Hearty Vegetable Beef Stew, Perfect For A Cold Winter’s Day

Hearty Vegetable Beef Soup

All this cold weather we’ve been having put me in the mood for some home made soup. One of my fave things to make anytime of the year is a big ole pot of vegetable beef soup. The way I make it, it’s super rich and loaded down with veggies, so it’s really more of a stew than a soup.

I make as much as I can possibly stuff into my big Dutch oven.  I just went downstairs and measured to see how much it holds and the Dutch oven I use holds six quarts.  So the printable recipe you’ll find at the end of this post is for cooking up about six quarts of soup.  I absolutely love having leftovers.  I always end up freezing about half which really comes in handy when you’re in a hurry and have no time to cook, but really want something homemade and hearty for lunch or dinner.

Vegetable Beef Soup Recipe

 

This stew smells so incredibly good while it’s cooking…words can’t describe.  The whole house ends up smelling insanely good, both while it’s cooking and for hours afterwards.  If you had your house on the market to sell and cooked this soup before prospective buyers toured your home, it would probably sell that day. lol It smells that good! It tastes that good, too!

Vegetable Beef Soup Recipe

 

When I make this soup, I always cut up fresh potatoes, carrots, celery and onion. I also use fresh garlic. The other vegetables are either frozen or canned, but you can go all fresh if you prefer. If you use all fresh, you’ll probably need more liquid since I use the liquid that’s in the can as well. The last time I made this, I used frozen corn and butter peas and added canned peas.

In the recipe below, I guess-timated how much I use of some of the veggies because I sometimes toss in more carrots or potatoes or another can of peas, depending on how it looks and if there’s any room left in the 6-quart Dutch oven I use. I always fill the pot close to the top since I love having lots left over. So, if you’re using a pot that’s around 6 quarts, feel free to add in a few more carrots or whatever you wish if there’s still room. I’ve been known to overfill mine and have some of the soup bubble out onto the stove, so don’t do that. It’s not much fun to clean up later.

Hope you enjoy this soup. Throw in some crusty bread and you’re all set. It’s my fave for a cold winter’s day.

Hearty Vegetable Beef Soup
Print Recipe
5 from 3 votes

Hearty Vegetable Beef Stew

This is a hearty soup/stew that's great for fall or winter. Actually, it's delicious any time of the year.
Servings: 12

Ingredients

  • 1/2 stick butter or margarine
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 5-6 stalks celery chopped
  • 4 cups beef bouillon Update: I've started using Swanson's Beef Broth, 32 oz carton size instead of the buying the bullion and mixing it up. It tastes just as good and it's faster/easier.
  • 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
  • 8 oz can of tomato sauce
  • 5-7 potatoes pared and cubed
  • 6-7 carrots sliced
  • 16 oz bag frozen corn or 2 cans
  • 16 oz bag frozen baby lima beans for butterpeas or whatever beans you prefer
  • 1 or 2 cans 15 oz size of peas (You can use frozen, I prefer Lesueur)
  • 1 to 1 1/2 lbs of Beef Round Chunks Publix sells this already cut up and labeled "Stew Beef" or "Good for soup"
  • 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt I don't add this since I don't like a lot of salt in food, so season to your own taste

Instructions

  • Melt butter (or margarine) in a large Dutch oven or stock pot over medium heat.
  • Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is transparent.
  • Add bouillon (or beef broth), beef, celery, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, potatoes, carrots, corn, beans, peas, thyme and celery seed.
  • Bring to a boil over medium heat.
  • Cover and simmer for 30-45 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
  • Stew is ready when meat and carrots are tender.
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Comments

  1. Wow the recipe and the stew its self looks exactly like my mom would make it was think and hearty and everyone loved it, she said she put everything except the kitchen sink in it…lol well it was wonderful with hot biscuit so sso yuommy, thanks for reminding me….

