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Recipe for Instant Pot Beef and Barley Soup
Instant Pot Beef and Barley Soup

This soup I made for my daughter and her husband. The aromas were so good that she could not wait for him to arrive home and had a bowl. Well, two bowls as one were not enough. Just an awesome winter soup.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds (1kg) beef stew meat
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 ounces (225g) quartered mushrooms
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 diced stalks of celery
- 2 diced carrots
- 4-6 cloves minced garlic
- 6 cups (1.4 liter) low sodium beef broth/stock
- 1 (14.5oz) (411g) can diced tomatoes
- ¾ cup (140g) rinsed pearl barley
- 2 small peeled and diced potatoes
- 2 tablespoons better than bullion beef base (or use 2-4 cubes)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
Set Instant Pot to sauté setting. When hot add in stew meat, olive oil, and season with a little salt and pepper. Brown meat on all sides then remove and set aside. (about 5 minutes).
Add mushrooms and sauté until nicely browned. (May need to add a little more oil)
Add onion, celery, and carrot. Season with salt and pepper if desired and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add in garlic and stir for 30 seconds.
Add a little beef broth to deglaze the bottom of the pan and be sure to scrape up all the browned bits to avoid the burn error.
Add remaining broth, browned meat, tomatoes, barley, potatoes, beef base, bay leaf, and thyme.
Place lid on Instant Pot and turn to the locking position.
Set vent to sealing and cook on high pressure for 15 minutes.
Let the Instant Pot do a natural release of pressure for 15 minutes then turn the vent to release the remaining pressure before removing the lid.
Notes
Submitted and prepared by Beverley Bella from SA Tasty Recipes - Saffas Daily Recipes
Freezer Friendly:
If you want to freeze the soup let it cool completely and pour it into a freezer-safe container. Freeze for 4-6 months. Thaw completely and reheat.
What to serve with Beef and Barley Soup
- Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits
- Simple side salad
- Any fruit salad
Nutrition Information
Yield
8Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 154Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 1gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 4gCholesterol 23mgSodium 359mgCarbohydrates 17gFiber 3gSugar 3gProtein 10g
Please note, I am not a nutritionist. All nutrition information on this blog, EsmeSalon, has been calculated by using an online calculator and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, please be advised that you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
As always we have more Soup recipes for you to make: How about this Instant pot Beef and Veggie Soup; Osso Buco Bean and Vegetable Soup; Amazing Mushroom Sweet Corn Soup; or the Belly-warming Spicy Lentil Soup.
Should you need some guidelines to use the Instant Pot, visit and read these 7 Simple Instant Pot Pressure Cooker Safety Tips
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This soup looks so hearty! My husband is a huge fan of beef barley soup. I will put this in the rotation.
Thank you, Laurie – hope your husband will enjoy it. If you have a moment once you tried it to revert back to the post and give it a rating and review, I will highly appreciate it. Thank you in advance
The food looks so scrumptious & nutritious 😊
Thank you Carinne – Yes its perfect for winter
Looks tasty. I have been debating about getting an Instapot. So many good recipes!
Hi Cherie, Yes seems like a lot of people nowadays have an Instapot with all these good and awesome recipes popping up. I do not have one and will never have one as we are retired and should we wish to make something that could have been made in an Instapot, we just cook it for a long time till done.