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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.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
I made this soup tonight and my husband and I thought it was good but the meat didn’t have much flavor. Did I just not use enough salt & pepper?
Hi Ann! It probably just needed another pinch or two of salt and pepper. You could also swap the salt for an all-purpose seasoning blend instead. Just something that has garlic powder, onion powder, dried herbs, etc! Also, I find good quality stock makes quite a difference in IP recipes (not sure if you made it in the IP.)
Made this for my family. Big hit! I have had a hard time finding a beef/veggie soup that my family likes and this hit the spot.
*I did leave out the mushrooms and did not add mushroom powder. My kids aren’t mushroom fans. I followed the rest of the recipe the same for the instant pot.
Will definitely make this again!
AND-it made for great leftovers.
This recipe was so good!!!!
This was absolutely delicious. Very flavorful. The pressure cooker does make a difference, you can really taste the flavors. But the recipe was perfection! This will be my go-to recipe for Beef Barley Soup. Thank you for sharing.
On the recipe card, you don’t say when to add the barley. Is it with the other ingredients?
I add the barley at the end in the Instantpot. It is important not to stir it because the barley can stick at the bottom. I like my barley soft so I cook it longer. I do not add the potato and that is my choice. For the spices I use herbs de province. Yummy recipe, my family loves it.
To make it more clear, after dumping the rest of the ingredients, I throw in the uncooked barley and pressure cook it for 45 mins ( I like my barley soft) or to your preferred texture. I also like to put in a dash of Worcester Sauce for more flavour.
This was such a winning recipe. I did add a bit of tomato paste with the veg, Worcestershire, and I small diced the potatoes instead of grating them.
Turned out beautifully and was exactly what I was craving. Thank you!!
Can you add the uncooked barley to the instant pot or should it be cooked separately?
Comforting Beef Barley Soup
I made this for dinner last night and my family loved it! I increased the amount of barley and I shredded two potatoes to thicken the soup. I was short on time so I added the shredded potato in with everything else at once, rather than after it had cooked. I didn’t have celery to add and it still was tasty. I had tomato juice in the fridge that needed to be used up so I used this as the base rather than beef broth.
Once you put the barley and potatoes in and set it to slow cook for instant pot…do you put the lid on? Or will it cook properly without.? Thx
I’m about to make this recipe for the first time – but I’ve never used my instapot as more than a slow cooker — I know, I’m behind the times. So — while you’ll probably see this message too late — I’m a little confused about what setting to do everything on in the instapot. Am I using sauté at first and then switching over to stew? Help! (Instapot novice!)
Hi Kim! You would use the sauté setting first, then the manual “high pressure” button to do the actual pressure cooking. Hope that helps!
My grandson took a bite and said “did you make this yourself?!?” Nine year old approved as well as the rest of the family! Delicious
I made this several times. It’s delicious. I use frozen hash browns instead of peeling and grating potatoes. I also throw it all in and use instant pot on manual for 20 min and slow release. It’s perfect!
How much shredded potato did you use?
This recipe is a keeper! I added the barley along with everything and pressure cooked for 20 minutes (manual setting)and it turned out delicious…even our 2 year old demolished it. Thanks for sharing!
Made this in the instant pot just as written except no mushrooms. It turned out very well and I’ll make this again for sure.
So glad to hear you enjoyed it, Sherry!
I’m just getting into the whole instapot realm of cooking. For this recipe, what size instapot was used? Seems like 6qt,, can’t wait to make it!!!
6 qrt is correct! So anything 6 or larger would work for this recipe 🙂
My entire family loves this soup. I changed the recipe a bit, excluded potatoes, added a big old soup bone, changed some of the proportions, and add ingredients nearly to the maximum fill line in the pot. I also put all the ingredients in at the same time and pressure cook on the stew setting for 40 minutes. It is delightful and nourishing on cold nights!
My entire family loves this soup.
So good! I am under the weather so I was looking for an easier way. I dumped the potato (chopped) and quick cook barley in and set for 15 mins on high on the Instant pot. It was perfect. Kids loved it. Thank you!!
Made just as directed but didn’t have mushrooms or potatoes. instead I put 1/2 peas and finely diced cauliflower in with the pearl barley. The texture of the barley was perfect. I also “cheated” with roasted garlic in a jar. I’m new to the instant pot world and was very pleased with the results using 15 min on my “soup setting” then nat. release for 15 and pressed the valve to let the rest of the steam escape before putting it on “slow cook.” Thank you for the excellent instructions!
This is a great recipe! I cut a ton of corners, bc of time, and doubled the recipe. I sauteed the meat all at once, at the same time, sauteed onions, carrots, celery and garlic in a separate pan. Stirred veggies, no potatoes tho, in with meat and added the rest of the ingredients and pressure cooked for 40 min. (that may have been too long) and released the pressure immediately. I also sauteed the mushrooms separately because we prefer them that way. It turned out fabulous!!