This is a recipe for a Pearl Barley Soup filled with lots of vegetables that’s clean, nutritious and (yet!) oh-so-tasty. The chewy, nutty barley makes it so much more interesting than using just pasta or rice.
It’s also great base recipe to make your own soup. Follow my cooking method and broth flavourings, then mix and match your vegetables to suit your cravings – or fridge contents!
Pearl Barley Soup
How many times have you walked past a packet of pearl barley at the grocery store and not given it a thought? Next time, pick up a packet! Pearl barley is cheap, easy to cook and makes for a much more flavoursome addition into soups and salads rather than the usual rice or pasta.
So today, a Barley Soup! Simple to make, clean-flavoured and filled with nourishing veggies, the little trick that elevates the taste here is sautéing a small amount of herbs and spices for the soup. It really makes the flavour bloom. You will be surprised!
Pearl barley is a nutty, chewy whole grain that’s much tastier and nutritious than boring old pasta or rice!
Ingredients in Barley Soup
Here’s what goes in this Barley Soup:
1. Barley and broth flavourings
Pearl barley – Tasty whole grains have a nutty flavour and chewy texture that heightens the eating experience of this otherwise simple soup. Find it in the soup or grain aisle at the grocery store, alongside dried beans usually.
Not to be confused with HULLED barley which is tougher and takes longer to cook. Hulled barley has only had the outer hull removed. Pearl barley has had the hull as well as some of the bran removed, resulting in a grain which is paler, cooks faster, and is less chewy. Pearl barley is what we are using today.
Vegetable stock/broth – Homemade is so simple to make, it’s really worth making your own! Otherwise, store-bought is still decent and fine to use.
Bay leaves and thyme – The herbs. Fresh will bring better flavour to the soup but dried works too.
Ground coriander and fennel seeds – We’re just using 1/4 teaspoon of each here which isn’t much, but it’s enough to add a little something-something to the flavour of the broth that makes people wonder why is this so tasty?! As mentioned above, sautéing the herbs and spices is the trick here which brings out the flavour. 🙂
2. The Veggies
Oops, onion is missing! If I had better Photoshop skills, I’d draw one in. 😂
Onion – Putting this first because it’s missing from the photo! Just your usual everyday brown or white onion.
Garlic – Because rarely do any savoury recipes happen around here without garlic.
Veggie add-ins – I’ve used carrots, celery, mushrooms and swedes here (rutabaga in the US). But if you’re looking to make it your own, you can use any vegetables that can sustain a 35 minute simmering time. For faster-cooking vegetables (like asparagus), sauté them first, remove, then add them back in towards the end of the cook time.
For instantly wilt-able greens like baby spinach, just throw them in at the end.
Swedes? Just in case you aren’t familiar with swedes, they’re a bit like turnips and when cooked are sweet, soft and have an earthy, carrot-y and pumpkin-like flavour. Called rutabaga in the US, they are easy to peel with a standard vegetable peeler. They bring something a little different to the soup. Best substitutes for similar texture would be turnips, parsnips, celeriac or potatoes.
Parsley – A good handful to stir in at the end for a nice hit of freshness (colour and flavour).
How to make Barley Soup
This is super simple to make:
Sauté vegetables – Heat the oil then sauté all the vegetables for 5 minutes to soften. Just put them all in at the same time – onion, garlic, carrots, celery, mushrooms and swede. They won’t go golden, we just want to cook them to get some nice garlicky flavour and a little colour on the outside before we simmer.
Sauté herbs and spices – Add the thyme, bay leaves, coriander, fennel, salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute. Cooking them like this rather than throwing them into the broth adds more flavour into the soup because toasting the spices blooms the flavour!
This is a neat flavour trick you can adapt for many recipes. I do it quite regularly in recipes, from chickpea Chana Aloo Curry to the Almost-Zero-Weight-Watchers-Points Cabbage Soup (which needs every flavour helping hand it can get!).
Barley – Rinse the barley in a colander just under tap water, then leave it for a few minutes to drain before using. Then add barley and vegetables stock into the pot, then give it a good stir
Simmer 35 minutes on medium heat or until the pearl barley is cooked through. Pearl barley does not soften completely like overcooked pasta. It retains a bit of a chew to it which is what makes it so good! You will know straight away with one taste if it’s cooked through because raw pearl barley is hard like raw rice.
Stir in parsley just before serving.
Serve! Hopefully with crusty bread. 😇 (Slathered generously with butter!)
Storing leftover Pearl Barley Soup
As with all soups with starches such as rice or pasta, the barley will continue to absorb the stock when left overnight. It will become softer than ideal and thicken the soup considerably, not to mention the loss of all the soup broth!!
So to store leftovers, it is best to separate the broth. I use a strainer, though you could just use a slotted spoon to scoop out all the solids. We don’t need to be 100% meticulous here!
I just arrived at the end of the post, prepared to write about what to serve with Barley Soup like I do for most other dishes. But there’s no need! This is a lovely complete meal in one big pot. It’s full of nutritious veggies with enough tasty starch to give you energy and keep you full.
