7 Recipes

Barley Soup

Barley soup, start to finish — beef and barley, slow cooker beef barley, turkey barley, chicken barley — for cold nights when you want one pot to do the work.

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Beef & Barley Soup

A hearty and flavorful beef and barley soup perfect for cold days.

1 hr 30 min480 cal40 g proteinServes 637 saves

T. Fountain

Ingredients

2 pounds beef chuck
3 tablespoons olive oil
1, diced medium onion
2, diced celery ribs
4, diced medium carrots
3, minced garlic cloves
3/4 cup dry red wine
6 cups low-sodium beef broth
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 sprigs thyme
1 cup pearl barley
to taste salt and pepper
1/4 cup, minced parsley

Instructions

1Heat a large heavy pot over medium heat and add the olive oil.
2Pat the beef dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper on all sides.
3Sear the beef in the hot oil until well browned on all sides, working in batches if necessary.
4Set the beef aside and add the diced onions, celery, and carrots to the pot. Saute for 5 minutes.
5Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional minute.
6Pour in the red wine, increase heat to high, and cook until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Scrape the bottom of the pot to deglaze.
7Add the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and the seared beef back into the pot. Bring to a boil.
8Reduce heat to low and let simmer.
9Add the pearl barley and cook until the barley is tender, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
10Season with salt and pepper to taste.
11Remove the thyme sprigs, garnish with minced parsley, and serve hot.

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More to try

dinner

Turkey Barley Soup

370 cal1 hr 30 min18 saves

Meridith Winterfeld

lunch

Beef-Barley Soup

370 cal12 hr1 saves

Mark Yetto

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Barley Makes A Little Meat Go Far

A cup of pearl barley turns a pound of beef chuck into supper for the whole table. It thickens the broth as it cooks, so you get that spoon-coating body without a roux or a single splash of cream.

Cooks on Pepper reach for these on the cold, gray weeknights when the oven feels like too much, and again on Sunday when there's leftover turkey or a package of stew meat to use up.

Every recipe here is a real pot of barley soup: Beef & Barley Soup with chuck and onion, Slow Cooker Beef Barley Soup, Turkey Barley Soup started in butter, Chicken Barley Soup with garlic, Venison and Barley Soup, and a Beef Barley Soup With Lemon for a brighter finish.

Quick Tips

1
Brown the beef first
Sear the chuck or stew meat in a tablespoon of oil in batches, 3 to 4 minutes a side, so the bottom of the pot goes deep brown before any liquid goes in.
2
Add barley later
Stir in the cup of pearl barley about 45 minutes before serving. Added too early, it drinks up the broth and turns the soup into porridge.
3
Keep extra broth handy
Barley keeps swelling as it sits, so hold back 1 to 2 cups of broth to loosen the pot when you reheat leftovers.
4
Finish with lemon
A squeeze of half a lemon or a splash of vinegar off the heat wakes up a long-simmered beef or venison soup in about 10 seconds.