Description
Make a rich and comforting beef barley soup easily in your slow cooker. This recipe yields tender beef and chewy barley in a nourishing broth.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 cups beef broth
- 1 cup pearl barley, rinsed
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup frozen peas (added at the end)
Instructions
- Season the beef cubes lightly with salt and pepper.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the beef in batches on all sides. Transfer the browned beef to the slow cooker.
- Add the chopped onion, carrots, celery, and mushrooms to the slow cooker.
- Stir in the thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf.
- Pour in the beef broth and Worcestershire sauce. Add the diced tomatoes and the rinsed barley.
- Stir everything together well.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours or on high for 3.5 to 4 hours, until the beef is very tender.
- Remove and discard the bay leaf. Stir in the frozen peas during the last 15 minutes of cooking.
- Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed before serving.
Notes
- For a thicker soup, remove about 1 cup of the broth near the end, mix it with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch, and stir the slurry back into the slow cooker. Cook for 15 more minutes until thickened.
- You can substitute quick-cooking barley, but reduce the cooking time by about 1 hour on low.
- This soup freezes well for future meals. Cool completely before freezing in airtight containers.
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 8 hr
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Slow Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1.5 cups
- Calories: 410
- Sugar: 6
- Sodium: 650
- Fat: 14
- Saturated Fat: 5
- Unsaturated Fat: 9
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 45
- Fiber: 8
- Protein: 30
- Cholesterol: 85