This gently seasoned beef and barley mushroom soup is a cold weather classic. The simple ingredients come together to form a comforting, glistening and nutritious dish that will fill your home with aromas like what you remember from grandma’s kitchen.
A bit about texture: Barley absorbs liquid. It’s just a fact of barley soup life that you’ll need to add hot liquid (slowly) to achieve the right texture when serving. This soup is rich enough that using a few tablespoons of water will not effect the flavor.
Crockpot Beef Barley Mushroom Soup Recipe
This hearty beef, barley and mushroom soup is true Ashkenazi comfort food. A simple weeknight dinner for cold winter evenings, once it’s inside the crockpot, you can set it and forget it for the next eight hours.
- Total Time: 10 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 4-6
Ingredients
- 1 cup barley
- 2 Tbsp canola oil
- 1 lb beef stew or flanken (cubed or in chunks), rinsed and patted dry
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 8 oz portobello mushrooms, quartered
- 4 oz shitake mushrooms, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 6 carrots, washed or scraped and chopped
- 4 celery stalks, washed and chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 Tbsp fresh dill, chopped (reserve 1–2 Tbsp for garnish)
- 2 Tbsp tomato paste
- 3 cartons beef broth (32 oz each)
- salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (better to salt after cooking as some broths are salty)
Instructions
- Soak barley in cold water 2-3 hours or overnight. Rinse and drain. Place in slow cooker insert.
- Heat oil in large sauté or caste iron pan. Do not use a nonstick surface.
- Brown chunks of beef 6-8 minutes on each side, allowing space between each piece.
- Place in slow cooker insert.
- In the same pan (do not wipe it out) brown onions until golden, 12-15 minutes.
- Add all mushrooms, stir and cook over medium heat for another 5-10 minutes.
- Add garlic and sauté 5 minutes.
- Place all of the above into slow cooker insert.
- Add chopped carrots, celery, bay leaves, dill, tomato paste and broth. Season with salt and ground pepper.
- Stir to combine well and set slow cooker to LOW and cook for 8 hours.
- Remove bay leaves and ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with reserved chopped dill.
- Prep Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 hours 30 minutes
- Category: Entree
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: Ashkenazi