Easy Vegetable Beef Soup

There are light soups, and there are hearty soups. This Vegetable Beef Soup is hearty and filling. It’s a meal all on its own and perfect for chilly days or occasions when you love to have a simmering pot of stew or hearty soup on the stove, ready and waiting for your people.

This is that soup. And it’s so incredibly delicious with its herbed-infused broth!

What I Love About This Vegetable Beef Soup

There are so many things to love about a classic, hearty bowl of soup; here are a few standouts for me!

• The beef is fall-apart tender.
• Only requires a few minutes of prep, with most of the cooking hands-off.
• Flavorful, filling, and utterly delicious.
• Mushrooms. Honestly, I absolutely love them.

Let’s discuss the ingredients you’ll need to make this easy vegetable beef soup.

Vegetable Beef Soup Ingredients

You will find all the ingredient measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here’s what you will need:

• Olive oil for sauteing the beef.
• Stewing beef: Any stewing beef works well. For convenience, you can buy already cut-up stew meat, but do look for a well-marbled package for the best flavor.
• Vegetables: Onion, garlic, carrots, celery, potatoes (any variety you like), and frozen peas.
• Broth: A combination of beef broth and water.
• Herbs: Bay leaf (I love to pick up fresh bay leaves in the produce section of my market) and dried (or fresh) thyme.
• All-purpose flour for thickening the soup.
• Mushrooms: Sauteed separately in butter and added to the soup at the end. I love chopped, sliced, or quartered Baby Bellas but use your favorite.

How to Make Vegetable Beef Soup

Step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Step 1: Brown the beef

Season the beef with salt and pepper and brown in a Dutch oven with a splash of olive oil or your favorite cooking oil. Remove the beef to a separate bowl.

Step 2: Saute the vegetables

To the pot, add garlic and onion, and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the carrots and celery and cook for another 2 minutes or until the onion is translucent.

Stir in the flour and let cook for 30 seconds, and then slowly pour in the beef broth while constantly stirring. Stir in the water, tomato paste, bay leaf, and thyme. Then, add the browned beef to the pot.

Step 3: Simmer the Vegetable Beef Soup

Cover and simmer for 1 hour or until the beef is tender.

Then, add chopped potatoes and peas to the pot and cook, uncovered, for another 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft and the beef is very tender.

While you can skip the mushrooms if you’re not a fan, they are so delicious in this soup. Before the soup is almost finished, melt butter in a large skillet. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes or until browned and cooked. Season with salt and pepper and add to the soup pot before serving.

What to Serve with Vegetable Beef Soup

The soup makes a meal all on its own, but I never shy away from more greens– so a crisp green salad would complement the soup well. And then, there’s always bread. I love this with Irish Soda Bread with Buttermilk and Raisins because it’s a slightly sweetened sturdy loaf, but Cheesy Garlic Pull Apart Bread is also really yummy.