This beef barley soup is a hearty combination of beef, vegetables, barley and mushrooms, all simmered together until tender and flavorful. A hearty dinner option that’s easy to make and freezer friendly.
My family could eat soup every night, some of our favorites include cabbage roll soup and chicken tortellini soup. Beef barley soup is also on the list because it’s simple yet totally satisfying.
Whenever I’m looking for a comfort food style meal that I know my family will approve of, I turn to this beef barley soup. It’s got bold flavors, fork tender meat, plenty of veggies and the barley adds such great texture. Kids and adults alike will enjoy this one!
Enjoy this beef barley soup with amazing side dishes like Irish soda bread, asparagus salad, honey cornbread and caprese bread.
Table of Contents
Beef Barley Soup Ingredients
To make this beef barley soup recipe you will need olive oil, beef stew meat, an onion, carrots, celery, garlic, beef broth, a bay leaf, fresh thyme, pearl barley, mushrooms, fresh parsley, salt and black pepper. See the recipe card below for amounts and details.
How Do You Make Beef Barley Soup?
To make this beef barley soup recipe, start by heating olive oil in a large pot. Season your beef stew meat with salt and pepper and place it in the pot. Sear each side of the meat until the chunks are browned. Remove the meat and place your onion, carrots, celery and garlic in the pot. Cook the veggies a few minutes until tender. Add the stew meat, beef broth, bay leaf and thyme to the pot. Cook for an hour and add the mushrooms and barley. Cook another half an hour and season the soup with salt and pepper. Sprinkle parsley on top and enjoy this hearty dish!
Tips For The Perfect Beef Barley Soup
- Depending on the size of your stew meat chunks, you may want to cut your beef into similar sized pieces that fit well on a spoon.
- I cut my vegetables on the larger side so that they don’t disintegrate into the soup while the meat is simmering. If you prefer firmer veggies, you can sauté them, remove them from the pan, then add them back in halfway through the cook time.
- I typically use button mushrooms but cremini mushrooms also work well.
- You can usually find pearl barley in the grocery store near other grains like farro or near the rice. It also may be labeled “pearled barley.”
Quick Tip
I use beef stew meat because it’s inexpensive and convenient. You can also buy beef chuck roast, short ribs or a similar cut of beef and cut it into cubes if you prefer.
Recipe FAQs
Pearl barley is a type of barley that has been processed to remove the hull and bran. Pearl barley is faster cooking and has a better texture than unprocessed whole barley, which can sometimes be overly chewy.
Beef barley soup is the perfect candidate for the freezer. You can either freeze your cooked soup, or you can do it meal prep style where you freeze all of the ingredients in one bag, then thaw everything and cook.
No, you don’t need to cook barley before adding it to soup. My beef barley soup recipe has the barley cooking in the soup for 20-30 minutes which makes for tender and delicious barley.
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Slow Cooker Beef Barley Soup
This recipe can easily be adapted to use in the slow cooker. Simply brown your beef and vegetables as directed, then place all of the ingredients except the parsley into a crock pot. Cook for 6-8 hours on low, then serve. If you choose to make this soup in the slow cooker, the barley will have a softer texture than the stove top version, but it’s still totally delicious.
Flavor Variations
This beef and barley soup makes for a fantastic and filling dish especially on cold evenings. However, you can adjust the recipe to suit your own taste.
- Veggies: Feel free to add some of you favorite veggies like green beans, peas or chopped cabbage. Add those veggies for the last 10-15 minutes of cook time.
- Ground Beef: You can speed up your cook time by using ground beef. Substitute 1 1/2 pounds of lean ground beef for the stew meat in this recipe.
- Chicken: You could make this dish with chicken thigh chunks. Cut 1 1/2 inch cubes of boneless, skinless chicken thigh meat. Sauté the meat and veggies as described in this recipe. Substitute chicken broth or chicken stock for beef broth and cook everything in a pot for 30 minutes.
- Seasonings: For extra flavor you can add a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce or stir in a tablespoon of tomato paste when you add the beef broth to the pot.
- Toppings: You could add your favorite fresh herbs like chives or sliced green onions. You could also sprinkle on a little fresh ground pepper.
Once you have a bowl of this beef barley soup, you’ll be hooked. It’s an interpretation of the classic recipe that’s anything but ordinary!
