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Beef and Barley Soup

I got this recipe from my friend Alice that graciously made this for a group of ladies at a church Woman's Retreat.
It has quickly become one of our family favorites. A hearty, and healthy supper on a cold Canadian winters night.



  • 1 lb. beef stew or other lean beef
  • 1 tbsp. oil
  • 1 large chopped onion
  • 2 cloves of minced garlic
  • 9 cups of low sodium beef broth
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon basil
  • 1/4 tsp. pepper or to taste
  • 1 large Rutabaga
  • 3 celery stalks
  • 3 carrots
  • 1- 28 oz can tomatoes
  • 3/4 cup barley

  1. Brown beef.
  2. add onions and garlic and cook till softened.
  3. add remaining ingredients and simmer for about an hour til the barley is done.
  4. or in the crock pot on low for 8-10 hours.
  5. this yields about 16 cups.
  6. serve with any of the fantastic buns, bread or biscuits found on our side bar.




12 comments:

  1. ooh that sounds delicious. I think it will be a great winter soup to make one night this week.

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  2. It is so very Wonderful. Isn't it , unfortunately the first time I made it my husband insisted we add much more barley. *sighs* Needless to say it turned into a disaster. Barley is deceptively explosive. We wound up with beef & Barley mush.

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  3. One of my favourite soups. Chock full of nutrition, iron, protein, vitamins and minerals, good carbohydrates, and if you use bone, calcium in a manner most easily accessed by our gut.

    Sometimes I make mine with chicken legs or hens (fowl) when I find them on sale. A Nobel prize to whoever invented the slow cooker!

    When you make these densely nutritious soups, they are "full meal" with a salad and a piece of fruit.

    Thank you for this nudge!

    anon1

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  4. Guess what I'm fixing for dinner tonight? Thanks for the recipe, it sounds really good, and I can have it done by the time I get back home! Karen

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  5. I am a soup lover and have not made barley soup for a long time. Thanks for the recipe. Kathy (MGCC)

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  6. I must be feeling better. ..this is the third time today I`ve come to look at your soup. . .looks so yummy.

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  7. I made a variation of this tonight since this post was so inspiring!

    I used vermicelli because I had no barley, and added shallots and mushrooms and red pepper. It got rave reviews!

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  8. I made this last night using 2 left over hamburgers that I chopped up fine and it turned out delicious, I served it with Swiss Cordon Blue Bread from this site and it was a really economical meal.

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  9. My husband and I love lamb, I think I may try it with lamb/goat meat.

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  10. Me again, I made this recipe for our family dinners this week and it was very good!

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  11. I've made this several times. It's now in my "favourite recipes" folder. A tasty, hearty soup.

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