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A simple yet comforting beef barley soup made in the instant pot or slow cooker! The beef chunks are tender, and the veggies and barley are perfectly cooked. It’s seriously the simplest, most flavorful stick-to-your-ribs kinda soup!
Feelin’ all the cozy feels with this hearty beef barley soup.
Warm soups make me want to bust out my fuzzy socks, oversized sweaters and drink warm earl grey tea lattes all day long. Needless to say, soups are some of my favorite types of food.
And my instant pot beef barley soup isn’t just some boring old soup. I’m talking about the kind of soup that hits all the perfect warm and cozy notes with spoonfuls of flavorful broth, melt-in-your-mouth tender chunks of beef, veggies, and al dente barley. It’ll stick to your ribs, pack on the protein, give your insides a big hug, and leave your belly extra happy!
@littlespicejar Beef ans Barley Soup plus tips! Full recipe linked in my profile and on littlespicejar.com 3 things to make a better pot of soup – Chop your veggies into bite-sized pieces so you get a bit in each bite – Sear the meat , Saute your veggies, and aromatics to create layers of flavor – Allow it to simmer for longer periods of time so everything melds together #beefandbarleysoup #beefsoup #beefsouprecipe #soup #soupseason #souptok #souprecipes #goodsoup #goodsoup👌🏼 ♬ Natural Emotions – Muspace Lofi
What makes this soup recipe 1000x times better is that we’re making it from start to finish in the instant pot. With around 60 minutes of total time, you’ll have a soup that tastes like you’ve been slow-simmering it all day long. And yes, you sure can cook this recipe all day long and make beef barley soup in the slow cooker if that’s more your jam.
Made the soup today in my instant pot. It was easy to follow and to make. The soup turned out great. Everybody liked it and we have some leftovers for this week. Thank you.
Ingredients for beef barley soup recipe
- Beef: stewing beef or a beef chuck roast cut into 1-inch pieces works best. My grocery store sells pieces that are about 1–1½ inch pieces. Keep in mind that the smaller your pieces are, the less time this soup will take in the instant pot. If the beef cubes are too large, chop them down.
- Mushrooms: I like to use baby Bella mushrooms for this recipe. However, button mushrooms would also work here.
- Mirepoix: Mirepoix is the base of the soup. It’s a combination of onions, celery, and carrots.
- Garlic: You can use as little or as much garlic as you like for this recipe. I typically go a bit heavier than most, and we love a good flavorful broth. I use about 6-8 cloves garlic!
- Beef broth: I suggest using low-sodium beef broth for this recipe. If you’re in a pinch and don’t have beef broth on hand, you can substitute it with low-sodium chicken broth (or stock) and add a tablespoon of low-sodium soy sauce. I’ve done this plenty of times with great results!
- Seasonings and sauces: I recently started adding a dash of tomato paste to my soup, and I love the flavor profile it adds to this soup. Along with that, you’ll need bay leaves, dried thyme, and mushroom powder. The mushroom powder is optional, but it’s an umami flavor bomb if you have it on hand! Just ½ teaspoon takes this soup to new heights!
- Pearl barley: is a grain that has had the tough fibrous outer hull removed from it. Barley is a fiber-rich food that is great to include in your diet.
- Potato: Just a big old russet is what you need here! Remove the peel and shred the potato in your food processor.
- Fresh parsley: adds a bit of color and freshness to the soup recipe.
* Up until recently, I’ve always used diced potatoes in my beef barley soup but the shredded potatoes is a little trick I picked up from The Food Charlatan and it’s seriously the best thing in this soup!
How to make instant pot beef barley soup
- Generously season the stew meat with salt and black pepper. Heat a splash of oil in the instant pot on the saute setting on medium-high heat. When hot, add a batch of the meat and brown it evenly on all sides for a couple of mins. The browning process develops a layer of fond on the bottom of the pan. Which will ultimately aid in providing more flavor for our soup. Remove the meat to a plate when it’s done. You’ll treat the mushrooms the same way; brown them, and remove them to the same plate.
- Add another splash of oil to the instant pot and saute your onions, carrots, and celery. When the vegetables have softened, add the garlic and tomato paste. You want to allow the tomato paste time to bloom in the oil before adding the remaining ingredients. Then, add everything but the potatoes, cover the instant pot, and let it come up to a simmer before it starts the pressure cooking.
