The Instant Pot cooks meats and grains beautifully and to tender perfection. Therefore, it only makes sense to combine the two and churn out a big pot of the most outrageous Beef & Barley Soup you’ve ever known. This is a very popular recipe from my first (orange) cookbook 😉
Instant Pot Beef & Barley Soup
The Instant Pot cooks meats and grains beautifully and to tender perfection. Therefore, it only makes sense to combine the two and churn out a big pot of the most outrageous Beef & Barley Soup you've ever known. This is a very popular recipe from my first (orange) cookbook 😉
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 large (or 2 medium) carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 ribs celery, sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
- 2 pounds chuck meat, cut into chunky (yet bite-size) cubes
- 6 cloves (2 tablespoons) garlic, minced
- 6 cups beef broth
- 1 cup pearl barley, rinsed
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons seasoned salt
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pound baby or fingerling potatoes, skins-on and quartered/roughly chopped
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to the Instant Pot, hit Sauté and Adjust so it's on the More or High setting. After 3 minutes of the oil heating, add the onion, carrot and celery. Sauté for about 5 minutes, until it softens just a bit.
- Add the beef and garlic and sauté for another 2-3 minutes, until the beef is lightly browned on the edges.
- Add the broth, barley, Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, thyme and black pepper. Use a wooden spoon to give it a good stir, scraping any browned bits up from the bottom of the pot. Top with the potatoes and bay leaves.
- Secure the lid, move the valve to the sealing position, hit Cancel and then hit Manual or Pressure Cook for 20 minutes. When done, allow a 15-minute natural release (meaning you do nothing for 15 minutes) followed by a quick release.
- Ladle into bowls and serve with some bread (be it crusty French/Italian or garlic knots)!
Jeffrey's Tips
The more this soup sits after cooking, the more the barley will absorb the broth, making the barley very soft. You'll also have a thicker, very hearty soup. If you re-heat any leftovers and desire more broth, feel free to simply add some more to your liking.
Ed Jadoski
Just want to let you know you’re delivery is perfect. I really enjoy your presentation and can’t wait to try it myself. Thanks for sharing.
Mike
“your” delivery ✌️
Thom
I just made this and WOW! Tremendous flavor and so easy. I added some parsnip for a little extra flavor and it definitely hits the mark. Thank you!
Jeffrey
So happy to hear it!
George Maurice
Love your videos and presentation
Could this be frozen??
Mary Andrews
It is not a good idea to freeze anything that has potatoes in it – the texture changes to a mealy consistency.
Cookie
I freeze soups like this without potatoes and when I reheat them I nuke a medium Yukon gold potato til done, cube and add to soup.
Celia Kramer
Yes it can be frozen.
Jodi
Can’t wait to make this! How many servings does this make?
Julie
It says 6 servings
RT
Made about 8 servings for us
MaryAnn Baumgarden
This looks delicious. Is there anyway to include Nutrition info? My husband has an insulin pump & needs to know serving size/carb amounts. Thank you.
Dawn
What is the carb count per bowl (10 oz)?
Debbie
I’m doing keto as well, wish it was more carb friendly, but will be saving this for a cheat day. LOL
Jane
Leave out the potatoes.
Stacey Nagel
depends on the size of the bowl…..lol..
My son with T1 guestimates when I make this…
a fist full of starch ( barley and potatoes) is about 40 grams of carbohydrates… so go from there and eye it….
Cathy
In your recipe card you need a comma between barley and Worcestershire.
Karen
Hi!!! I love your recipies and you’ve the reason I can still enjoy chicken and broccoli since I was diagnosed with celiac disease… your resipies really are THE BEST!!!
For a gluten free option, can rice be used instead of barley?
Jeffrey
Sure!
Karen
Would there be any change to liquid or cooking time?
Jeanette
I love Jeffrey’s recipes but Kristin @Iowagirleats has celiac disease and has great recipes too.
CECILIA PALMER
I was going to ask this myself. We are gluten free in my home. I’m going to try it with either rice or quinoa.Thanks.
Katie
This soup was beautiful and all the ingredients cooked up nicely, the beef was tender, however it was way too salty for me. I would only add 1.5 teaspoons (not tablespoons) or less of the seasoning salt. Especially with all the bouillon.
Jeffrey
Interesting. Everyone’s taste buds are different but I cannot tolerate an over salted dish. I stand by my measurements for the seasoned salt as written but you can always start with less and add more to your liking if you’re prone to be more sensitive to salt.
Patty
Made this yesterday and it was very good. I adjusted the salt too, just a teaspoon, my broth was already salted, and it came out perfect. Thank you!