  2. Looks yummy!

  3. Susan – do you remember where the little covered acorn soup bowls are available??? Thank you!

  4. Betty819 says

    I love home made vegetable soup and today would be a great day for it. We’ve got snow falling but what fell during the night is a wet snow but ti’s started coming down pretty hard and fast now. Still don’t think it will amount to anything like the weather persons have been expecting. Since I don’t have any stew beef in the freezer, I guess I’ll make chili. Good weather for that too. Do you brown your meat first? I don’t add tomato sauce to mine but do add canned tomato juice. No garlic but that would certainly add some flavor. Will have to try that without DH knowing it. My dear MIL used to make the best veg. beef soup. She used short ribs that she cooked the pressure cooker, then added them to the soup later. She had this gal. ice cream container that she would keep throwing left over veggies in if it wasn’t enough to serve for another meal and when the ice cream tub got full or near full, it was soup making time. She would then add more veggies if needed. I guess the tomato sauce not only adds flavor but thickens it a bit. I’ll have to add thyme if I have it. might have to borrow that from a neighbor that cooks because I doubt if I have any since I don’t use it regularly. I think I need to go through all my spices and check for expiration dates as it’s been a few years since I did that. I buy the bag of frozen soup vegges and add fresh ones to that. You live in Ga. and don’t add frozen okra slices to yours? That is the only way I will eat okra but recently I ate out and this restaurant had deep fried sliced okra pieces on the buffet line and it was delicious. My dear Mother used to slice up fresh okra and fry it in her cast iron frying pan and it makes a slimy mess. UGG! Some neighbors “up the road” knew she and Daddy loved okra and butter beans and would drop some by for them. I used to have to help shell the “butter beans.” Can you tell I’m southern by what I call them, not lima beans?

    I can smell that soup of yours all the way from Georgia and it’s making me hungry! Thanks for sharing your recipe. Wished you were next door or close by so you could share some. Are you making corn bread to serve with that soup?

    • Hi Betty, No, I don’t brown it…just toss it right in. The tomato sauce doesn’t thicken it a bit. Ha! You have an incredible sense of smell. 🙂 Oh, cornbread would be heavenly with it! You’re giving me ideas, Betty!

  5. My mom used to make vegetable beef soup..oddly, .I have never tried to make it! I wonder how that slipped by…yours looks quite tasty and I am pinning it! Thank you.

    • Thanks, Kate! I love it. You really feel like you’ve gotten a whole meal in with all the veggies and beef. All it needs in some crackers or bread and you’re all set.

  6. My mom used to make vegetable beef soup..oddly, .I have never tried to make it! I wonder how that slipped by…yours looks quite tasty and I am pinning it! Thank you.

  7. Carol Neibling says

    My husband and I eat some flavor of soup almost every evening during the winter along with salad and fruit. It’s light, flavorful and easy. My son came home from Longhorn with the outline of one of their soups and it’s much like this one, but it uses Rotel tomatoes in it. All I know is that when I make this everyone raves and yes, the house smells wonderful.
    Thanks for the recipe.

  8. snowy trees says

    Hi Susan,

    That soup does look so yummy. And today would be a great day for it. 🙂

    I’ve been an abysmal cook most of my life, but about 3-4 years ago I decided to change my attitude about cooking and look at it as a creative and fun adventure, rather than a chore. For me, it worked. I’ve become quite the awesome cook (even if I do say so myself, lol.) For winter, I love making soups and stews. They fill the house with wonderful aromas and have a hominess about them that’s hard to beat. And I’ve discovered I ‘almost can’t go wrong’ when piling in ingredients and spices (although there was a wild rice and mushroom soup that went awry.) But the one soup I haven’t yet cultivated is a hearty mixed veggie soup. Even though this has beef, it sounds like it would be great as an all veggie, as well. Unfortunately I don’t have all the ingredients on hand to make it tonight (but I can’t complain because I have an awwwesome pork satay stew planned – hee) I will keep this and pick up what I need on my next trip to the store. And the memory about your dad is so sweet.