- When the instant pot timer goes off, allow a natural pressure release. You can do a manual quick release, but because it was a hot liquid, you might end up getting splatter. For this reason, I suggest natural pressure release. Then, place the instant pot on the saute setting, stir in the shredded potatoes, place the IP lid on top (not locked, just placed on top) let the soup continue to cook for another 10-15 minutes or until the potato has cooked through. Taste and adjust with additional seasonings. If the soup is too thick, you can thin it with additional broth until it reaches your desired consistency.
- Serve it up. Ladle the soup into your favorite bowl and serve this with a slice of the best garlic bread.
Additional tips and tricks
Use store-bought mirepoix to cu todwn on prep time. If you look in the prepared foods section, they often sell a 3-cup container of prepared mirepoix, so it’s ready to cook.
Use store-bought shredded potatoes. You can usually find these in the breakfast refrigerated section of your grocery store. Thawed shredded hash browns would also work for this recipe.
Since this recipe is made in the instant pot it’s difficult to suggest substitutes for the pearl barley as the cooking time on these ingedients varies from the beef stew meat.
I like a good salad, maybe a shaved brussels, apple and manchego situation, or a kale crunch salad. Garlic bread is always a welcome side! My no knead focaccia or jalapeno cheddar bread would be delicious dipped in this!
I like to use a dutch oven. Follow directions 1 and 2. Then add everything but the barley and potatoes and let the soup simmer, covered, on low heat for 1 hour. Test the meat for doneness, it should be almost there. Then add the rinsed barley and shredded ptoatoes and continue to simmer the soup, uncovered, for another 30 minutes.
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- Honey Lemon Chicken with Green Beans
- Rustic Shepherd’s Pie with Cheesy Mashed Potatoes and Peas
- Hungarian Mushroom Soup
- Mini Moroccan Meatball Soup
- Homemade Minestrone Soup
Comforting Beef Barley Soup (Instant Pot)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds stew meat cut into 1¼ inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 10 baby bella mushrooms quartered
- 3 cups mirepoix just a combination of chopped onion, celery, and carrots
- 6-8 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons tomato paste
- 7 cups low sodium beef broth or vegetable
- 1 cup water
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon mushroom powder optional
- ⅔ cup pearl barley rinsed
- ¾ pound russet potato peeled + shredded (using a food processor or grater)
Instructions
- SAUTE: Season the stew meat with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pot or in the instant pot over medium-high heat. Add ½ the stew meat and brown on all sides for about 2-3 minutes total. Remove meat to a plate and repeat with the second batch and the second tablespoon of oil. Add the mushroom to the pot and brown the mushrooms for 1-2 minutes or until they start picking up the brown bits left behind by the meat. Remove the mushrooms to the same plate as the stew meat.
- VEGGIES: If needed, add a little more oil to the pot and the mirepoix mix. Cook the veggies for 4-5 minutes or until the onions soften and become translucent. Add the garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds before adding the tomato paste and letting it brown for an additional 30 seconds.
- INSTANT POT: Add the stew meat, mushrooms, bay leaves, dried thyme, mushroom powder, water, beef broth, and barley to sautéed veggies in the instant pot, cover and hit the manual button (high pressure), and cook for 16 minutes. Allow the pressure to release before removing the lid. Hit the saute setting on the instant pot, covered (use the IP lid and just place it on top, don’t lock.) Add the shredded potatoes allow the soup to cook for 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through. Season with additional seasonings to taste and thin soup with additional water or stock if it gets too thick. Serve warm with chopped parsley on top and a loaf of crusty bread or crackers.
- SLOW COOKER: to make the soup in the slow cooker, add the softened veggies, stew meat, mushrooms, bay leaves, dried thyme, mushroom powder, water, beef broth, and barley to the slow cooker and allow the soup to cook on the high setting for 3 hours or on the low setting for 6 hours. Add the shredded potatoes to the slow cooker during the last 1 hour of cooking. Season with additional seasonings to taste and thin soup with additional water or stock if it gets too thick. Season with additional seasonings as desired. Serve warm!
