Slow-Cooker Beef and Barley Soup
By America's Test KitchenPublished on October 16, 2019
Time
9 to 10 hours on low or 6 to 7 hours on high
Yield
Serves 6 to 8
Slow cooker size
5 to 7 quarts
Ingredients
Before You Begin
Do not substitute hulled, hull-less, quick-cooking, or presteamed barley (read the ingredient list on the package to determine this) in this recipe. You can substitute an equal amount of beef flat-iron steaks, if desired.
Instructions
- Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions and cook until softened and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in wine, scraping up any browned bits; transfer to slow cooker.
- Stir tomatoes and their juice, broth, carrots, soy sauce, barley, and bay leaves into slow cooker. Season steaks with salt and pepper and nestle into slow cooker. Cover and cook until steaks are tender, 9 to 10 hours on low or 6 to 7 hours on high.
- Discard bay leaves. Transfer steaks to cutting board, let cool slightly, then shred into bite-size pieces using 2 forks; discard fat and gristle. Stir beef into soup and let sit until heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.
Time
9 to 10 hours on low or 6 to 7 hours on highYield
Serves 6 to 8Slow cooker size
5 to 7 quartsIngredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Ingredients
Test Kitchen Techniques
Why This Recipe Works
To build a flavorful base for this simple but comforting soup in a slow cooker, we needed to get out our skillet to sauté a hefty amount of onions with tomato paste and thyme and then deglaze the pan with wine, scraping up the flavorful browned bits left behind. This simple step made a world of difference in the soup's flavor and allowed us to skip the tedious process of browning the meat. To simplify things further we used trimmed beef blade steak, which we shredded after it had become meltingly tender in the slow cooker—no need to cut the meat into pieces to start. The addition of soy sauce to the broth base added a surprising amount of flavor. Since pearl barley can absorb two to three times its volume in cooking liquid, we needed to be judicious in the quantity we added to the soup. A modest ¼ cup was all that was needed to lend a pleasing velvety texture without overfilling the slow cooker with swollen grains.
Before You Begin
Do not substitute hulled, hull-less, quick-cooking, or presteamed barley (read the ingredient list on the package to determine this) in this recipe. You can substitute an equal amount of beef flat-iron steaks, if desired.
Instructions
- Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions and cook until softened and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and thyme and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in wine, scraping up any browned bits; transfer to slow cooker.
- Stir tomatoes and their juice, broth, carrots, soy sauce, barley, and bay leaves into slow cooker. Season steaks with salt and pepper and nestle into slow cooker. Cover and cook until steaks are tender, 9 to 10 hours on low or 6 to 7 hours on high.
- Discard bay leaves. Transfer steaks to cutting board, let cool slightly, then shred into bite-size pieces using 2 forks; discard fat and gristle. Stir beef into soup and let sit until heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve.
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