Crock Pot Beef Barley Soup Recipe
Crock pot beef barley soup is made with tender beef stew meat, chewy barley, fresh celery, chopped onions, medium carrots, and other nutritious veggies with seasoning and fresh herbs. This slow cooker recipe is a comforting and hearty soup made with minimal effort - perfect to enjoy during cold weather at dinner time with a side of warm crusty bread.
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound stewing beef meat, (chuck roast), trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1 inch pieces, see notes
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2-3 stalks celery, sliced
- 1 carrot, about ½ cup diced
- 1 cup passata, or fire roasted tomatoes, or chunky tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon ground paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 6 cups beef broth
- 1 cup barley, hulled or pearl barley, uncooked
- ¼ cup parsley
- 1 cup diced potato
- 1 ½ cups cremini mushrooms, thick slices
- 1 pinch salt, or to taste
- 1-2 tablespoons cooking oil, I use avocado oil
- 2-3 medium bay leaves
- 1 pinch black pepper, or to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet with some cooking oil, brown the mushrooms until they become golden brown. Set aside. In the same skillet, add more oil and sear the beef chunks over medium-high heat. About 2 minutes per side.1-2 tablespoons cooking oil, 1 ½ cups cremini mushrooms, 1 pound stewing beef meat
- Transfer all the ingredients to a crock pot (I used a 4.5-quart slow cooker), and season with salt and black pepper.1 yellow onion, 4 garlic cloves, 2-3 stalks celery, 1 carrot, 1 cup passata, 1 teaspoon ground paprika, ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon dried oregano, 6 cups beef broth, 1 cup barley, ¼ cup parsley, 1 cup diced potato, 2-3 medium bay leaves, 1 pinch salt, 1 pinch black pepper
- Cook on LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 4 hours. Discard the bay leaves and serve right away with fresh parsley, crusty bread and sour cream (optional). If you like this recipe, please leave a 5-star rating, thank you!
Notes
- Stewing meat - we like to use chuck roast or for other options lamb shanks, pork shoulder, or chicken thighs. Read the blog post for more details.
- Barley - cooking barley in the slow cooker allows the barley to soak up all the flavors from the broth and ingredients. The starch from the barley helps to thicken the soup. If you are planning to freeze or store the soup for later (2+ days) then I highly recommend cooking the barley separately. Barley will soak up lots of broth while it sits which will alter the taste and make the barley soft and large (your soup will become a thick stew).
- Don't soak the barley in water before cooking, otherwise, it will be overcooked after slow cooking. If you already have soaked it then add it halfway through the cooking time.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!