More Hearty Soups
Stuffed Pepper Soup
40 mins
Mexican Chicken Soup
45 mins
Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
50 mins
Tortellini Soup with Sausage
30 mins
Chicken Taco Soup
30 mins
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Beef Barley Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 pounds beef stew meat
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 3 large carrots cut into 3/4 inch pieces
- 3 stalks celery sliced
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 8 cups beef broth
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3/4 cup pearl barley
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Season the beef stew meat with salt and pepper to taste.
- Place half of the meat in the pot in a single layer. Cook for 3-5 minutes per side, or until browned. Repeat with remaining meat.
- Remove the meat from the pot and cover to keep warm. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic to the pot. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until softened.
- At this point you can either leave the veggies in the pot to simmer with the beef, or remove the vegetables and add them back in later. It depends on whether you prefer softer or firmer vegetables in your soup.
- Add the beef, beef broth, bay leaf and thyme to the pot. Bring to a simmer. Cook for 60 minutes or until beef is tender.
- If you’ve reserved your vegetables, add them back in now. Add the barley and mushrooms to the pot. Cook for an additional 20-30 minutes until barley is tender.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Notes
- I use beef stew meat because it’s inexpensive and convenient. You can also buy chuck roast and cut it into cubes if you prefer.
- Depending on the size of your stew meat chunks, you may want to cut your beef into similar sized pieces that fit well on a spoon.
- I cut my vegetables on the larger side so that they don’t disintegrate into the soup while the meat is simmering.
I couldn’t find my old recipe so I made yours for dinner last night. I had three pounds of London broil in the freezer that I needed to use up, so I halved the ingredients up and added about a quarter cup of extra barley ’cause I just LOVE barley! I also threw in about a quarter cup of red wine. This was absolutely delicious! Even better than the recipe I was using for years. This has been printed, put in a plastic sheet protector and added to my binder of favorite recipes. Thank you so much for sharing!
A COLD DAY IN LANGLEY BC CANADA TODAY THE WINDS ARE BLOWING AND GOT 6 PEOPLE STOPPING OVER SO THIS SHOULD HELP GOING TO TRIPLE THE INGREDIENTS SO MAKING A LARGE STOCK POT FULL ..USING EXTRA LEAN HAMBURGER FRESH TODAY AND ADDING EXTRA ONIONS AND CARROTS AND PEAS
Sounds perfect hope you enjoy!
I was looking for a tasty soup recipe in these cold days, and this one looks perfect! Thank you!
I am looking for some slow cooker recipes and this looks perfect. Will try this next week
Beef barley soup is one of my favorites to try on rainy days. More so on on cooler nights
My kids would absolutely love these. This would disappear in no time at our house! This is my kind of weekend treat.
I’m screenshotting this wonderful recipe. It’s been a gloomy rainy days in Los Angeles, and soup would be good!
This soup looks fantastic! Just what I’m craving today with the snow…it’s so hearty and wholesome. You have really inspired me to make soup now!
This looks like such a healthy, fulfilling and tasty dish! I love a bowl of soup for lunch at this time of year.
Looks so delicious! I would love to try it at home! nomnom!
This is my favorite soup ever! I love how the slow cooker makes your home smell amazing all day long!
This can be a perfect recipe for a cold winter night’s dinner. I love beef, especially when it’s cold outside. It’s so hearty and flavorsome. I’d like to try pearl barley as well, as I never had it before.
beef, vegetables, mushrooms…. these are all things i like. I can’t wait to try this out.
Everything looks so good. It’s so cold here on the East Coast, so it’s definitely soup season.
I do love a good Beef Barley Soup. This one looks delicious.
Your recipes always make me so hungry 😀
This looks delicious. It is so hot here in Australia, yet I can still imagine a bowl of this comfort food right now!
This recipe looks amazing, I’ll have to give it a try. Such a good idea to substitute ground beef.
This looks awesome! I love the array of colors and all the veggies added in. And its crock pot adaptable… win!
This is one of my favorite soups! I love beef and barely mixed together. It gives a really good flavor to a dish. Saving this to my pinterest!
I love recipes like this because they’re so hearty and yet still so healthy. Red meat in moderation is excellent for your health, and all those veggies make it even better!