Beef Noodle Soup

This cozy Beef Noodle Soup recipe is stove top and slow cooker friendly. It has hearty bites of seasoned beef, vegetables, a savory broth, and delicious egg noodles. The seasonings in this soup are perfect and leftovers make a great freezer meal!

Beef Noodle Soup
I can’t think of anything more cozy than a nice warm bowl of this Beef Noodle Soup. The techniques used in this recipe ensure the most flavorful and tender beef, rich and savory broth, and endless vegetable combination options.

You can use a variety of different cuts of beef, and it’s definitely a good candidate for the slow cooker as well as the stove top.

Be sure to check out all of my PRO tips and information below, this soup is a labor of love, but very much worth it- you’ll know it once you taste it!

How to Make It
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions. See notes section of the recipe card for the Crock Pot Method.

Heat olive oil and sauté the mushrooms in batches until golden on each side. Set aside.

Season and sear the meat on each side until just browned on the outside, leave the middle red and cold. Transfer to a plate.

Deglaze the skillet with wine and cook until reduced by half. Add the butter, onions, carrots, and celery and soften for 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, and soup seasonings. Add the beef and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the meat and simmer for 1 hour.

Add the peas while you cook the noodles separately. (See section below as to why that’s done separately.) Add the mushrooms back to the soup. To serve, add the cooked noodles to serving bowls and ladle the soup on top. (If you don’t anticipate leftovers, you can add the cooked noodles to the pot of soup.)

Cooking the Noodles Separately
Although it’s convenient to cook the noodles right in the soup, there are 3 reasons why I recommend boiling them separately and adding them directly to serving bowls:

Boiling the soup to cook the noodles will cause the meat to become tough and chewy instead of tender. Alternatively, cooking the noodles slowly in the soup can make them gummy.
Noodles absorb a lot of broth during storage, (and while they cook), so it’s best to store the soup and the noodles separately. To serve, add the noodles directly to serving bowls and ladle the soup on top.
Cooking the noodles in the soup also makes the broth starchier.
I use Riesa Wavy Egg Noodles for this recipe.

Feel free to butter the noodles when they’re done cooking to prevent them from sticking together. You can then refrigerate leftover noodles in an airtight container.
*If you’ve reviewed the info above and still prefer to cook the noodles in the soup, feel free to do so. You may want to use an extra cup of broth to account for what will be absorbed during cooking.

Best Cuts of Meat to Use

Sirloin and Tenderloin Roasts are pricier but more tender, which requires less cooking time to render down than tougher cuts of meat. (Ideal for stove top cooking.)
Chuck Roast, Rump Roast, and Bottom Rounds are more economical cuts that render down nicely if cooked using the slow cooker method. The best option is Chuck, then Rump, then Bottom Round.
You may also have the option to buy packaged stew meat that’s already cubed. While this also will work, I prefer to purchase it whole so that I can choose the cut I want. Stew meat isn’t always clearly labeled as to what cut it’s from. (But it’s almost always a tougher cut that requires slow cooking.)

PRO TIPS
Wine: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir are the best wines to use for deglazing the skillet in this recipe. An equal amount of beef broth + 2 tbsp red wine vinegar can be used if you don’t cook with wine.
Broth: A little chicken broth is used in this recipe along with the beef broth as the contrast adds a nice depth of flavor. All beef broth may be used if preferred.
Mushrooms: I use white button mushrooms that are already sliced/washed as it’s a nice time saver. Cooking the mushrooms first and adding them to the soup at the end is the best way to preserve their color, flavor, and texture. If they’re cooked in the soup, they can become waterlogged and rubbery. This ingredient can be skipped for non-mushroom lovers, there are still plenty of other vegetables to make this complete.
Tenderizing the Meat: If you purchased your meat whole (as opposed to cubed stew meat), I recommend covering it with plastic wrap and tenderizing each side with a meat mallet for extra tender results!
Cooking the Meat: The beef is seasoned and sauteed to create a textured outer crust. This also adds “fond” (flavor) to the pan, which is deglazed with wine to make the soup more flavorful. The beef is then cooked low and slow which ensures it’s nice and tender.

Storage
Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
This soup freezes well, and freezes best without the noodles. If freezing with noodles, be sure to set a timer to avoid overcooking them so that they aren’t mushy when reheated.

Tools For This Recipe

(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.

Meat Tenderizer– I cut the meat myself instead of purchasing cubed stew meat. This allows me to choose the cut, and to tenderize each side before cubing for more tender results.
Chef Knife– I have this one, it works well for cutting meat.
Kitchen Tongs– Easy to handle/flip the meat while browning.
Slow Cooker– This one has a browning/sauté function so that you can sear the meat right in the pot before slow cooking. (It also functions as an Instant Pot.)
Better Than Bouillon– I use this for my recipes as it’s easy to measure out customized amounts of broth and takes up very little storage space in the fridge. One jar lasts a long time!

