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Vegetable Beef Soup

Vegetable beef soup with tender beef chunks and vegetables simmered until the broth turns rich and mahogany. Sear-first method builds deep flavor, then potatoes and green beans cook to a hearty, spoonable texture.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Course: Main Dish
Cuisine: American
Calories: 360
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Beef stew meat
  • 1.5 lb beef stew meat, cubed
Potatoes
  • 3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
Carrots
  • 3 carrots, sliced
Celery
  • 3 celery, sliced
Onion
  • 1 onion, diced
Garlic
  • 4 garlic, minced
Green beans
  • 1 cup green beans, cut
Frozen corn
  • 1 cup frozen corn
Diced tomatoes
  • 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
Beef broth
  • 6 cup beef broth
Tomato paste
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Olive oil
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
Dried thyme
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
Bay leaf
  • 1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper
  • 0.5 tsp salt and pepper to taste

Equipment

  • 1 Dutch oven

Method
 

Sear the beef
  1. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Sear the beef in batches until browned on all sides, about 3-5 minutes per batch, then remove to a plate (you should see deep brown edges).
Sauté vegetables
  1. Add the onion, carrots, and celery to the Dutch oven and sauté over medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir until the onion turns translucent and the carrots soften slightly, with a gentle sizzle.
  2. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes. Stir continuously until fragrant and darkened slightly, about 1-2 minutes (keep it from burning).
Simmer the soup base
  1. Return the beef to the Dutch oven. Add the beef broth, diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, dried thyme, and bay leaf, then stir to combine.
  2. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a steady simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes with occasional stirring (bubbles should be active but not rolling).
Finish with potatoes and green beans
  1. Add the potatoes and cook at a simmer for 15 minutes. Cook until the potato cubes are tender when pierced with a fork.
  2. Add the green beans and frozen corn for the last 8 minutes of cooking. Cook until the green beans are bright and crisp-tender and the corn is hot.
  3. Remove the bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper to taste, stirring until evenly distributed and glossy in the broth.

Notes

Pro tip: don’t rush the beef browning—work in batches so it sears instead of steaming, which helps create a deeper, mahogany broth. Store leftovers in the fridge up to 4 days; freeze up to 3 months. For a lighter option, replace half the beef broth with low-sodium broth and choose reduced-sodium Worcestershire, keeping the rest the same.