Can’t stop, won’t stop with the yummy soups over here! Soup is easy, soup is filling, soup is an easy way to pack some more vegetables into your day, and soup (usually) freezes well. This week I’m bringing you this awesome Vegetable Barley Soup that is packed with tons of color, texture, and flavor. And thanks to a healthy dose of barley, it’s also super filling. I’m so glad this recipe makes a huge batch because I’m going to be living off the frozen leftovers of this soup for the rest of winter!!
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What is Barley?
Barley is a short, chewy grain that is great in soups, stews, salads, pilafs, and more. You can usually find it in the grain section of your grocery store, near rice and dry beans. It’s usually labeled “pearled barley” which simply means the outer husk and some of the bran has been removed. Barley does contain a small amount of gluten, so it is not considered a gluten-free food.
Can I Substitute the Barley?
Yep! If you’re not into barley or can’t find it, you can use another grain, like farro or wheat berries, or even pasta. A small shape, like ditalini would be awesome.
Can I Use Other Vegetables?
The beauty of this Vegetable Barley Soup is that it is extremely versatile. You can add just about any vegetable to this soup, which makes it great for using up odds and ends of vegetables in your refrigerator and freezer. I used onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, carrots, potato, frozen green beans, frozen corn, and frozen peas, but you could also substitute or add in any of these vegetables:
- Celery (add in the beginning with onion)
- Zucchini (add at the end with green beans and peas)
- Spinach (add at the very end, stir in until wilted)
- Mushrooms (add in the beginning with onion)
- Cabbage (add in the beginning with carrots)
- Kale (add mid-way, with potatoes)
- Beans (kidney, chickpeas, cannellini, add mid-way with potatoes)
Broth Matters
Vegetable broth carries a lot of the flavor in this soup, so make sure you use a quality vegetable broth, or one that you know you like. As always, I use Better Than Bouillon soup base to make my broth. It is full-flavored and I can mix up any amount I need when I’m cooking, without having leftovers go to waste.
How Much Vegetable Barley Soup Does This Make?
This recipe makes a whopping 12 cups, which I would consider to be about 6 large 2-cup servings. Since the soup is mostly vegetables, I usually go with a slightly larger serving size. This is also a very thick soup once finished, so if you prefer it to be a little more brothy, you can add more vegetable broth and the yield will be even higher.
Can You Freeze Vegetable Soup?
Yes! This soup freezes great. Some people find that potatoes change in texture slightly when frozen and thawed, but it’s not something that I’ve ever noticed or that has bothered me, especially when in a soup.
What Do You Serve with Vegetable Barley Soup?
This soup is just asking for a nice piece of buttered crusty bread for dipping! I would go with something with a lot of texture, like a homemade no knead bread, cornbread, or sour dough. I wouldn’t even be against dropping a few cubes of Swiss cheese into this soup, for a little melty goodness in each bite!
P.S. If you have leftover barley, you should totally make my Baked Barley with Mushrooms!
Vegetable Barley Soup
Servings 6 2 cups eachIngredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.32)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1/2 lb. carrots (about 4) ($0.45)
- 1 28oz. can diced tomatoes ($1.59)
- 1 cup pearled barley ($0.89)
- 1/2 tsp dried basil ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- freshly cracked black pepper ($0.05)
- 6 cups vegetable broth ($0.78)
- 1 russet potato (about 3/4 lb.) ($1.22)
- 1 cup frozen green beans ($0.271)
- 1/2 cup frozen corn ($0.10)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas ($0.19)
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice ($0.03)
- 1 handful fresh parsley (optional garnish) ($0.20)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Add the onion, garlic, and olive oil to a large soup pot and sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft and translucent.
- Meanwhile, peel and dice the carrots. Once the onions are soft, add the carrots to the soup pot, along with the canned diced tomatoes (with juices), barley, basil, oregano, some freshly cracked pepper, and vegetable broth.
- Stir the contents of the pot to combine, place a lid on top, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring the broth up to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low, and let the soup simmer, with the lid in place, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.
- While the soup simmers, peel and dice the potato into 1/2-inch cubes. After the soup has simmered and the barley is mostly tender, add the diced potatoes and continue to simmer for 10 minutes more, or just until the potatoes are tender.
- Once the potatoes are tender, add the frozen green beans, corn, and peas. Stir to combine, and heat through (about 5 minutes in the simmering soup).
- Finally, add the lemon juice to the soup and stir to combine. Taste the soup and adjust the salt or pepper to your liking. Serve hot, with fresh chopped parsley on top as a garnish, if desired.
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Equipment
- Dutch Oven
- Liquid Measuring Cup
- Chef’s Knife
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Vegetable Barley Soup – Step by Step Photos
Dice one onion and mince two cloves of garlic. Add the onion and garlic to a large soup pot (mine is 6 qt.) along with 2 Tbsp olive oil. Sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft and translucent.
