A hearty Vegetable Beef Soup with melt-in-your-mouth slow cooked chunks of beef, potato and vegetables simmered in a herb infused savoury broth. You’ll love how the broth of this beef soup recipe is slightly thickened so it’s like gravy and has extra flavour from a secret ingredient!
Vegetable Beef Soup
So many beef soups are watery and dull. Not this one!!! The thing that sets this beef soup recipe apart from the rest is the broth. It’s slightly thickened so it’s more like a thinnish gravy. It’s infused with herb flavour and also gets an extra depth of flavour from the secret ingredient: red wine. Or beer or stout. (They’re all good)
It’s not about boozing up our soup! It’s about adding complexity and character to the soup broth flavour without simmering for hours up hours like we do with Beef Stew and Pot Roast.
Without the wine, the broth still tastes very, very good.
With the wine, it’s stellar! (And in care you’re concerned, the alcohol gets cooked out, just leaving behind flavour.)
What goes in Vegetable Beef Soup
Here’s what you need.
Stewing beef – anything economical, in small bite size pieces (remember, we’re making a soup here, not a stew)
Red wine, stout or guinness – all of these work great here. Red wine gives it a classic beef stew flavour, Guinness or stout will give the soup a more intense, deep flavour like Irish Guinness Stew. I use wine most frequently because I always have some on hand, and because I prefer not to just use part of a can of beer that I wouldn’t choose to drink!
How to make Beef Soup
The key step here is to brown the beef well – aggressively is the term that I use. This adds a ton of flavour to the beef itself and the broth, from the brown bits on the bottom of the pot that dissolves into the broth.
I like to sauté the mushrooms in butter and add them towards the end – but this is optional. Because golden brown buttery mushrooms vs mushrooms just simmered in the broth? There is no contest! (But really, it is optional 🙂 )
Fall-apart slow cooked beef!
I promised you fall-apart beef, and fall apart beef you shall get. And you will see just how tender the beef is in the recipe video below using the most ridiculous method – chopsticks of all things!!
I know, I know, it’s soooo Asian.
But right at that moment while I was filming, it was the first thought that came to me as the easiest way to show it on camera! 😂 I mean, how else can I pry a piece of beef apart using one hand??
What Beef Soup goes with
There’s a ton of veggies in this soup, and you could add even more into the soup. Green beans would be ideal, but they were extortionately overpriced on the day I shot this and I just couldn’t do it.
So it’s an ideal meal-in-a bowl that doesn’t need anything more. But I’m pretty sure no one would say no to a side of quick Cheesy Garlic Bread!!! Or try one of these soup dunkers:
Soup Dunkers
Also, this soup just gets better with time and freezes 100% perfectly. So make a double batch! ~ Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Vegetable Beef Soup (Fall apart beef!)
Ingredients
- 1.5 tbsp olive oil , separated
- 500g/1 lb stewing beef , cut into 1.75cm / 2/3″ cubes (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp salt and pepper
- 1 onion , chopped
- 3 garlic , minced (1 tbsp)
- 2 celery , cut into 0.8 cm / 1/3″ slices
- 3 carrots , cut into 0.5 cm / 1/5″ thick slices (halve larger ones)
- 4 tbsp flour
- 2 1/2 cups (625ml) beef broth/stock , low sodium
- 1 1/2 cups (375ml) dry red wine, Guinness beer or stout (Note 2)
- 1.5 cups (375ml) water
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp thyme dried
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 2 potatoes (any), cut into 1.5cm / 2/3″ cubes
Buttery mushrooms (optional):
- 1 tbsp (15g) butter or oil
- 200g/ 6oz small mushrooms , quartered or halved
Instructions
- Heat 1 tbsp oil until very hot in a large, heavy based pot over high heat.
- Pat beef dry with paper towels, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Brown beef aggressively in 2 or 3 batches, adding more oil if needed. Remove browned beef into a bowl.
- If pot looks dry, add a touch more oil.
- Add garlic and onion, cook for 2 minutes.
- Add carrot and celery, cook for 2 minutes or until onion is translucent.
- Stir in flour, then slowly pour in beef broth while constantly stirring.
- Add beer, water, tomato paste, bay leaves and thyme, stir well. Then add the beef back in.
- Cover, adjust heat to medium low so it’s bubbling gently. Simmer 1 hr 15 min or until beef is pretty tender.
