Instant pot beef and barley soup is a warm hearty delicious soup in a rich and flavorful broth. Loaded with barley, vegetables and seasonings. This easy homemade recipe takes only 30 minutes and is perfect for any night of the week.
Next time try this easy creamy instant pot tomato soup.
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Start with chopping up your veggies as it's best to get the prep work done ahead of time. Browning the beef, sautéing the vegetables, adding your seasonings and broth to your instant pot. The result is spoon tender beef and vegetables with a savory broth.
❤️ Why You'll Love It
- Flavorful and hearty soup in only 30 minutes.
- Perfect for a lunch or dinner.
- Make a pot of it ahead of time and heat as you need it.
- Barley is a healthy grain full of fiber, magnesium and other vitamins & minerals.
If this is your first time using your instant pot or if you're a seasoned user, you will adore this easy soup recipe. A little bit of prep and the rest is done in your instant pot. Homemade soup has never been easier!
📝 Ingredients
📋 Ingredient Notes
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- Beef stew: Stew beef or chuck roast cut into pieces cubes.
- Salt/Pepper: Adds flavor to the beef.
- All-purpose flour: Used to coat the beef stew meat.
- Olive oil: Needed to sauté the meat and veggies into it.
- Onion, garlic, carrots, celery and tomato paste for Mirepoix flavor base.
- Dry oregano: A classic flavor used in beef dishes.
- Fresh basil: Amazing flavor to the beef and barley soup.
- Boiling water: Used to deglaze the instant pot.
- Beef broth: I used regular beef broth, but you can use low sodium broth if you prefer.
- Pearl barley
🥄 Instructions
Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The detailed instructions are in the recipe card below.
- In a medium bowl, place beef stew then add salt, black pepper and flour. Toss to coat.
- Turn on your instant pot to the sauté option, heat oil then add beef stew.
- Sauté until beef is browned; this will take about 5 minutes.
- Add chopped onion, garlic, carrots and celery. Continue to cook and stir for another 5 minutes.
- Add oregano, basil and tomato paste and mix them in. Pour one cup of water and deglaze the bottom of your instant pot. Add the remaining water, stock and barley.
- Cancel the sauté option, cover and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes making sure the valve is set to sealed. Let it naturally release the pressure for 5-10 minutes then do a quick release.
💡 Expert Tips
- I do not like using hulled barley in this recipe but if you must then increase the cooking time by 10 minutes. Hulled barley needs more time to cook and this might make the veggies mushy.
- Reheat on stove top on medium or in the microwave.
- You can use low-sodium beef broth for this recipe if you prefer. You can also make your own beef bone broth and add it for more richness.
- A bay leaf can be added with the seasonings as well, just remember to take it out before serving.
⌛ Make Ahead
You can make the soup ahead of time, cool and then store until you're ready to reheat it. Easily reheat on your stove top or in your microwave.
🍽️ Serve With
This soup is hearty enough by itself, however a loaf of crusty bread or even garlic bread goes so well with this soup recipe.
👩🍳 Variations
- Add some small chopped up potatoes. The potatoes can be added after the barley and then continue on with the recipe.
- Use Italian seasoning or dried thyme if you like more herbs in your soup.
- A touch of Worcestershire sauce adds a great taste.
- Mushrooms are a great addition too. Add sliced mushrooms when you add the onions.
- Red pepper flakes are a fabulous way to add a little kick to your barley soup.
🧺 Storage
Store leftover instant pot beef and barley soup in an airtight container in your refrigerator for 3-4 days or in your freezer for 4-6 months.
💬 FAQs
Nope! Pearl barley does not have to be soaked before cooking as it will quickly become tender while it cooks.
Beef barley soup is tender chunks of beef stew meat cooked in a rich and flavorful broth with barley, veggies and seasonings.
Here is a trick I've learned to reheat soup quickly in instant pot. Pour soup in your instant pot, cover and seal then pressure cook for zero minutes. The instant pot will reheat the soup while it is building pressure.
Building up the pressure and preheating the instant pot depends on the size, brand and the content inside your instant pot. As a general rule it takes anywhere between 10 to 20 minutes, so on average we are talking about 13-15 minutes. However cooking ingredients on the saute option first drastically decreases that number and in my case it took only 5 minutes to preheat.
📣 Related Recipes
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More Instant Pot Recipes
- Instant Pot Chicken Fried Rice is a quick one pot dinner that you'll pit on repeat. An Asian inspired dinner with tender chicken, a blend of vegetables, rice and scrambled egg that is both satisfying and delicious.
- Instant pot potato soup recipe is a delicious meal by itself. Loaded with chicken, herbs and veggies and within few minutes your dinner is ready.
- This Instant Pot tortellini soup is ready in no time for a delicious, restaurant quality dinner.
- Instant Pot chicken and rice soup is a warm and comforting dish done in minutes for a delicious warm meal. Tender chicken, rice and vegetables cooked in flavorful broth for the perfect dinner to warm you up.
- This Instant Pot Beef Bone Broth is rich, nourishing and easily made in a fraction of the time. This broth is delicious in soups, stews or sipped on its own.
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Instant Pot Beef and Barley Soup
Equipment
- Instant pot
- Medium bowl
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds Beef stew
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
- 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic large, crushed
- 2 medium carrots peeled and sliced
- 2 celery stalks diced
- ½ Tablespoon dry oregano
- ½ Tablespoon chopped fresh basil
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 2 cups boiling water
- 4 cups beef broth
- ¾ cup pearl barley
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, place beef stew then add salt, black pepper and flour. Toss to coat beef cubes.
- Turn on your instant pot to the sauté option, heat oil then add beef stew.
- Sauté until beef is browned; this will take about 5 minutes.
- Add chopped onion, garlic, carrots and celery. Continue to cook and stir for another 5 minutes.
- Add oregano, basil and tomato paste and mix them in.
- Pour about one cup of boiling water and deglaze the bottom of your instant pot by scraping it with a spoon to release any browned bits at the bottom of the pot.
- Add the remaining water, stock and the barley.
- Cancel the sauté option, cover and pressure cook on high for 15 minutes making sure the valve is set to sealed.
- Let it naturally release the pressure for 5-10 minute then manually release the remaining pressure using a wooden spoon in bursts.
Notes
- I do not like using hulled barley in this recipe but if you must then increase the cooking time by 10 minutes. Hulled barley needs more time to cook and this might make the veggies mushy.
- Store leftover soup in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, freeze for 4-6 months.
- Reheat on the stovetop on medium or in the microwave.
Elaine
Hi Amira
Can this be made in a crock pot?If yes, how long and on a high or low setting? Love your recipes!
Elaine
Amira
Sure thing, 9 out of 10 times I like to brown the meat first before adding it to a slow cooker so do that then add all the ingredients and cook on low for 7-8 hours or low for 5 hours.
Nancy Karlen
Amira-
I have made an American version of beef and barley soup for ages--I tried your version and it was met with great approval!!! The oregano and basil add a different flavor that my husband enjoyed.
Thanks