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 had forgotten how much we like this side dish. I usually pair it with a big pile of roasted veggies–typically onion, bell pepper, winter squash, and broccoli–for a meatless meal, and the two dishes share the oven. My husband likes it with pork chops, too, so when that’s the menu, I add about half a cup of diced onion to the barley and mushrooms. My lemon thyme plant is going strong despite the nightly freezes, so that’s what I’ll use for seasoning when we enjoy it tomorrow. Rosemary added to the roasted veggies is also very good with this, and when I use that, I don’t double it up with the barley. Thanks, Beth, for reposting this terrific recipe.
Thanks for sharing what you normally pair this with for meals! I was looking for something simple and with easy cleanup that could maybe share the oven. A big sheet pan of roasted veggies sounds like a winner!
And I normally do my boneless pork chops in the oven at a higher temperature, but I’m betting I could find a recipe that cooks them at the same temp as this dish so that can be a nice meat pairing option. Thanks!
I love this ., instead of vegetable broth I used mushroom broth which It enhanced the mushroom flavor as I love mushrooms will make this again and again I also added some chopped onion to the garlic and mushroom sauté
Trying this with pot barley (I bought the wrong kind) and cauliflower because it needs using up and I don’t have any mushrooms :) Personally, I think it’ll work with any softish vegetable as a base, we’ll see! I can’t wait to try it (and I will buy pearled barley next time!)
How would I adjust for quick cooking barley. It is what I have in the cupboard?
Unfortunately I haven’t tested this with quick cooking barley, so I’m not sure if you’d need to change the amount of liquid in addition to the cooking time.
MMM, this was so tasty! We’re moving soon, and so I’m cleaning out the pantry. This, paired with a couple of fried eggs, a generous grating of Parmesan, and a few gloops of hot sauce created a great ultra-frugal dinner for 3 nights!
Oh man that sounds delicious!
Love this! I use it as the basis for a winter salad, with roast pumpkin, toasted walnuts, blue cheese and some greens (usually spinach, but also sometimes rocket/arugula). Delicious!
Thanks so much for your blog. This was great! I had barley in the cupboard but no idea how to make it. I had no mushrooms at home but used an onion, carrot and pepper instead. It was perfect.
This is the best side dish I have ever made. It was so simple to do. I didn’t have a Dutch oven so followed the alternate way in my Corning ware dish and it turned out perfect beyond imagination. It tastes like a mushroom risotto without there cheese and cream etc. The barley cooked up perfectly. Follow the measurements as outlined in this recipe and you fsnt go wrong. I used Italian parsley and stired it in at the end. I also Browned the butter garlic mixture slightly and added salt pepper and onion powder before adding the mushrooms. Beyond!! Can’t wait to make it again. Thank you!!! Ps. I never write reviews lol.
This has become one of our favorites! But we don’t find it quite as filling as you do. Even when served with salad and bread, we usually most of it between 2 people (and we’re not normally big eaters). So I plan on it making 3 servings as a main course, and sometimes we finish off the whole thing.
I made this dish to take to a church potluck. I had some pearl barley & mushrooms & couldn’t decide what to make. Then I remembered that I had recipe but couldn’t find it, so I searched the Internet & found your version. Instead of vegetable broth I made two cups of broth using McKay’s beef seasoning – a vegan product that makes a beef flavored broth. I also used a vegan butter & threw some dried parsley in with the thyme because I didn’t have fresh. I didn’t see the dish as I got my food & thought that it had either been eaten or forgotten in the oven. I found it in the microwave, but someone wanted to try it, then two more tried some, & it got great reviews. I shared your website with a friend who’s planning on making it next weekend. I plan on making this often. It’s so easy & delicious! Thank you!
My family has pretty much the same recipe but i couldnt figure out the spice in it so i used thtme like this one said it made the whole thing taste musty and old it was terrible…. my family does dried basil much better of a flavour.
It has been a few years since I’ve made this, and I’ve acquired an Instant Pot in the interim. Tonight I made it in my IP , no real adapting needed to the recipe, other than to cook 25 minutes at high pressure and allow a 10 minute natural pressure release instead of over an hour in the oven. So good and faster than in the oven!
This is one of the most delicious things I’ve ever had. I’ve never cooked with barley outside of beef and barley soup, and my boyfriend still thinks that any grain that isn’t rice is hippie, but it turned out wonderfully and he keeps asking me about it over a month later. Can’t wait to make it again!
I don’t know what I did wrong but it is like soup. I followed all the directions even bought the pearled barley. Any advice? I was super excited and it smells terrific!
Hmm, it sounds like it didn’t heat properly for some reason. It should be simmering while it’s in the oven, at which point the barley will start to absorb the liquid (kind of like when you cook rice).
Some days I really “hate/love” you. I made this today and can’t stop eating it. It is so yummy. Definitely going to be a new staple in our home. Happy 2015!
Hahahah that comment made me chuckle. :)