Mushroom Barley Soup, How to Stay Barley Legal

Mushroom Barley Soup is the veggie-packed, health-focused take on a hearty classic. Umami-rich mushrooms and whole grain barley combine into a flavor forward, ultra cozy bowl of comfort for soup season and beyond. Shall we?

Explore More

• What is Barley?
• Ingredients You Need for Mushroom Barley Soup
• How to Make Mushroom Barley Soup
• FAQ
• Mushroom Barley Soup Recipe

In this house, Mushroom Barley Soup is a Soup-is-a-Meal dish. Especially after Christmas and into the New Year, Mushroom Barley Soup basically kicks off what is now unofficially known as month-long Soup Season.

What is Barley?

Let's talk barley, since I now have an entire bag of barley in my pantry. Yay.

Barley is a grain in the same family as rye and wheat, with a subtle, nutty flavor and slightly chewy texture. Cultural cuisines around the world from Mediterranean to Asian use barley as a staple grain.

Most grocery stores sell "pearl barley," which is a refined version of regular, straight-off-the-stalk or whatever it's grown on barley called hulled barley, which requires no soaking and cooks in about half an hour. Yes, pearl barley is slightly more processed. At least it's barley, and for now, hull-less, bran-less barley stripped of most of its fiber, phosphorus, and potassium is good enough for me. Anything is a step up from plain old polished white rice.

Cooked barley has a slightly nutty flavor and its chewy texture holds it shape, making it a great grain addition to soups like Mushroom Barley Soup! As the barley cooks, it breaks down ever so slightly, adding a thicker, richer viscosity to the soup. This recipe for Mushroom Barley Soup uses pearl barley so it cooks in about 30 minutes. If you use regular barley, which has more of the fiber left on, the soup will take longer to cook.

Mushroom Barley Soup Health Benefits

Depending on your health and dietary needs, Mushroom Barley Soup can be part of a healthy lifestyle! The health benefits come from both mushrooms and barley.

Barley itself is one of the higher fiber grains and is also rich in protein. One serving of barley, about ¼ cup dried, or ½ cup cooked, offers:

• 6 grams fiber
• 5 grams of protein

The fiber content of barley is worth mentioning as it contains both insoluble and soluble fiber, as well as a specific type of soluble fiber called beta-glucan, which has been shown to reduce cholesterol and improve overall gut, immune and cardiovascular health. Beta glucan is the same soluble fiber that has made oatmeal a supergrain. (source)

As published, this recipe for Mushroom Barley Soup is:

• 100% plant-based, suitable for vegan lifestyles
• 100% vegetarian
• dairy-free
• refined sugar-free

This recipe is not gluten-free, as barley is a grain that contains gluten. To make version of this that is gluten-free, use a gluten-free grain like brown rice or buckwheat.

Ingredients You Need for Mushroom Barley Soup

There are a little more than a few ingredients in this list, but the actual prep and cooking is pretty minimal. Here's what you need:

from the refrigerator/fresh:

• fresh mushrooms, 1 pound
• carrots, 2  finely diced ~ 1½ cups
• onion, 1 large finely diced ~ 1½ cups
• celery, 1 stalk finely diced  ~ ½ cup
• garlic, minced ~ 1 tablespoon
• mushroom stock, 2 quarts ~ 8 cups
• bay leaf, parsley, thyme OR 1 teaspoon each of dried bay, dried parsley, dried thyme

from the pantry/dry:

• pearl barley, 1 cup
• avocado oil
• tamari, 1 tablespoon
• sea salt , plus more to season at the end

What Kind of Mushrooms are Best for Mushroom Soup?

I use basic brown-skinned mushrooms that you can buy in any grocery store.

Want your mind-blown? Sometimes they're called cremini mushrooms. Sometimes they're called "baby bella" mushrooms because they are, in fact, actually baby portobello mushrooms! Yes, brown, cremini, baby bella and those enormous portobello mushrooms are all the same mushrooms, just at different points in their growth!

Ingredients Notes and Resources

Mushroom Stock. I make my own Mushroom Stock with dried mushrooms, and stems and pieces of fresh mushrooms you usually cut off and discard. For store-bought, this is a good, organic one that only has water, mushrooms, garlic and salt as ingredients. If you can't find Mushroom Stock, a very good, rich, roasted vegetable stock will work in this recipe, too.

Herbs. You can use either fresh or dried bay, parsley and thyme, or a combination of both. If you have access to fresh herbs, tie together 3-4 sprigs of each of bay leaf, parsley, and thyme with kitchen twine into a "bouquet." In the the winter when fresh herbs are a little harder to come by, use 1 teaspoon each of dried versions of the herbs.

Tamari. Tamari is a Japanese-style soy sauce that is made without wheat so it is gluten-free. This is the organic brand I use (links to a six-pack!). Most regular soy sauces are brewed with wheat so if you're ok eating wheat, you can use regular soy sauce.

Salt. I use this Kosher salt.

Bouquet garni is a cluster of herbs that are tied together with a string and cooked along with a soup or stew to flavor it. The entire bouquet is removed from the soup once cooking in complete. A bouquet garni can be made from any type of herbs. In this case, use parsley, bay leaf, thyme, and leek.

Salt. Salt is an obvious and ubiquitous ingredient. I use this Kosher salt.

All other vegetables, herbs and produce I get from the the regular grocery store.

Substitutions and Variations

This Mushroom Barley Soup recipe, as with most soups, is generally forgiving and flexible. In terms of ingredient amounts and ratios, you can eyeball a lot of it. There aren't many ingredients in the recipe but there are a few substitutions you can make to fit the recipe into taste preferences and dietary restrictions.

