Vegetable Beef Barley Soup

Slow Cooker Vegetable Beef Barley Soup is hearty and comforting, easy to make, and incredibly delicious! It’s absolutely bursting with tender beef, good-for-you vegetables, and flavourful, plump barley.

When temperatures drop to well below freezing, a steaming bowl of Vegetable Beef Barley Soup is a welcome sight on my dinner table. Made in the slow cooker or on the stove top, this Beef and Barley Soup recipe is as convenient as it is delicious. Serve this soup with a loaf of warm crusty homemade bread for a perfect cold weather meal.

Slow Cooker Beef Barley Soup

Is there anything better than a hot bowl of soup on a winter day?

While the cold wind is swirling out there, there’s nothing that compares to the heart-warming aroma of vegetable beef barley soup simmering in the slow cooker or on the stove top.

This Beef Barley Soup is one of the tastiest beef soups I’ve ever had. When I need a good homemade dinner but don’t want to spend a ton of time in the kitchen, this soup fits the bill.

Barley Soup

What is barley? Barley is a whole grain that is used in stews, soups, breads, salads, other dishes, and beverages.

Stores usually sell it in two forms; hulled and pearl. Hulled barley has all of the bran and and germ intact, and has gone through only minimal processing to remove the inedible outer shell.

Pearl Barley is the most commonly available form of barley, it has had the hull and bran removed. Our barley soup recipe calls for pearl barley, but if you’d like to add the nutrition of whole grain by using hulled barley, you can definitely do so.

To substitute hulled barley in the recipe, keep in mind that it will take approximately 20 to 25 minutes longer to cook and that it will not thicken the soup as much. This is because pearl barley releases starch into the soup which thickens it.

Whether you choose pearl barley or hulled barley, it will expand to a little over 3 times its original volume when you cook it. If you’re cooking the barley for your soup separately (see the recipe for notes), you can choose to cook it in water or in stock for extra flavour.

Beef Barley Soup Recipe

Do you ever put leftover cooked beef in the fridge with the best of intentions only to forget about it entirely? I admit I’ve done this more than my share of times only to find it later when I’m cleaning out my fridge. (Whoops.)

This soup is a wonderful and easy use for that leftover beef. You can use leftover Pot Roast meat or any other cooked beef that’s shredded or diced. Not only does that make the soup even more convenient to make, but it also cuts down on food waste. Win-win!

I’m not sure what it is about the combination of beef and barley that’s so good but they pair so beautifully together in this soup. Potatoes, carrots, celery and onions come together with the beef and barley to create a flavourful, hearty soup.

Looking for even more great beef recipes for warming you up this winter?

Curried Beef Oven Stew is full of aromatic spices and tender beef cooked in a rich savory broth. This Filipino Soup (Beef Pares Mami) is another favorite beef soup that I crave when temperatures begin to plummet.

Once you try Cheater Sesame Beef and this Easy Spicy Broccoli Beef, you may never order Chinese takeout ever again. And give our Slow Cooker Beef and Noodles a whirl for pure comfort food!

Beef Barley Soup Slow Cooker

Beef and Barley Soup

Vegetable Beef Barley Soup

-Drizzle the olive oil into a 12-inch skillet or everyday pan over medium heat. Add the onions and celery.

-Sprinkle the salt over the top and saute for about 4 minutes, or until the celery and onions have begun to soften.

-Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 more minute, or until fragrant. Raise the heat to high and add the red wine.

-Bring the mixture to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove any browned or stuck on bits. Scrape the contents into a slow cooker set on LOW.

-Add the beef, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes or tomato puree, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, and thyme. Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for at least 4 hours, but up to 8 hours, depending on how much time you have to be away from the slow cooker.

-One to two hours before serving time, stir in the pearl barley and cover the slow cooker again. Cook for at least 1 hour, but up to 2 hours. Remove the bay leaves and serve.

Beef Barley Soup

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Rebecca Lindamood

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 4 hours hrs

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Slow Cooker Beef Barley Soup is hearty and comforting, easy to make, and incredibly delicious! It's absolutely bursting with tender beef, good-for-you vegetables, and flavourful, plump barley.

Equipment

• Slow Cooker

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 onions peeled and diced
• 3 ribs celery scrubbed and diced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 cloves garlic peeled and minced
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 4 cups leftover chopped beef roast or shredded beef in juices
• 2 quarts low sodium beef stock or low sodium beef broth
• 4 gold or red potatoes
• 3 carrots scrubbed and diced
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes in juices or tomato puree 28 ounces
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1 1/2 cups pearl barley

Instructions

 

• Drizzle the olive oil into a 12-inch skillet or everyday pan over medium heat. Add the onions and celery.
• Sprinkle the salt over the top and saute for about 4 minutes, or until the celery and onions have begun to soften.
• Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 more minute, or until fragrant. Raise the heat to high and add the red wine.
• Bring the mixture to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove any browned or stuck on bits. Scrape the contents into a slow cooker set on LOW.
• Add the beef, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes or tomato puree, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, and thyme. Cover the slow cooker and cook on LOW for at least 4 hours, but up to 8 hours, depending on how much time you have to be away from the slow cooker.
• One to two hours before serving time, stir in the pearl barley and cover the slow cooker again. Cook for at least 1 hour, but up to 2 hours. Remove the bay leaves and serve.

Notes

If you will be unable to add barley an hour or two before serving, you can cook the barley separately using these instructions:

Combine the 1 1/2 cups of barley, 4 1/2 cups of water or stock, and a half teaspoon of kosher salt in a 2 quart saucepan with a tight fitting lid.

Bring to a boil, uncovered, over high heat, watching carefully as barley tends to foam a lot at the beginning.

When it reaches a boil, plop the lid in place and reduce the heat to low. Simmer, covered, until the barley is done. For pearl barley, begin checking for doneness at about 20 minutes. For hulled barley, begin checking at about 40 minutes.

Drain the barley only if there is a lot of liquid unabsorbed. Fluff the grains with a fork and add to the soup immediately or put into a container with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate to be used within 3 days.

Nutrition

Calories: 215kcalCarbohydrates: 40gProtein: 10gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 5mgSodium: 718mgPotassium: 954mgFiber: 7gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 2685IUVitamin C: 17mgCalcium: 71mgIron: 2mg

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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