As many of us are busy preparing for gatherings and celebrating the season, it is nice to stop for a little break and enjoy all the things that this time of year holds. The weather is now cold, (finally), in Spokane and the mountains are beginning to get a nice layer of snow. It won’t be long and we will be out enjoying winter on the ski slopes.
If you don’t have lots of time to prepare a rich and flavorful soup, this next recipe will really make your day! It is prepared in an Instant Pot, (pressure cooker), and is ready from start to finish in under an hour! Enjoy!
Instant Pot Beef and Barley Soup
This delicious and satisfying classic soup is full of flavor, tender beef and perfectly cooked barley and made in (almost) an instant using the Instant Pot or any pressure cooker. A perfectly scrumptious, warm you up from the inside, meal! If you happen to have left-over London broil, just omit the beef stew meat and add your left-over London broil, (diced), instead.
Servings 6
Equipment
- 1 Instant Pot or any pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 1 large yellow or sweet onion finely chopped
- 2-3 celery stalks, with inner leaves chopped
- 3 plump garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup carrots cut into small bite-size pieces
- 3 small Yukon gold potatoes peeled and cut into bite-size dice
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- ½ tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 1½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp Better than Bouillon beef soup base
- 1 tsp kosher salt to taste
- ½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 1½ lbs beef stew meat cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup pearl barley
- 32 oz beef broth or stock
- 1 cup water more if needed
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to Sauté Mode. Add the oil and butter to pot and when butter has melted, add half of the beef. Season lightly with salt and pepper and allow to brown. Transfer the beef to a plate or bowl and brown the remaining beef in the same manner and transfer to plate when browned. ****If using left-over London broil, skip this step
- Add onions and celery to the Instant Pot and sauté until onions are translucent, approx. 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and minced garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add approximately 1 cup of beef stock/broth to the pot. Stir and scrape bottom of pot to deglaze and incorporate browned bits.Cancel Sauté Mode.
- Add the onion powder, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, and beef base -- stir to combine with the veggies.Add back the browned stew meat (or left-over London broil), potatoes, pearl barley, remaining beef stock and water.
- Close and lock the Instant Pot and set to "meat/stew" (or manual/pressure mode), high pressure, for 25 minutes.Do a quick release when time is up. After pressure has released, open the pot and add the carrots. Close the lid and allow to sit in "warm mode" for 10-15 minutes, until the carrots are crisp tender.Stir soup and taste for seasoning. Add salt, pepper and/or water if needed. Serve and enjoy.
Have An Entertaining Day!
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