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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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!!!)
Would a lager, like Yuengling, work for the alcohol in this recipe? It’s what I have on hand.
I’m looking forward to making this recipe but I cannot eat white potatoes. Can I substitute sweet potatoes?
Sure can Leslie!! N x
Is it possible to omit the mushrooms? I love them. But my family is not a fan.
Hi Shari – of course, just leave them out! N x
Also, does the wine, and Guinness replace the beef broth?”
I’m getting ready to make the soup and would like to ask you when adding the red wine and the Guinness beer, how much of each should I use?
Hi Keely, if you look at the ingredients it shows 1 1/2 cups (375ml) dry red wine OR Guinness beer OR stout – use one of the three, this also doesn’t replace the beer broth – that’s an ingredient added as well as this liquid. N x
Ok… saw this recipe this a.m. Sent Bob to the store and it is simmering as I type. Looking forward to trying it. Love all your recipes that you put out there…..I have never seen this site before….DEFINITELY will be looking for further recipes
I hope you loved it Jan!! N x
I made this recipe last night with venison steaks cubed up instead of the beef. It was very good. I didn’t have peas so I added spinach. The broth was amazing!
Is there any substitute for the Alcohol in this recipe? Thanks! Sounds delicious!
Hi Lori, yes it’s mentioned with the subs in the recipe notes. N x
This recipe was amazing and easy to follow, the ingredients are cheap and easy to get from any store. I will make it again!
I just have one question, I made it and the finished product looks amazing and the sauce is perfect, but the meat didn’t fall apart and was tough, I had to finish cooking it because the bottom was starting to burn even on a simmer heat. what did I do wrong?
I would add more oil or add some water. Possibly cut the meat smaller. Simmer the final soup longer. Or you could do the whole recipe in a slow cooker and cook for 7 hours. Sometimes I cook beef separately at first from a soup because ours is grass fed and sometimes takes extra pressure cooking to get really tender.
Cooking away nicely this second I’m no the leftover bit of Guinness as bought a bottle….. so excited to try this
this looks delicious ! have not tried yet . can you cook this in the oven and if yes temp and time would be appreciated .love all your recipes !!
Thank you for this wonderful recipe, hubby and I absolutely loved it
Nagi, I love the option to scale serving sizes. I’m trying to get my elderly Mum’s freezer stocked, and scaled up the recipe to 10 servings.
I used very cheap red wine, and on the day the soup was cooked, I thought that might have been a mistake. However we didn’t eat any of it until the following day, and flavour was superb. I will try with Guinness next.
Simmered it for quite a while, and the beef was truly tender and ‘fall apart’. Definitely a meal in a bowl, and I agree with other comments- this is really a “stoup” – a cross between a soup and a stew.
Also made cheesy garlic bread using up leftover bread rolls – another winner.
Thank you
Is it possible to use home made chicken/bone broth instead of beef broth?
Hi Cristina, you sure can – you may need to “beef” is up by adding a little Worcestershire for flavour (I find beef has more flavour and is richer than chicken stock). N x
Made this yesterday, used red wine so I could drink the rest and it was YUM.. made some hot cheese puffs to dip in it. It was just the two of us eating it so there is enough for our dinner tonight and I´m wishing the day away so I can tuck in. Thank you Nagi for teaching me how to cook 🙂 x
Thanks Nagi. Another winner with our family. I love every single one of your recipes that I tried. You are my go to choice when I look up a recipe and I love seeing pictures of your beautiful dog Dozer too.
Hi Nagi, I’ve made this so many times and it’s always a winner! Just wanted to find out if you could do this recipe in the slow-cooker as well? Thanks for all of the amazing recipes!
I accidentally bought Guinness extra stout. Can I use this? Or will it be “too strong”? I love your recipes! Whenever I’m hunting for a recipe I always turn to your page! Everything I’ve made has been amazing!!! Thank you for you’re delicious recipes!
It will be fine Kristina! It really works like a stock so you can’t actually taste whatever type of alcohol you put in it, it cooks all that out and you just end up with the “umami” that alcholol brings to dishes 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi. I really love this soup. I had tried your epic beef n mushroom pie recipe n love the flavour. So I added porcine mushrooms to this too. And I pressure cook it for 45mins, leaving me time to walk my dog, and added the potatoes when I got home. The meat wasn’t fall off but good enough for us. We’ll definitely have this more often. Thank you very much.
This recipe is AMAZING!!! The texture and thickness of the soup is just sublime. I love the buttery mushrooms add-in. This will become a regular in our house! ps I added a bit more meat just because I prefer it more meaty. Great recipe!