Ingredients Makes 10 servings
| Vegetable oil | ||
| 11⁄2 lbs | lean ground beef | 750 g |
| 1 | medium onion, finely chopped | 1 |
| 4 | carrots, chopped | 4 |
| 3 | celery stalks, chopped | 3 |
| 1 | bay leaf | 1 |
| 1⁄2 cup | pearl or pot barley | 125 mL |
| 1 tbsp | sugar | 15 mL |
| 1 tbsp | cornstarch | 15 mL |
| Salt and black pepper to taste | ||
| 1 | can (28 oz/796 mL) whole tomatoes, with juice | 1 |
| 31⁄2 cups | ready-to-use beef broth | 875 mL |
| 2 cups | water | 500 mL |
| 11⁄2 cups | tomato sauce | 375 mL |
| 2 tbsp | soy sauce | 30 mL |
Instructions
- In a large skillet, heat a drizzle of oil over medium-high heat. Add beef and cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until starting to brown.
- Add onion and cook, stirring, until beef is browned and onion is softened. Scrape into a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker.
- Stir in carrots, celery, bay leaf, barley, sugar, cornstarch, salt, pepper, tomatoes, stock, water, tomato sauce and soy sauce. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. Discard bay leaf.
Hamburger soup freezes like a dream! If you’re serving a family of 4 or 5, let half the soup cool after cooking and ladle it into a freezer bag. Pull it out of the freezer and pop it in the fridge in the morning, and it will be thawed in time for dinner. Pour into a soup pot and reheat.
If you insist on doing it the old-fashioned way, omit the sugar, cornstarch, beef stock, tomato sauce and soy sauce, and replace them with three 10-oz (284 mL) cans of beef consommé and one 10-oz (284 mL) can of tomato soup.
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