Beef Barley Soup in the Slow Cooker
This hearty, easy slow cooker beef barley soup is a family favorite! The depth of flavor comes from mushrooms, browned beef shanks, and stew meat. This is your recipe if you want a hearty, nourishing, and delicious soup! The recipe has instructions for both the slow cooker and stovetop.
Is it cool where you are? If so, this Hearty Beef Barley Soup must be on your menu and in your tummy! I have a hard time making and serving soups when it’s 95° and 95% humidity outside, but as soon as the cool and crisp weather of fall arrives, you can find soup on our table at least once a week.
“Good soup is one of the prime ingredients of good living. For soup can do more to lift the spirits and stimulate the appetite than any other one dish.”
by Louis P. De Gouy
Table of Contents
This nourishing, slow cooker beef soup is full of the rich flavor often lacking when using beef broth. Searing the stew meat and some beef shanks ups the flavor and heartiness of this outstanding and nourishing beef soup. Adding dried porcini mushrooms gives it the earthiness I look for in a bowl of beef soup.
I cut the stew meat into small, half-inch to one-inch pieces for two reasons: the smaller pieces give the meat more surface area to sear, thereby adding extra flavor, and the smaller pieces ensure that it cooks enough to be tender.
What to Serve With Beef Barley Soup
Serve this delicious, filling, and nourishing hearty beef soup with a salad and bread for a complete meal. Flavored with herbs and cheese, this Savory Quick Bread pairs nicely with this hearty soup.
For a gluten-free bread option, try these tasty cheese puffs which will pair well with this soup.
What Cuts of Beef Should You Look For?
For our Beef Barley Soup, we want cuts of meat that become tender and flavorful through slow cooking. Look for cuts with enough fat and connective tissue to break down and infuse the stew with rich flavor. It’s always a benefit to combine more than one cut of beef, which we do in this soup, with both stew meat and beef shank. Here are some of the best options:
- Beef Chuck Roast – One of the top choices for stew meat, boneless beef chuck is well-marbled and becomes tender as it cooks slowly. It’s affordable and widely available, making it a go-to option.
- Bottom Round Roast (Rump Roast) – This cut comes from the cow’s rear. While it’s leaner than chuck, it still works well for stews with long, slow cooking.
- Brisket—Brisket has a rich flavor and tenderizes beautifully. It’s a bit more expensive than chuck but gives stews a deep, hearty taste.
- Oxtail—While bony, oxtail adds incredible flavor to stews. It’s best used with another cut of meat, requiring a longer cooking time to achieve optimal tenderness.
- Short Ribs – These are exceptionally flavorful and add great depth to a stew, especially if you brown them first. However, they can be more expensive than chuck roast.
- Shank—Often labeled beef shank or foreshank, this cut is affordable and leaner. It benefits from long cooking to achieve a melt-in-your-mouth texture.
Storing Leftover Beef Soup
Any leftover Hearty Beef Soup can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days or in the freezer for 2-3 months.
Food Storage Favorite
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I’ve been using Souper Cubes Freezer Storage Cubes and Pods for years! We use the 1 cup, 1/2 cup, and two tablespoon trays.
The 1 cup is perfect for lunch portions of soup, chili, and beans.
The 1/2-cup size is great for freezing buttermilk and cream. We also portion out 1/2-cup portions of our seasoned meat for our weekly nachos.
The 2-tablespoon trays are an excellent size for tomato paste and chipotle in adobo.
Hearty Beef Soup
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 pounds beef stew meat cut into 1/2 to 1-inch pieces
- 2-3 pounds beef shanks excess fat cut off
- 8 cups beef broth or water or a combination
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 2 onions diced
- 2 stalks of celery diced
- 2 carrots diced
- 4 cloves of garlic minced
- 1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms chopped by hand or in food processor
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp marjoram
- 2 can of kidney beans.
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
- Olive oil to brown meat
- Cooked barley optional
Instructions
- Heat oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. I used my large cast iron skillet.
- With heat at medium high to high, working in batches sear your cubes of stew meat until browned on all sides, adding oil as necessary.
- Put stew meat in your slow cooker or in a heavy pot if you are using your stove top.
- Brown your shanks on all sides, adding oil as necessary.
- Place shanks in slowcooker or pot
- Add remaining ingredients and cook in slowcooker on LOW for 8-9 hours or on the stovetop on simmer for 2-3 hours.
- If cooking on stovetop, you may need to add some additional liquid if it evaporates.
- If gluten is not an issue, add some to your soup as desired. I try to avoid unnecesarry gluten and it is plenty hearty without the barley.
Nutrition
Other Slow Cooker Soups
If your slow cooker is your BFF in the kitchen, we have several slow cooker soup recipes for you to try.
- This easy-to-make crockpot pumpkin soup recipe combines the rich flavors of fall, blending the sweetness of carrots and leeks with the earthiness of sage and thyme.
- Often, the most simple ingredients combine to make the most flavorful soups. White beans, onion, garlic, celery, and carrots combine with stock, a parmesan rind, bay leaves, and tomato paste to create the alchemy known as Tuscan White Bean Soup.
