This Crockpot Vegetable Beef Soup is a simple, comforting and delicious Midwestern classic. A hearty meat and potatoes dinner in a bowl, this soup simmers to perfection while you’re at work!

Juicy And Tender Crockpot Vegetable Beef Soup

This Crockpot Vegetable Beef Soup recipe has been in my Midwest family for generations. It’s the most comforting soup for anybody who is sick, just had a baby, or is just looking for a warm soothing meal to come home to on a cold day.

While for some reason my family refers to this as just “vegetable soup,” the star of this dish is actually beef short ribs. They add meaty flavor and make a luscious broth.

As my mom says about this recipe: “years of perfection!“. I hope your loved ones will love it as much as we do.

This Beef Barley Soup recipe builds the deepest, richest flavor by browning the beef, deglazing with wine, and cooking everything in the same pot. Make a double batch and freeze for later!

“I just made this soup. It is delicious!  Has a lot of deep flavor.”

—Anna

This Beef And Barley Soup Recipe Has Deep, Rich Flavor

I hate to say it, but I’m disappointed with the top recipes on Google for beef barley soup. One of the most popular recipes calls for already-cooked beef. Like, chunks of leftover steak or pot roast. While this is a good way to use up leftover beef, it’s NOT a good way to make a flavorful soup.

The deep, rich flavor of the best beef barley soup recipes come from cooking the beef in the same pot you’ll be making the soup in, then deglazing the pan with wine and scraping off all of the crusty bits (which is actually called fond).

My favorite instructor in culinary school would see fond in our pans and say “that’s free flavor, chef!,” and get VERY upset if we even thought about wasting it.

The beef barley soup recipe I’m sharing below doesn’t waste any of the free flavor. It has big chunks of meat, umami from a dash of soy sauce, and deep, rich flavor from cooking each ingredient for the right amount of time, in the right order.

This Easy Potato Soup with chicken broth is made with smart ingredient choices like bacon, herbs and spices, and tangy Greek yogurt for a cozy meal with an upscale touch.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Zoup! All opinions are 100% my own.

Get Cozy With This Simple Potato Soup Recipe

I love a really great potato soup, but I couldn’t find one on the internet that I thought was perfect, so I made my own. While the list of ingredients may look long, a lot of it is fridge and pantry staples, so you probably have some of it on hand already.

The ingredients have been carefully chosen to make the most comforting, flavorful potato soup you’ve ever had. Everything from the right potatoes to the best broth to the pinch of nutmeg (learned that in culinary school!) comes together to create the most cozy meal ever.

And forget the other recipes that call for thickening potato soup with flour – you shouldn’t need to do that! All potato soup should be EASY potato soup, and this one doesn’t mess around with any unnecessary steps.

This Potato Salad with Egg has been a Midwestern family favorite for generations. Potatoes, eggs, celery and onion, dressed with a mayonnaise-Thousand Island-mustard dressing. So classic and so good! 

Potato Salad Recipe with Egg

Here it is: the potato salad that has been in my family for generations. And if you’re from the Midwest like us, I’m going to guess that your family’s recipe is very similar. Honestly, this was probably published in the newspapers at some point, and that’s where all of our grandmothers got it.

My grandma made (and my mom still makes) this on pure vibes. No measurements, just making it up as they go along and eyeballing all of the ingredients.

I prefer to have some guidelines, at least as reference (which means I can share it with you, too). I might not measure everything precisely, but at least I know I need about a cup of mayo, about 1/3rd cup of Thousand Island dressing and about 2 teaspoons of yellow mustard.

The recipe card below does have exact measurements, and is the result of making my mom make her potato salad while I jumped in and measured everything she was adding. It’s perfectly creamy, tangy and hearty in the way only Midwestern potato salad can be.

This Lemon Chicken Soup recipe is just like the avgolomeno at Greek diners. It comes together in one pot – no blender or pre-cooked chicken or rice needed.

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

Lemon Chicken Rice Soup (often called by it’s Greek name of avgolemono), is a huge tradition here in metro Detroit.

No trip to a coney island (what you might just call a diner elsewhere in the country) is complete without this thick but light flavored, cozy soup.

Unlike others on the internet, this recipe doesn’t require having pre-cooked chicken or rice on hand – it all comes together in one pot at the same time! You also won’t need a blender.

What is avgolemono soup?

Avgolemono soup is a traditional Greek dish made with chicken broth, rice and lemon juice, and thickened with eggs. The result is a creamy (without any dairy!), tangy soup that’s both comforting and refreshing.