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Vegetable Beef Soup

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So, what if you wanted a simple recipe for a hearty soup? You would likely want beef (and/or beefy) flavor to reign with a good dose of veggies, right? There are a ton of variations of a beef soup or stew in the world. Ours is simple: cubes of beef from chuck (shoulder) meat, a rich broth, and a good dose of vegetables — without tomatoes!

We have found so many recipes across the interwebs that seem to conflate beef stew/soup with pot roast. Why? Tomatoes. Why? Because, really, busy home cooks want to keep things simple and use what they have on hand. Whether they are canned or fresh, tomatoes are a large staple of American diets in all kinds of recipe.

BUT NOT THIS RECIPE!! Why not? Well tomatoes add an acidity that we simply don’t want here. We want the deep “beefy” flavor of the soup to shine. Also, if tomatoes crash the party, they overpower the other veggies. No fair! Leave the tomatoes out, and be blessed with a deep-flared soup that you can make quick. Add crusty bread as a side to dip/sop up broth and you will have a HUGE win. Enjoy!

Vegetable Beef Soup – InstantPot

This is a SUPER EASY recipe for a hearty soup. Make it your own with any combo of the veggies listed in the recipe notes, making sure to have the "base" vegetables (for flavor's sake!) and the beef included. Add the softer or frozen veggies at the end (not "pressure cooked"). Make sure you have a RICH beef stock (see notes) for max flavor!
Print Recipe
Course Main Course, Soup
Cuisine American
Servings 6

Equipment

  • Automatic Pressure Cooker (InstantPot)

Ingredients
  

  • 2 tbsp avocado oil (or cooking oil of choice)
  • ½-¾ lb beef stew meat in ¼-½" cubes, fat trimmed (cut from chuck roast if not pre-cut)
  • 2 tbsp kosher salt
  • 1 yellow onion diced
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled, sliced or chopped per preference
  • 1 celery stalk chopped
  • 1 tbsp thyme
  • 5 cups beef stock (rich flavor required – see notes)
  • 2 cups diced small potatoes yellow or red with skins on
  • 2 cups mixed vegetables see notes
  • 2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

Instructions
 

  • Turn your InstantPot on "Sauté" and select "MORE" mode. Add in oil and allow to heat at least 3-4 minutes.
  • Season beef with salt. Add to InstantPot and brown the meat by stirring every 2 minutes or so. Should take 5-7 minutes to brown on all sides.
  • Add in onion, carrot, celery, and thyme. Stir to incorporate with beef, and continue to sauté all ingredients for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Press "cancel" on the InstantPot. Add in beef stock and potatoes (if using), along with any vegetables that will not turn to absolute mush in pressure cooking (parsnips, some squashes/zucchini). If you aren't sure, I suggest blanching or simmering the "weaker" and "mush prone" veg at this step SEPARATELY from the InstantPot.
  • Ensure lid on InstantPot is closed properly and set vent to "seal". Press the "Soup" function button, or alternatively choose Pressure Cook at "Normal" for 30 minutes.
  • Once InstantPot completes pressure cooking, rapid vent the pressure and open the pot. Add Worcestershire Sauce and any frozen or fresh veg that didn't need to pressure cook, including any you blanched or simmered and drained. Stir gently (as to not break up potato if you pressure cooked it) to combine. Season to taste. Simmer/heat until vegetables are cooked the way you want them.

Notes

Regarding the Beef Stock: Unless you have a beef stock that is rich in flavor, meaning it is salty/beefy/flavorful enough for you as a broth when you taste it on its own, you need an alternative. This should be a stock that is so yummy that all you want to do is sip it on its own or sop it up with bread. If that isn’t what you have, here is what I suggest:
Option A: Buy pre-package beef stock (not sodium reduced) and simmer 6 cups of it with 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp fine black pepper, and 2 tsp salt. Simmer this for about 5 minutes before you add to your soup.
Option B: “Better Than Boullion” or your other pre-fab boullion powder or cubes of choice work extremely well; I prefer the “Better Than Boullion” brand paste in a jar. Boil 4 cups of water. Use 2 tbsp of “beef stock” flavor per 4 cups of water to make stock.
Regarding Vegetables:
Pressure cooking the potatoes is almost a risk. This soup requires you to make good choices about vegetables. Single-kernel or pod-style veggies (peas, beans, corn) will turn to mush when pressure cooked at 30 minutes like this recipe calls for. The pressure cooking is really for the beef to become tender — the potatoes and (if using) parsnips, zucchini, etc, will be falling apart. I like to simply add frozen peas, beans, and corn in after pressure cooking and simmer for about 10 minutes before serving.
Keyword beef, InstantPot, soup, vegetable
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