Hearty beef barley vegetable soup is an old fashioned comfort food meal in a bowl. It’s perfect for chilly days. Big flavors come from tender chunks of beef, carrots, onions, celery, tomatoes, plump barley, red potatoes, herbs, broth, and red wine. Make it stove top or use your Instant pot or pressure cooker. The flavor is fantastic and leftovers freeze beautifully. You've got to taste this super flavorful soup. Gluten-free option!
Hearty beef barley soup was a favorite soups recipe with my personal chef families for good reason. The flavors are rich and savory thanks to a few tricks I'll show you. This beef soup takes a bit of time with the prep work, but it's worth it. And the simmering time makes a tough cut of beef tender and delicious.
Why You'll Like This Recipe
- Beef barley vegetable soup is a meal in a bowl.
- Leftovers make a terrific next meal or freeze well.
- Can be made stovetop or pressure cooker/Instant Pot
- Skip the barley for gluten-free, see substitutions.
For another terrific soup, try this chicken vegetable soup recipe.
Recipe Ingredients
Don't let the list of ingredients deter you from making this marvelous soup. It's worth it!
- Cooking oil: Extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, or this clean, all-purpose oil.
- Boneless beef chuck roast: Buy more than you need at the grocery store because of all of the trimming. Don't use beef stew meat as you don't know what you're getting and it won't be as good. Chuck is the best beef cut.
- Tomato paste: Gives the soup a rich, savory flavor called umami. One of those flavor tricks.
- Onion: Yellow, brown, or a sweet onion for full flavor.
- Garlic: For the best flavor, use fresh garlic cloves, or use the paste in a tube.
- Wine: Either a dry red wine or a dry white wine, to deglaze the pan, making the most of the flavor, or use a little extra broth.
- Broth: Low sodium beef broth, be sure to read the labels to insure quality ingredients and check the frozen foods section.
- Herbs: Fresh thyme and fresh rosemary, but dried can be used, and bay leaf.
- Tomatoes: Canned diced tomatoes and don't drain them. Use the juice too.
- Carrots: Use orange carrots, for color, flavor, and vegetable content.
- Celery: Along with carrots and onion, a classic part of mirepoix as a flavor base.
- Potatoes: Use red skin potatoes and leave the skin on.
- Pearl barley: Barley that is polished to remove it's outer hull, hence the description of pearl or pearled. Skip for a gluten-free diet. Don't buy quick cooking parley for this recipe.
- Worcestershire sauce: Just a little adds great savory flavor. Many brands are naturally GF, but check this list to be sure.
Please see the recipe card for measurements.
Chef's Tip: Beef stock or beef broth is not your only option. Last batch of this soup, I was out of beef broth, so I used homemade roasted turkey broth from the freezer. It was fantastic and what's in the photos. With that color, you'd think it was beef broth! Make it in an Instant Pot and freeze in batches. Have questions? Comment and I'll answer. The flavor is amazing for soups, stews, and risotto.
Substitutions and Variations
- To add volume to feed more hungry mouths, add 1-2 cups more broth and an 8-ounce package of frozen mixed vegetables such as corn, carrots, green beans, and peas. It's how I originally made this soup.
- For dried herbs, try a traditional French blend called Herbs de Provence. It's a terrific add to your herbs arsenal.
- What to substitute for barley if you are gluten-free? You can just omit, or for a heartier soup add cooked quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat, or millet.
For a hearty beef stew try this Instant Pot recipe.
Chef's tip: One way some recipes add flavor is by using a beef base, such as bullion cubes or paste. If you care about healthy ingredients, pass. They are filled with sodium, preservatives, and poor quality ingredients. Trust me, this beef barley vegetable soup recipe has huge flavor without any beef base added .
Recipe Instructions
This is stovetop directions. For Instant Pot directions, please see the notes section of the recipe card. To make beef barley vegetable soup you need a large pot like a 5 ½ 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 beef barley vegetable soup warm in big soup bowls to slurp up every spoonful of this delicious soup. Top with fresh grated parmesan cheese and chopped fresh parsley if desired. Serve with a crusty roll, or garlic bread is a nice accompaniment.
Leftovers freeze beautifully, or enjoy it within 3 days stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If freezing I use 2 cup portions. Label, date and use with 3 months.
Recipe FAQs
Pearl barley or pearled barley does not have to be cooked before adding to soup if making soup from scratch. You can add it in the step before the soup simmers or cooks and it will cook in the broth until tender. If you want to add it to an existing soup as you would rice, yes, it should be cooked before adding.
The best cut of meat for beef barley soup is a boneless beef chuck roast. The meat becomes tender with either long cooking or pressure cooking. With great beefy flavor and a less expensive price tag, boneless beef chuck is a great choice for beef barley soup.
Buy about 30% more than the recipe calls for, because this cut has a lot of trimming of fat and waste. I purchase 1 ½ pounds for a 1 pound requirement for soup. Skip stew meat as you never know what you're getting.
There are several ways to add richness to beef soup. One quick trick includes using tomato paste which adds a rich savory depth of flavor called umami. Another trick is to add a Parmesan rind (another umami booster) and let it melt into the broth, removing it before serving.
When sautéing onions, give them time to cook down and caramelize a little. Also, be sure you are using a good quality broth, enough salt, and plenty of herbs for fresh flavor. A bay leaf also adds depth of flavor. Lastly, try a little worcestershire sauce. All of these adds richness to your beef soup.
More Great Soup Recipes
Having an arsenal of soup recipes in your recipe box. 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 Vegetable Soup
Equipment
- 5 quart dutch oven
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless beef chuck roast buy at least 1 ½ pounds to due 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
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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
Gluten-free substitutions for barley
What to substitute for barley if you are gluten-free? You can just omit the barley and it's still terrific soup. For a heartier soup add cooked quinoa, brown rice, buckwheat, or millet.Pressure/Instant Pot Method
- 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.
Herbs Note:
For south-of-France flavor, use Herbs de Provence. It's a flavorful, traditional herb blend in France. You can substitute other dried herbs blends, such as Italian blend or just use dried thyme, oregano and a little rosemary. Use what you have, but try the Herbs de Provence sometime. It's delicious. For the recipe, use 1 ½ teaspoons.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.