One of my favorite soups is a rich, hearty bowl of vegetable beef soup loaded with tender chunks of beef and lot’s of vegetables. So what makes this soup any different from all the other recipes you’ll find out there? Instead of chunks of potatoes that you typically find in vegetable beef soup, this one is loaded with the most delectable, chewy little dumplings. They give this easy to make soup a lovely heartiness that will appeal to all you dumpling lovers out there. Their slightly chewy texture makes this soup utterly delightful and turns a run of the mill vegetable beef soup into something uniquely different.
Prep vegetables; slice carrots and celery, and dice onion.
Rinse beef under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Cut beef into 1 inch pieces, discard excess fat.
Season beef generously with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Heat 1 tbsp oil until hot in a large, heavy bottom pot over medium-high heat. Brown beef over medium high heat in 2 or 3 batches, until you have a deep char. Add more oil with each batch if needed.
Remove browned beef to a bowl. Set aside.
If the pot looks dry, add a touch more oil.
Reduce heat to medium and add onion. Cook until onions are soft and translucent, about 4-5 minutes, scraping up browned bits in the bottom of the pan as the onions cook.
Add sliced carrots and celery, cook for another 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Stir in flour, cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly to cook off the raw flour taste.
Slowly pour in beef broth while constantly stirring.
Add wine, water, tomato paste, bay leaves, beef bouillon, and thyme. Stir well.
Add the browned beef back into the pot, along with any accumulated juices.
Stir to combine and bring to soup to a simmer.
Cover pot, reduce heat to low so it’s bubbling gently. Simmer for 1 hr 15 min or until beef is tender, stirring occasionally.
Add frozen peas (no need to thaw them). Bring soup back up to a simmer and cook soup while you make the dumplings.
Make the dumplings:
Place 1 1/2 cups flour in a bowl. Form a well in the middle of the flour with your hand.
Add 2 eggs and 1/2 tsp salt into the well.
Start mixing eggs and flour together using your hands. Keep mixing until you have a stiff dough. Add more flour a tablespoon at a time until the dough won’t incorporate anymore flour, and dough is smooth and looks like the picture below.
Use your fingers to pull off 1/2 inch sized bits of the dough.
Drop the bits into the pot of simmering soup.
Simmer for about 5-7 minutes, uncovered, until the dumplings float to top. The time needed to cook the dumplings all the way through will depend on their size. The soup is ready when the dumplings float to the top and beef is very tender.
Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Be generous with the pepper.
Fish out bay leaves and discard them. Turn off heat and stir in freshly chopped parsley.
To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Sprinkle with additional freshly chopped parsley and serve with a crusty loaf of French bread or freshly baked biscuits slathered with butter.
I love, love, love the addition of these chewy little dumplings in this soup instead of potatoes! It gives the soup a lovely texture that compliments the tender chunks of beef and veggies. The dumplings add an unexpected element to this tasty soup that you are thoroughly going to enjoy with every bite!
Round out the meal with a crusty loaf of French Bread. Want to learn how to bake your own bread? It’s actually quite easy to do. Don’t believe me? Don’t think you can do it? I’m here to tell you that yes you can! Read about how to do it here. Don’t let the thought of using a yeast dough intimidate you. If I can do it, so can you! It’s the perfect accompaniment to this thick hearty soup! Slather a slice with butter and dip into the soup. NOM-NOM-NOM!
This easy to do method is perfect for beginners to bread baking and consistently produces delicious loaves of French bread your whole family will love. The crust has a great chew and the insides are fluffy and soft…perfection! Your first loaf of bread can be a beautiful loaf of bread just like the one pictured below.
If you didn’t plan far enough ahead to bake up a fresh loaf of bread, or the thought of baking bread is too much, no worries. I got you covered! You can easily have these made from scratch, fluffy, homemade Buttermilk Biscuits on the table in under 30 minutes. They’re the perfect dunkers for a steaming hot bowl of vegetable beef soup!
Vegetable Beef Dumpling Soup
Equipment
- large Dutch oven pot with lid
Ingredients
For the soup:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 lbs beef chuck roast, cut into ½ inch pieces
- salt, pepper, and garlic powder, to season beef
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
- 4 tbsp flour
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1 tsp beef bouillon
- 1½ cups dry red wine
- 4 cups water
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 4 oz can sliced mushrooms, drained
- salt and pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup freshly chopped parsley, for garnish
For the dumplings:
- 1½ cups flour, plus more for dusting
- 2 large eggs
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
Instructions
- Rinse beef under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels. Cut beef into 1 inch pieces and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil until hot in a large, heavy bottom pot over medium-high heat.
- Brown beef over medium high heat in 2 or 3 batches, until you have a deep char. Add more oil if needed. Remove browned beef to a bowl. Set aside.
- If the pot looks dry, add a touch more oil.
- Reduce heat to medium and add onion. Cook until soft and translucent, about 4-5 minutes, scraping up browned bits in the bottom of the pan.
- Add carrots and celery, cook for 2-4 minutes.
- Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Stir in flour, then slowly pour in beef broth while constantly stirring.
- Add wine, water, tomato paste, bay leaves, beef bouillon, and thyme. Stir well.
- Add the browned beef back into the pot, along with any accumulated juices.
- Cover pot, reduce heat to low so it’s bubbling gently.
- Simmer for 1 hr 15 min or until beef is tender.
- Add peas and continue to simmer soup while you make the dumplings.
- Place 1 1/2 cups flour in a bowl. Form a well in the middle of the flour with your hand.
- Add 2 eggs and 1/2 tsp salt into the well.
- Start mixing eggs and flour together using your hands.
- Keep mixing until you have a stiff dough add more flour a tablespoon at a time until the dough won’t incorporate anymore flour, and dough is smooth.
- Use your fingers to pull off 1/2 inch sized bits of the dough and drop the bits into the pot of simmering soup.
- Simmer for about 5-7 minutes, uncovered, until the dumplings float to top. Time to cook the dumplings through will depend on their size.
- The soup is ready when the dumplings float to the top and beef is very tender.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Be generous with the pepper.
- Fish out bay leaves and discard them.
- Turn off heat and stir in freshly chopped parsley.
- To serve, ladle soup into bowls. Sprinkle with additional freshly chopped parsley and serve with a crusty loaf of French bread or freshly baked biscuits.
Did You Make This?
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