Beef-Barley Soup Recipe (2024)

I added a can of whole roma tomatoes (diced)and paste. Used Filet (it wasfor mydaughter) and used bacon fat to brown meat. Outstanding according to my girl

I made this soup for my boys after they tried it it at a local restaurant. My boys aren't big mushroom eaters so I replaced them with organic kidney beans. This is "a keeper" as my boys say when they like a recipe.

I made this soup with some leftover tri-tip, so I used much less beef than the recipe calls for. Because the meat was already cooked, I started by cooking the vegetables in a little oil. (I used Trader Joe's mirepoix with a few extra carrots to get a full 3-2/3 cups of celery, carrot & onion.) I added the beef at the end, just before adding the salt and pepper, so that the beef was hot but not overcooked. Because I used less meat, the soup was more like a soup and less like a stew. My husband said it was delicious, but felt it was lacking something. I added a tablespoon of tomato paste to the two leftover servings and let it set in the fridge for a day or two, and that seemed to make it more flavorful. I plan to make this again, because it was great on a cold, wet winter night.

Can't add more than previous reviewers except to say that we like more liquid so I mixed 3 Tbsp tomato paste with a cup or so of water. The ease of this dish really pushes it into the 4 star range.

I forgot barley at the store and already had armaranth so I replaced it with that. I also doubled the recipe to have left overs and added about 4 big cloves of garlic minced. Everyone at home looved this recipe and I will be doing it again. Ill will add more broth and less armaranth next time though. It wasnt much of a soup but I used a regular pan and a gas stove so I probably cooked it more then it said to.

Absolutely delicious. My family loves this recipe and asks for it frequently. Great for a cold weather lunch or dinner.

Wonderful for the fall and winter. I add more salt to this along with cracked red pepper, dried thyme and dried oregano. Initial cook time is pretty long, but it makes for great leftovers throughout the week!

love,love this soup! Second time making. Adjusted to: 12 cups beef broth, 2 cups barley, 2 cups each onion, celery and carrots, 2 bay leaves. Tripled meat Added: 1/2 tsp of Gravy Master and 1/3 tsp pepper flakes Result: VERY GOOD Next batch: Decrease barley to 1 1/2 cup and try tomato paste!

this was excellent, with only one addition: I added 2 Tbsp of tomato paste when I added the broth. It gave a wonderful additional layer of flavor. My family gobbled this up, and the kids had never had barley before.

Very easy but tasty recipe! Thick and hearty!

Delicious! I omitted the mushrooms (don't like them) and upped the celery and carrots to 2 cups each to make up for the mushroom omission. I also added about a cup and 1/3 of water when I added the barley as I wanted it to be soupier (it still ended up like a stew, not a soup though). Very, very tasty and worth the time I had to wait :-) I will be making this again and again! Oh and it only made about 4.5 cups for me total (3 servings of a cup and a half each).

My family will eat soup, but it just isn't their favorite. I doubled this recipe so I would have leftovers for lunches, but when I went back in the kitchen to transfer the remainder to a container for storage, there was NOTHING left! Maybe I'll try tripling it next time so I can take some of it to work with me!

I made this once, and my family was hooked. My husband and my 2 year old loved it and requested it several times. I made it a lot last winter, and I can't wait for it to turn cold, so I can make it again. The meat is so flavorful, and the barley makes it so filling. This is a great recipe to double, so you can eat off it for a while.

Have made this several times. Children and adults enjoy it a lot. Don't change a thing; you will be surprised how flavorful and comforting it is.

This isn't a soup - it's a stew! And an excellent one at that! I've already made it twice. I use regular beef broth instead of the low sodium. It has lots of flavor with no spices except the bay leaf. This is now a regular in our house!

I thought this was a great recipe. I doubled the meat (almost 3 lbs) and mushrooms and kept everything else the same. I did omit the celery only because I don't like cooked celery. I was going to double the broth, but it didn't fit in my crock pot! I let it cook for 8 hrs and the meat just fell apart! I didn't double the barley--good thing since it swelled up and took over the dish. Next time I will add a bit less, but overall it was very tasty, and not too many ingredients to worry about. Definitely great for a crock pot.

This is a good recipe. It takes some time to make, though, between the chopping and relatively long cooking time. Perfect with some good bread.

This was a very good soup/stew, even for a cooking challenged person like me. The only caveat is that it takes 2 hours to cook, so next time I am going to prepare it overnight, or better yet purchase a slow cooker and then let it cook all night. Y-U-M-M-Y

I really thought that this was good. I did substitute a package of pretrimmed beef stew meat which might explain why I didn't wind up w/much liquid when I added the vegetables to the pot. Since I apportioned this into 4 containers for my own lunches and dinners, I just opened a can of beef broth to add to reheating. I'd probably add an additional can to the recipe next time.

I thought this was wonderful. I didn't have mushrooms so I substituted a zucchini and half a red bell pepper. Fabulous flavor for such simple ingredients. The meat was so tender. YUM! I'll definitely make this again.

This was delicious! I also didn't have the problem others users noted: soup vs. stew. While there wasn't a lot of broth, it was still bowl worthy. This was probably due to the fact that I didn't fully reduce the liquid while the veggies were cooking. Also, I used a little more mushrooms than what the recipe called for, which rendered more liquid. Nice flavor!

We enjoyed the recipe, and found it to be very tasty and easy to prepare, but I agree with the reviewers who stated this was more stew than soup. I wonder how some other reviewers kept it soupy? I found the barley absorbed practically all the liquid. I, too, will add a couple cups more of the beef stock when looking for a bowl of soup on a winter night! I also think a 1/2 tsp of salt is too much - even with a low sodium base. But, soupy or stewy, it was pretty tasty!

My husband loved this recipe. The second time I made a few changes. The barley was undercooked the first time I made it... so I added the barley after 1 hr 20 min and let it simmer for 40 min. Also, even covered most of the liquid simmered off so I added a bit extra broth. I'd say it is more a stew than a soup.

My family loved it! It was super easy to make and it was a complete meal. Also makes for excellent leftovers.

This was definitely more soup than stew (hoping for thicker), but it was still very tasty. I loved all the veggies, especially the mushrooms. I would have liked more meat in it, so I'll probably add more next time. The barley was a nice addition, but it was chewier than I expected; maybe I should add it earlier in the cooking process next time. Simple ingredients, good flavors, nice soup for the fall/winter.

Great flavor and very filling. I followed the recipe as written. Next time I think I'd add another two cups or so of beef broth, because virtually all of the broth was absorbed during cooking.

I really enjoyed this recipe. I used a small amount of leftover steak and portabella mushrooms. This made the cooking time less since it didn't need to simmer a long time. I only had 1/2 cup of barley, but it was enough. I used beef bouillon granules and left out the salt. Served it with some nice crusty bread. Both my husband and I went back for seconds!

Good solid recipe... I did not use mushrooms and I added a little beef boulion in addition to the beef broth the recipe calls for. I will not add the beef boulion next time b/c it seemed a little too salty for my taste. The stew was really yummy and perfect for the fall.

Good recipe for a chilly night. I prepared it the night before and followed the recipe as written. The soup was hearty, very tasty and filling. It is a very thick soup, almost a stew. I served with grilled cheese. Will make this soup again but since it takes over 2 hours to prepare, will have to make it the night before.

Mine turned into a gelatinous, unflavored mush. It reminded me of gruel. Where did I go wrong, I wonder?