Sometimes you just need a big bowl of soup to hit the spot but if you’re like me, you don’t want the same thing over and over. Soup recipes are great but it seems like so many of them are the same thing. The same ingredients, the same seasoning, the same taste, the same…everything. That’s one of the reasons that I love this slow cooker beef and barley soup recipe. It’s not your normal, run of the mill soup like chicken noodle soup or a big pot of chili. It’s tasty enough that our entire family loves it but it’s uncommon enough that it fits perfectly for when I just want something a bit different. The great thing about this beef and barley soup recipe is that it’s healthy without being overt about it. Let’s face it. If you have kids? Sometimes you have to be sneaky about healthy foods. This soup allows you to do that. My Emma isn’t much for barley when she knows she’s eating it, but this soup recipe? Gets her to ask for seconds every single time! I don’t know about you, but when I find a recipe that I don’t have to worry about whether she will eat it or not? It goes into my tried and true file immediately! This recipe was like that for us from the very first time we had it and now it’s one of our favorite slow cooker recipes period!
When you’re making this, you can use any cut of steak that you want. Ours was made with beef blade steak. Any inexpensive cut will work which means that this soup recipe is really budget friendly. I love budget friendly meals, don’t you? The barley is likely the most expensive thing on the ingredient list! Plus this tasty tasty goodness cooks in your slow cooker so no muss no fuss for dinner! Those are my favorite kinds of dinner recipes! This recipe takes around 6 hours to cook so be sure to put it on in the morning so that it is ready for the evening. If you aren’t sure that you’ll be home to turn it off when its done, a programmable slow cooker can be a huge help for that. I use one and wouldn’t slow cook on a regular one again!
Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Soup Recipe
If you’re big on freezer cooking, this beef and barley soup recipe is totally freezer friendly. Just cook as directed then freeze in an airtight container. I freeze mine in freezer friendly deli containers. It allows me to stack them a bit better than what baggies does since I don’t like to leave liquids flat in the freezer. Yes they’ll freeze flat, but if the bag leaks before they freeze, it’s a mess. To cook after freezing, just place in your crock and warm it back up! You can thaw it but I never really have.
Ingredients Needed to make Beef and Barley Soup
- 1 lb Beef blade steak (or any other inexpensive cut)
- ½ cup Pearl Barley
- 6 cups Beef Stock
- 1 cup Carrot, chopped
- 3 stalks Celery, chopped – include the leafy portion of the celery if possible
- ½ Onion, Large (or 1 whole small onion)
- 1 cup Mushrooms, sliced
- 1 Heaping Tablespoon Tomato Paste
- 1 Bay leaf
- 2 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon Seasoned salt
- 2 teaspoon Black Pepper
- Optional: 1 tsp thyme and 1 tsp parsley
Cut the beef into bite-sized chunks and season with 1 teaspoon of salt, pepper and garlic each. Add to a hot skillet for a few seconds. Just long enough to give it a good sear, but be careful not to cook it all of the way through.
Add the seared beef to the bottom of your slow cooker then add the rest of your ingredients making sure that you add the beef stock last.
Cook on low for 6 hours stirring occasionally and checking the vegetables and barley for tenderness. If at the 5 hour mark they are tender to your satisfaction, then turn off the heat and serve. Remove Bay leaf before serving and serve with a piece of crusty bread!
Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Soup Recipe
- 1 lb Beef blade steak (or any other inexpensive cut)
- ½ cup Pearl Barley
- 6 cups Beef Stock
- 1 cup Carrot (chopped)
- 3 stalks Celery (chopped – include the leafy portion of the celery if possible)
- ½ Onion (Large (or 1 whole small onion))
- 1 cup Mushrooms (sliced)
- 1 Heaping Tablespoon Tomato Paste
- 1 Bay leaf
- 2 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 2 teaspoon Seasoned salt
- 2 teaspoon Black Pepper
- Optional: 1 tsp thyme and 1 tsp parsley
- Cut the beef into bite-sized chunks and season with 1 teaspoon of salt, pepper and garlic each. Add to a hot skillet for a few seconds. Just long enough to give it a good sear, but be careful not to cook it all of the way through.
- Add the seared beef to the bottom of your slow cooker then add the rest of your ingredients making sure that you add the beef stock last.
- Cook on low for 6 hours stirring occasionally and checking the vegetables and barley for tenderness. If at the 5 hour mark they are tender to your satisfaction, then turn off the heat and serve. Remove Bay leaf before serving and serve with a piece of crusty bread!