Beef Barley Soup is incredibly easy and so delicious!
Loaded with nutritious veggies, tender beef and plump barley, it’s a complete meal in a bowl!
This homemade beef barley soup can be made ahead of time and freezes well making it the perfect family dinner!
All of my favorite soups are fully loaded with goodies including veggies and grains, this Beef Barley Soup definitely fits the bill!
It is a rich and hearty barley soup that leaves you completely satisfied and warms every inch of your body!
It screams comfort food, like mom used to make and is perfect served up with a side of buttermilk biscuits and a side salad!
How to Make Beef Barley Soup
While the list of ingredients may seem long, this Beef and Barley soup is really easy to make.
I start out by cooking garlic and onions just until softened.
All of the remaining ingredients are simply added to the pot and simmered until tender.
I use homemade stock whenever possible for the best flavor.
What is the Best Beef for soup?
This recipe calls for cooked beef. You can use any kind of leftover beef for this beef barley soup including pot roast, leftover steak or roast beef.
If you don’t have cooked beef, you can cook your own. I use either flank steak (sliced against the grain) or cubed chuck.
If you’d prefer, you can most certainly substitute cooked hamburger in this barley soup recipe. If making a ground beef barley soup, you’ll want to brown the beef with the onions and drain any fat.
One of the main components in this recipe is barley. Barley is a grain that is very similar in size and texture of brown rice. There are several different types of barley but the most common is pearl barley which is used in this recipe.
I use it frequently in place of rice and pasta in many soup recipes, perfect in my Chicken Barley Soup!
With its slightly nutty flavor and interesting texture, it will sure to be a hit in your next homemade soup!
Try adding it to my Easy Hamburger Soup or in place of the noodles in my Turkey Noodle Soup! Your family will love the change!
Cooking the same things all of the time can leave any home chef in a bit of a meal-making rut. The addition of vegetables makes this a great and healthy choice and keeps is relatively low in calories.
Incorporating new ideas, flavors and textures helps to keep things interesting in the kitchen!
This Old Fashioned Beef Barley Soup is traditional soup that has not lost it’s lustre! We serve this alongside our favorite biscuits or 30 Minute Dinner Rolls with a fresh garden salad for a perfect meal!
Make a large pot and freeze smaller portions to enjoy later – it freezes amazing and you will love how convenient it is to microwave or reheat on the stove!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 carrots sliced
- 1 rib celery sliced
- 2 cups cooked beef
- 6 cups reduced sodium beef broth
- 14.5 ounces canned petite diced tomatoes with juices, 1 can
- ½ green bell pepper diced
- ⅔ cup pearl barley
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1 packet beef gravy mix
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tablespoons red wine optional
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or 2 teaspoons dried
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook onions and garlic in oil over medium heat until softened.
- Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered about 40-50 minutes or until barley is cooked.
- Remove bay leaf and serve.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Soup
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My picky 5 year old loves this!!! The whole family loves it! So happy I found something healthy my son will actually eat!
Sounds Good , Illtry soup right away! I would like to share with friends
Really simple recipe with really great results! I modified it a little since I didn’t have beef broth in house so I used chicken broth with a pound of roasted beef bones simmered in the broth for an hour then strained. Cut of beef is important as well since you wanted something flavor packed, I used a well trimmed piece of chuck roast. Other modification was adding the carrots, celery and pepper about 15 minutes before the end so they were a bit al dente and not mushy. End result was like a great steak in liquid form. The beef bones added a lot of collagen so the soup had great body. Next go round will double the recipe and freeze some of it for a few quick future dinners.
I can’t wait to prepare this soup, it sounds mouth watering…now I’m hungry…lol
great soup … started it all on the stove and then put in crockpot on low for 4 hours!
We loved this recipe. I added frozen peas and corn toward the end of cooking, and everything tasted great. I can hardly wait to eat the rest tomorrow after the flavors have fully melded. Great thanks!
We don’t eat a lot of beef so this was a perfect recipe for the leftover roast. I tweaked just a bit. Used 2 garlic cloves (love garlic), fire roasted diced tomatoes , leftover beef gravy instead of Pkg . And I premade barley the day before and added to the soup after veggies were tender. Sooo good , will definitely make again!
Excellent soup! Hubs raved every bowl he ate. It’s a keeper!
too much Worcestershire!
The soup is very easy to adapt to your liking, so add a little at a time until it tastes perfect to you!
I haven’t made this yet but am looking forward to doing so. I note that you said it freezes well. When working with barley in the past, I found that when it was left for the next day, the barley soaked up all of the liquid. I am afraid that this will happen and that when it is frozen, it will become a thick paste rather than a soup. Thoughts? Thank you so much.
The barley can certainly soak up some of the broth as it sits. I have had good success freezing this soup. If it does thicken up too much for your liking, you can certainly add a bit of broth when reheating.
Made this tonight. Both my wife and I loved it. Wa filling and delicious.
Loved it! I didn’t have a whole onion but I had a jar of fresh salsa that I used instead of the canned tomatoes. I used au jus seasoning because I didn’t have a gravy packet on hand. I love that you can add or take away ingredients. No need to run to the store. The barley ratio was perfect! Mine was quick cook so I reduced my overall simmer time. I added fresh spinach too because I had it on hand.
I can’t find the ingredients list anywhere for this soup
If you go to the top of the post you can click the “JUMP TO RECIPE” button at the top and it’ll take you right there. It’s located above the comments section.
For celiacs can you sub brown rice??
That should work, you might need to adjust the cook time of the rice a little bit.
Soup was good!
Absolutely loved it. I’m more of a stew fan so I used 4 cups of broth and doubled the barley and substituted 1 inch cubed previously slow cooked (sous vide) leg of lamb that was braised in basil infused olive oil and it turned out amazing. I also ended up adding a little more gravy to thicken it up even more… I will definitely be adding this into my winter rotation of meals!
Sounds amazing Lloyd! Thank you for sharing!
I enjoy reading your recipes and plan on making the beef barley recipe soon I love barley!
So good! The only addition we made was to add a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar to give it an extra touch of acidity. At the end of the meal, there wasn’t a lick of soup left! Will definitely be hanging on to this recipe!
Is this 1 cup or 1/2 cup serving for 139 calories?
Hi Kathy, the serving size is approximately one cup.
I made this soup with left over prime rib and it was amazing! I used 64 ounces of beef bone broth because I like more broth in my soup. I’m glad I did because the soup thickened as it sat. I added the red wine too. Great recipe, very flavorful!