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Make Ahead Beef and Barley Stew

Soups and stews are always a popular dinner choice in our house. That’s because they’re quick and easy to prepare and to cook. With the help of this make ahead beef and barley stew, you can prepare and freeze a full meal for your family with just a few minutes of prep work. And when you’re ready to serve your stew, just thaw the ingredients and dump them in the slow cooker to get dinner started in a flash!plastic bag with stew ingredients, stew in slow cooker and in a bowlI find that soups and stews are comforting, especially in the winter. Some of our favourites are Corn Chowder, Chicken Paprikash Stew, Hamburger Soup, and Rustic Beef Stew

Beef and Barley Stew Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 pounds round steak, cubed
  • 4 carrots, peeled and sliced
  • 1 onion
  • 1 green pepper, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, quartered
  • 3/4 cup pearl barley
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon thyme
  • ½ teaspoon basil
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 cups beef broth

Freezing instructions:

  1. Place all the ingredients in a large resealable freezer bag.
  2. Remove excess air from the bag, then seal and place in the freezer.

bag filled with liquid and stew ingredients

Serving instructions:

  1. Transfer the stew ingredients to the refrigerator to thaw.
  2. Pour the ingredients into the bowl of a slow cooker and cook on low for 5 to 7 hours.
  3. To cook on the stovetop, pour the ingredients into a large stockpot or Dutch oven and cook over medium heat for one hour. If the soup begins to boil, reduce the heat to low to simmer until the cook time is up.

collage of the process of making beef barley stew from freezer to slow cooker to bowl

Can I Make Beef Stew and Freeze It?

While precooking your meals and freezing them is a great way to speed up the cooking process of many make ahead meals, precooking beef stew before freezing it isn’t a good idea. But that doesn’t mean you can’t prepare make ahead beef stew!

In fact, the prep work for putting together freezer-friendly stew is quick and easy. That’s because you don’t need to cook any of the stew ingredients before freezing them. Simply chop the meat and veggies into bite-sized pieces and transfer everything to a freezer bag.

Store the bag flat in the freezer until you’re ready to heat up your beef stew. After that, all you have to do is allow the ingredients to thaw, then heat them in up in the slow cooker or on the stovetop.

white bowl with chunks of beef and carrots and bits of barley visible

Do I Need to Cook Pearl Barley Before Adding it to Stew?

Using barley in your stew recipe is a great way to create a thick and hearty stew. But whether or not to cook the barley before mixing it with other soup ingredients is a question many cooks have as they’re preparing classic beef and barley stew.

The answer to this question really depends on preference. If you enjoy a thick stew, add the barley at the beginning of the cook time. Using this method, there’s no need to precook the barley before mixing it into the soup. The barley will cook along with the rest of the ingredients, causing the broth in the soup to thicken as the barley cooks.

But if you would rather not have the barley thicken your stew, you can prepare the barley separate from the rest of the stew ingredients. Just boil the barley separately in a pot of water for 20 to 30 minutes. After that, rinse the barley and add it to the stew just before you’re ready to serve it.

beef, barley, carrots, liquid in slow cooker

Beef and Barley Stew
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
1 hr
 
Course: Main Course
Keyword: beef
Servings: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 lbs. round steak cubed
  • 4 carrots peeled and sliced
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1 green pepper diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/2 lb. fresh mushrooms quartered
  • 3/4 cup pearl barley
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. thyme
  • ½ tsp. basil
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 4 cups beef broth
Instructions
Assembly Instructions:
  1. Place all the ingredients in a large resealable freezer bag.
  2. Remove excess air from the bag, seal and freeze.

Slow Cooker Instructions:
  1. Thaw.

  2. Pour the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on low for 5 to 7 hours.

Stovetop Cooking Instructions:
  1. Thaw.

  2. To cook on the stovetop, pour the ingredients into a large stockpot or Dutch oven and cook over medium heat for one hour. If the soup begins to boil, reduce the heat to low to simmer until the cook time is up.