The Cozy Beef Barley Soup I Make All Winter Long

I taught classes on how to cook with whole grains at Bob’s Red Mill in Milwaukie, Oregon, for years and one of the students’ all time favorites was my cozy soup classes, in particular my beef barley soup. My recipe follows along the traditional beef barley soup lines, but I have a few upgrades that result in a soup that tastes like mom’s, only much better.

Choose the Right Barley

Most barley available in grocery stores is pearled—processed to remove some or all of the outer bran layer. Bob’s Red Mill Pearl Barley is a light beige color and unlike the snow-white barley I grew up with, it doesn’t dissolve to almost nothing in the soup.

With a little more of the bran left on the grain, even after simmering for an hour, Bob’s barley retains a tender chewiness and lends a lovely nuttiness to my soup.

DIY The Stew Meat 

Don’t buy pre-cut “stew meat.” I know, it is tempting and convenient, but it won’t make a very good soup or stew, despite the name. That’s because butchers use a mix of different cuts and scraps from different parts of the cow to make up stew meat. That grab bag means some cubes will be tender and flavorful while others will be very lean and not particularly tender, no matter how long you simmer them.

That is why I buy a chuck roast, trim off any big chunks of fat, and then cut the meat up myself for the most evenly cooked and consistently tender spoonfuls. It’s easy to do and allows me to control the size of the pieces as well. 

Layer On The Flavor

In a perfect world, you’d have a freezer full of homemade beef broth to make soup with. In the real world, beef broth more often comes from a can or aseptic box and doesn’t taste a whole lot like actual beef. That’s why I use chicken broth in my beef barley soup. It’s a more neutral flavor that won’t steal the show away from the namesake ingredients.

To achieve a robust, savory flavor, I add reconstituted dry mushrooms and their flavorful soaking liquid. I prefer porcini mushrooms if my budget allows, but less expensive mixed dried mushrooms will also add earthy flavor. 

The Ultimate Flavor Booster

I also add red miso. Red Miso contains more soy beans and is fermented longer than white miso, giving the paste a deep, rich flavor. It’s the savory backbone that balances the relative sweetness of the carrots and parsnips and amps up the beefiness in my soup.

Find it at most groceries alongside white miso. It can be added to a ton of recipes (from chocolate chip cookies to glazed salmon and melting potatoes) and it lasts indefinitely in the fridge. Substitute soy sauce to taste at the end of cooking if you can’t find red miso.