I have made this recipe many times as presented, as well as with the substitutions and variations as noted below:

Vegetable Stock. If you don't have mushroom stock, use a rich vegetable broth. This soup is based on a classic Beef Barley Soup, so if you're an omnivore and have beef broth, use it.

Dried Herbs for Fresh Herb Bouquet Garni. The recipe as presented uses a bouquet garni of bay leaf, fresh parsley and fresh thyme. However, you can substitute dried herbs for any of the fresh ones. Use 1-2 teaspoons of the dried version of each of the herbs.

How to Level Up Mushroom Barley Soup

The true beauty of classic Mushroom Barley Soup is that it's so simple. However, if you do want to level up a simple, cozy bowl of soup, here's what I've done in the past to rave reviews:

• Spice it up. Swirl spicy Chili Crisp over each bowl to add a different kind of heat to a steaming hot bowl of soup
• Green Machine. Mushroom Barley Soup is actually a pretty great base for adding high-power ingredients, so if you want to make it green—and amp the health factor while you're at it!—add baby spinach! Stir whole baby spinach leaves or frozen spinach into the soup at the end.
• Complete Protein. To make this into a protein power bowl and still keep it plant-based, add lentils! Though barley, like other grains, does contain some protein, the amino acid profile is unbalanced. Lentils contain all nine essential amino acids, but two of them, cysteine and methionine, at much lower levels and can be made up with grains and will make Mushroom Barley Soup a complete protein source!

How to Make Mushroom Barley Soup

Here is how to make Mushroom Barley Soup:

Pro-tip: Make double, triple, or even quadruple the amount of sauteed mushrooms, whatever will fit into your pot, because if you're going to spend the time to saute mushrooms, you might as well do it all at once.

Advance Prep, Leftovers, and Storage

Make a huge pot of Mushroom Barley Soup in advance then store and/or freeze in single serving containers to thaw and eat all through soup season.

How Long Can You Keep Mushroom Barley Soup in the Refrigerator? You can store leftover Mushroom Barley Soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Re-heat in a pot on the stovetop.

How Long Can You Freeze Mushroom Barley Soup? You can freeze Mushroom Barley Soup in an airtight container or plastic zipper bags for six months. Re-heat in a pot on the stovetop with a splash or two of water or broth so the frozen soup doesn't burn before thawing out.

Tools and Equipment

As I always say, you don't need any special equipment to make Mushroom Barley Soup. You can simply use a knife and cutting board to slice the mushrooms and dice the vegetables. However, that doesn't mean there are a couple of gadgets and tools that might make it easier to get your Mushroom Barley Soup from board to bowl.

Stock Pot. I use a very large stock pot by this cookware company. It has a heavy bottom and easy-to-hold handles. Any large pot that fits the ingredients will do.

Dutch Oven. If you'd like to make the investment into a Dutch oven, this large oval Dutch oven is the one I use all the time.

Chef's Knife. This is my workhorse chef's knife, slightly more pricey than others, but definitely worth it. I have had it for more than 10 years and use it every day.

Mushroom Brush. This brush has a long handle that's easier to use than the short round brushes.

Vegetable Peeler. I have both a Y-peeler and regular swivel peeler. Both of them have an easily grippable, non-slip handle.

Extra large, sturdy wooden cutting board. This is the extra large, very sturdy i.e. doesn't slip around, cutting board that I use every day.

Onion Goggles. There are goggles specifically designed for use as "onion goggles" in the kitchen, but why not go ahead and get full-on professional grade safety goggles (amazon) or these that fit like glasses with legs (homedepot) that you can also use when you're in the garage building a bookshelf or something.

Stainless steel tongs to fish out a bouquet garni or transfer larger ingredients between pots and bowls.

FAQ

Food for Afterthoughts

Speaking of Seoul, Koreans drink bori-cha ("bori"=barley, "cha"=tea), which is made by steeping roasted barley in hot water. Wow. Who knew that besides beer, barley really was already part of my diet! If you ever go to a Korean restaurant and have a ceramic mug of nutty, rich brown tea, it's more than likely bori-cha. Then again, ohk-soo-soo cha (roasted corn tea) looks exactly the same, so calm your colon down. Check to make sure. I believe some other cultural cuisines also make tea from barley, but that's for me to know and you to find out.

How to Cook Plain Barley on Stovetop

This tiny 16 ounce bag of barley is a hell of a lot of barley, so I know I'll be using it in a lot of recipes as a substitute for rice. Pearl barley is simply simmered in a 1:4 ratio of barley to water, with a ½ tsp. salt for every ½ cup of uncooked pearl barley. It's supposed to cook, covered, for 45 minutes, but mine took a little less time. Then again, I am very impatient, and was probably enjoying a slightly chewier barley than normal. Hopefully, barley will cook in my little Zojirushi, but that is TBD.

Yes, You Can Cook Barley in the Microwave

If the barley doesn't cook in the trusty elephant, this very tattered and very worn cookbook on my nightstand has a recipe for cooking barley in the microwave oven. Yes, on page 246, there is a "recipe" for microwaved barley. The ratios for barley to water are slightly tipped toward the water, but the cooking time is the same. It's the same! I thought the only advantage of using a microwave oven was speed and accuracy (or is that just for standardized testing?)

What is the point of cooking barley in the microwave oven if it requires the exact same effort to cook it on the stove top?!?! In fact, I think it actually requires more time and effort because you are supposed to microwave the barley in the covered casserole dish on high first, sit down, start blogging, then get up and walk back over to the kitchen again five minutes later to reduce the power to 50% and microwave for another 45 minutes. Does a microwave's timer even go that high? That's right. I didn't think so.

But I'm still going to make the barley "risotto" in the cookbook, which if we're getting all technical with high-tech equipment like a microwave oven, it should be barlotto.