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Easy Vegetable Beef Soup has been a family favorite for more than 50 years. It’s easily adapted to your favorite vegetables or whatever you happen to have on hand.
Our recipe makes a big pot of soup loaded with veggies. Leftovers freeze beautifully and keep for months. Serve this chunky soup with big loaf of crusty bread for a complete meal.
An Heirloom Vegetable Beef Soup Recipe
Mom always made hearty, filling soup recipes for our large family while I was growing up. Whenever there was a tiny bit of leftover vegetables or tomatoes, she added it to a sealed container in the freezer and saved it for the next pot of soup.
When I grew up and went out on my own, this was the recipe I had to have. I’ve tweaked mom’s original recipe a bit over the years and think this is the best yet!
Have a large stock pot on hand because this recipe makes A LOT of soup. Many freezer containers are filled and crusty bread sliced. It’s so good and good for you!
I can’t begin to count the times I’ve made this soup during my life. Each time it tastes just a little different, but in a good way. The recipe is easily adapted to whatever vegetables you have on hand. The broth is rich and tomatoey with plenty of herbs and flavor.
Ingredients Overview for Vegetable Beef Soup
Don’t let the long list of ingredients scare you off. You probably already have everything needed in your pantry and freezer.
- chuck roast trimmed of fat and cut into bite size pieces
- salt and pepper
- olive oil or other vegetable oil
- sweet onion
- carrots
- celery
- garlic
- tomato paste
- seasoned salt like Lawry’s
- bay leaves
- Herbes de Provence or Italian Seasoning
- dried oregano
- dried basil
- low sodium beef broth or beef stock
- canned crushed tomatoes
- canned diced tomatoes
- large waxy potatoes like Yukon Gold
- zucchini
- frozen green beans
- fresh or frozen corn
- frozen peas
- fresh parsley for garnish
Equipment you might need:
- large 8 to 10 quart soup pot
How to make Vegetable Beef Soup Recipe
1. Sauté the beef and vegetables
- Add half the oil to a skillet or Dutch oven. Heat until shimmering then add half the beef cubes and season with salt and pepper. Sear until well browned then remove with a slotted spoon to a large soup pot. Repeat with remaining beef.
- Pour in remaining oil into the now empty pan. Add the onions, carrots and celery. Sauté until the vegetables are crisp tender. Add the garlic and tomato paste to the vegetables.
- Cook, stirring frequently until the tomato paste darkens, the garlic is fragrant and a fond forms on the bottom of the pot. Transfer the vegetables to the pot with the beef.
2. Add seasonings, tomatoes and broth
- Pour in the herbs, tomatoes, broth, potatoes and zucchini. Bring the soup to a boil then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for an hour or until the potatoes and beef are slightly tender.
- Add the green beans, corn and peas to the pot. Add enough water or additional broth to cover if needed. Simmer for another hour or until all vegetables and beef are tender.
3. Serve
- Remove the bay leaves and discard. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed. Stir in fresh parsley and serve with crackers or a hunk of nice crusty bread.
Storing and Freezing Vegetable Beef Soup
Once cool, store leftover soup in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat gently on the stovetop adding broth if needed.
Cool the soup then ladle into storage containers. Seal and refrigerate until cold. Transfer the soup containers to the freezer. Frozen soup will keep well for up to 4 months.
Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and heat gently on the stove top. Serve and enjoy!
Add-ins and Variations
- While we most often use a chuck pot roast or beef stew meat, you can also substitute ground beef if preferred.
- Don’t worry if you can’t find the exact amount of frozen peas, corn and green beans. Just pick something close to the amounts listed.
- Whenever I have a can of Progresso Tomato Basil Soup in the pantry I usually add it in place of water.
- You can use canned vegetables if desired but be sure to drain and rinse to remove the salt. As these vegetables are already cooked there’s no need to simmer for a long time. Simply add these at the end and cook until warmed through.
- Sometimes I replace half the diced tomatoes with canned stewed tomatoes depending on what’s in my pantry.
- Use beef stock or beef broth or a combination of both. Chicken broth can also be used in place of the beef broth if preferred.
- If you have a soup bone feel free to add it with the tomatoes. Remove before serving and discard.
- I prefer using waxy potatoes like Yukon Gold as they hold their shape without falling apart.
- Replace the potatoes with cooked barley for a healthy whole grain option.
Pro Tip
If using salted tomato paste, canned tomatoes with salt and / or salty broth or stock you will want to wait before adding additional salty seasoning. Once soup is cooked, check the seasoning and add salt if needed.
This recipe calls for a lot of vegetables and tomatoes so if you use unsalted broths and tomatoes you will need to add some salt.
Vegetable Beef Soup
Equipment
- 8 to 10 quart soup pot
Ingredients
- 2 lb chuck roast trimmed of fat and cut into bite size pieces
- salt and pepper
- 4 tablespoons olive oil canola or vegetable oil
- 1 large onion chopped
- 4 carrots peeled and chopped
- 4 celery stalks chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt optional (see Note #1 below)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence or Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 64 ounces low sodium beef broth or stock (8 cups)
- 28 ounces canned crushed tomatoes with Italian herbs (if you can find it)
- 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes I like the kind with basil and garlic added
- 2 large waxy potatoes peeled and chopped
- 1 medium zucchini chopped
- 16 ounces frozen green beans
- 14.5 ounces frozen corn
- 14.5 ounces frozen peas
- water up to 2 cups or a 19 ounce can Progresso Tomato Basil Soup
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley leaves chopped
Instructions
- Pour 2 tablespoon oil into a skillet over medium-high heat. Once shimmering add half the beef cubes and season with salt and pepper. Sear until browned on all sides. Remove using a slotted spoon to a large soup pot. Repeat with remaining beef.
- Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the now empty skillet. Once hot add the onions, carrots and celery. Sauté until the vegetables are crisp tender, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and tomato paste to the vegetables. Cook, stirring frequently until the tomato paste darkens, the garlic is fragrant and a fond forms on the bottom of the pan. Transfer the sautéed vegetables to the soup pot with the beef.
- Add the seasoned salt (if using), bay leaves, Herbs de Provence, oregano, basil and pepper to the beef mixture. Pour in the broth, crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, potatoes and zucchini. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cover. Simmer for 1 hour or until the beef and potatoes are slightly tender.
- Pour the frozen green beans, corn and peas into the pot. Add water or additional broth if needed to cover. Stir to combine, bring to a simmer then cover and cook for another hour or until the vegetables, beef and potatoes are all tender.
- Remove the bay leaves and discard. Check the seasoning and add salt and / or pepper if needed. Stir in fresh parsley and serve immediately with a hunk of nice crusty bread or crackers.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
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Callie
I love this soup! As soon as the weather starts to turn cold, I crave it. I’ve already made it once and I know I’ll make it again this winter. I only have one ziplock bag left in the freezer. 😃
Tricia Buice
My kids grew up on this soup. We always had a Tupperware or two in the freezer and it never went to waste. Enjoy and thanks for commenting.
Janice House
Homemade vegetable beef soup – finished product was fine , I was a little afraid it would taste too Italian, not so, but may use full body tomatoes and broth instead of the low salt next time. Love veggies so it was right up my alley! Thanks for the recipe!
Tricia Buice
Thanks for the feedback Janice. Such a great soup for these cold winter days 🙂
Janice
what size cans of tomatoes are you using for all these different cans in your homemade vegetable beef soup
Tricia Buice
Hi Janice – I’ve updated the recipe to reflect the correct amounts. If you can’t buy cans in those exact amounts, I would just use what you can find. No worries – this is a pretty easy recipe that’s hard to mess up. Thanks!
Nancy
How many servings would you estimate are in the whole recipe? So I can see what the nutritional info is per serving.
I’m limited on carbs and fat and salt.
I appreciate your time!! I love this soup!!!
Tricia Buice
Hi Nancy. I updated the recipe with an estimated 12 servings. I’m going to make this again soon and will double check. Enjoy!
Janice House
thanks for answering so prompt, I have it simmering right now. I like all the different ingredients in it, although I may leave out some of the spices next time, because I am thinking it is going to taste to Italian for my family. Everything else sounds great though! Have a great day!
Tricia Buice
Thanks Janice – I wish I had a pot of this soup simmering away on the stove today! Enjoy and thanks again.
S Laffey
Have you tried making this in a crock pot?
Tricia Buice
No I haven’t tried that Sandra. I don’t think it would fit in my crock pot as it makes a lot of soup.
Marisol
This recipe is exactly what I was looking for, thank you! I would like to try cooking it in a crockpot/slowcooker…any suggestions on time and temperature? Thanks again!
Tricia Buice
Hi Marisol. This recipe makes so much soup it won’t fit in a slow cooker. You would need two slow cookers or divide it in half and freeze some and cook some. I would still sauté the beef first and then cook on high for about 4 hours or until the potatoes are soft, or on low for 8 hours. My crockpot / slow cooker cooks much faster than many other brands, so you’ll need to adjust for your own temps as well. Good luck and thank you so much!
Denise Schroeder
In this recipe for Vegetable Beef Soup I wonder about the sizes of tomato cans, 15 oz or 32 oz?
Tricia Buice
Hi Denise – sorry to be late in responding, we were traveling. Use 14.5 or 15 ounce cans. I’ll update the recipe – thanks for asking such a great question!
Veronica D.
2 questions:
1. Our freezer space is limited. Is this something I could can in the pressure cooker?
2. Instead of canned diced tomatoes can I use fresh?
Looks like some experimenting may be in order.
Tricia Buice
Hi Veronica – I don’t think you can home-can anything with beef in it like this. I would check with the experts on this. I am not very knowledgeable about canning processes. Fresh tomatoes are fine to substitute! Enjoy and make variations as you want, it’s all good!
Joyce Shelton
How many people does the pot of vegetable beef soup feed? I’m having 7 people. Some may want seconds.
Also, what kind of dessert would pair well with the soup?
Tricia Buice
Hey Joyce! This soup feeds a lot. You will have plenty for 7-10 people to all have seconds – maybe thirds. I always freeze several containers – and it does freeze very well. No worries on having enough. Enjoy!
Sara
Made this and my picky family LOVED it! Going to try it in the crockpot soon. Thank you!!
Tricia Buice
Yeah! Thanks so much for letting me know. This has been one of our family favorites for years and years. Happy New Year Sara!
Anonymous
How much beef broth and beef stock do I use for this?
Tricia Buice
It varies sometimes due to the size of the roast, potatoes, etc. But as a starting point I would use one 32oz carton beef broth and one 26oz carton beef stock. Add water if it's still too thick, or use less broth in the beginning if it looks like way too much. The potatoes will swell and soak up some of the liquid, etc. Hope this helps and hope you love as much as we do!
Bri Morrison
My mom always has a ziploc bag in the freezer which she uses to store her leftover vegetables that will go into her next pot of soup. So any leftover black-eyed peas or green beans (drained) get tossed into the same ziploc bag. Then when she makes vegetable soup she just throws in the whole bag!