Notes
- Sometimes I like to spice things up by adding a little pinch of red pepper flakes along with the dried thyme too but this is purely optional.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I made this for supper again and it was delicious! I added some spinach and leftover cabbage from stuffed cabbage rolls that a friend gave me. I gave that friend a bowl of it and she said it was the best soup she’s had in a long time and it reminded her of her mom’s soup.
Family loves this recipe! Turns out delicious every time! Follow it to a T! Thank you!
Excellent recipe I added a handful of wild rice.
This is one of our favorite recipes! So grateful for the update to make the cooking simplified and cook the barley under pressure. When we have venison roasts, will substitute that for the beef. I sometimes cheat and use frozen precut veggies, then it’s an easy weekend night meal! Have made it more than a dozen times and will keep making it. Hearty enough that my husband and teenage son don’t complain about soup for dinner!
This recipe is amazing
Only alterations I made are to omit the mushroom powder, used canned mushrooms- small can with stems & pieces. Also – I popped it all in for the 16 min pressure cook, then let it naturally release 10 mins before venting & removing the lid. It’s so good!
Thank you for sharing the recipe! I have cooked it with a Tefal multi cooker with the pressure cooker mode. I did not add in the potato but I followed the other steps. However why do I find that the taste of the soup was very watery.
This was SO delicious! Hearty and flavorful. We have a crockpot slow cooker / pressure cooker and followed the instapot directions in this recipe. I might have a third helping…..
Would love to see instructions for top of the stove – old school cooking
Made this yesterday – it came out amazing!
I followed the recipe as written except for no mushrooms as I was unfortunately out of them. I also added some chopped fresh green beans at the end with the hashbrown potatoes (which I chopped up a little so they wouldn’t be too stringy to fit on the spoon easily, just a minor peeve of mine).
Had another bowl tonight for dinner and it’s even better after sitting a day. It thickened up a little probably from the barley, and I like the thicker consistency.
Will be making again and plan to try with mushrooms next time. Might also try another green veg added at the end like chopped kale or spinach.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Made in slow cooker- was looking for something different and nice to use Barley. Very nice!
I love the soup but previously made it in the slow cooker. Today I’m making it in my IP but I’m not clear about what to do after the 16 minutes. It says to make sure pressure is released, but I am not clear are you saying to manually release pressure or let it do it on its own which can take a few hours? Please advise. I am going to try to manually release it and see what happens because I want it for lunch on this cold day and that will be in just a few hours.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It is my one of my hubby’s and my favs.
THIS! This is my go-to recipe when I want a delicious and satisfying soup. It’s like having a warm hug in winter. It’s even better the next day.
I want to use diced potatoes in the crockpot. When should the diced potatoes be added to the crockpot? Thanks
Hi there. When you say “allow the pressure to release” do you mean NR?
Hi Christine! Either quick release or natural release will work for this recipe, so I didn’t specify! I do always just a natural pressure release if time permits, I find the flavors are a bit better that way! Hope you enjoy the soup 🙂
I had to modify the recipe a little bit because I didn’t have any mushrooms or mushroom powder. I also used pot barley instead of pearl barley. The soup was fantastic! I had cut my beef into a small dice and next time I will try it with the mushrooms instead of the beef. I also added all the grated potato into the mirepoix along with the meat, etc. and cooked it on the soup/broth setting. This recipe is a keeper – thank you!
Rave reviews from the family. I skipped the potato. The barley provided all the starch we needed. Didn’t have mushrooms, dashed to Aldi after setting up the IP. Used plain white mushrooms. Essential to the dish. This will be lunch for a couple days. Yum!
This worked well in the instant pot. I cooked the potato in a skillet on the stove using leftover beef fat while the instant pot worked. Then I just stirred it in. I also used ground beef because it is what I had and that was good. The 5 and 3 year olds both ate it yay! We served it with a little shredded cheese and a bit of sour cream.
wow excellent
This is the best mushroom beef barley soup I’ve ever had. Thank you so much for sharing it with me. I highly recommend this recipe especially if you have an instant pot to use.
Left out the mushroom powder (didn’t have any) and the potato. Added a can of diced tomatoes. Natural release was more like 50 minutes because I got distracted. Husband is still raving about it 2 weeks later! Definitely a keeper!