Beef Vegetable Soup

January 24, 2022

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This hearty Beef Vegetable Soup will warm you up from the inside out. Chock full of veggies and lean ground beef, you will absolutely love it!

sou with colorful vegetables and ground beef in a small grey bowl.

Chilli days are the perfect excuse to make a comforting bowl of hot soup. We’ve been having -25C (-13F) days here in Montreal. This Beef Vegetable Soup has been on regular rotation along with some of our other favorites, Beef and Barley soup, Cabbage Roll soup and this delicious Mexican Beef stew.

Actually being indoors inspire me to cook. I get to use my Instant Pot and my other favorite kitchen gadgets, and enjoy meals with my family. I hope you enjoy this soup recipe as much as I do!

Ingredients and Substitutions

Ingredients for beef vegetable soup laid out on a kitchen counter.

Lean Ground Beef – of course this soup gets its name from the ground beef, but if you need to, you could use ground turkey or ground chicken as substitute.
Green Beans – regular green beans work best. Alternatively, you may also use French green beans or even green peas.
Red Bell Pepper – red bell peppers are the sweetest of the bunch, but you could replace it with yellow or orange pepper. You can use green bell pepper too, but keep in mind that it has a slightly stronger flavor.
Celery – a staple in soups and stews, celery gives a unique delicious flavor. You can replace it with asparagus, bok choy or even jicama for its crunchy texture. You could also use celery salt for the flavor.
Carrots – another soup staple for taste and texture. Feel free to replace it with any other veggie you have on hand.
Onion – you’ll need a medium yellow onion. White onion works great too.
Garlic – use two cloves of garlic. In a pinch, use garlic salt or just omit it.
Parsley – fresh parsley works best, but any other fresh herb like cilantro, thyme and even basil can be used too.
Beef Broth – I recommend using beef broth to complement the meat flavor of the ground beef, however you can also use chicken broth or vegetable broth if you prefer.
Canned Tomatoes – use diced canned tomatoes for this recipe. They can be replaced with Passata sauce or crushed canned tomatoes.
Oregano – if necessary, use dried basil, dried thyme or marjoram instead.
Chili Powder – it gives this beef vegetable soup a nice kick. You can omit it if you don’t have any.
Paprika – paprika and chili powder are often interchangeable. I recommend using both if you have them, or at least one of them.
Avocado Oil – my favorite cooking oil, but you can always use any other high smoke point cooking oil, like grapeseed oil or sunflower oil.
Quinoa – it is optional, but cooked quinoa brings this soup to the next level. Beef vegetable soup and quinoa are simply the BEST combo! Check out my post about how to cook quinoa to perfection. For this recipe however, you can also use cooked rice instead.

How to Make Beef Vegetable Soup

Prep your veggies – grab a chopping board. Finely chop the onion and two cloves of garlic and set them aside. Get a handful of green beans and cut them into 1″ inch pieces, don’t forget to cut any dry tips. Then grab the red bell pepper, deseed it and cut it into 1″ inch pieces too. Next, get 3 stalks of celery, and cut those into 1″ inch pieces. Then, get 2 large carrots and cut them into small cubes. Finally, get a small handful of parlsey, destalk it and finely chop the leaves and stems separately. Keep them separate.
Cook the ground beef – pull out a large pot and preheat it over medium heat. Once hot, add a generous drizzle of avocado oil and the ground beef. Using a wooden spoon, break it up evenly and fry until it’s nice and brown. Remove the meat from the pot and drain most of the fat. Return the pot to the burner and sauté the chopped onion and garlic in the fat that’s left.
Add spices – when the onion and garlic are translucent and just starting to brown, add 1 tsp of paprika, 1 tsp of oregano and 1 tsp of chili powder. Stir until well combined.
Assemble soup – add the chopped vegetables and the parsley stems only. Then add 1.5 cups of canned diced tomatoes and the browned ground beef. Top everything with 4 cups of beef broth.
Simmer – give the beef vegetable soup a good stir and add sea salt and pepper to taste. Then bring it to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 45-60 minutes or until the vegetables have your desired consistency. I like mine crunchy, so I usually simmer the soup for 45 minutes only.
Serve – add 1/2 cup of cooked quinoa to the serving bowl and then top the quinoa with the soup. I don’t add the quinoa to the big pot directly because it becomes soggy over time. Mixing it in the serving bowl is much better. Again, this is completely optional. If you prefer to skip the quinoa and just eat the soup, serve it in a bowl, sprinkle some of the chopped parsley leaves on top and dive in!