When the snow flies, there’s nothing quite like a pot of Braised Vegetable Beef Soup to warm you from the inside out. This hearty soup starts with tender chunks of beef chuck, browned to perfection and then slow-braised in a savory wine sauce with select vegetables, tomatoes, potatoes, and herbs. Perfect for cozy weekends or a make-ahead dinner, this soup is a winter staple you’ll come back to again and again.
The Oven Braise is a Favorite Technique
If you’re a fan of slow-cooked beef, then you know — or need to know! — about oven braising. It’s a magical combination of poaching beef in a super flavorful wine-based broth and roasting.
Beef is half submerged in liquids to cook to buttery tenderness, while heat from above sears the exposed meat to caramelized perfection.
Meanwhile, the vegetables simmer in the savory broth produced by the wine and the beef. It’s all done mostly hands-off while you putter around the house and enjoy your afternoon before sitting down to a rich and hearty bowl of beef vegetable soup.
Braised Vegetable Beef Soup is —
- Comfort Food at Its Best: This soup is the perfect way to warm up on a cold winter day.
- Rich, Slow-Braised Flavor: The long braise enhances the beef and vegetables, creating a deeply satisfying flavor that you just can’t get from stovetop cooking.
- Perfect for Meal Prep: It makes a large batch and tastes even better the next day.
- Packed with Vegetables: A great way to get your daily dose of veggies in a delicious way.
- Freezer-Friendly: Leftovers freeze well for easy weeknight meals later on.
Main Ingredients and Substitutions
Vegetables — While beef might be the focus of the show, Vegetable Beef Soup wouldn’t be its beautiful self without loads of veggies. We start with the usual aromatics — onions, carrots, celery, garlic — and add leeks and mushrooms for added flavor, followed by Yukon gold potatoes and sweet potatoes for extra heft. You can use your favorite soup vegetables: green beans, peas, parsnips, turnips. It’s all good.
Beef — Chuck is a tough cut of meat that requires a long cook to break down its connective tissues and make something of it. But when you do, it melts into beef nirvana in a way that even prime cuts of steak have to stand up and salute. The advantage of the oven braise is that the oven provides even, contactless heating, without the soup-scorching hotspots that a stove burner produces.
Broth — As you’ve probably seen me say several times, I rely on commercial broth because there’s just no way I can keep up with my own demand for homemade. Lately, I’ve been using bone broth in my soups, as an experiment, as it’s become widely available at the big box grocery stores. If you’re going to spring for the pricey bone broth, beef soups are where to do it, as regular beef broth is often filled with yeast extracts that merely mimic the flavors of beef.
Seasonings — This soup uses lots of herbs, both dried and fresh, plus a nice hit of umami from tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. I also add a bit of Better Than Bouillon.
Cook’s Notes
- I bought a jar of Better Than Bouillon Italian Herb base recently, and love it. Yes, bouillons are salty. But I’m a fan of BTB because you can add as much or as little of its paste as you want, and it lasts a long time in the fridge. Whenever I call for BTB in my soup recipes, as I do with this one, I make sure it’s optional so that you don’t feel pressured to buy another ingredient.
- Beef can be a bit tricky to buy these days. My local grocery stores seem to have challenges keeping up with inventory. They also like to pack beef chuck in huge portions. If you’re lucky, you can find a 2-pound-or less-pack of stewing meat (which is usually chuck). Otherwise, be prepared to divide the cut in half and save the other portion for another recipe.
- If you’re using portobello or cremini mushrooms with dark gills, you might want to scrape them out. They’re perfectly edible, but they often muddy the color of soups and stews.
How to Make Braised Vegetable Beef Soup
Ready to make the recipe? Skip to the recipe card now to get the full ingredient list, quantities, prep/cooking times, and detailed instructions. Or, keep scrolling for a visual walk-through of making the soup.
Prep notes
Here are some helpful guidelines for prepping the recipe ingredients. Anything that simply needs to be measured out of a container – such as dried herbs and liquids – is not addressed here. Note that you can absolutely measure everything out into separate bowls or containers ahead of time. It’s a classic organizational technique called mise en place — literally, “everything in its place” — that helps the cooking workflow run smoothly.
- Slice the beef: Cut the beef chunk into 3/4″ pieces. This allows the beef to cook in a reduced time-frame, and also fits nicely on the spoon (remember, this is a soup, not a stew eaten with a fork).
- Slice the onions: Peel and slice the onions into thin quarter moons.
- Prepare the leeks: Remove the dark green leaves from the leeks. Although not toxic, they’re tough and not very appetizing. You’ll be able to see the point where they join the light green part of the stalk. Then, slice the leek in half and run under water, fanning open the layers to dislodge any dirt within. Reform the stalk and squeeze out the water. Then slice thinly and chop.
- Dice the celery: Remove any attached leaves from the ribs, and cut away the ends of they look dried. Clean the ribs, then dice.
- Prepare the mushrooms: Remove and discard the stems and clean the mushroom caps with a wet paper towel to remove the loose dirt. Slice thinly.
- Chop the carrots: Scrub the carrot with a brush, and then peel the outer layer with a vegetable peeler. Cut the carrot into 1/2″ pieces.
- Prepare the potatoes: Scrub the potatoes and sweet potatoes thoroughly with a scrub brush. You can leave the skin on or remove it with a vegetable peeler. I usually leave the skin on gold potatoes, because it’s very thin, but peel sweet potatoes because the skin can get a little bit dry and crusty. Chop into 1/2″ cubes.
- Mince the garlic: Remove the tough outer skins from the garlic cloves and chop them finely.
