Beef Barley Soup

5 from 4 votes

A hearty meal in a bowl with tender beef, lots of vegetables, potatoes, barley, herbs and rich broth. Make it on the stove top or in a Instant Pot/pressure cooker. If you follow a gluten-free diet, skip the barley. The yield is 2 ½ quarts of soup (10 cups).

Prep Time35

Cook Time1 15

Total Time1 50

Course: Soup

Cuisine: French

Servings: generous servings

Calories: 533kcal

Author: Sally Cameron

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

Gluten-free substitutions for barley:

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.

Nutrition