While the onion and garlic are cooking, peel and slice 1/2 lb. of carrots (about 4 medium carrots). Add the carrots to the soup pot along with one 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (with juices), 1 cup pearled barley, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, some freshly cracked pepper, and 6 cups of vegetable broth. Stir to combine.
Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to medium-high, and bring the soup up to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to medium-low and let it simmer, lid in place, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. While the soup simmers, peel and dice a russet potato into 1/2-inch cubes. After simmering 30 minutes, add the diced potato and simmer 10 minutes more.
After simmering 10 minutes, the potatoes should be tender. Add 1 cup frozen green beans, 1/2 cup frozen peas, and 1/2 cup frozen corn to the soup. Stir to combine, and heat through (about 5 minutes).
Finally, stir 1 Tbsp lemon juice into the soup. Give it a taste and adjust the salt and pepper to your liking (I added a touch more pepper, but no salt). Garnish with fresh chopped parsley, if desired.
YUMMMM. Vegetable-y goodness got me all warm and cozy!
I’d like to say the recipe is very straight forward and easy to execute. Cooking time is pretty accurate, though you might put the potatoes in sooner if you need to stick to a schedule. As barley continues to cook it can make the mouth feel a little ‘slick’, so overcooking it could be a problem for some. And looking at the picture vs what I made: 28oz of tomatoes is way too much. Use a small can instead to have it look like the pics above and not be tomato heavy. Adjust the liquid as necessary.
I think your recipe was meant for quick barley, because with a full cup of my regular barley, I had to add another 3 cups of liquid to get it to a consistency that would not burn and stick to the pot. It ended up more like a thick gruel consistency – still tasted good but not what it was meant to be ,based on the pictures. Am I missing something?
P.S. I love the recipes I’ve made from your site, so this is just one weird exception.
I make this soup with 1/2 lb hamburger beef was my mothers recipe 60 years ago all my siblings make this soup very good for all.
This soup was delicious, filling, and on our make again list. I added zucchini at the end another squeeze of lemon juice and a dollop of pesto.
I made this recipe exactly as printed with the exception of the broth. I always save the broth from canned vegetables & freeze it. I save it for when I make soup. I had about 2 cup of broth from corn, green beans & peas. Additional broth needed was made from “Betterr Than Broth” no chicken”. The finale pot of soup was delicious. I enjoyed the addition of the barley & served the soup with hommade cornbread. I know I will make it again so I printed the recipe. Thank you BudgetBytes!
I made this last night and it was pretty good! I only had one box of chicken broth (holiday recipes stripped the stores of all vegetable broth apparently) which was only 4 cups, so I had to sub the last two cups with water and olive oil, and then added butter for more flavoring. Overall it was pretty chunky and delicious. Topped with parsley and sour krout which I liked but wouldn’t serve it that way to someone who might not like pickled, fermented things. I also added two potatoes to make it a bit heartier :) would make it again, and plan to eat this all week for dinner. This recipe makes A LOT.
thank you for the awesome recipe. It’s the first time I used barley in a recipe, and im really happy I did!!
This was so tasty and a great recipe to follow! I was looking for a warm and hearty meal to use up what I had in my house (especially some barley that I had no idea what to do with!) and this was perfect. I added celery with the onions and skipped the peas and green beans because I did not have them, but other than that, I kept everything the same. Served it with some homemade focaccia for a yummy late fall meal. Comforting, tasty and simple!.
Why is there so much sodium listed in the nutritional information? Is it from the broth? 1180mg per serving? I will try this with reduced sodium chicken broth.
Probably a combination of the broth and the canned tomatoes. Canned tomatoes tend to have quite a bit.
May I use organic chicken broth instead of vegetable broth? Will it change the taste?
Thanks.
Yes, that will still go nicely with the soup. :)
This is SO good! Mine was more of a stew consistency, but I like it that way and opted not to add more broth. I did need to cook it a little longer than in the recipe to get the potatoes soft but perhaps my pieces were not small enough. I tasted it after all the veggies cooked and it was so good – I decided not to add the lemon juice for fear it would taste sour. Maybe next time I’ll try that. On the first try, this jumped to the top of my list of favorite foods!
This recipe is so good. I love the addition of Lemon juice. It is something commonly used in other cultures to add a salt taste without adding salt. I’m glad it was used here. It adds an extra fresh flavor.
Delicious and versatile!
What happens if you don’t have veggie broth? Can you use water?
The broth provides a lot of flavor to this soup, so you’ll definitely be missing out on that if you use water. You’ll probably also need to add more salt at the end to make up for the salt that is in the broth. :)
Can I substitute rice for the barley? If so, at what point do you think I should add it in? This soup looks amazing and as a broke college student, I’ll definitely be making this a lot! Thank you!
It can probably be done, but I would need to test it to find the right time to add the rice so that it comes out correctly.
If you were to adapt this recipe for a slow cooker, what would you change?
Off the top of my head, I don’t think I would change anything. I’d just dump it all in there and turn it on. That being said, sometimes you never know what needs to be changed until you actually try it. :)