Jolie
Katie, I used low sodium broth and thought the soup was delicious!
Jeffrey
Sure!
Donna Lee Tsiros
The different broth with low sodium might be the difference here!
BBKeef
I used 1/2 tbsp. seasoned salt and for me, that was the perfect amount of salt.
Kirsten Ufkin
I came to the comments to see if it was too salty as that seemed like a lot of seasoned salt to me. I too used 1.5 tsp..maybe they have a typo?
Keith A Hekman
It was too salty for my family. 2nd time I used 1tsp and it was good. I would recommend starting with less as it is easier to add later
Lisa Velazquez
Hello! I have an eye of round in the freezer. Can I use that?
Becky
I just made this recipe with an eye of round and it turned our fine. Unfortunately I did not have seasoned salt so just used a teaspoon of sea salt. Also, the 2 teaspoons of thyme was too strong for our family — maybe because we didn’t have seasoned salt — so next time I would use just 1 teaspoon.
Janet
Jeffrey,
Love your recipes. Perfect meal for temperatures in the teens here in NJ. tonight. We didn’t have the barley but made it anyway as per your instructions. Soooo delicious!! We used the better than beef bouillon and not too salty at all. Next time we will be sure to have the barley to soak up all the soup, but we managed ok!
Love it and will be making it often this winter.
Thank you!
Melissa
If I use ground beef instead of chuck meat how long to pressure cook? Thank you so much. Your recipes are AMAZING!!!!
Shari
My husband and I love this soup! The meat was very tender, practically melted in our mouths. I used 4 cups of beef stock and 2 cups of vegetable stock and added a tsp of Beef Better than Bouillon. Can’t wait to have leftovers, as I’ve read it will have a better taste. It’s gonna be hard to beat fresh from the pot though! Thanks for another great recipe!
Lei
All I could find was quick cooking Barley. Would I need to change anything in the recipe to use it? I am concerned it will be over cooked.
Jeffrey
Give it a shot
Stephen
Hi Jeffrey. FYI as folks were asking—I tried quick cook barley set to 15min (cause it cooks faster) and got a burn notice. I think it is because quick cook is the stickiest of the types. I also did not rinse them first which might have helped. Since it didn’t come to pressure, I scraped the bottom and I am trying again. I have the Pro model, so if it doesn’t work this time, I’m just going to move the pot to the stove and finish it to save the food. 🙂
Jeffrey
Ah the recipe doesn’t call for quick cook barley. It must be regular!
Augusta
I used Quick Cook barley tonight and set time for 20 minutes with 15 minutes natural release. It worked just fine. There was no burn notice and the barley was cooked appropriately.
Deborah Ocasio
Hi!! Did you try with the quick cooking Barley? It’s all I can find as well.
Jim
My IP sucks at sauteing and browning beef. Have to use a skillet for that part. Just sealed the lid and am looking forward to eating it. Are u sure about the measurement for seasoned salt? 1.5 tbsp? Seemed like a lot. Cut it back and will adjust when it’s cooked.
Lin Coad
What is in your seasoned salt?
Heather
Love, love, love your recipes Jeffrey. I’ve got both your orange and blue recipe books. Would I be able to use a sirloin tip roast instead? I’m trying to use up what I have in my freezer.
Linda Gervais
That’s what I’m going to use…Sirloin Tip…I think it will work fine.
Jacque
Nutritional content? Calories, etc. Thanks!
Joe
Love this recipe, but each time I have made it, I’m always late serving dinner. I always say…I should have started 30 mins sooner.
Your prep time is more than 10 mins, especially if it’s a chuck roast. Trimming all that fat off is not fun! 🙂 I’ve found that chuck top works well.
Also, cook time of 35 mins doesn’t include pressurization time.
Finally, if it’s quick barley (all we have locally) instead of regular pearl barley, we have to add it and cook for 10 mins in a boil after pressure cooking is done.
Tracy Rivera
All I have is unhulled barley that I use for my bread making. I wonder if it would work?
Tracy Rivera
I mean I have hulled Barley, but don’t know how to edit. 🙂
Susan
I didn’t add potatoes but i added 2 tsp thyme. Is this going to be too thymie (as potatoes absorb salt and herb such as thyme)??
Bonnie Holt
I have a insta pot mini the 3qrt . To make this do I just cut the ingredients amount in half?
Sally
This was perfect exactly as writ! I bought stew meat, already cut into pieces which was easy peasy and it turned out really tender. The amount of seasoned salt (I use Johnny’s) was just right for our tastes. Yum!
Katiya
I’ve tried about 10 of your recipes so far and they all have been amazing! Got this one in right now and the house smells awesome. Can’t wait to try it.
