Soup
Beef & Barley Soup
Hearty beef broth with barley, carrots and celery. The one that eats like a meal.
Beef and barley is the soup that stopped being fashionable and never stopped being good. It is what you make when it is cold and you want something that eats like a meal rather than a starter.
Barley is the reason. It has a chew that rice and noodles don't, it thickens the broth as it cooks, and it soaks up beef flavour better than anything else you could put in the pot.
It also goes in late. Barley added at the start will drink four cups of broth and turn to paste. One hour is exactly right.
Why you'll love it
It eats like a meal.
Beef, barley and vegetables. Nothing else needed on the table.
Cheapest cut, best result.
Chuck or stew meat. Eight hours makes it fall apart.
Barley does the thickening.
No roux, no cream, no cornstarch slurry.
Better every day.
This is the one that improves most in the fridge.
What's already in the packet
Beef base and tomato with the classic soup aromatics. No cream, no dairy at all.
Choose your setting
LOW · 8 hours
Low and slow gives collagen time to melt and flavors time to build. It is the setting this recipe was written for.
HIGH · 4 hours
For when you started late. It gets dinner done, but the texture is better on LOW.
Done at 190–200°F
Safe at 145°F, but chuck cubes stay chewy until the collagen breaks down. The beef should crush against the side of the pot.
You'll Need
- 2 lbs Beef stew meat
- 8 cups Water
- 1 packet Cook SLO Beef & Barley Soup
- 3 cups Carrots, celery and onion
- 1 cup Pearl barley, dry
Pick your protein
2 lbs
Beef stew meat
2 lbs
Chuck roast, in cubes
2 lbs
Beef short ribs, boneless
Chicken 165°F, ground sausage 160°F, beef cubes 190°F, cooked ham 140°F
Add vegetables
Thick-cut carrots (fresh or frozen), celery chunks (fresh or frozen), sliced onion (fresh or frozen), baby potatoes and parsnips at the start, on the bottom; mushrooms at the start to melt into the sauce, or the last two hours to keep their shape; green beans (fresh or frozen) in the last hour; peas (frozen) in the last twenty minutes.
When to add what
| When | Add | Why |
|---|---|---|
| At the start, on the bottom | Thick-cut carrots (fresh or frozen)Celery chunks (fresh or frozen)Sliced onion (fresh or frozen)Baby potatoesParsnips | Root vegetables cook slower than meat. They belong closest to the heat, and they hold the meat up out of the liquid. Cut everything an inch and a half or larger — smaller pieces disintegrate. |
| At the start, or the last two hours | Sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen) | Mushrooms are a choice. At the start they melt into the sauce and deepen it. In the last two hours they hold their shape and keep some bite. |
| Last hour | Green beans (fresh or frozen) | Any longer and green beans go grey, squash turns to water, and pineapple falls apart. |
| Last 20 minutes | Peas (frozen) | Spinach wilts in about five. A whole bag cooks down to roughly half a cup, so use more than looks reasonable. Frozen peas go grey and wrinkled if added earlier. |
Two ways to do this
If you're home
Follow the timing table above and add things when they're due.
If you're out all day
Put in at the start as normal: thick-cut carrots (fresh or frozen), celery chunks (fresh or frozen), sliced onion (fresh or frozen), baby potatoes, parsnips and sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen). These need the full cook anyway.
Add green beans (fresh or frozen) and peas (frozen) when you walk in the door. Forty-five minutes to an hour on LOW is enough for all of it, and it will taste better than if it had cooked all day.
If you would rather not touch it at all, put everything in at the start and use frozen where you can. It will be softer than the timing above intends and the greens will lose their colour, but it will taste good and dinner is ready when you walk in.
Frozen is the better choice for a long day. Already cut, holds its shape better than fresh over eight or nine hours, and goes in straight from the bag with no thawing. Frozen diced onion and pepper strips remove the only real prep this recipe has.
Before anything goes in the pot
- 1
Brown the meat first
Pat it dry, get a heavy pan properly hot, and work in two batches so nothing steams. Two to three minutes a side. You want colour, not doneness — the crock pot finishes it.
- 2
Deglaze the pan and pour it in
This is the step almost everyone skips, and it wastes half the benefit of browning. Most of the flavour you just made is stuck to the pan. Pour a cup of the recipe's water into the hot empty pan, scrape everything loose with a wooden spoon while it bubbles, and pour that into the crock pot. Count it toward the total liquid.
These happen outside the crock pot, before it's switched on.
Tonight's Plan
- 1
Put the carrots, celery and onion in the crock pot first.
Vegetables cook slower than beef, so they belong closest to the heat.
- 2
Add the beef on top.
No browning needed. Cubes brown adequately against the hot crock.
- 3
Pour in 8 cups of water and sprinkle the whole packet over everything.
Stir once.
- 4
Put the lid on.
Set a reminder for one hour before the end — that is when the barley goes in.
Vegetables
Stir in the dry barley, cover, and cook one more hour.
Dry, not cooked. It will drink about two cups of broth and thicken the pot as it goes.
Stir well and ladle into bowls.
Add hot water if it thickened more than you wanted.
Stirring
Stir once at the halfway point
Tomato solids and the thickener both settle and can catch against the base. One stir is enough.
Swaps and add-ins
Add mushrooms.
A pound at the start. It deepens the broth more than any other single change.
Use short ribs.
Boneless short rib instead of stew meat. Richer, and it falls apart beautifully.
Add a splash of red wine.
Half a cup replacing some of the water. Classic and worth it.
Swap the barley for farro.
Same timing, nuttier, holds its shape a little better.
Tips for success
- Barley in the last hour, never earlier. It absorbs about twice its volume. Added at the start you will have a very thick porridge and no broth.
- Cut the vegetables thick. Inch-and-a-half. Small pieces disappear over eight hours.
- It thickens overnight. Expect to add half a cup of water when you reheat. That is the barley, not a mistake.
- Drop in a liner before anything else. Smooth it against the sides and fold the edges over the rim. When you're done, lift it out and throw it away — the crock never needs scrubbing.
Finish it right
A splash of red wine vinegar or Worcestershire.
A teaspoon at the end. Eight hours flattens everything and acid brings the whole pot back.
Fresh chopped parsley.
Bright green against a very brown bowl.
Cracked black pepper, generously.
Beef soup should be peppery.
Serve it over
Tomorrow night
It is better on day two.
Genuinely. Make it the night before if you can.
Thin it back into soup.
The barley keeps drinking. Half a cup of hot water sorts it.
Beef and barley pie.
Thicken it further, pour into a crust, bake thirty-five minutes.
Over mashed potatoes.
Unusual and very good on a cold night.
Keeping it
Fridge
Airtight, up to 4 days. Better every day.
Freezer
3 months. One of the best freezers in the book.
Reheating
Stove or microwave. Add hot water — the barley will have drunk more.
Questions people ask
Recipe card
Beef & Barley Soup
You'll Need
- 2 lbs Beef stew meat
- 8 cups Water
- 1 packet Cook SLO Beef & Barley Soup
- 3 cups Carrots, celery and onion
- 1 cup Pearl barley, dry
Tonight's Plan
- Put the carrots, celery and onion in the crock pot first.
- Add the beef on top.
- Pour in 8 cups of water and sprinkle the whole packet over everything.
- Put the lid on.
No major allergens declared.
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