Step 1: Brown the beef
Preheat the oven. Toss the beef with salt, pepper, and the flour. (You could also use your favorite steak seasoning, along with the flour.) Heat the oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven until shimmering, then add a single layer of beef pieces with a little space in between (to give enough room for turning, and so that the beef doesn’t simply steam).
Let the first side sear well, then turn all of the pieces, and continue browning all sides. Transfer to a bowl, and repeat with the next batch.
To brown all of the beef in one go, use a second vessel — a large skillet — to brown the remaining beef at the same time. You can fit a surprising amount in a 12″ skillet (see photo above).
Step 2: Soften the aromatics and deglaze the pan
If the pot is a little dry, add a glug of oil, followed by the onions, leeks, celery, carrots, and mushrooms. Saute for about 10 minutes, or until the onions and mushrooms have softened and released some of their moisture. Note that the carrots will not be soft at this point. That’s okay. They’ll finish cooking during the braise.
Pour in the wine and use a flat-edged spatula to scrape up any bits of beef that were cooked onto the bottom of the pot. Those bits are called fond and they add a lot of flavor.
Step 3: Add the seasonings and tomatoes
Spoon in the garlic, tomato paste, and dried herbs and spices, stirring well. Mix in the tomatoes and their juices.
Step 4: Simmer the soup
Layer the beef on top of the vegetable mixture, and pour enough broth to cover the beef by just over half. You won’t be using all of the broth at this point; refrigerate any leftovers for the braise. Add the bay leaves and fresh herbs, and bring the soup up to a simmer.
Cover the pot and place it in the oven. You’ll be braising the soup in the oven for approximately 90 minutes total.
Step 5: Braise the soup; add the potatoes
Check the soup about every half hour to ensure the level of liquids remains the same (i.e., partially covering the beef). Add more broth from the fridge as needed. Keep the pot covered.
When there are 30 minutes left in the cook, stir in the Yukon gold potatoes and sweet potatoes, topping off the soup with broth if needed. Cover and return to the oven.
At 90 minutes, check the beef for doneness: remove a cube from the pot and use two forks to pull it apart. It should easily separate. Let the meat cool a bit and taste. It should be meltingly tender. If it isn’t, return the soup to the oven, uncovered, for 15 minutes more.
Don’t forget to fish out the bay leaves and herb sprigs before serving! (The leaves will have fallen off of the herb sprigs; that’s okay.)
Storing
Let any leftovers cool completely and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This soup also freezes very well for up to 3 months.
I love this vegetable beef soup, especially on snowy weekends when staying in is the ultimate luxury and an afternoon cooking project with lovely aromas will set the mood.
Braised Vegetable Beef Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive or avocado oil , or a neutral oil
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 pounds beef chuck , cut into 3/4″ pieces
- 1 medium onion , thinly sliced into quarters
- 1 medium leek , sliced then chopped, white and light green parts only
- 2 ribs celery , sliced
- 1 large carrot , sliced into 1/2″ chunks
- 2 ounces sliced mushrooms
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian herb blend
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 15 ounces diced tomatoes with their juices
- 4 cups beef broth or beef bone broth
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 or 4 fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 large fresh tarragon sprig
- 6 baby potatoes , cut into 1/2″ chunks
- 1 small sweet potato , cut in 1/2″ chunks
- 2 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon Italian Herb Base (optional)
- 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar (optional)
- 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Season the beef chunks with salt and pepper and then toss with the flour.
- In a large oven-safe pot with a tight-fitting lid, heat the oil over medium. When the surface of the oil is shimmering, add the beef chunks to just cover the bottom with room in between to turn the chunks. Brown the beef cubes on all sides, then remove from the pot to a bowl, and do the next batch.
- When the meat is finished browning, add the onions, leeks, celery, carrots, and mushrooms to the pot. If the pot seems a little dry, add a glug of oil.
- Cooks the vegetables until the onions and mushrooms have softened and released their moisture, stirring frequently.
- Stir in the red wine, and use a flat-edged spatula to scrape up the browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pot, mixing them into the vegetables (this is called fond, and it’s a good thing).
- Spoon in the tomato paste, paprika, herbs, and cloves, and stir well to mix.
- Stir in the can of diced tomatoes.
- Return the beef to the pot, along with any accumulated juices, distributing them in an even layer on top of the vegetables.
- Pour in enough broth to cover the beef chunks by half. The should still stick out of the broth here and there. Add the Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves and the herb sprigs.
- Cover the pot with the lid and place in the preheated oven. You’ll braise the soup for a total of 90 minutes.
- Check the pot at 30 minutes by carefully removing the lid. Add more broth if evaporation has exposed too much of the beef. If the soup is bubbling aggressively, reduce the oven heat to 325ºF and cover again.
- At the one hour mark, remove the pot from the oven and stir in the baby potatoes and sweet potatoes. If the soup looks more like a stew, pour in more broth, again leaving the top edges of the beef exposed. Stir in the Better Than Bouillon paste, if using.
- You can check the beef for doneness at any point in the cook: Early on, the beef will have a solid, steak-like texture (which is too firm), requiring a knife to cut through. Over time, the beef will become more and more tender until you can easily pull a chunk apart with two forks.
- At 90 minutes, check a cube of beef for tenderness — let it cool for a couple of minutes and take a bite. It should be melty tender and easily bitten through with your teeth.
- Fish out the bay leaves and herb sprigs (the leaves have probably fallen off the stems; that’s okay, just remove the woody stems).
- Give the soup a good stir and taste. It probably will not need seasoning at this point, but you can add more salt and pepper, if you like (especially if you skipped the Better Than Bouillon).
- For a nice punch of brightness, add the apple cider vinegar and sugar, and give a good stir.