Beef Noodle Soup
prep time: 15 MINUTEScook time: 1 HOUR 20 MINUTEStotal time: 1 HOUR 35 MINUTES
5 from 13 ratings
SERVINGS: 8 PEOPLE tap or hover to scale
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This Beef Noodle Soup is easy to make on the stove top or in the slow cooker! It has hearty bites of seasoned beef, vegetables, a savory broth, and delicious egg noodles.

Ingredients
Soup
12 oz. mushrooms, sliced/rinsed/dried
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2 lbs. stew meat, see blog post for best cuts to use
¼ cup flour
½ cup dry red wine, see notes
3 Tbsp butter
1 yellow onion, diced
¾ cup carrots, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
3 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
7 cups beef broth
1 cup chicken broth, or more beef broth, see notes
¾ cup Frozen peas
2 cups egg noodles, uncooked. (About 4 oz.)
Parsley, to garnish
Meat Seasoning
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon garlic salt
½ teaspoon celery salt
½ teaspoon onion powder
Soup Seasoning
1 teaspoon mustard powder
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried rosemary

Instructions

Note: See notes section below for Slow Cooker instructions
Combine each set of seasonings and measure out remaining ingredients before beginning.
Sauté the Mushrooms
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat and add the mushrooms. Sauté on each side for 3-4 minutes. Add a splash more of olive oil during cooking if needed and sprinkle with a little salt halfway through if desired. Set aside once cooked.
Prepare the Beef
Cut meat into 1-inch cubes, discard any large pieces of fat. Fat marbleized into the meat is fine. Sprinkle with meat seasonings. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with flour and toss again.
Heat 1-2 Tablespoons olive oil in the same pot over medium-high heat. Add the beef in batches, don’t overcrowd the pan. Brown on each side for 45 seconds. Add more oil as needed. Transfer to a plate. The middle should still be red/cold.
Make the Soup
Add the wine to the soup pot and set heat to medium. Use a silicone spatula to “clean” the bottom and sides of the pan. Let it reduce by half, 4-5 minutes.
Add the butter, onions, carrots, and celery and soften for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and soup seasonings and cook for 2 minutes. Add the beef broth, chicken broth, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Add the seared beef along with any juices from the plate. Cover partially and let it bubble very gently over medium heat for 1 hour. This will cook the meat slowly, keeping it tender. It will also concentrate the broth. Stir it occasionally as it cooks and decrease heat if it starts to boil.
Add the frozen peas while you boil the egg noodles in a separate pot of salted water according to package instructions. (See section in blog post above as to why I do this separately instead of in the soup.) Drain once cooked.
Add the cooked mushrooms and discard the bay leaf.
Add the cooked noodles to serving bowls and ladle the soup on top. Garnish with parsley and serve!

Notes
Pro Tips
Wine: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir are the best wines to use for deglazing the skillet in this recipe. An equal amount of beef broth + 2 tbsp red wine vinegar can be used if you don’t cook with wine. (I’ve also used dry white wine.)
Broth: A little chicken broth is used in this recipe along with the beef broth as the contrast adds a nice depth of flavor. All beef broth may be used if preferred.
Mushrooms: I use white button mushrooms that are already sliced/washed as it’s a nice time saver. Cooking the mushrooms first and adding them to the soup at the end is the best way to preserve their color, flavor, and texture. If they’re cooked in the soup, they can become waterlogged and rubbery. This ingredient can be skipped for non-mushroom lovers, but mushrooms add umami!
Tenderizing the Meat: If you purchased your meat whole (as opposed to cubed stew meat), I recommend tenderizing each side with a meat mallet for extra tender results!
Storage
Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
This soup freezes well, and freezes best without the noodles. If freezing with noodles, be sure to set a timer to avoid overcooking them so that they aren’t mushy when reheated.
Slow Cooker Instructions
Complete the steps in the “prepare the beef” section. (Some crock pots have browning/searing functions that allow you to do this right in the crock pot!)
Deglaze the pot with wine and soften the onions, carrots, and celery as outlined above. Transfer to the slow cooker if not already in one. Add the garlic, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaf, soup seasonings, broth, and seared beef, along with any juices from the plate. (These steps can be day 1 day ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator overnight.)
Cook on low for 7 ½ to 8 hours or high for 3½ to 4 hours.
Add the peas and cover while you sauté the mushrooms and boil the noodles.
Add the cooked mushrooms to the soup and add the cooked noodles to serving bowls. Ladle the soup on top and serve!
The nutritional information provided is an estimate and is per serving. There are 8 servings in this recipe.

Nutrition
Calories: 317kcal, Carbohydrates: 20g, Protein: 32g, Fat: 11g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 5g, Trans Fat: 0.01g, Cholesterol: 82mg, Sodium: 1432mg, Potassium: 781mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 2132IU, Vitamin C: 9mg, Calcium: 60mg, Iron: 4mg