Old-Fashioned Vegetable Beef Soup

Submitted by Marla Swoffer

"Better than Campbell's but just as comforting! Loosely based on a gourmet cooking magazine's recipe for Beef Barley soup, I didn't have any barley or okra, so I added root veggies to make it more hearty, like a rich broth with the chunkyness of stew. It turned out to be the best soup I've ever made! DH, stepson and baby girl kept coming back for more."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 1 lb beef stew meat
• 1 onion
• 3 celery ribs
• 10 baby carrots (or a couple regular carrots)
• 2 potatoes (peeled if you like)
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 (14 ounce) cans diced tomatoes (I use salt-free)
• 3 1⁄2 cups beef broth (or 2 14-oz cans)
• 2 small bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or any cooking oil)
• 4 cups water
• 2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce

directions

1. Cut meat into small, bite-size (1/2") pieces.
2. In a large pot or dutch oven, saute meat in 1 T oil on medium-high heat until all sides are brown.
3. Set aside on a plate.
4. Chop celery, onion, potatoes, and carrots into bite-size pieces.
5. Saute celery and onion in remaining 1 T oil until onion is golden (about 10 minutes).
6. Add browned beef, water, broth, tomatoes with juices, carrots, potatoes, corn, bay leaves and garlic.
7. Bring to a boil.
8. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered until beef is almost tender, about an hour.
9. Add peas and hot sauce to soup.
10. Cover and simmer until beef is tender, about 30 minutes longer.
11. Serve and season with freshly ground black pepper, hot sauce, or crumbled saltines, if desired.

Reviews

[Apple2chek]

This was my first time attempting to make a Vegetable Beef Soup, but this recipe made it so easy! And it was OMG delicious!! I omitted the hot pepper sauce for personal preference and added a half can of tomato sauce; I also added extra potato and some cabbage, and it came out wonderful! Thanks for this great

 

[KeKe G.]

After reading the reviews and considering my personal preference, I decided to alter the recipe a wee bit. I used V8 juice instead of water ( I think that adding water to the recipe makes it a tad bit "watery" and it loses its consistency) and I also added an extra can of diced tomatoes. I seared the beef stew with olive oil, lemon pepper, and onion powder and proceeded to cook everything in a crockpot on high for 30 minutes and then turning it to low for about an hour and a half. The outcome was amazing so I gave it 5 stars because it is simple enough for anyone to make and the ingredients are spot on... Thank you for a thoughtless recipe for soup on this cold snowy day!

 

[Mike McCartney]

This is a great vegetable beef soup. I really liked the little touch of spice from the hot sauce. I did add a pint of canned green beans. Thanks for the keeper.

 

[Whisper]

Wow! This was wonderful! It's so tasty and yet easy to make. I left the hot pepper sauce out for dietary reasons, but it was still great. I'll be making this again throughout the winter. Thanks, Inkling, for this recipe.

 

[Noelle Rae]

Finally! I found the recipe i've been looking for. Two small changes when i made it; used fresh garlic and instead of water used 4 cups v8 juice. SO GOOD. THANKS!