An ultrathin and simultaneously broadband high impedance surface absorber based on a metamaterial (MM) substrate is presented at microwave frequencies. The MM substrate is designed using metallic split ring resonators (SRRs) vertically embedded into a dielectric slab. Both the simulated and experimental results display two absorption peaks and an expanded absorption bandwidth of less than -10 dB compared to conventional ultrathin absorbers. By analyzing the field distributions and the substrate impedance characteristics, it is found that this feature is mainly related to the LC resonance of the substrate caused by the embedded SRRs. Our results demonstrate the great feasibility of broadening the absorption bandwidth of the ultrathin high impedance surface absorbers by the MMs incorporation.