Beef barley soup is a classic comfort-food recipe, perfect for chilly days. This hearty soup is loaded with tender chunks of chuck roast, carrots, onions, celery, tomatoes, plump barley, red potatoes, herbs, broth, and a splash of red wine for deep flavor. You can make it on the stovetop or in the Instant Pot, and the leftovers freeze beautifully. A simple gluten-free option is included.
This hearty beef barley soup was a favorite with my personal chef families for good reason. A few simple techniques build rich, savory flavor, and while it takes a bit of prep, the payoff is big. A slow simmer transforms chuck roast into a tender, melt-in-your-mouth beef and barley soup.
Beef Barley Soup Highlights
- A hearty meal-in-a-bowl - Beef barley soup loaded with tender beef and vegetables.
- Great leftovers - Reheats well and freezes beautifully.
- Two easy methods - Make it on the stovetop or in the Instant Pot/pressure cooker.
- Gluten-free option - Skip the barley and use the substitution notes for a gluten-free version.
For another terrific soup, try this chicken vegetable soup recipe.
Ingredients You'll Need
Don't let the list of ingredients deter you from making this marvelous soup. It's worth it!
- Cooking oil - Use extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil.
- Boneless beef chuck roast - The best cut for beef barley soup.
- Tomato paste - A trick for richer soup, savory depth.
- Onion - Yellow, brown, or sweet onion all work.
- Garlic - Fresh garlic cloves give the best flavor; garlic paste works in a pinch.
- Wine - Dry red or white wine to deglaze the pan and captures all the browned bits.
- Broth - Good quality low-sodium beef broth so you can control the salt.
- Herbs - Fresh thyme and rosemary; dried herbs work too. Don't skip the bay leaf.
- Tomatoes - Canned diced tomatoes with their juices add sweetness and body.
- Carrots - For natural sweetness, color, and hearty vegetable texture.
- Celery - Part of the classic mirepoix base with onion and carrots.
- Potatoes - Red potatoes hold their shape well; leave the skins on for texture.
- Pearl barley - The classic choice for this soup. Avoid quick-cooking barley, which can get overly soft. GF options below.
- Worcestershire sauce - Just a little boosts savory flavor. If you need gluten-free, check the label or company website.
Please see the recipe card for measurements, salt and pepper.
Chef's Tip: Why chuck roast is best for beef barley soup
Chuck roast is the best cut for this soup because it has the right amount of marbling and connective tissue. As the soup simmers, that connective tissue breaks down and the beef turns tender and flavorful. Plan on some trim loss-buy about 1½ pounds chuck roast to end up with roughly 1 pound of usable beef after trimming. Skip stew meat, as it can be a mix of random, often lean cuts, so results vary.
Substitutions and Variations
- Stretch the soup - To feed a few more hungry mouths, add 1-2 cups more broth and an 8-ounce bag of frozen mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, green beans, peas).
- Herb swap - Use dried herbs, or try Herbes de Provence for a classic French-style flavor.
- Gluten-free option - Skip the barley for gluten-free and stir in cooked quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat, or millet.
- No wine? No problem - Skip the wine and deglaze with a splash of broth (or water).
Try my recipe for this hearty beef stew, made fast in the Instant Pot.
Chef's Tip: Skip the beef base
Some beef barley soup recipes boost flavor with a beef base (bouillon cubes or beef paste). Those products are very high in sodium and often include additives, so I skip them. This soup builds deep, savory flavor the old-fashioned way-by browning the beef and vegetables, deglazing the pot, and simmering everything slowly.
How to Make Beef Barley Soup
These are the stovetop directions. For Instant Pot instructions, see the Notes section in the recipe card. You'll need a large, heavy pot, like a 5½-quart Dutch oven.
Bring the soup just to a boil, place a lid on the pot and turn heat to low. Simmer until beef is tender to the bite and vegetables are soft. Cook time is about 45 minutes. Soup is ready! Taste and add any additional salt or pepper.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this beef barley soup hot in big bowls. If you like, finish each bowl with chopped fresh parsley and a little freshly grated Parmesan. A crusty roll is perfect on the side, and garlic toast is especially good for soaking up the broth.
