Beefy Dumpling Soup
The Ultimate In Comfort Soups
Beefy Dumpling Soup is a winter classic. Savory beef, slow cooked in a tomato broth with beans and veggies makes for a hearty and delicious feast.
I have a proven record of making delicious dumpling recipes and this dish is one of the most comforting.
The added dumplings add a wonderful texture to this soup, though pasta can also be substituted. This soup is great as leftovers and can be frozen.
This is a perfect soup to make a big batch of and freeze for days you do not feel like cooking. It thaws and reheats beautifully.
Clarifying Informatiom
There is a full recipe card at the end of this post. If you hit the print button under the picture of the recipe, you will see the recipe pop up as one page that you can print or screen shot.
Prior to seeing the recipe card, you will see a few paragraphs that offer some clarification on products and ingredients some may have questions about.
The Dumplings
I have also used Chateau Brand Mini Potato Dumplings that I get from my local Jewel-Osco grocery store in Chicago for this recipe. I recently learned that they have gone out of business but I still see the dumplings in the frozen food aisle.
Not to worry, there are many other products you can use for this soup.
Flat Dumplings
I have used these Reame’s Brand Flat Dumplings for this soup. These are also in the frozen food section and work just fine for this soup, though I prefer to use a puffier version of dumplings.
At times I have used fresh or frozen gnocchi to make this soup and it is delicious. I have also used canned biscuit dough and add it to the simmering broth.
I use the biscuit dough for my Beef and Dumplings dish, which is more like a beef stew.
Cheesy Rinds
This may be a new ingredient to some. Believe it or not, many stores sell a container of these in the gourmet cheese section.
They save them after shredding the cheese. If you cannot find these rinds, start buying Parmesan cheese wedges and when you use them up, put them in a Ziploc bag in your fridge.
They will last a very long time and add great flavor to any soup or stew. I also sometimes add them to my Sunday Sauce recipe.
It IS Better
One of the products I am most fond of for making soups is this Better Than Bouillon brand. I am not sponsored by them, although I wish I was.
It is just a quality product for lots of soups, stews, and sauces. For this recipe I like to use the Roasted Beef Base.
It adds great flavor to this soup.
They also sell a great lobster base that I use for my Poor Man’s Lobster Pasta.
Meet Chuck
The beef in this recipe is a Chuck Roast. It is the same cut of beef I use for my Slow Cooker Pot Roast.
This beef is seared off in a skillet with lots of seasonings and herbs. It adds great flavor to the broth.
The beef SHOULD fall apart in this soup. There are plenty of times I have to remove the beef from the soup and let it rest before it falls apart, so do not worry if you have to do this step.
You then add the meat back to the soup to finish it off.
Beefy Dumpling Soup Recipe
This Beefy Dumpling Soup is a meal that warms the body and the soul. It has so much flavor and texture.
Ingredients
- 3 lb beef chuck roast
- 1 tablespoon of cooking oil of your choice + one tablespoon for searing
- 4 tablespoons of butter
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of garlic salt
- 1 tablespoon of onion powder
- Black pepper
- 1 tablespoon of dried parsley
- 1/2 tablespoon of oregano
- 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes (you can also use the seasoned diced tomatoes)
- 2 to 3 heaping tablespoons of Better Than Bouillon Beef flavor
- 1 can of peas and carrots
- 1 can of sweet corn
- 1 can of Cannellini beans
- 2 cups of diced, yellow onions
- 1 cup of diced carrots
- 2 cups of diced celery
- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
- 4 to 6 Parmesan cheese rinds (see post for more info)
- 12 cups of water
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme *optional
- 1 bag of frozen dumplings, or gnocchi, or 1 can refrigerated biscuit dough *see paragraph in the post for more information and product options
- Parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- You may need to cut your chuck roast into 2 or 3 pieces depending how it fits in your soup pot. Rub the chuck roast all over with the soy sauce and then the cooking oil you decided to use. Season well on all sides with the garlic salt, onion powder, oregano, dried parsley, black pepper and oregano.
- Let your roast rest on the counter for about 30 minutes.
- While the roast rests on the counter, add your butter to a large soup pot and add your onions, carrots and celery. Sauté this until the vegetables are soft and golden brown.
- Add the Better Than Bouillon and the tomato paste and sauté with the vegetables until the vegetables are all coated.
- In a skillet, add the remaining cooking oil, and you will add the roast and sear for 8 to 10 minutes on each side until there is a nice crust on all sides of the roast. Depending on your pan and your stove this will vary in the time it takes.
- When the meat is all seared, add the meat to the soup pot with the vegetables. Then add the can of tomatoes with the juices as well as the 12 cups of water. Bring this to a simmer, put the lid on with space for steam, and let this simmer for two hours on low. Stir occasionally.
- At the two hour mark, carefully remove the beef from the pot, add it to a bowl and you will want to use a fork to shred the beef. The beef may fall apart in the pot as it cooked so you may be able to skip this step.
- Add the meat back to the pot, then add your beans (rinse the beans), the peas and carrots and the corn. Also add the sprigs of thyme and simmer one more hour.
- After the hour, you can add your frozen dumplings, and simmer for 30 minutes until the dumplings are cooked. If you are using canned biscuits, cut the biscuits into one inch pieces and simmer in the soup 30 minutes. If using pasta, boil the pasta separately and add the pasta to the bowls before serving the soup. If you add the pasta right to the soup it will absorb too much broth.
- Fish out the thyme stems and the parmesan rinds, serve the soup and top with fresh parmesan.
*If wanting to make this in a slow cooker, after the sauté and sear method, add all the ingredients to your slow cooker except for the dumplings and cook on low 8 to 10 hours adding the dumplings in the last hour.