Niall Shaw
I would say that this was a perfect soup and it was. To avoid the high salty content and taste, just use reduced salt beef broth readily made. That does the trick. The flavor was a total surprise. Delicious and hearty. Trouble is, there is enough soup to fill the entire instant pot and there are only two of us. Well, it looks like we will have to store some for a while. Great recipe
Dorothy Lin
This recipe is so good. A cup serving fills me up, so with three people eating it, it’s taking a while to eat all of it. I’ll definitely put this in my rotation to make again.
Sam
I don’t eat beef. Is it possible to sub chicken for this soup? Thanks so much for your help!
Jeffrey
Sure thing! I’d suggest boneless, skinless thighs.
Carol
Delicious! Fantabulous! Perfect!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. Loved it!
Kelley
I made this last night for supper!! Delicious!! My husband and son loved it!! I was wary of the 1 1/2 tbsp. of salt but I used it anyway. Still delicious but I might try a bit less salt the next time!!
Tina Greer
I only have quick barley. Can’t find regular barley. What should the cooking time be?
Kate
I have an 8qt Duo. Do you think it would fit if I doubled the recipe for a large crowd?
Bonnie Ser
Jeffrey, I made this last night and added mushrooms to it. It was wonderful and easy to make. The beef was fork tender. Thank you for all your recipes.
Jeffrey
You’re so welcome!
Tuzilla
Fantastic. I must confess myself guilt of adding a can of No Salt Added Diced Tomatoes
Cathy E Sanford
This was an excellent dish. I used two types of beef from my local pasture and it was just perfect.
Jeffrey
Woohoo!
Greta
Quick barley, or regular? I bought regular, so I hope it works . . .
Donna Robey
Can you put the nutrition list on here like the sugar, carbs, salt please
Christina
The meat was tender and flavors just right. I added an extra pound of meat and wound probably try low sodium beef broth next time but it was so good. I don’t usually enjoy leftovers and was afraid the meat would be tough when reheated but it was just as tender and delicious as the first day. Great recipe and great way to add healthy barley to meals.
Jeffrey
So happy you enjoyed it!
Sharon D
I used stew meat (on sale!) and cut each piece into smaller pieces and meat was tender and perfect.
I omitted the seasoning salt and substituted “Better than Bullion” beef, also subbed straight water for beef broth to cut the salt and it was just the right saltiness for my family and flavor was still great.
Thanks for this recipe, it is going into my regular winter rotation.
Jeffrey
Perfect!
Carol
I made this yesterday and we loved it! I will use low sodium broth the next time to balance the saltiness. Leftovers this evening!!
Jacquie
I made this for a friend who just got out of the hospital and we all thought it was delicious but I didn’t add the thyme as none of us like thyme and I used just a teaspoon of Kosher salt and as you mentioned it did thicken up so I added more broth and if fed 8 of us with still some left over. Will definitely make it again!
Jeffrey
I am so happy to hear it and hope your friend is feeling better!
Christy
Loved this! Following for more.
Sarah
Will this thicken after it’s just finished? It seems quite thin consistency.
Robin
I didn’t have barley on hand but did have farro so I used that and it came out great!
Catherine Bridges
Question-I love chuck riast in stews but it upsets my stomach. Is there a meat that is close in flavor but not quite so fatty? I’ve used various lean meats in stews but they aren’t as flavorful.
Jeffrey
Chuck really is the best there is for this type of stew. Try a leaner cut.
Tricia
I think a nice lamb shank is very flavorful, and it has a TON of good collagen protein. I get about 2lbs of shank for every lb of meat, cook it on high pressure for 1-2 hours, and take the meat off and make bone broth with the same water. Then I chill it in the fridge overnight so I can just scoop off all the fat and make the actual soup. It’s a whole 2-day-long process, but really less than half an hour of work. The rest is just waiting.
You might get the same results with beef shank, but I wouldn’t know since lamb is waaay easier to find in my area.
Stephen
Making this today 1/20/24. Cant wait to try it.I wanna a mushroom barely soup too.Think you can whip that one up too?
Lynne
This is a great recipe. I’ve made it about four times. Because of Jeffrey’s creative recipes, I use my Instant Pot more often and make up my own multi-function recipes. I really feel like I get the most out of my IP. Thanks, Jeffrey.
Jeffrey
You’re quite welcome!
Lauren
I dislike the question I’m about to ask. How would you make this without a pressure cooker. This recipe ROCKS and my family members are older and afraid of pressure cookers. Refuse to buy them lol. They tasted your recipe and freaked out. Loving it, of course…
Thank you for the incredible food to help build so many family memories Jeffrey !