Storage and Freezing
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. This soup also freezes beautifully-portion into 2-cup containers, label and date, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat gently; add a splash of broth if it thickens.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. Barley contains gluten, so for a gluten-free version, skip the barley and add a cooked gluten-free grain such as quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat, or millet near the end of cooking.
Yes. The Instant Pot method is included in the Notes section of the recipe card. It shortens the cooking time while still producing tender beef and great flavor.
Barley continues to absorb liquid as it sits. When reheating, simply add a little extra broth or water to loosen the soup to your desired consistency.
No. The wine helps deglaze the pan and adds depth, but you can simply use a splash of broth or water instead and continue with the recipe.
More Great Soup Recipes
There's a soup recipe for every season, winter, spring, summer or fall. Check out this page for more soup recipes. Soup in the summer? Yes, try this cool and refreshing tomato gazpacho.
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This recipe originally published 1/27/2010 as French Market Vegetable Beef Soup.
📖 Recipe
Beef Barley Soup
Equipment
- 5 quart dutch oven
Ingredients
- 1 pound trimmed boneless beef chuck roast buy at least 1 ½ pounds for trimming
- 1 medium onion 1 ½ cups, chopped small
- 3 medium carrots
- 3 large celery stalks
- 2 medium red potatoes skin on, chopped small
- 3 large garlic cloves chopped fine
- 2 teaspoons fresh chopped rosemary leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
- 2 teaspoons fresh chopped thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided use
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ½ cup dry red wine or white wine optional
- 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes do not drain
- ½ cup pearled barley skip for gluten-free diet
- 4 cups low sodium beef broth or turkey broth
- 1 large bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Optional Garnish
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese or more, optional
- ¼ cup fresh chopped parsley
Instructions
Trim beef
- Slice off extra fat and tendons with a chef's knife. There is a lot of trimming on most beef chuck roasts and you will lose about 30% of the total weight. Trim into approximately 1-inch cubes.
Prep vegetables
Notes
- Set pressure cooker to saute. When hot, add the olive oil and brown meat. Don't crowd the meat, do in two batches. With all of the browned meat in the pot, add the tomato paste and stir with the meat to coat and caramelize. Pour meat into a medium bowl and save.
- Add the second tablespoon of olive oil to the pot and sauté onions until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Add wine to deglaze pan and reduce wine by half. Add all remaining ingredients, broth through pepper, and add the meat back in. Stir together.
- Lock lid in place and bring up to high pressure; begin timing for 1o minutes. When done, bring pressure down with the quick release method, moving the pot to a sink and running cool water over it. You will hear the pressure release in about 20 seconds. Test a chunk of meat for tenderness. If it's not tender, lock up the pot, bring back to high pressure and cook for a few more minutes.
- Remove bay leaf before serving.
Nutrition
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Rob says
Loved it! Great for afternoon lunch or light dinner. Will have again.
Max says
This looks absolutely delicious! I'm passing this along to my mom, as it looks SO similar to her mom's beef stew. Thanks for sharing!
Sally Cameron says
Thanks Max! Yes, it's definitely and old fashioned recipe. I make it for us without the barley as we are gluten-free. The flavors are hard to resist!
Gail says
Thought you would be happy to read that I made 26 quarts of your soup recipe and gave them to our family and friends as a Christmas gift along with a baguette and a bottle of French wine. Immediate family also received Camembert cheese! I may not be able to be with our family and friends this year, but we will share the same meal together. The recipe is fantastic. Wishing you a blessed holiday.
Sally Cameron says
Oh my gosh Gail! What an amazing thing to do and I love the goodies you included and the sentiment of eating the same meal. Great things happen around the table, we need fellowship, even if remotely. Your friends and family are very lucky! Sure made me smile, thanks for reporting back. God bless you this Christmas and into the New Year as well.
Sally Brown says
I made this recipe today for dinner. It was excellent! I have been looking for a great veggie soup recipe and thanks to you, I found it! The broth was most excellent! Many many thanks. I grew up eating veggie soup and now with your recipe, my son will too. THANK YOU! Going to check out the rest of your recipes!