    Thank you so much for sharing this! I love the idea that we can come here to look at and discuss beautiful homes AND find a delicious and healthy recipe as well! Have a great day. ~~~ Pam

    • Yes, this works great even without the beef. I’ve made it both ways and it’s really good either way. You are too cute about the rice and mushroom soup. 🙂 I admire you for diving into cooking and just deciding you were going to enjoy it. That is awesome! I didn’t grow up with anyone showing me how to cook, or really cooking around me so the few things I do make are more or less “self-taught” so to speak. I do love trying new recipes and experimenting around a little.

  9. This is a wonderful recipe, hearty , fragrant and satifsying. I have never made a beef vegetable soup, I am surprised to realize. Pot roast — many times, but never a soup. I will have to give this a try. I have a cast iron Dutch Oven, but I don’t think I can use it on my glasstop cook stove. I think I do have a 6-qt Caphalon non-stick.
    Last year when reading up on — something-or-other — in Joy of Cooking, I think, I learned that the trio starting point for making stocks, gravies, etc. usually begins with the vegetable trio called a “mirepoix” (pronounced meer-pwah), and consists of carrot, celery and onion. Now when I roast a chicken or a beef shoulder, I put my mirepoix in the bottom of the pot. When the meat is cooked, I use a hand blender to puree the softened veggies into the meat juices, then strain and allow the fat to rise to drain off. I need very little flour or corn starch to thicken as the pureed veggies are often adequate, and the flavor is better. I have often wanted to try using a mirepoix for thickening and flavoring stock for a soup. I may try it for this one! Thanks for the inspiration!

  10. snowy trees says

    Arrgh! The soup is calling to me. I’m going to go to the store and pick up some veggies and make it tonight, for tomorrow night. That way the flavors will have even more time to meld. And since I’ve got a lot of lentils on hand I’m going to add them in lieu of beef to … um … beef it up. (haha, sorry)

    Okay, I’m off. This is going to be good!

  11. How funny…….yesterday I also made a huge pot of veggie soup!!!! I added diced ham as the meat, and my house still smells so yummy today!!! I always brown the veggies, use olive oil instead of butter, no sauce,one cup of chopped tomatoes, water, bullion cubes, fresh herbs, canned beans such as cannelini or kidney or chic peas, and 1/2 hour before done add about 1/3 cup raw rice……a complete meal!!! I’ll take a pic tonight to show you. We still have too much snow out there and cold temps so soup or stew is just right……

  12. I love hearty homemade soups and stews and make them fairly often. Will try your recipe soon.

    BTW, did you know your page has been advertising Texas the last couple of days?

  13. This looks delish! I can almost smell it now.

  14. Yummy, looks so good! I did not receive my newsletter : ( and not in my ‘junk’ folder soooooo. ….. hoping I receive the next one as I am subscribed (just checked). Maybe because I am using iPad? Who knows, hope this weeks comes through and I will certainly add your address to my list of ok. Patty/BC

  15. Susan, the soup looks yummy!! My hubby is the soup extraordinaire in this house, he loves new recipes and loves to cook. Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey are his heroes!! 🙂
    We always have soup in the freezer to pull out for lunch. One of my favourites is Potato Apple soup, it has a tang and sweetness to it.
    I will share this recipe with hubby!!! Gotta love a man who cooks!!! 🙂

  16. Oh, Susan,
    I don’t know who invented the internet, but I guess it must be a man!
    A woman wouldn’t have forgotten a “smell” and a “taste” button! 😉
    (I love veggies and your soup looks sooo yummy! Sheesh!)
    ~Hugs to you~
    Cecilia

  17. Linda Page says

    OK, now that you have all of us drooling on our computers……here is a variation to your soup. Using basically the same ingredients, substitute roasted chicken (taken off bone and diced) for the beef, replace the thyme and celery seed with 1-2 tablespoons of chili powder, replace the beef broth with canned low sodium vegetable broth, and the tomatoes can be replaced with 2 cans Rotel if so desired. Sometimes I add cannelini beans just cause I like them but I do rinse them first. Around East Texas this is known as Hopkins County Stew because this is made each year in the fall at a big festival & cook off in Sulphur Springs, Texas (Hopkins County) and I grew up eating this at least once a week and still do. I am a big soup lover. I haven’t made a beef soup/stew in a while but I am thinking that is next on my list!

