiati
Instructions
- In a large, heavy pot with a lid, brown the ground beef over medium-high heat. Drain and return to the stove.
- Stir the carrots, green pepper, and diced tomatoes with the juice into the cooked ground beef. Pour in the broth, then stir in the tomato paste. Bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, stir in the noodles. Adjust heat to remain at a simmer. Cover and cook for 15 minutes, or until the noodles are tender, stirring occasionally and adjusting the heat if needed.
Sandra Mathis says
The Ground Beef and noodle, the Gazpacho and their chicken with mushrooms and white wine, were my 2 favorites soups. They discontinued them all. I would buy any of those by the case if they brought them out again. I did learn to make my own, but opening a can of Campbell's soup and making a grilled cheese sandwich to go with it is like getting a hug from my mommy. That is a fond memory from childhood.
Teresa says
This and Beef with vegetables and barley are classics...I’ve tried buying the store-brand of the
Beef with Vegetables and Barley as the Campbells brand is a bit pricey but that was a big mistake...different flavor and I don’t know what kind of meat they used but I would swear it could have been horse meat. No, no. No.! There is no substitute for Campbell’s soups and I will happily make this version to recreate my childhood memories.
Jeanna says
I bought 2 cans this morning! I was shocked to see it, because I'd only heard about it. I've never tasted it until now, so I googled it for a homemade recipe, and came across your blog.
Bernadette says
Wow! I can't believe you found cans! I thought it was completely discontinued.
Dottie says
What store did you get it at?
Tammy Duffy says
I will make this forsure. We use to always go to nannys house and we always ate noodles and ground beef soup and never could get enough. Wish they still made this. Best soup ever. I have missed this soup and still look for it when being on the soup isle. I keep thinking some day I will look up and there it will be on the shelves. I could eat this everyday.
Bernadette says
Hi Tammy, I know I wish they would bring it back!
Connie says
Can’t wait to try this! Growing up we called it “Mama Bear, Papa Bear, and Baby Bear” soup! I’ve missed it so much, will give it a try soon. Thank you!
Terri says
I am so happy I found this recipe. It really takes me back. This was always my favorite soup as a child and I've missed it so much! Thank you!
Donna Edwards says
I forgot to rate!
Donna Edwards says
It was delicious! I used medium homestyle egg noodles for the widest along with fettuccine and linguine (broken in 1/3rd lengths). i was pleased with my selection. I wasn’t sure how to measure dry pasta into cups and I used too much (if that’s even possible because I love noodles!). I just ended up shoet on broth when putting leftovers in containers for freezing. It did taste just as I remember the canned soup tasting. I will definitely cook this again and again. Thank you!
Ellen says
Thanks for the recipe. I loved this soup growing up. My gram served it with slices of bread and butter for a great Saturday night dinner.
Another one was Scotch Broth. She would mix it with a can of Beef with Vegetables and Barley Soup and when served would put bits of buttered bread on top to soak up broth.
Ah the days of not worrying too much about fats, salts and calories.
Going to make this tonight?
Bernadette says
I hope you liked it! It is still one of my favorites.
Luana Davis says
Alas, Noodles and Ground Beef was my favorite too! Some years back Campbell's held an anniversary special for our wonderful soup, I bought 8 cans and left the rest of the cans on the shelf for others ( then went back for more and it was gone). I have regretted giving one of my cans to a niece who had never tasted it before, she loved it! I will try your recipe!!
Bernadette says
Hi Luana, I never saw that anniversary special, I'm sorry I missed it! I hope you like my version!
Karen says
This recreation of the Campbell's Noodles and Ground Beef soup is wonderful. I just made it and followed the recipe exactly as listed. Was so happy to taste that delicious broth and flavor again. My only mistake was adding a whole bag of dry noodles (16 ozs), instead of measuring out 4 cups of dry noodles. Although my batch has extra noodles, the flavor is amazingly like the original Noodles and Ground Beef Soup. Thank you Bernadette!
Bernadette says
I'm so glad you liked it! Usually when I make soups I do throw a whole bag of noodles in, it was just measured in this case to get an equal amount of each noodles.
Kim says
I can’t wait to try this! I have wondered for years why this was discontinued! But, now no worries as I’m sure this is pretty close to the original, minus the green pepper. I don’t remember green pepper in it though. Thanks!
Bernadette says
Hi Kim, sorry it took me so long to respond! I didn't remember green pepper in it, either, but when I was thinking about making this soup I did some research and found the label from the can online with the ingredients listed. I hope you liked it if you tried it already!
Jenn says
As we all can agree it was the best darn soup ever!
I bought all the stuff for my version just today and will be making it in the instapot tomorrow.
I however DO put carrots, onions, celery and bell peppers.
Another thing I do is besides ground beef I add a few pieces of sirloin to break down in the soup to get that nice andvtender, almost stringy beef pieces!
I use three noodles too.
A kluski noodle, a spaetzle and a thin egg noodle. My family absolutely loves this when I make it and it’s the best part of fall!
Bernadette says
Sounds great Jenn!
Gena Rositano says
I loved this soup as a child....second to only their "vegetarian vegetable) that for some reason i used to love while watching "lost in space".......I've made this as well....my recipe is very close to yours...but i'm going to try yours as i didn't use tomato paste or fresh vegetable....i used frozen mixed, with peas, corn, carrots, lima and green beans....fresh would be better..thanks for posting
Bernadette says
Great, I hope you like it!
Ken says
It was my fave! Local stores discontinued it here in the 90s. Sometime in the early 2000s I emailed Campbell's and asked why they stopped making it. They said No! We still make it and you can get it at Netgrocer.com. Remember that site?! I bought a few cases. When I ran out a few months later, I went to order more and found out that Campbell's had canceled it.
Ken says
Was my favorite soup as well. When we couldn’t find it on our local grocery shelves, we went online and a little shop back east that had 4 cases in stock. We bought them all and have never seen it again. Wish Campbell’s would bring it back.
Bernadette says
I'm sorry I missed your comment. I hadn't noticed when they discontinued it until I went looking for it and couldn't find it anywhere. My version comes very close to what I remember. I hope you try it.
Marilyn Rowland says
Not celery, bell pepper....
Bernadette says
I was able to find the original product information online and the ingredients list did include carrots and bell pepper. I remember the carrots, it just might have been a little less bell pepper than I used. It would be fine if you left them out.
Marilyn Rowland says
This too was my favorite and I was so disappointed when it was discontinued. I don't remember it having carrots and celery though. I am definitely going to try this recipe.
Bernadette says
I'm so sorry I missed your comment, I hope you tried it and liked it!
Linda Baker says
This was my favorite Campbell's soup. I was heart broken when they discontinued it, but, thanks to you I can now make it to my taste and enjoy it once again!!!!
Bernadette says
I hope you like it, I wish I decided to make it sooner!
Susanna says
Thank you! Going to make this for sure!! And like you, I didn't call it by that name - I called it "soup that I love..."
Bernadette says
That is a very good name for it! I hope you like it!
Mark says
Thanks! This was absolutely my favourite of all Campbell's soups when I was young too. I can't believe that they discontinued this one...I haven't eaten it in years but I too was compelled to try and make my own version of this soup.
Thanks for the memories.
Bernadette says
It was my favorite, too! I'm glad you liked it and the memories!