Lizz says
I have made a real effort to make dinner 4 nights a week for my family of 5. We have been so busy, as many families are that we fell into relying on takeout or worse, cereal for dinner. I get up early and make breakfast, lunch and dinner before 8 am to allow my time running as a Mommy and working with my husband at our family business. This soup cooked while I got ready for the day, I shut it off when I left and turned it on medium when I returned home. It was delicious, and surely hit a spot that no take out can deliver. It also makes a bunch so I can have lunch for days and that makes my hubby very happy. Served with sourdough and a healthy helping of love this recipe is in heavy rotation in this house. Thanks for posting it.
Sally says
Thanks for letting us know Lizz! Great story. I am so glad this recipe serves your family well. Good for you on working so hard to be a blessing to your family and feed them well. This soup freezes well too. How long were you gone during the day? The only concern I would have is how long the soups sits out on the stove, for food safety reasons. If it is more than a couple of hours and you want it done when you get home, you might put it in a slow cooker.
Tonya Holcomb says
Sally, Would you please let me know if I need to make any modifications that I would to make to cook this in a slow cooker (crock pot)? Your newbie cook, Tonya
Sally says
Hi Tonya. Well that's a good question. I have never tried it in a slow cooker. I would set the slow cooker to high to brown the meat cubes with the tomato paste, then turn it down, add the onions and allow them to get tender, add the garlic and allow it to cook for a few minutes on low so it is not raw. Then add everything else and turn the cooker to medium or low. Not sure, as it may depend on our model. Then cover and slow cook until the vegetables are tender and the meat is just pink inside. On the wine, as it will not have high heat to cook off the alcohol you may want to skip it or be sure that the cooker is hot enough for the wine to boil down a bit. When you add the veggies at the end, I would add them thawed then allow soup to cook a bit longer so they heat up and the flavors incorporate. If you do this, please report back. Next time I make it I will do a slow cooker version and post additional directions, or even a new modified recipe. Thanks for your question!
Tonya Holcomb says
Sally, since I do not have a pressure cooker, I was thinking about browning the meat and the steps all the way down to the wine in a cast iron skillet. Then, place the meat & remaining ingredients in the slow cooker to allow everything to incorporate. Thank for your feedback!
Sally says
That should work fine Tanya!
Rose says
Hi the Vegetable beef barley soup sounds yummy, I'm looking forward to trying it. However, we do not eat red meet, is there something else you would recommend. I will try the BTB beef stock, or can I use the Vegetable instead
Sally says
Hi Rose. I would try leaving out the beef and using either chicken stock or vegetable stock versus water. Homemade would be best. Without the beef you could probably skip pressure cooking and just simmer until all of the vegetables are tender. The BTB does give the beef version deeper, richer flavor. Looking at the label of BTB, the organic bases (I looked at the chicken) look pretty good in terms of food additives if you want to go with water and use the BTB. Watch the sodium levels. If you want to skip the BTB and still aim for a rich flavor, you could use reduced broth which would have a more intense flavor, or go with regular broth for a lighter soup. This is something I have wanted to play with myself. Please report back what you did. I'll have to play with my recipe to and make notes. Thanks!
Rose says
Hi Sally
So I followed your recipe without meat. Bumping up the barley, diced tomatoes, carrots and celery. I used Veggie Stock and a small tsp of the BTB. It taste great. Thank You. I love your recipes and web site.
Sally says
Thanks for reporting back Rose! I've wanted to do exactly that and bet it was good. I make it with beef because my family likes it that way. A I am not a beef eater, I have wanted to do a no-beef version.
J. Johns says
Hi Chef Sally...
I became interested in preparing more Gallic dishes ever since finding out about my own French blood. I tried out your French Market Vegetable Beef Soup Provencal. It is a real blue ribbon recipe! I enjoyed this tremendously, and I even made some for my friend for her birthday. She asked me if I'd taken gourmet classes! Thank you very much for this wonderful soup.
Eileen Sherman says
Fabulous Blog site and the photos are incredible. I love the photo of the Vegetable, Beef and Barley soup ingredients. That is a soup I will definitely make for my own clients and also have my home chef students make as well. Do you spend time making beef stock from scratch, or do you find that the Better than Bouillon is just as flavorful? Thanks for this blog. It is fantastic. I could use some education and practice taking creatively correct food photos!!!
Shurla McManus says
Perfect dessert for Valentine's Day,it looks scrumptious.