  18. Susan, I grew up in South Carolina where we always had cornbread with vegetable soup. Even cornbread muffins from Cracker Barrel are delicious with this. Put 2-3 spring onions (with blades) on the plate with the cornbread and that’s all you need with this soup ……except for a glass of iced tea. ha
    Gloria

    • That sounds so good! I actually have a box of the cornbread mix from Cracker Barrel in my pantry. I think it calls for buttermilk. I need to buy some and bake up some of their muffins. Yes, definitely with a glass of ice tea. Gloria, I like the way you think! 🙂

  19. Looks like a great recipe. I’m always trying different soups and this one looks hearty enough for a cold March evening supper.

  20. This all sounds so good.

  21. Yum!! Cannot wait to try it!!! Here’s a shout out!!

    http://johnhoodfamily.blogspot.com/2013/03/blogs-babies.html

  22. This looks SO good! My hubby and I LOVE soup but the kids not so much so I don’t make as much as I did before they came. I always put marjoram in my vegetable beef soup…try it in a bowl and see how you like the taste. I saw you mention needing buttermilk for the Cracker Barrel cornbread…..use milk…add one tablespoon of lemon juice and let it sit a bit……you’ll get the same flavor without having to run to the store! Plus, then I always have to find something else to do with the leftover buttermilk because I hate to waste it!

    • Lorraine, thanks for that tip. That’s exactly what always happens…I buy buttermilk for a recipe and then end up pouring all the rest of it out. Such a waste. I will def do the lemon juice trick from now on…awesome idea! Thanks!

  23. I am soooooooo pinning this! I used ground round in the last veggie soup that I made, it was a great flavor! You can also buy dried buttermilk in the baking aisle, I don’t use enough to warrant fresh-but this does the job! Thanks for the yummy recipe 🙂

  24. Love the recipe and your blog! Maybe a dumb question – do you cook the meat before adding to the soup? Also, how do you thaw/ reheat the frozen soup? Would love to have homemade soup ready in the freezer any time!

  25. Susan, I just wanted to give you a little encouragement on the cooking front. This soup was great and you are probably just being modest, but if you don’t cook much, maybe hearing my story will help. As I said, I really only got into cooking relatively recently and I’m 55. (I can’t believe what that number looks like. Am I really THAT age???) Yikes! That is definitely a grown up, lol. I still feel like a kid though. And yesterday, a woman was asking me if I had any children and I said I had one adult son and she said, “You don’t look like you’re old enough to have an adult son.” Haha, I wanted to hug her. I think she needs glasses though because I definitely look like I’m old enough to have an adult son! Anyway, back to the subject (the mind wanders) I decided to force myself to look at cooking in a new light because it was something I had always dreaded. Since I’m a creative person I decided to look at it as an artistic challenge. Like you, I didn’t have anyone to teach me. My mom never was the motherly type and I grew up making my own t.v. dinners, potato buds, minute rice, etc. I guess maybe that’s why I never had an appreciation for good food and didn’t think it was worth taking the time to prepare. But luckily for me, when my son was a teenager he got interested in eating healthy. In the process he learned a lot about the yucky stuff that is in so many foods these days, so we decided to try to eat as much organically grown food as possible. I guess I really I have him to thank for my transmorgrification (you’ll recognize that word if you’re a Calvin and Hobbes fan). 😉

    And since I started on my rickety way toward becoming a somewhat decent cook, I have learned a lot (all self taught, like you) and found that in time I learned how to combine foods, which herbs go well with which meats, how to make a dish colorful and pretty as well as balanced and nutritious and all sorts of things. Funnily enough, I don’t watch any of the cooking shows on t.v. I do look at the Taste of Home website and get ideas there. I usually have to ‘healthify’ the recipes, but that’s not as hard to do as I would have thought and there are some truly tasty recipes over there. I used to get great recipes from Delicious Wisdom. That was a healthy eating blog that just disappeared one day without warning (you better not do that to us! we’d be heartbroken) but some of their recipes can still be found using google. Anyway, I just wanted to give you a cyber cooking hug. I always felt a bit cheated that my mom never prepared me for what is a very important aspect of life, but I still managed to do okay – even if it did take me a few decades to get here, lol. 🙂