- This easy Slow-Cooker Lentil Soup Recipe has a deep flavor from smoky paprika and cumin, browned tomato paste, and sauteed aromatics. But not only is it delicious and filling, but it is also economical and easy to make! That’s four for four!
- The star ingredients of this Crockpot Pea Soup – dried green split peas and smoked ham hocks – combine for the most perfect of flavors: the peas offer a creamy texture and earthy taste, while the ham hocks infuse the soup with a rich, smoky depth.
- This White Bean Soup with Ham and Vegetables is a lighter, brothier version of traditional bean soup recipes.
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This soup would be perfect on this rainy cold day. I like that it can be made in the crock pot.
Rachel, it is cold and rainy here too. In fact notice you’re in the Triangle…I’m in Wilmington, so our weather is not too different. Up in your neck of the woods often with my daughter at Chapel Hill. Love it up there. Thanks for stopping by and hope you enjoy the soup.
Lynn
Hi Lynn.
All year round soup sounds unlikely but I’ve become a fan of cold soups on hot summer days. Refreshing Gespacho, Vichycoise. Cucumber soup &
Cherry soup as they serve it in Prague.
Hi Rita,
Somehow I missed the cucumber and cherry soup when we were in Prague! Cherry soup sounds divine, I think I need to look up a recipe.
Thanks for chiming in! You always have such great input.
Hugs, Lynn
Hi Lynn!
I have been looking at your blog tonight and I LOVE it! You have some awesome DIY’s and recipes. Thank you for sharing them and your life with us! I would love to receive your emails but I’m unable to subscribe. I only have my phone, right now, to use online and your subscription box is not showing up. If you could sign me up using my email addy that I provided here I would really appreciate it. If you cannot do this, please contact me and let me know how I can, if I can subscribe. Thank you for a fantabulous blog and for your help! Paula
Good Morning Paula, I will gladly sign you up and thanks for pointing out that my mobile site is not allowing for that…Hmmm….need to figure that out. I really appreciate your very kind message and encouraging words and hope that you will continue to find enjoyment from them. Wishing you a great day!?
Thank you so much for all your help Lynn. I really appreciate it!
I can hardly wait to make this soup. Normally I do not like shopping at all, especially grocery shopping! This week, I find myself looking forward to it, I have so many new things to try!? Thank you for the delicious recipes AND I love that you are also sharing crafting and recycling/upcycling ideas with us!? I hope you have an awesome evening! Paula
No problem Paula! We were happy to do it!
This looks delicious! I love making soups on fall & winter days. Easy, tasty and warms us up. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
This looks delicious! Perfect for a cold, rainy day!
Hi Kate, I’ve got to admit that it is perfect for a cold rainy day. Hope you enjoy it!
Thanks Kate, it really is just perfect for a cool fall day. I hope you enjoy it!
Lynn
Now you’re talking my language! I love my slow-cooker and get so excited finding new recipes. This looks and sounds delicious! If I try it, I’ll share my pics with you. 🙂
Thanks Trish! I love mine as well, aren’t they great?! Please do share your pics, love to see them! Enjoy!
Lynn this looks delicious! We finally have snow here in the mitten and this looks like the perfect dish to warm me up! Thanks for your tips on making the broth more rich.
Hi Chellie, I hope you enjoy it. We’re actually having leftover Beef Soup tonight, and you know soup is always better the second night.
This is right up my alley. I love to warm up from the inside out and this would also satisfy my husbands love for beef, while I sneak in as many veggies as I can! LOL I am pinning this so I can pull it up at the grocery! Thanks for sharing the recipe it’s going into our soup rotation!
Hey Nikki, I just made it again this past week and while still delish, think it’s really best if made in a slow cooker if possible. Enjoy it! It really is hearty, nourishing and satisfying…one of those dishes that you know is doing your body good. Have a great rest of your weekend.
Lynn
I could use a nice warm bowl of this soup right about now. It’s VERY cold here in the Canadian Prairies today. Thanks for the recipe – pinned to share and make when time permits!
Hi Marie, winter FINALLY arrived here in the US Southeast, and it came with a vengeance. This soup is just perfect for a cold winter night. It is just so hearty and nourishing. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.
Happy New Year, Lynn
Hi Lynn,
Making this beautiful soup this afternoon. Smells divine so far! Can’t wait to try it. 💜
Oh, we have been enjoying it lately too. Like all soups, it does get better a day or two later. I make a big batch and keep it in the freezer. ENJOY!!
I love your recipes Lynn and your newsletter in general! Thanks for the hard work it takes to create all of the content and keep us all full of your good tips! I would like to ask for your help- I signed early for the declutter challenge but did not get the first check list on week one. I signed up again today to help. Would you be able to send me week one please and maybe check that I’m on the list for week 2? Thanks so much for all you do for all of us!! Lucia
Hello Lucia,
Thanks for your kind words! I really do love this job, but it so much more enjoyable and rewarding with readers like you!
I am so glad you said something about the Declutter Checklists. This email is not subscribed to them! I’m sure you did sign up, so I need to do some research to figure out why. But not to fear, I’ve gone ahead and added you, so you should receive the first checklist immediately and then the second one in a week. Good luck with your decluttering and I’d love to hear how you are progressing!
Hugs, Lynn