Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup

Here I am sitting at my desk writing this and it is snowing outside. When the weather is this cold the only thing I want is a big bowl of hearty soup and this Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup recipe fits the bill.

Packed with veggies, this old fashioned hearty beef soup comes together in one-pot in less than an hour and is a perfect soup/stew recipe to feed a crowd. I usually serve it with savory corn muffins or my crusty no knead bread for a meal to make us feel full and satisfied.

Recipe Ingredients

To me, this beef soup is the dictionary definition of a cold winter night dinner. As its name suggests, the ingredients can be divided into two categories: Beef and vegetables.

Best cut of Beef for this soup:

In terms of meat, you can use stew meat or do what I did and buy the same amount of chuck roast and cut it into small cubes yourself. Here is an informative article as to why it is better to do so.

Additionally, I find that the best cuts of meat to use in vegetable soup with meat are chuck shoulder, chuck roast, or top chuck. So look for whatever is available and within your price range when you are in the market.

Vegetables:

In terms of vegetables, I used onions, carrots, celery, diced tomatoes, Yukan gold potatoes (or red potatoes), fresh green beans and frozen or blanched peas.

With that being said, you can use whatever vegetables you have in your fridge. Next time, I plan on adding some cabbage and corn instead of green beans and peas. During the fall, you can also swap potatoes with butternut squash.

For the most part, you can mix and match vegetables as you please. However, when using mixed vegetables, I recommend keeping an eye on the cooking times as they may vary from one vegetable to another.

You can use frozen vegetables too, but the cooking time might end up being a bit longer.

Seasoning and Spices:

I kept the amount of seasoning in the recipe below to a minimum by only using thyme and a few bay leaves, and finishing it off with some fresh parsley.

A good way to add more flavor to this beef and vegetable soup is to add in some of your favorite spices. I personally love cumin, coriander, Italian Seasoning, and a few red pepper flakes in this recipe.

Additionally, if you are serving this on a cold day like today and don’t mind the heat, you can add in jalapeno peppers and a teaspoon of hot chili powder.

How to make vegetable beef soup:

The process of making it has four parts.

1. Prep the meat: Pat-dry and season the beef with salt and pepper. This is a crucial step for browning the beef and creating flavor so don’t skip it. If you have time, you can do this a day in advance. Then sear the beef with a little bit of oil in a large pot (Preferably a heavy bottom pot like a Dutch oven). I recommend doing this in three batches as you do not want to crowd the pan.
   Here, you do not need the beef to cook fully. Rather, you want them to be lightly browned on the outside. Once your meat is pre-cooked, place it on a plate, cover with foil, and set aside.

2. Cook the Veggies: Sauté onions, carrots, and celery (also known as mirepoix) with a wooden spoon scraping the bottom of the pan to get all the bits and pieces of the meat in medium-high heat.
3. Add the rest of the veggies and stock: Add in tomatoes, potatoes, fresh thyme, bay leaf, and stock. As you will see in the recipe below, I used chicken stock (this homemade chicken stock is my go-to recipe). I find that beef broth to be too rich in a beef stew soup. However, you can use whichever you want.
   After adding the stock, put the lid on, bring it to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and let it simmer for 20-30 minutes. The stew meat and potatoes will soften as they cook.

4. Add in the veggies that cook fast & simmer: Finally, add in green beans and frozen peas. We add them in at the last minute as they cook faster compared to the other vegetables. Just like that, in less than an hour, you end up with a big pot of fulfilling, heartwarming, and healthy vegetable beef soup.

What to serve with this recipe

Here are some ideas to serve with your beef vegetable soup:

• A Loaf of Crusty Bread (Or French Baguette): Try it with a loaf of crusty bread such as my No Knead Bread. With its rich tomato base, I honestly cannot imagine a better soup to dunk your bread in.
• Cornbread Muffins: As you can see in the photos, I served my vegetable beef stew soup with cornbread muffins. I usually make a batch of these muffins and keep them in the freezer during the winter months to serve with soups and chilis. Flavored with scallions and cheddar cheese, these go so well with anything broth-y.
• Bulgur Pilaf: If you prefer to serve it with something starchy, you can make my mom’s Bulgur Pilaf recipe. She used to make her bulgur pilaf with lentils, which would go well with this soup. However, if you want you can omit lentils.
• Wild Rice: If you want something heartier, try serving it with my Wild Rice Pilaf.
• A Simple Salad: You can also serve your veg beef soup with a simple Spring Green Mix Salad. A few ideas from the archives could be this Brussels Sprout Kale Salad, Kale and Apple Slaw or this Kale Harvest Salad.

As these freezing cold temperatures continue, I hope you put this somewhat quick vegetable beef soup recipe on your list of comfort foods and give it a try. If you do so, be sure to take a picture and share it with me on social media. I’d love to see your creations.

Other soup recipes you might like (Perfect for cold winter evenings)

• Stuffed Cabbage Soup (If you love beef soup recipes, you should try this one too)
• Lightened-up Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup
• Crockpot Chicken Tomatillo Soup
• Chicken Chili Recipe
• Check out all our easy soup recipes

Other beef recipes you might like

• Pressure Cooker Pot Roast Recipe
• Turkish Kofta Recipe
• Thai Beef Salad Recipe
• Brisket Tacos
• Meatballs and Potatoes
• Flank Steak Tacos
• Spaghetti Bolognese
• Easy Beef Stroganoff Recipe
• Check out all our beef dinners

This recipe and post have been updated with new information, photos, and a quick how to video to help you further as you make it in your kitchen in February 2019. It was originally published on December 2017. No changes were made to the originally published recipe.