    • Thanks Pam for the encouragement! Yeah, I wasn’t taught how to cook either. I survived on Campbell’s soup, box Macaroni and Cheese and Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches with milk. Once in a while my Dad cooked, but that was rare. I’m not really great at shooting from the hip but I can follow a recipe pretty well. 🙂 I’m not going anywhere…at least don’t plan on it. Wonder what happened to the other blog. That is sad when a blog you love disappears…hope it returns eventually. XO

  26. Beef Veg soup is my favorite cold weather soup. I love one bowl, or one pot recipes. I usually make mine the day after I have cooked a roast beef and potatoes in the crockpot. I chop everything and then add as many different veggies as my pot will hold. I use tomato soup as my base…then hit it with Worchestershire sauce to taste. Salt and pepper to taste also.
    Thanks for your recipe….will give it a try.
    Sheila

    • Shelia, that sounds like a great way to do it. I love a hearty, stick-to-your-ribs soup this time of year…heck I like it any time of year. 🙂

  27. Lynda Bradley says

    Hi Susan – I picked yesterday to make this beautiful beef vegetable soup. Our home picked up the wonderful fragrances as promised. Things were chaotic in Ottawa yesterday with the terrorists attacking our government but making the soup kept me calm and thankful for the life we all enjoy in North America. Blessed indeed and thank you for the recipe.

    • Wow, I had not heard about that…hadn’t seen the news. Scary times! I need to make a pot of this soup sometime soon…it’s definitely on my list of comfort foods. Prayers for Ottawa!

  28. Susan, this looks like soup I grew up eating and try to make it today. I especially like a lot of corn in mine. I don’t do cornbread real well so….I buy a couple of dozen cornbread muffins at Cracker Barrel at the time and keep them in the freezer. Just pull out what you need when your soup is ready. I also enjoy fresh onions with mine and of course, sweet tea.

  29. Susan, you are my twin, I swear! My beef vegetable soup is almost identical to yours. I sometimes fill my Dutch oven so full I have to transfer some to a sauce pan, lol.

  30. Hi, Susan—
    I’m confused about the boullion. When you give the quantity, is that the granules mixed with the water to create that much liquid? Recipe looks/sounds wonderful, and I’m anxi0us to give it a try.

    • Yes, it has the directions on the little bottle of beef bullion and I think each teaspoon make 1 cup of broth, if I remember correctly. Ruth, the last two times I made this soup, including just yesterday, I used Swanson’s Beef Broth in the 32 oz carton size,and I like it just as well, maybe better. It’s faster than having to mix up the broth from the bullion. So I’m going to start making it that way, it’s just easier/faster. You only need 1 of the 32 oz cartons of Beef Broth, whatever brand you prefer.

  31. Sounds very similar to what I make, but I have to throw in a couple of Bay leaves…it really makes a difference. (fish them out later) I get frozen baby peas, thaw them out, and then throw them in a few minutes before serving….just enough to heat them through. This way they keep their nice bright green color. I never knew I even liked peas until I had frozen. We had canned growing up, and I hated their gray-green color and texture.

    • I should try making it and using the frozen baby peas that Publix and some stores sell that look like they came straight from the farm. I’ll have to try that sometime. I like the bay leaf idea, too!

  32. I have, in the last few years, “needed” veg beef soup at least once a month – even in the dead of summer. Mine’s very similar except I cook my beef for 2-3 three hours with a soup bone (is unctious the right word?) and a good amount of barley and never need extra broth. I use all tomato sauce and canned veggies, but only if I can find Veg-All and usually find it now. My girls and grandsons prefer chicken noodle so I occasionally make that and also a yummy cream of mushroom and a delicious black-eyed pea soup (from a Taste of Home Spin-off) which I sent you a link for years ago. I love this post because I kind of thought I was weird wanting soup so often! There are so many other things to be weird about!

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