Old-Fashioned Beef Vegetable Soup Recipe

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This beef vegetable soup recipe is the long-simmered kind, the one where the beef pulls apart under a spoon. Stew meat gets browned hard in the pot, then simmers covered for a full hour and 15 minutes before a single potato goes in.

That simmer is the whole recipe, and it’s the step people cut short. Beef stew meat is chuck, packed with connective tissue. It’s safe to eat within minutes of hitting the broth, but it stays tough until that collagen breaks down into gelatin, and there’s no rushing it. Pull it at 40 minutes and you get little rubber cubes floating in nice broth.

The vegetables go in on a schedule so they all land right. Potatoes need 20 minutes, green beans about 10, and the frozen corn and peas just need to heat through at the end. Dump everything in at the start and you get gray, mushy vegetables in a cloudy pot.

Why You’ll Love This Beef Vegetable Soup Recipe

• Beef that pulls apart with a spoon. A 75-minute covered simmer in one pot breaks the chuck all the way down, so nobody at the table needs a knife.
• Seven vegetables, no complaints. Onion, carrot, celery, potato, green beans, corn, and peas all vanish into a broth so beefy the kids stop cataloguing them.
• Cheap protein stretched far. Two pounds of chuck feeds eight people, because the vegetables and broth carry most of the volume.
• Better the next day. It’s the rare soup that improves in the fridge, since the beef keeps drinking up broth overnight.

Beef Vegetable Soup Ingredients

Packaged stew meat is convenient, but it’s often trimmed lean and cut from whatever was left on the block, so the pieces cook unevenly. A 2-pound boneless chuck roast that you cube yourself costs about the same and gives you real marbling and even pieces, which is most of what makes the beef go tender.

• 2 lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 2 ribs celery, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 8 cups low-sodium beef broth
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 1 1/2 cups fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

Recipe Variations

• Cube a 2-pound boneless chuck roast yourself instead of buying packaged stew meat. Trim the big pockets of fat, cut 1-inch pieces, and cook it exactly the same way, including the full 1 hour 15 minute simmer to tender.
• Pour in 1 cup of dry red wine right after the tomato paste and let it bubble down by half, about 3 minutes, before the beef broth goes in.
• Stir 1 cup of small pasta like ditalini or elbows in along with the green beans and add 1 more cup of broth. It cooks in the same 10 minutes and stretches the pot further.

How to Make Beef Vegetable Soup

1. Brown the beef: Pat the beef cubes dry and season them all over with the salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the beef in 2 batches, about 5 minutes each, turning so most sides pick up color. Don’t crowd the pot. Move the browned beef to a plate.
2. Cook the vegetables: Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil, then the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook 5 minutes, scraping the browned bits off the bottom as the vegetables release their moisture.
3. Add the garlic and tomato paste: Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and cook 1 minute, until the paste darkens and coats the vegetables.
4. Build the broth: Pour in the beef broth and scrape the bottom of the pot clean. Add the diced tomatoes with their juice, the bay leaves, thyme, and Worcestershire, then return the beef and any juices from the plate. Bring it to a boil, about 4 minutes.
5. Simmer the beef: Turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer 1 hour 15 minutes. The beef clears the USDA’s 145°F mark for beef within a few minutes of hitting the broth, but it doesn’t go tender until the connective tissue breaks down closer to 200°F. Test at 1 hour 15: a cube should come apart when you press it with a fork. If it springs back, keep simmering and check every 15 minutes.
6. Add the potatoes, then the green beans: Stir in the potatoes and simmer uncovered 20 minutes, until a knife slides in easily. Add the green beans and simmer 10 minutes more, until they’re tender and still green.
7. Finish: Stir in the corn and peas and cook 5 minutes, just until heated through. Fish out the bay leaves, stir in the parsley, and taste for salt before serving.

Recipe FAQs

How Long Does the Beef Need to Simmer?

At least 1 hour 15 minutes at a low covered simmer, and 2 hours won’t hurt it. Stew meat is chuck, and its connective tissue needs long, low heat to turn into gelatin. There’s no stovetop shortcut around that.

What’s the Best Cut of Beef for This Soup?

Boneless chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes. It has the marbling and the connective tissue that turn tender over a long simmer. Lean cuts like sirloin or round go dry and stringy no matter how long you cook them.

Can I Make This Beef Vegetable Soup Recipe in a Slow Cooker?

Yes. Brown the beef and cook the vegetables on the stove first, then move everything except the potatoes, green beans, corn, and peas to the slow cooker for 7-8 hours on low. Add the potatoes and green beans in the last hour and the corn and peas in the last 15 minutes.

