Beef barley soup is great hearty old school porridge and it is pretty damned amazing when it needs to be. This one will have you warm inside and out.
Classic Beef Barley Soup
There’s a time and place for standing outside and grilling all day long. Then, there’s time to admit that a classic hearty soup like beef barley is pretty damned amazing when it needs to be. With cold short days on the horizon, that day is coming faster than I would like to admit.
When it hits, no matter how cute your fluffy boots are, and you are trapped inside, make this Beef and Barley Soup. It’s packed with big bites of beef to fill you up and loaded with other savory bits and pieces so that you will survive the winter and live to grill another day.
Beef Barley Soup With Beef Trimmings Or Ground Beef
You can of course use ground beef for beef barley, but I prefer beef trimmings. I think it has a heartier bite to it. You get more of a stew vibe than a chili vibe from it. Nothing wrong with ground beef chili of course, but beef stew just has a ring to it.
Beef trimmings are the parts left after the cuts for steaks and roasts are cut away. For the record, beef trimmings usually end up becoming ground beef.
You might have to ask the butcher for beef trimmings. They will know what you are talking about.
What Is Barley?
Barley is civilization, plain and simple. Barley made beer possible. Enough said. If it weren’t for barley we would all be running around in skunk skins and grunting at each other. That is fine for a lost weekend or two involving an open tap of good ale in fine company, but never good for the long haul.
Barley is a grass and possesses a grain full of minerals and vitamins as well as a great source of fiber. Used in soups, it gives a bit more chew than rice and holds up way better than any noodle.
This quality makes it great for leftovers paired with Baby Guinness Shots on a cold winters night.
More soup recipes to try
- Bone Marrow French Onion Soup
- Chicken Soup with Roasted Butternut Squash & Curry
- Grilled Chicken Tequila Tortilla Soup
- Steak and Potato Soup
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Beef and Barley Soup
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs beef trimmings cut into 1″ cubes
- salt and pepper
- 3 tbs olive oil divided
- 1 onion diced
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 8 oz baby bella mushrooms stems removed, and sliced thin
- 1 tbs tomato paste
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 6 cups beef stock
- 1/2 cup pearl barley
- handful chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Heat 2 tbs oil in a large Dutch oven over medium high heat until just smoking.
- Season the beef liberally with salt and pepper and toss into the pot. Cook until just browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Remove from the pot and set aside.
- Reduce the heat to medium, add the remaining 1 tbs oil, and cook the onions, carrots, and celery. Cook for 5 minutes, until starting to brown.
- Add the mushrooms and cook 5 to 7 minutes longer until water has evaporated from the mushrooms.
- Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute until toasted. Deglaze the pan with the wine and add the bay leaves, thyme, and beef stock.
- Bring to a boil and add the barley. Keep the temperature at a simmer and cook 45 minutes longer.
- Return the beef, and any accumulated juices, to the pot. Cook 10 minutes longer to heat through.
- Sprinkle with parsley and ladle into bowls.
Nutrition
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