- Add potatoes and peas, simmer for a further 20 minutes without the lid. Add cooked mushrooms in the last 5 minutes.
- The soup is ready when the potatoes are cooked and beef is very tender (see video).
- Adjust salt and pepper to taste (I like lots of pepper in this!).
- Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with crusty bread if desired. Try quick Cheesy Garlic Bread or super easy Irish Soda Bread!
Buttery Mushrooms (optional):
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes until browned. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Recipe Notes:
- Red wine – any dry, full bodied red wine. Cab Sauv and Merlots are ideal.
- Guinness Beer and Stout are dark beers, labelled as such on the cans. You should find these at most liquor stores. Use some, drink some – or tip the whole can in an simmer for longer with the lid off!
- Non alcoholic sub – add 400g/14 oz can of crushed tomato, 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce. This will add alternative flavour to compensate.
Nutrition Information:
Originally published May 2019. Updated for housekeeping matters March 2020, no change to recipe.
More chunky, hearty soups
Life of Dozer
This is what a doggy smile looks like.
(And we’d be smiling too if we had Life of Dozer!!!)
I make it exactly to the recipe. My family begs me for it.
Delicious! I used an arm roast since we have a freezer full of beef. Hubby wanted me to add corn and green beans. Turned out to be an amazing bowl of comfort. Love your recipes and dog pics!!
Delicious!! Next time can I use a combination of red wine AND Guinness?
Delicious soup! I didn’t use the alcohol and added more low salt stock to make it baby friendly, he absolutely loves this blitzed up. It’s been a great way to introduce flavours and give him a big serve of iron. And us parents love it, too! Thanks heaps Nagi.
Thick, hearty and very tasty!!
Because I could, I added a cup of pre soaked McKenzie soup mix and parsnip. One bowl was a complete meal. 🙂
I wish serving size was in this recipe, and ways to double or triple recipe with the touch of a button, I never make just one serving. I always make plenty to freeze for future days. Otherwise I love it, thank you for sharing.😀
Made this with one substitution. Didn’t have tomato paste so used can diced tomatoes. Used red wine. Excellent rich flavour. On day 2 added some leftover cannellini beans and cauliflower. Due to adding some extra veg, we still have enough for another meal for the two of us. Makes it very economical as well as delicious.
Love this recipe.
I can’t help but wonder if the veggies are still full of nutrients after cooking for so long? The carrot and celery in particular
I made this recipe (using a Guiness Stout) for a family gathering and it was a huge hit! Everyone went back for more. I also made the Irish Soda Bread to go with it – a perfect pairing. The soup was rich and flavorful, the mushrooms were such a great addition. The meat was so tender. This is now my favorite beef and veggie soup recipe!
Yep. It’s super super yummy. Made a homemade beef bone broth yesterday and used that for my broth. Awesome. Used Guinness.
Awwe Nagi, love the beach! This will be next week’s special for the cafe in our NorCal winter:)
It’s a bit of a myth that alcohol cooks out of food.
If you were to simmer a dish like this uncovered on the stove for 2.5 hours, around 95% of the alcohol would evaporate.
Given this cooking time, you’re looking at around 40% of the alcohol still being present in the dish at the table.
The good news, for anyone concerned, is that the amounts of alcohol in use here are not really enough to get anyone tipsy, much less harm them. Cooking wine typically has around 17% A.B.V. and 375 ml is equivalent to about two glasses. Since half or more will cook out, this is less than a glass split five ways(five servings).
Still delicious though.
Wonderful. Makes a nice, rich broth and the meat was tender. This is definitely a keeper.
Made this soup today with no deviation from the recipe. It is full of flavor and hearty. Highly recommended. Definitely will be making it again and again.
My husband and son said, “keep this recipe” after serving it. Modifications: no celery, no peas. Added canned green beans (drained). Only 1 potato. Used a red wine. Only cooked 1 hour – until carrots and potato were soft. Very hearty tasting, not watery. Loved!
It’s Fantastic!! This soup is Delicious, Hearty, Satisfying. We Loved it.
Definitely a keeper!! THANK YOU!
I LOVE this recipe! I make this all of the time. I am gluten free and dairy free and this is such a great recipe! Only thing I do different is add the potatoes almost right away. Otherwise I can’t get them soft!
This was the best beef stew I have ever made… I used leftover steak and beer. It was terrific! Thank you!
What is the serving size? I’m probably just missing it.. I was guessing a cup
EXCELLENT!