Can I Use Frozen Mixed Vegetables Instead?

Yes, and it saves a lot of chopping. Use 3 cups of a frozen mix and add it in the last 8 minutes with the corn and peas. Frozen vegetables are already blanched, so anything longer turns them to mush.

Why Is My Beef Still Tough After All That Simmering?

It needs more time. Tough almost always means the collagen hasn’t finished breaking down. Put the lid back on, keep the heat low, and check every 15 minutes. A hard boil makes it worse, since it squeezes the muscle fibers tight.

Cooking Tips

• Brown the beef in two batches with space between the cubes. Crowded meat releases water, the pan temperature drops, and it steams gray instead of building the browned crust that flavors the whole pot.
• Keep the simmer barely moving. You want lazy bubbles breaking the surface every second or two. A rolling boil toughens the muscle fibers and clouds the broth, and it won’t get you to tender any faster.
• Add the potatoes late and cut them big. Three-quarter-inch cubes going in with 35 minutes left come out intact. Small cubes going in at the start dissolve and turn the broth starchy.

Storage and Freezing

To store: Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 4 days. It’s one of the few soups that’s genuinely better on day two.

To freeze: It freezes well for up to 3 months. The potatoes soften a little after thawing, which is a fair trade. Cool it fully, portion it into freezer bags laid flat, and thaw overnight in the fridge.

To reheat: Warm it in a pot over medium, stirring, until it reaches 165°F, about 10 minutes from cold. Add a splash of broth if it tightened up in the fridge.

How to Serve Beef Vegetable Soup

Beef Vegetable Soup really only needs bread. Crusty sourdough, dinner rolls, or a pan of cornbread all work for mopping the bowl. A simple green salad rounds it out if you want something fresh on the table. It makes a big pot, so plan on leftovers for lunch, which is where this soup does some of its best work.

Loved This Recipe?

Beef Vegetable Soup takes two and a half hours, most of it hands-off simmering, and it’s about as close as the stove gets to cooking dinner for you.

Leave a star rating in the comments below, it helps other people find this recipe. Made it? Tag @allwellfed on Instagram, I love seeing this one in other people’s kitchens.

Old-Fashioned Beef Vegetable Soup

Beef vegetable soup with slow-simmered stew meat, potatoes, carrots, green beans, corn, and peas in a rich tomato beef broth.

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Prep Time:20 minutes mins

Cook Time:2 hours hrs 10 minutes mins

Total Time:2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8 servings

Equipment

• Dutch Oven

Ingredients

• 2 lbs beef stew meat cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil divided
• 1 large yellow onion diced
• 3 medium carrots peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 2 ribs celery sliced
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 8 cups low-sodium beef broth
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes undrained
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 lb Yukon Gold potatoes cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 1 1/2 cups fresh green beans cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley chopped

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Instructions

• Brown the beef: Pat the beef cubes dry and season them all over with the salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat and brown the beef in 2 batches, about 5 minutes each, turning so most sides pick up color. Don’t crowd the pot. Move the browned beef to a plate.
• Cook the vegetables: Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil, then the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook 5 minutes, scraping the browned bits off the bottom as the vegetables release their moisture.
• Add the garlic and tomato paste: Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and cook 1 minute, until the paste darkens and coats the vegetables.
• Build the broth: Pour in the beef broth and scrape the bottom of the pot clean. Add the diced tomatoes with their juice, the bay leaves, thyme, and Worcestershire, then return the beef and any juices from the plate. Bring it to a boil, about 4 minutes.
• Simmer the beef: Turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer 1 hour 15 minutes. The beef clears the USDA’s 145°F mark for beef within a few minutes of hitting the broth, but it doesn’t go tender until the connective tissue breaks down closer to 200°F. Test at 1 hour 15: a cube should come apart when you press it with a fork. If it springs back, keep simmering and check every 15 minutes.
• Add the potatoes, then the green beans: Stir in the potatoes and simmer uncovered 20 minutes, until a knife slides in easily. Add the green beans and simmer 10 minutes more, until they’re tender and still green.
• Finish: Stir in the corn and peas and cook 5 minutes, just until heated through. Fish out the bay leaves, stir in the parsley, and taste for salt before serving.

Notes

Simmer the beef covered for a full 1 hour 15 minutes before the potatoes go in. Stew meat passes the USDA’s 145°F mark for beef within minutes of hitting the broth, but it doesn’t turn tender until the connective tissue breaks down closer to 200°F, so judge it by a cube falling apart under fork pressure rather than by the clock alone. Keep the pot at a lazy simmer; a rolling boil toughens the meat. Reheat leftovers to 165°F.

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