I grew up eating this Baked Barley with Mushrooms and I always looked forward to it on chilly winter nights. It’s a simple dish made with pearled barley cooked in a flavorful mix of vegetable broth, butter, and mushrooms for an extra umami kick. Plus, it cooks mostly in the oven, leaving your hands and attention available to tend to other things. It’s a nice alternative to plain rice for meals like pot roast, brisket, baked pork chops, or any roasted or braised meat. Those hearty little grains are perfect for soaking up every last drop of your pan drippings!
What Kind of Baking Dish to Use
You’ll need some sort of baking dish with a tight-fitting lid, like a Dutch oven, because if the steam from the broth is not held inside as it bakes, the barley will not cook through. I used an enameled cast-iron Dutch oven that was probably a little too big for the scale of this recipe, but it still turned out great. The recipe makes about four cups, so something in the 2-3 quart size range is probably ideal. Glass, ceramic, or cast iron will all work as long as it has a tight-fitting lid.
If your baking dish is not safe for use on the stovetop, simply use a skillet for the first couple of steps (sautéing the mushrooms), then transfer to the baking dish when adding the barley and broth.
What is Pearled Barley?
It’s very important that you use pearled barley for this recipe. Pearled barley is whole barley grains that have had the outer husk removed and are then are polished to remove some or all of the outer bran. The resulting grain is tender and chewy once cooked, and doesn’t take quite as long to cook as hulled barley. You can usually find pearled barley near the dry rice and beans in the grocery store, or near other specialty grains.
I used the Bob’s Redmill brand, which is slightly less polished than other brands that I’ve used and it resulted in a slightly more firm grain.
Add More Vegetables
This recipe is pretty flexible and you can experiment with adding more hearty vegetables, like carrot, celery, onion, turnip, or rutabega. I suggest dicing the vegetables and sautéing them briefly with the mushrooms before adding the remaining ingredients.
What to Serve with Baked Barley
This baked barley would go awesome with something like Creamy Mushroom Chicken with Crispy Onions, Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Slow Cooker Rosemary Garlic Beef Stew, or pot roast.
Baked Barley with Mushrooms
Servings 4 1 cup eachIngredients
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 8 oz. mushrooms ($1.49)
- 4 Tbsp butter ($0.40)
- 1 cup pearled barley ($0.57)
- 2 cups vegetable broth ($0.26)
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme ($0.05)
- 1/8 tsp freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional) ($0.10)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Mince the garlic and slice the mushrooms
- Add the garlic, mushrooms, and butter to a Dutch oven. Sauté over medium heat until the mushrooms have softened.
- Add the barley, vegetable broth, thyme and freshly cracked pepper to the dutch oven. Stir to combine, place the lid on top, and transfer to the oven. Bake the barley for one hour.
- After baking for one hour, stir the barley to fluff it up. Give the barley a taste and adjust the salt or pepper to your liking. Top with chopped fresh parsley just before serving.
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Equipment
Nutrition
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How to Make Baked Barley with Mushrooms – Step by Step Photos
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Add 4 Tbsp butter, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and 8oz. sliced mushrooms to a pot. Sauté over medium heat until the mushrooms have softened.
This is what the pearled barley looks like. As mentioned above, this is Bob’s Redmill brand, which appears to be less polished than other generic brands I’ve used in the past. Pearled barley often looks very white, so this barley still has a considerable amount of bran left intact. Because of that, the grains were a little more firm this time around. Either way, it still tasted great!
Add one cup pearled barley, ½ tsp dried thyme, a little freshly cracked black pepper (⅛ tsp), and 2 cups vegetable broth to the pot. Stir briefly to combine.
Place a lid on the pot and transfer it to the oven. Bake the barley in the 350ºF oven for one hour.
After baking it will look like this–the mushrooms will have risen to the top, fully covering the barley.
Give the barley a good stir. Taste the barley and add salt or pepper if desired.
Top with chopped parsley just before serving.
I don’t like Barley so much and should only have whole grains..but I’ll give it a try! After all, it has been a decade since I last tasted it. I’ll sub whole Barley but soak it first in hot water and then once in the oven I’ll check on it after an hour. Will sure be a change from our usual pasta-pizza-risotto-potatos-quinoa rotation!!
Tnxxx healthy and yum
Beth,
I detest mushrooms, but adore barley…what veggie would work as a sub? I’d like to try in the slow cooker.
You could try adding some onions and carrots. That would be yummy! Also, someone just commented that they made it in the slow cooker and it only took a couple of hours, so make sure to check on it early.
We had this last night…very good indeed!
I’m going to try this with lentils instead of barley.
I’m making this tomorrow as a surprise for my younger kid — he adores mushrooms, so this is right up his alley. I’m looking forward to trying it!
What are the chances I good do this in the crockpot. It sounds really good and I would love to make it yom
Silly smart phone…I wasn’t done. Sorry…. As I was saying, I’d love to make it for dinner tomorrow night but I will be getting home later than n
I think this would work in a slow cooker, now that you mention it! If I can cook beans in a slow cooker, barley will definitely work!
How would you modify it for the slow cooker? Saute the mushrooms and then slow cook it at step 3, on low for all day?
I’m pretty sure you could just throw everything into the slow cooker at once and then cook on low for 8 hrs… that’s my best guess – haven’t actually tried it, though.
I just made this in my slow cooker. It only took a couple of hours on slow.
I just popped this out of the oven!
I used chicken broth and canned mushrooms. I know, canned mushrooms are sad but I didn’t have any fresh mushrooms on hand and just couldn’t wait to try out this dish! It turned out fantastic! I will definitely be making this many more times in the future.
So, my oven has been a bit on the fritz lately. Is it possible to do this all on the stovetop by just letting it all simmer until the barley is done? I know it probably won’t be quite as tasty, but would it work?
Yes, I do think it will work. It will be very much like cooking rice, but will require more time. Just bring it up to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 45 minutes or so.
Thanks!
I had this once at a restaurant years ago and have been hooked on making it at home ever since. It’s great with beef broth, too.
What do you serve as a side dish with this? A green salad?
Yes, this also makes a great side dish to roasted meats. I think a melange of roasted vegetables would go great next to this, and since you already have the oven on, you can roast them at the same time. :)
Looks wonderful! Were trying to stick with a Mediterranean diet and this should work out well! I was looking for something using barley!
And I am with you on canned mushrooms… They are sad.
How did you know I just bought a box of barley and two cartons of mushrooms because they were on mega sale? I know what I’m making for dinner tomorrow!
Wow, this looks so hearty! Perfect for the fall season.
Making your Vegan Red Lentil Stew tonight (for the second time) and am subbing in a sweet potato. Should be delicious! :)
I have been making a version of this from The Joy of Cooking forever. It is an incredible dish. The texture of barley, the earthiness of the mushrooms, the deep flavor from baking it. It’s one of my all time favorites!