A creamy soup is turned into a crock pot or instant pot cheesy meatball soup with just a few pantry staple ingredients like carrots, potatoes, garlic, and corn, then add the cheese!
This year we are making sure we are on top of slow cooker and instant pot meals in case you’re freezing and not feeling like slaving over a stove like we are.
I’m going to include instructions for cooking this meatball soup recipe on the stove top as well.
Ingredients for Creamy Meatball Soup
I love a good hearty soup full of veggies, meatballs and cheese! This easy soup recipe checks all the boxes. Here is what you will need…
- Meatballs: We just buy a package at the store to keep it easy, but you can make meatballs at home if you want.
- Butter: used to sauté the veggies
- Vegetables: garlic, carrots, celery, potatoes and corn
- Soup Base: beef broth, whole milk, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco
- Salt: adds flavor
- Cornstarch: thickens the soup
- Cheeses: sharp cheddar and Monterey Jack
The measurements for all the ingredients can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post. You can also save and print the recipe there.
How to Make Cheesy Meatball Soup – Slow Cooker
While you can totally just dump this all in a crock pot and wait 8 hours to build the right texture and flavor it’s not the way I do it.
I know, you don’t want to dirty another pan, but it’s quick and easy and the flavor will be worth it.
- Heat a dutch oven or large skillet over medium high heat and add the butter. Once it’s melted add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add the carrots, celery and garlic and cook for another 3 minutes.
- Throw in your frozen meatballs (unless you really want to go through the work of cooking homemade) just to get all of that flavor browning on them.
- Dump everything but the cornstarch and cheese into a slow cooker and put it on low for 6 hours or high for 3.
- Right before serving, combine the cheese and cornstarch in a separate bowl and then mix to combine.
- Add the cheese mixture to the soup and stir until the cheese is melted and the soup has thickened.
- Serve with a sprinkle of fresh parsley for garnish and a good hearty bread!
Watch How This Cheesy Meatball Soup is Made…
Our chili recipes are some of the most popular out there, so it was time to share our mega tasty Traeger smoked brisket chili! And we are sharing 5 different ways to make it – stove top, oven braised, smoker, slow cooker or Instant Pot.
The smoky flavor of the brisket with those bold chili flavors ands spices makes for an outrageously good bowl of chili. I love to top my bowl with shredded cheddar cheese and some sour cream.
I mean, where do I even start? This smoked brisket chili recipe has been living in my brain for probably the past 5-6 years and it has taken me all this time to get it down on “paper”. How weird that we rarely use paper anymore. Remember all those calendars on walls and sticky notes of reminders?
5 Different Ways
Anyway, I always have leftover brisket, those things are huge and my children are small. Therefore, brisket chili. And you don’t need a ton for this recipe…just 1.5 lbs.
I want to help you out so there will be five different versions explained. Please don’t get bugged! I will get questions about making it different ways so I’m just trying to anticipate that and help. The five different ways are stove top, oven braised, smoked, slow cooker and Instant Pot. Then there will be instructions for both uncooked brisket and leftover brisket for each method. Make sense? Sheesh, I hope so! Here we go…
First, I will start by explaining how to brown uncooked brisket if you’re going to go that route…
How to Brown Brisket for Chili
- Cube the pieces of raw brisket meat – Trim any hard fat as that will not melt away in the cooking process. Remember, the size of the meat is what you’ll be eating so we want no bigger than 2″ pieces (these will break down so you can smash them a bit, creating smaller pieces once cooked).
- Season the brisket with salt and pepper.
- Heat oil in the bottom of a cast iron dutch oven or large pot until shimmering. Cook the brisket in batches, never at once or it will end up cooking in liquid, aka boiled meat. Remove to a plate and proceed with the recipe of your choice, oven braised, smoked, or stove top.
Using Leftover Brisket for Chili
If you have leftover brisket either from our smoked brisket recipe or our slow cooker brisket, your steps will be fewer…
- Because your meat is already prepared, start by cooking the veggies and seasonings first.
- Add cubed
Beef barley soup is a hearty and comforting soup full of tender beef, pearl barley, wild rice, mushrooms and savory umami flavor.
I didn’t even know that beef barley soup was a thing. I guess whenever I heard someone mention a barley soup I just went into a mindless state because barley didn’t sound delicious. But it’s the best soup I’ve had in years and that says a lot considering how much my family loves soup. Have you tried “The Soup“? Or maybe our roasted tomato basil soup? We love soups!
If you search for beef and barley soup recipes, you’ll find a lot of the same style of soup — carrots, celery, beef, barley, etc. We have changed things up for this. This is a little different, and more scrumptious imho, than anything you’ll find out there.
Why is This the Best Beef Barley Soup?
My friend and I decided that there are a few small things that are musts in a beef barley soup…
- No carrots or celery. This isn’t stew and we don’t want it to look, smell or taste like stew. That’s a different recipe!
- Use wild rice along with the barley. It adds a toothy, flavorful oomph that you will miss if you skip it. You can add as much or as little as you’d like.
- WHOLE ROAST slowly cooked. We aren’t cutting this baby up, though if you were short on time you could certainly use stew meat and half the baking time. But a whole roast slowly cooked will bring out far more flavor and tenderness in the meat.
Ingredients for Beef Barley Soup
At first glance, this list may look long, but don’t worry! Most ingredients are pantry ingredients and everything combined creates a depth of flavor that is heavenly. Here is what you will need…
- Chuck Roast: you will cook this whole like you would a pot roast
- Olive Oil: helps brown the roast
- Salt and Pepper: adds flavor
- Red Wine Vinegar: helps deglaze the pan and adds acidity
- Water: helps deglaze
- Red Onion: adds flavor and caramelization
- Baby Bella Mushrooms: adds earthy flavor and chewiness
- Pearl Barley: you can find this right by the rice at the grocery store
- Wild Rice: adds an extra layer of flavor and different texture to the soup
- Au Jus Packet: adds bold savory flavor
- Onion Powder: adds flavor
- Garlic Powder: adds flavor
- Oregano: you can also use Italian seasoning if you don’t have oregano
- Balsamic Vinegar: adds a slight sweetness and more acidity
- Worcestershire: our favorite brand is Lea & Perrins
- Beef Broth: helps cook