Beef Vegetable Barley Soup

Beef Vegetable Pearl Barley - It's a comforting hug in a bowl, packed with tender beef, chewy barley, and colourful veggies. Perfect for chilly days or a soul-soothing meal after a long day. Let's dig in!

Recently, I had this brilliant idea for a soup-making day with my neighbour, who also happens to be a good friend. You might be wondering what exactly this entails, but let me tell you, it's pretty clever. The concept is simple: you team up with a friend, each pick two soups you want to make, head out together to buy the ingredients, and then spend the day - or half a day, thanks to my Instant Pot - cooking up a storm.

Once all the soups are done, you divide them up, leaving both of you with four different soups to freeze for later. It's perfect for batch cooking, especially if you're not a fan of doing it solo. Plus, you get to take breaks for a cuppa, savour a bowl of soup, and enjoy a good chat and laugh while chopping ingredients. It's a wonderful way to spend time together, with one person stirring and cooking while the other preps. It's teamwork at its finest!

One of the soups we chose to make was this delicious Beef and Barley Soup. My kids absolutely loved this Beef Vegetable Barley Soup, but then they love this Irish Beef Stew recipe, so I knew it would be a hit. Soups are great meals for fussy eaters; my kids have quite an aversion to certain vegetables, but in a soup, they will oddly eat anything. So, if you really struggle with speed foods, I know there are some out there who really do not like many vegetables at all. Just make plenty of different soups until you find one you love.

At the end of the cooking session, it was so awesome seeing all the different tubs of soup we had. I plan to do this regularly with other friends too. Next time, we are thinking we could do some curries and chilli type recipes, anything that is great for batch cooking and freezing.

If you're using pasta in your soup, remember it will expand and soften upon reheating. To maintain an al dente texture, add the pasta when heating the soup or opt for pasta-free soups. Personally, I don't mind softer pasta; I just adjust with a bit more stock when reheating, yielding more soup.

Be mindful of the pearl barley's cooking instructions. I used a 10-minute pearl barley, which cooks faster. If using regular pearl barley, adjust cooking time accordingly. Feel free to adapt the recipe based on available ingredients.

I cooked this Beef Vegetable Barley Soup in my Instant Pot for speed, but it can also be made on the stove. Don't have an Instant Pot? It's a versatile 7-in-1 cooker available on Amazon, offering various cooking methods from slow cooking to pressure cooking. It's perfect for batch cooking, reducing cooking time significantly.

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Recipe Card

Beef and Vegetable Barley Soup

Yield: SERVES 8

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Beef Vegetable Pearl Barley - It's a comforting hug in a bowl, packed with tender beef, chewy barley, and colourful veggies. Perfect for chilly days or a soul-soothing meal after a long day. Let's dig in!

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Ingredients

• 800g (28oz) of Lean Stewing Beef
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 stalks of celery, sliced
• 2 large carrots, sliced into thin batons
• 500g (17.5oz)  0f chopped and peeled butternut squash
• 300g (10.5oz) of Yukon gold potatoes, chopped (or use a similar waxy potato), peeled and chopped
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• ½ tbs of mixed herbs
• 1 tbs of balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup (240ml) of pearl barley (I used a 10 min variety)
• 8 cups (2 litres) of chicken or beef broth/stock
• salt and black pepper to season
• spray oil
• Fresh chopped Italian parsley

Instructions

Stove Top:

1. Spray a large pot or Dutch oven with low calorie spray, brown the beef over medium-high heat. Once browned, remove it from the pot and set it aside.
2. In the same pot, add the chopped vegetables (onion, celery, carrot, and garlic), spray with more low calorie spray. Cook until they begin to soften, stirring occasionally.
3. Return the browned beef to the pot. Add all the other ingredients except for the pearl barley.
4. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cover the pot and let it simmer for about 1 hour, ensuring that the vegetables are tender.
5. About 10 minutes before the soup is done, stir in the pearl barley. Continue to simmer until the barley is cooked through and tender.
6. Once everything is cooked to your liking, adjust the seasoning if needed. Serve hot and enjoy your delicious beef and barley soup

Instant Pot:

1. Turn on the Instant Pot and select the Saute mode.
2. Once the pot is hot, spray it with oil. Add half of the beef and cook until browned. Remove and repeat with the remaining beef. Set the browned beef aside.
3. Deglaze the bottom of the pot by adding a couple of ladles of water.
4. Add the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic to the pot. Spray with oil and sauté for about 5 minutes until the onion and celery are slightly softened and translucent.
5. Return the cooked beef to the pot. Add the butternut squash, potatoes, mixed herbs, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, pearl barley, stock, and a little salt and black pepper. Stir to combine.
6. Close the lid, ensure the valve is closed, and set the Instant Pot to Manual mode on high pressure for 15 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally.
7. Season the soup with salt and black pepper to taste. Serve hot, sprinkled with freshly chopped Italian parsley.

Notes

Please see below for full nutritional info and additional details about recipe:

• Calories - scroll down to nutritional info box
• WW Points and other Slimming or Weight Loss programs -   due to plans regularly changing and updating, we recommend calculating with the official tools you get as a member to those plans to ensure accuracy of values. 
• Dairy Free Friendly
• Freezer Friendly ❄️

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Nutrition Information

Yield 8 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 353Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 90mgSodium 596mgCarbohydrates 37gFiber 7gSugar 6gProtein 39g

Nutritional information and values etc are an estimate and is to be used for informational purposes only. Ingredients can vary greatly from brand to brand and therefore it would be impossible to give accurate information. It is always advised that you calculate by the ingredients you use.

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