If you love a thick, flavorful, hearty soup, this one’s for you!!! And serving a main course soup for dinner is so healthy and satisfying. Any leftovers freeze great. I’ve included directions for cooking this easy, one-dish meal either on the stovetop or crockpot. Each serving (1½ cups) has only 172 calories and 2 grams of fat. Serve with a side salad and you are all set for dinner!
Ingredients
- 1 pound package lean ground beef (96%), see shopping tips
- 2 (32-oz) containers Swanson’s reduced-sodium beef broth or your favorite broth
- 1 (14.5 oz) can Swanson’s reduced-sodium beef broth
- 1 (14.5 oz) can tomatoes, diced
- ¾ cup dried pearl barley, see shopping tips
- 1½ cups carrots, sliced
- 1½ cups celery, sliced
- 1½ cups onions, chopped
- 1½ cups zucchini, chopped
- 2 teaspoons fresh garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried sage
- Fresh ground pepper, to taste
- 3 cups fresh spinach leaves
Instructions
Instructions for Stove-Top:
- In a large nonstick pot or pan, brown ground beef. Pour into a colander in sink and drain fat. Add beef back to pot. Pour in all the beef broth, tomatoes, and barley. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer, cover pot, and cook for 15 minutes.
- Add the carrots, celery, onions, zucchini, and garlic to the broth. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, thyme, sage, and fresh ground pepper. Cook uncovered 50 minutes.
- Stir in spinach leaves and cook 2 minutes more. Remove the bay leaf.
Instructions for Crock-Pot:
- Note: You’ll need a large (6 quart) crock-pot. If you don’t have one this large, you can use a smaller crock-pot and cut the recipe in half.
- In a large nonstick pot or pan, brown ground beef. Pour into a colander in sink and drain fat.
- Place beef and all ingredients in the crock-pot, except spinach. Mix together well.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH heat for 3½ hours until veggies and barley are soft. Stir in spinach, cover, and cook on high for 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf.
- This soup freezes great.
Notes
Makes 12 cups total: 8 main course servings (1½ cups each)
Healthy Benefits
Pearled barley is high in cholesterol-lowering fiber and very low in fat. A single serving offers 11% of the RDA of iron and has a fair amount of folate and niacin.
Shopping Tips
Trader Joe’s extra lean ground beef is a terrific, healthy choice. It has 130 calories and 4 grams of fat for 4 ounces. If you can’t find beef this lean, look for the leanest kind you can find. The fat will cut down more since you drain the fat in a colander after browning. You can find dried pearl barley in the supermarket aisle with the dried beans.
Looking to buy a crock-pot? Here’s one of my favorites:
Crock-Pot SCCPVL610-S 6-Quart Programmable Cook and Carry Oval Slow Cooker, Digital Timer, Stainless Steel WW Freestyle SmartPoints 3-Blue
WW SmartPoints 3-Green
WW POINTS PLUS 4
Pearled barley is high in cholesterol-lowering fiber and very low in fat. A single serving offers 11% of the RDA of iron and has a fair amount of folate and niacin.
Shopping Tips
Trader Joe’s extra lean ground beef is a terrific, healthy choice. It has 130 calories and 4 grams of fat for 4 ounces. If you can’t find beef this lean, look for the leanest kind you can find. The fat will cut down more since you drain the fat in a colander after browning. You can find dried pearl barley in the supermarket aisle with the dried beans.
Looking to buy a crock-pot? Here’s one of my favorites:
Crock-Pot SCCPVL610-S 6-Quart Programmable Cook and Carry Oval Slow Cooker, Digital Timer, Stainless Steel WW Freestyle SmartPoints 3-Blue
WW SmartPoints 3-Green
WW POINTS PLUS 4
| SKINNY FACTS: for 1½ cups serving 172 calories, 2g fat, 1g sat. fat, 25mg chol, 17g protein, 21g carbs, 4g fiber, 704mg sodium, 4g sugar |
| FACTS: for SmartPoints 142 calories, 1g sat. fat, 2g sugar, 16g protein |
Skinny Facts
Serving: 1.5cupsCalories: 172kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 17gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 25mgSodium: 704mgFiber: 4gSugar: 4gBlue Smart Points: 3Green Smart Points: 3Plus Points: 4
Would love to make this, I see beef broth is listed twice, do you use 46.5 oz in total?
Actually, you’ll use 2 (32-oz) containers Swanson’s reduced-sodium beef broth plus
1 (14.5 oz) can Swanson’s reduced-sodium beef broth. So you’ll use 78.5 ounces in total.
Enjoy your hearty soup meal, Megan!
My best,
Nancy