Perfect Soup with Beef Soup Bones

With the cold winter days upon us, it is the perfect time for soup! 

At Hillacres, we sell three types of beef bones; marrow, knuckle, and soup. While all three are great for making broth, soup bones are elite in my opinion as the name suggests. This is because they have a good amount of meat on them, which is a great addition to your soup. 

Beef bone vegetable soup is a perfect opportunity to clean out your veggie drawer. You can also get creative by adding any spices, herbs, grains, or other ingredients that your heart desires! For example a soup with carrots, onions, celery, and barely is quite traditional. But, you could switch things up by making a soup with onions, peppers, corn, and rice. Truly any combination of vegetables pairs well together when cooked low and slow in homemade beef broth.

I also love adding flavor boosters such as soy sauce, Worcestershire, or fish sauce. You can also make the broth ahead of time and save it for a snowy day.

Ingredients

• 2-3 Hillacres Pride Beef Soup Bones
• 1 ½ Quarts of Water 
• Your choice of chopped vegetables such as:
  • Carrots
  • Onions
  • Potatoes
  • Celery
  • Parsnips 
  • Squash
  • Leeks
  • Peppers
  • Peas
  • Corn
  • Green beans 
  • Garlic
• 2-3 tomatoes, skinned, seeded, and diced OR 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes 
• Salt and Pepper to taste  
• Optionally
  • Dash of flavoring such as A1, Worcestershire, Soy Sauce, Fish Sauce, etc
  • Fresh or dried herbs such as parsley, oregano, bay leaves, etc
  • Cooked grains such as rice or barley 

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350. 
2. Wash your soup bones and place on a baking sheet, bake for about an hour, just to brown them, and cook any meat.
3. Once cooked, add the bones and any meat to a crock pot with a 1-1/2 quarts of water and cook for 2-3 hours on medium. 
4. Strain cooked broth and remove any meat that has not fallen off of the bones.
5. Return the broth and meat to the crockpot and add your veggies and tomatoes.
6. Cook for 4-7 hours on low depending on your vegetables, they should be tender.
7. Add salt, pepper, and any other flavorings to taste, as well as cooked grains if you desire.
8. Serve and enjoy!

The best part about this soup is that you can easily make a big batch and freeze it for future use! I like to freeze soup in either pint or quart size containers. It’s important to let the soup cool to room temperature before popping the containers into the freezer. I would also recommend slightly under filling the containers so that the soup can expand while in the freezer. Whether you freeze your soup or eat it right away, enjoy it and stay warm!