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Beef Vegetable Soup

A hearty, old-fashioned vegetable beef soup: chuck browned hard and simmered until tender in a tomato-beef broth, with the vegetables added in stages so none of them turn to mush.

Prep
25 min
Cook
2 hr
Makes
Serves 8
Jump to the recipe
A bowl of beef and potato soup with carrots
Photo: SAMY PHOTOGRAPHY / Pexels

Vegetable beef soup has two components on different clocks. Stew beef needs an hour and a half of gentle simmering before its connective tissue melts and it turns tender. The vegetables, potatoes, carrots, green beans and corn, need between five and twenty-five minutes. Put everything in the pot at once and you get tender beef surrounded by vegetables that have collapsed into the broth. So this soup is built in stages: beef first, vegetables later, and the quick-cooking ones last.

Use chuck roast, cut into bite-size cubes yourself. Pre-cut stew meat is often a mix of cuts from different parts of the animal, and some pieces go tender while others stay tough. Chuck is marbled with fat and collagen, which is what you want for a long simmer: it renders into the broth and leaves the meat soft and moist.

Brown the beef properly. Pat the cubes dry, season them, and sear them in batches in a hot pot with room between each piece. Crowd the pot and the beef steams in its own juices, turning gray instead of brown. The dark crust on the meat and the browned layer stuck to the bottom of the pot are where most of the soup's flavor comes from. When the onions go in, their moisture lifts that layer off the bottom and into the soup.

Tomato paste, cooked in the pot for a minute until it darkens, and a little Worcestershire sauce give the broth savory depth. Then beef broth, a can of diced tomatoes, bay leaves and thyme. A splash of red wine is optional but good. After that, the pot simmers gently with the lid slightly ajar while the beef softens. A gentle simmer matters: a hard boil tightens the meat and clouds the broth.

When the beef is nearly tender, the hardy vegetables go in: potatoes, carrots and celery. Twenty-five minutes later, the quick ones: green beans, corn and peas. Cut everything about the same size as the beef, so every spoonful has a bit of each.

Taste at the end and adjust. Beef soup often needs more salt than you expect, and a teaspoon of red wine vinegar or lemon juice stirred in just before serving brightens all the flavors without tasting sour.

Like most soups, it is better the next day. The flavors settle, and the fat rises and sets on top once chilled, so it is easy to lift off if you want a leaner bowl.

For a thicker version that eats like a stew, Instant Pot beef stew takes a fraction of the time. Farmhouse chicken noodle soup follows the same staged approach with chicken, Turkey chili is the spicier bowl for the same cold night, and broccoli cheddar soup the creamy one.

Cubed beef, diced carrots and onion on a cutting board
Photo: FlorinBirj / Pixabay

Vegetable beef soup, all in one place

A hearty, old-fashioned vegetable beef soup: chuck browned hard and simmered until tender in a tomato-beef broth, with the vegetables added in stages so none of them turn to mush.

Chuck, broth and vegetables in three waves

For the beef and broth

  • 2 lb (900 g) boneless chuck roast, cut into ¾ in (2 cm) cubes
  • 1½ tsp fine salt, plus more to taste
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 large yellow onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • ½ cup (120 ml) dry red wine (optional)
  • 8 cups (1.9 L) low-sodium beef broth
  • 1 can (14.5 oz / 411 g) diced tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp dried thyme

For the vegetables

  • 1 lb (450 g) Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾ in (2 cm) cubes
  • 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 2 ribs celery, sliced
  • 1 cup (110 g) green beans, cut into 1 in (2.5 cm) pieces
  • 1 cup (150 g) corn kernels, frozen or fresh
  • ½ cup (70 g) frozen peas
  • 1 tsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Brown hard, simmer long, vegetables in stages

  1. 1 Pat the beef dry and season with the salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the beef in two or three batches without crowding, 4–5 minutes per batch, until well browned on several sides. Transfer to a plate.
  2. 2 Lower the heat to medium. Add the onion and cook until soft, scraping up the browned bits, 5 minutes. Add the garlic for 30 seconds, then the tomato paste, and cook until it darkens, 1 minute.
  3. 3 Pour in the wine, if using, and simmer until mostly evaporated, 2 minutes. Add the broth, tomatoes, Worcestershire, bay leaves and thyme, and return the beef and its juices to the pot.
  4. 4 Bring to a boil, then lower to a gentle simmer. Cover with the lid slightly ajar and cook 1¼ hours, until the beef is nearly tender.
  5. 5 Add the potatoes, carrots and celery and simmer 20–25 minutes, until the potatoes are tender.
  6. 6 Add the green beans and corn and simmer 8 minutes, then the peas for 2 minutes more.
  7. 7 Remove the bay leaves. Stir in the vinegar, taste for salt and pepper, and sprinkle with parsley.

Slow cookers, ground beef and barley

  • Slow cooker: brown the beef and onions as in steps 1–3, then cook everything except the green beans, corn and peas on low for 7–8 hours. Add those for the last 30 minutes on high.
  • Ground beef: brown 1½ lb (680 g) ground beef instead of chuck and simmer only 20 minutes before adding the vegetables.
  • Make ahead: refrigerate up to 4 days. The fat sets on top and can be lifted off before reheating.
  • Freezing: freeze up to 3 months. Potatoes soften a little after freezing; leave them out if you plan to freeze, and add fresh ones when reheating.
  • Barley: add ½ cup (100 g) pearl barley 20 minutes before the potatoes, with an extra 1 cup (240 ml) broth.

Tough beef, the right cut and frozen vegetables

It needed more time, or it was boiled too hard. Chuck needs about 1½ hours at a gentle simmer to turn tender. A hard boil tightens it.

Chuck roast. It has enough fat and collagen to stay tender over a long simmer. Avoid lean cuts like sirloin, which dry out.

Yes. Use 3 cups (400 g) frozen mixed vegetables in place of the green beans, corn and peas, and add them for the last 10 minutes.

Brown the beef well, cook the tomato paste until dark, and use a good low-sodium beef broth. A Parmesan rind simmered with the beef adds savory depth.