And I just realised, not only is this vegetarian, it’s vegan too. Yay vegans! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Pearl Barley Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion , finely diced
- 2 small or 1 large carrot (~200g/7oz), peeled, chopped into 1cm / 0.4" cubes
- 2 celery stems , chopped into 1cm / 0.4″ cubes
- 2 small or 1 medium swede (US: rutabaga), peeled, chopped into 1cm / 0.4" cubes (~200g, Note 1)
- 150g / 5 oz white mushrooms , cut in 4 (larger ones cut into 6 or 8)
- 2 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 1/2 tsp fresh thyme , chopped (or 1/4 tsp dried)
- 1/4 tsp ground coriander
- 1/4 tsp ground fennel
- 2 fresh bay leaves (or 1 dried)
- 1 3/4 tsp cooking/kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 cup pearl barley , NOT hulled barley (Note 2)
- 1.75 litres / quarts vegetable stock , preferably homemade (it's so easy!) else low sodium store bought
- 1 cup fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Rinse barley in a colander with cold tap water. Leave to drain for several minutes.
- Sauté veg 5 minutes: Heat olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot, celery, swede, mushrooms and garlic (yes, all at once!). Cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
- Sauté herbs/spices: Add thyme, coriander, fennel, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Cook for 1 minute.
- Simmer 35 minutes: Add pearl barley and vegetable stock. Stir, bring to a boil and simmer for 35 minutes until barley is cooked. It will have a nice chew to it but should not have a hard centre like uncooked rice.
- Stir in parsley: Stir in parsley leaves. Ladle into bowls and serve!
Storing leftovers:
- Strain soup (or use slotted spoon), store vegetables/barley separate from soup broth. Otherwise the barley will soak up all the liquid!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Souped up! More hearty soup recipes
Life of Dozer
Dozer in Mode 5. He only has 5 Modes:
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Mode 2: Playing
Mode 3: Sleeping
Mode 4: Hoping to eat
Mode 5: Hoping to play
Big thumbs-up from me and my daughter. I may have used more rutabaga than the recipe called for (the rutabaga I used was on the large side), but except for needing to sauté the vegetables in two batches for lack of space, it all came together beautifully. My daughter and I have to be careful about garlic & onion because of IBS, but I made garlic oil while chopping the vegetables and removed the garlic pieces before adding the vegetables to the oil (good thing FODMAPs aren’t oil-soluble), and I used scallions instead of onion. Looking forward to experimenting with parsnips, kale, beef, turkey, dumplings, etc. Chef’s kiss, Nagi!
This is a great, so easy base. Adjust to whatever you like. In winter this is the base of my ‘crisper’ soup. I go through the crisper & add it to this soup! 2 pork sausages removed form skin, rolled in small balls, quick brown & added to soup. 1/2 daikon, 1/8 red cabbage. The men loved it!
This might seem weird, but trust me! I didn’t have any parsley, so I used a chopped up head of baby cos lettuce instead… and it was realllly good. The slight crisp crunch of the lettuce went so well with the softness of the veggies and the tender barley. Will definitely make again!
I’ve started doing ‘Meals on Wheels’ for my Father and his Wife who is unfortunately on the slippery slope of dementia. We’ve prepared this for them twice now with rave reviews. We made 2 changes, one due the their request for more iron, I browned 500gms of beef mince prior to prepping the rest of the recipe, removed and returned with the stock and barley. Secondly, as mushrooms are a good source of iron but aren’t a favourite, I blitzed the onion and mushrooms to a paste that I sauteed off with the other veg. Delish! Thanks Nagi and Dozer!
thank you for this recipe and the very helpful hint of straining the solids. Yours is the only recipe I came across that addressed this issue and I feel it is vital to do this speaking from experience of not doing the straining. I really enjoy your site
Thanks Nagi – not just for the delicious recipe for the soup but also the storage tip. It makes good sense. 👍
Just finished a huge bowl, this soup is delish! Chucked in some butternut pumpkin and was tempted to add potato but the swede was lovely, definitely no need for taters. Thanks Nagi
I’d love to make this for my picky kids! We don’t have fennel. Wondering can I leave this out?
Hearty, very flavoursome soup. The whole family loved it and thanks for the tip on storage. If possible, think it tasted even better the next day.
This was just what I needed on a cold winters night, where we’ve all been a little poorly. Easy to make…house smells amazing, and my soul feels better for feasting in this. 🙂
Hi Nagi, what a delicious and comforting soup, we absolutely loved it. Added a bit of white wine and lemon juice but otherwise followed the recipe and it turned out great! Thank you again for sharing all the wonderful recipes. So good to have you back!
Beautiful! I love this soup. It is flavourful and delicious, pretty much like most of your recipes, Nagi!
Hi Nagi, do you have any advice on how to incorporate beef to this recipe? I know you have your other amazing beef soup recipe but I am craving beef and barley soup this winter and want to use your delicious recipes.
Thank you for your advice.
Hi Sandra, my Stepmother needs more iron but has difficulty chewing. So I browned off 500gms of beef mince in the pan and removed before starting the rest of the recipe. I added it back at the stage of stock/barley. It was delish!
Your recipes are nothing short of AMAZING! Thank you for sharing your superb recipe with the world 🥰🤍
I’m home with the flu and this is all I want to eat. So comforting & satisfying!
Being an old bachelor I was eating a lot of processed foods, decided to start eating better and discovered your site. Have now made this twice and discovered how much I like barley, it was hearty and delicious. You lay things out so well on the site that even I can follow it. Cheers
We loved this soup – so thick, so tasty as are all your recipes, Nagi.
Awwww thank you Meg! Enjoy!! N x
Eating this right now, absolutely love barley, did not have Swede (possibly because I don’t like them) had no mushrooms, so added fennel bulb and zucchini. Just love this soup, brings back memories of my mum’s cooking. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
Thanks for those tips Carol! N x
If we wanted to add some meat to this, like chicken or beef, would you just cook it up and add it in near the end?
Hello, we are gluten free. What could we use instead of the Pearl barley?
Brown rice would be a good g/f alternative here! N x