Veggies, seitan chunks and barley are simmered up in herbed red wine-infused tomato broth to make this savory and satisfying vegan beef barley soup!
I thought I created a vegan version of beef stew when I made this the other day. I guess it’s been so long since I had beef stew (at least 22 years), that I forgot there was some specific formula to it. I thought any old stew would do. Sometimes I make these assumptions. Yeah, of course, everyone knows what that food is. Apparently not I.
It wasn’t until dinner time that my husband informed me I’d created something else. Apparently potatoes are normally found in beef stew, while barley and tomatoes are not. I didn’t tell him every detail of the recipe, but I’m guessing red wine is also a little out of place.
So what I actually made was more of a vegan beef barley soup. I’m okay with that, because it was awesome. My husband wasn’t complaining either. After letting me know I’d missed the mark on my original intention, he downed a big bowl of the stuff and asked how much leftovers we had for lunches. We actually had a lot leftover, in case you were wondering. This makes a big pot of stew, it’s totally lunch packable, and it gets better overnight, with the barley soaking up the broth as it sits.
In hindsight, the things about this dish that made it not beef stew were the very things that made it so good. Barley, tomatoes, a little wine, and let’s not forget, seitan. Maybe that’s why I never liked beef stew when I was a kid.
P.S. After initially publishing this I managed to figure out what beef stew was all about, and I even came up with a recipe for it!
Vegan Beef Barley Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1-8 oz. package of seitan, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1/2 cup dry red wine
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 1-14 oz. can diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup pearled barley
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp. black pepper
- salt to taste
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
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Heat oil in large saucepan or dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion, celery, carrots and garlic. Sauté 5 minutes.
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Add seitan and continue to sauté another 3 minutes.
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Add red wine and bring to a simmer. Lower heat to medium. Allow to simmer, stirring frequently, until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.
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Add broth, tomatoes (including any juice in the can) barley, bay leaves, thyme, pepper and salt. Bring to a simmer. Lower heat and allow to simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until barley is soft and plump, 40-50 minutes.
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Discard bay leaves and ladle into bowls. Top with parsley.
I LOVE soup for dinner, and this is one of the best soups I have ever made. And it is so easy to make! Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you so much for letting me know you enjoyed it. Glad to hear it!
Is there any way that I could sub the red wine? I don’t like red wine, so I wouldn’t have any use for the rest of the bottle lol. Would it make much of a different if I left it out?
You could just leave it out and skip that step entirely. It definitely adds some nice flavor, but I think the soup will still be good without it. Sometimes my liquor store carries half-sized bottles of wine, so maybe you could look for one of those – I never drink it either, just cook with it, so they always come in handy. :)
I buy the tiny bottles and keep them in the pantry
You can always pour the leftover wine into ice cube trays and freeze them for future recipes. Once they’re frozen, just pop them out and put them in a baggie and keep in the freezer. ;)
Great idea! Thank you!
What is saitin.I live in AUSTRALIA and have not heard of it here.
It’s a vegetarian meat substitute made from wheat gluten. You can read up on how to make it here if you’re interested: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/how-to-make-seitan/
This was delicious. I did carmalize the onions first to add a deeper flavor. Next time I will also add some mushrooms for more umami. I buy the little boxes of wine.
I’m glad you enjoyed it, and I LOVE the idea of caramelizing the onions!
I’m going to make this tonight for my vegan son, and I’m sure I will enjoy it too! It’s exactly what I was looking for.
I hope you both enjoy it!!
Is there an Instant Pot version?
I don’t currently have an Instant Pot, so unfortunately not! If I get one and have the chance to experiment with this recipe I’ll add the instructions. :)
I love this recipe! I was wondering what the suggested serving size is though?
Glad you like it!! It’s about 1 1/2 cups. :)
Is 1/2 cup right for the barley? Just made it and there is much less barley in the soup than pictured.
I’ve made this a bunch of times, so it should be correct. Maybe try letting it cook a little longer – barley expands quite a bit during cooking!
What kind of red wine do you usually suggest with this kind of thing? I love red wine, but I’ve never used it to cook with! Thanks!
Anything dry and full bodied should work – I usually buy a cabernet or chianti when I don’t know what to go with. I hope you enjoy it!
I have made this many times and it’s been delicious every time. I do sub out the wine for 2 TBS of tomato paste and the soup is still wonderful. My meat eating family devours it every time I make it so I rarely have leftovers for the next day.
I made seitan (successfully) for the first time today using your recipes. I had also (oddly enough) cooked a pot of purple barley just because it was hanging around in my pantry, taking up space. I decided to make this stew since I had all the ingredients. As it was cooking, I had some major doubts. I didn’t think it was going to come together but it did. I added a half cup of lentils for thickness and more protein and I didn’t use the seitan since I opted for the pork flavor broth. But I had a bag of store bought vegan meatballs that I threw in and they worked just fine. It was so good that I ate TWO bowlfuls and now I’m stuffed and I don’t want to finish my weekend chores. :) Thanks for the recipe. This was totally delicious.
I made the soup without the seitan and it was still delicious but I think 1 teaspoon of dried thyme is too much. I will definitely half the quantity next time. I also used a vegan beef stock instead of vegetable stock.