Sundowner Soup is a delicious Italian inspired economical dish that’s easy to make, with ground beef, rice, and vegetables in a tomato based broth.
Let me start by saying I HAVE NO IDEA WHY IT IS CALLED SUNDOWNER SOUP. I suppose it might be because you can make up a big pot of this soup in about the same time it takes the sun to set? Well, I don’t really know how or why it got its name, but that’s my story… and I’m sticking with it!
Recently I found this recipe in a 20 year old cookbook. The name of the soup intrigued me, since it apparently had NOTHING to do with the ingredients. I had already laid out one pound of hamburger meat to use for dinner, so decided to give this recipe for sundowner soup a try.
What I can tell you after making it is this: Sundowner soup is delicious, only uses one pound of hamburger meat, and has lots of veggies. The recipe makes a large pot of soup, and is ready in a very short amount of time (under 30 minutes). If you can chop/slice veggies and brown hamburger meat, you can make this soup!
Scroll Down For A Printable Recipe Card At The Bottom Of The Page
How To Make Sundowner Soup
Here’s how you make this tasty (and economical) Italian-flavored soup: Brown the chopped onion and hamburger meat in a large soup pot. Easy, right?
When the meat has browned fully, drain off the grease, and then stir in the sliced carrots and celery. Cook these veggies for 3-4 minutes, until they begin to soften.
Add canned tomatoes, beef broth, cooking sherry, water, Swiss chard, rice, and herbs to the soup pot. Bring the liquid to a boil, and then simmer (covered) for 15 minutes.
Finish Making The Soup
After soup has cooked for 15 minutes, add the remaining half of the Swiss chard. Give the sundowner soup a taste, and season with a bit of salt and pepper, to your liking. Cover and cook the soup for 5 additional minutes.
Now uncover the soup pot. The rice should be fully cooked and the soup will have thickened up. If you want the sundowner soup thinner, simply add a bit more water and stir.
Serve The Sundowner Soup
Ladle the hot sundowner soup into serving bowls. Garnish the top of each bowl of soup with finely grated Parmesan cheese (optional, but oh, so good!). Serve with some crusty bread on the side, and enjoy. Sundowner soup is quite a filling meal, because it has meat, veggies and rice, all in one dish! I think you will enjoy it!
Hope you will give sundowner soup a try. My husband and I LOVED it! Have a great day. Look around and focus on the multitude of things you (and I) can be grateful for! They are all around.
Looking For More SOUP Recipes?
I have lots of soup recipes! They can be found in the Recipe Index, located at the top of the page. A few favorites include:
- Grandma’s Southern-Style Chicken n’ Dumplings (My most pinned recipe!)
- Mom’s Old Fashioned Chili
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Albondigas Soup
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Recipe Source: The cookbook called “A Dinner A Day”, by Sally Sondheim & Suzannah Sloan, pg. 46, Published by Warner Books, 1996.
↓↓ PRINTABLE RECIPE BELOW ↓↓
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 medium onion , chopped
- 3 stalks celery , sliced
- 5 medium carrots , peeled and sliced
- 1 medium bunch Swiss chard (may substitute spinach, if desired)
- 1 large can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes (undrained)
- 1 can (14.5 ounces) beef broth
- 1/4 cup cooking sherry (may substitute beef broth)
- 2 cups water
- 1/3 cup long grain white rice
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 Tablespoon seasoning salt
- (additional salt and pepper, to taste)
- Grated Parmesan cheese (for garnish - optional, but good!)
- Brown ground beef and chopped onion in a large soup pot, stirring occasionally. Drain off grease when done.
- While meat is browning, slice celery, peel and slice carrots, and chop Swiss chard (or spinach).
- When beef and onions are cooked and drained, add sliced celery and carrots to pan. Cook for 3 minutes.
- Add tomatoes (and juice), beef broth, sherry, water, HALF of the Swiss chard, rice, basil, thyme and seasoning salt to the pan. Stir well, to combine; bring mixture to a boil on medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low, put a lid on pan, and simmer for 15 minutes (covered).
- After soup has cooked for 15 minutes, add the rest of the Swiss chard. Taste soup; add salt and pepper, if desired. Put lid back on pan and cook soup 5 more minutes. When done, if soup has thickened too much for your liking, simply add a bit of water to pan, and stir to combine.
- Ladle soup into individual bowls; garnish soup with finely grated Parmesan cheese, and enjoy!
- By the way- the leftovers are great, as well!
Here’s one more to pin on your Pinterest boards!