The soup that cooks your dinner while you're out living your life
There's a moment in winter — you walk in the door about six, cold hands, kids hungry — and the house already smells like dinner. That's what this one's for. Ten minutes of chopping before work, a quick brown-off if you've got five more, and the slow cooker does the rest. The diced beef turns silky after eight gentle hours, the barley plumps up, and you've got a pot that feeds the family tonight with lunches to spare. Honest food, zero drama.
Ingredients
- 480g Your Farmer grass-fed diced beef
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 sticks celery, sliced
- 2 medium potatoes (about 400g), peeled and diced
- 100g (1/2 cup) pearl barley, rinsed
- 400g can crushed tomatoes
- 1.25 litres beef stock
- Salt and pepper to season
Instructions
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat and brown the diced beef in two batches, 2–3 minutes each — five extra minutes that pays you back in flavour all day.
1 tbsp olive oil480g diced beefTip the beef into the slow cooker with the onion, carrot, celery and potato.
1 onion2 carrots2 sticks celery400g potatoesAdd the barley, crushed tomatoes and stock, season well, and give everything a good stir.
100g pearl barley400g crushed tomatoes1.25L beef stockCook on LOW for 8 hours (or HIGH for 4) until the beef is fork-tender and the barley is plump.
Taste and adjust the seasoning — if it's thickened past soup while you were out, loosen it with a splash of hot water.
Ladle into deep bowls and serve piping hot.
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Why Diced Beef Loves the Slow Cooker
Your Farmer® diced beef is chuck-style braising beef — hard-working shoulder muscle, cut into even chunks, 480g to the pack, and it lands in every beef share. Muscle that works hard is threaded through with connective tissue, and that's not a flaw, it's the feature. Give that tissue eight gentle hours and it melts into gelatine, which is what turns the beef spoon-soft and gives the broth a silky body no lean cut can manage. It's why you'd never make this soup from steak — here, the harder-working cut is genuinely the better one. When it's thawed, have a look: even dice with fine white threads running through the meat. Those threads are what do the work. If you want the freezer stocked beyond your share, you can order diced beef by the pack too.
Swaps and Variations
The vegetables are a guide, not a law. Swede, parsnip or pumpkin all belong here — use whatever's in the crisper. No barley? Stir in risoni or macaroni for the last 30 minutes on HIGH, or fold cooked rice through at the end. A drained can of cannellini beans in the final half hour makes it heartier again. And if you'd rather it thick and gravy-like than brothy, that's a stew you're after — our slow beef stew with root vegetables is the same cut pointed in exactly that direction. One more worth knowing: lamb forequarter chops, bones in, make a beautiful Scotch-broth-style version of this soup — just lift the bones out before serving.
Storage and Leftovers
Keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 4 days. The barley keeps drinking as it sits, so loosen with a splash of stock or water and reheat gently on the stove. It freezes well for up to 3 months in family or lunch-sized portions — the barley comes back a touch softer, and nobody has ever complained. Best leftover trick in our house: simmer a bowlful down until it's properly thick, then spoon it over buttered toast.
If diced beef isn't already turning up at your door, a CSA beef share puts a pack of it in the freezer with every delivery — and this soup becomes a winter habit, not a one-off.
Frequently asked questions
Can I make this soup on the stovetop instead?
Do I really have to brown the beef first?
Can I cook it on HIGH to save time?
I can't eat gluten — what do I use instead of the barley?
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