Hamburger Barley Soup

Despite all the trends, old-fashioned comfort food is still a mainstay and this Hamburger Barley Soup is a reliable choice. It combines common pantry items into a hearty and satisfying soup.

I adapted this recipe from one I found many years ago. Before that, I almost never bought barley, but now I make it a habit to have it in the pantry. As well as V8, which I stock in the winter to make my beef stew. Other than that, you probably have the rest of the ingredients on hand right now.

This is a great soup to make on a cold weekend day, when you just want something cozy for dinner!

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Barley is a healthy grain

Barley doesn't get much attention these days, but if you are trying to introduce more good food variety into your diet, barley does the job. The grain contains selenium, which prevents inflammation, according to some. As you've probably heard, chronic inflammation is a prime suspect among many serious health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, even Alzheimer's.

According to Medical News Today, barley is also considered a rich source for several B vitamins including niacin, thiamin and B-6. (B vitamins are said to have a direct impact on your energy levels, brain function, and cell metabolism). Plus, barley contains beta-glucans, a type of fiber that has been found to lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol.

Ingredients

How to make Hamburger Barley Soup

First, chop up the vegetables: onion, carrot and celery. (AKA "mirepoix")

Then, brown the ground beef, add in those vegetables and some barley, and give it all a good stir.

Pour in all the liquid: beef broth, tomatoes, water and V8 juice. Add the seasonings, bring it to a boil and let it simmer, covered, for a couple hours.

Since nothing in this soup is exotic or unusual, even your picky eaters will enjoy it. Like many soups, it also makes a great leftover. Just store it in the fridge or freezer and re-heat when you need it.

Serve with a grilled cheese sandwich and you'll see smiles all around.

Oh, and oyster crackers. This soup definitely goes well with crackers. But if you want to take that up a notch, you can make some Ninja Foodi cheese scones for a wonderful side with this soup! 😀

Variation Ideas

If you like to play with flavors, a slow simmering soup is a great place to start. Here are a few ideas:

• Add a splash of Worcestershire sauce to bump up the flavor.
• You might notice, I don't add any salt. I feel like you get enough from the beef broth and V8, but feel free to adjust if your taste buds want more!
• I like to use lean ground beef for this soup but its honestly good with any ground beef.
• You could add additional veggies, like green beans or mushrooms, or even cabbage, to add more interest to the soup.
• Since this soup has a longer cooking time, you could also do the initial browning of the meat and veggies in a skillet and then transfer everything with the remaining ingredients to a slow cooker. This would probably need about 4 hours in a slow cooker. Useful if you have some time during the day but then you need to be somewhere else for a while.

More Comfort Food Soups for you to Enjoy

• Instant Pot Chicken Barley Soup
• Cheesy Potato Soup
• Instant Pot Minestrone
• Navy Bean Soup with Ham
• Instant Pot Split Pea Soup

📖 Recipe

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5 from 112 votes

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Hamburger Barley Soup

So satisfying!

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course: Soup

Cuisine: American

Servings: 6

Calories: 414kcal

Author: Sula

Video

Ingredients

• 1½ lb ground beef
• 1 onion minced
• 4 carrots minced
• 3 celery sliced thin
• ½ cup barley
• 28 oz diced tomatoes
• 4 cups beef broth
• 2 cups water
• 12 oz vegetable or tomato juice V8 or similar
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 TB dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon ground garlic
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• Black pepper to taste

Instructions

• Heat a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add ground beef and cook, stirring and breaking the meat into small crumbles until evenly browned and no longer pink. Drain and discard excess grease.
• Stir in the onion, carrots, celery and barley. Pour in all the liquids (tomatoes, juice, beef broth, and water) and add the seasonings.
• Bring soup mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 2 hours, stirring frequently.
• Remove bay leaves before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 414kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 25g | Fat: 24g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 81mg | Sodium: 742mg | Potassium: 1059mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 7309IU | Vitamin C: 28mg | Calcium: 115mg | Iron: 5mg

Nutrition values are estimates only, using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.