Vegetable barley soup is full of roasted vegetables, barley, and even more vegetables. This vegetable barley soup recipe is a hearty, healthy vegetable soup that will leave you satisfied and warm.
Without a doubt, vegetable soup is one of my favorite soups. But I also like various vegetable soups, so I don't get bored with the same flavors. So, I made a vegetable barley soup recipe to add a little pizzazz to my soup experience. Taste a dozen vegetables in every bite of vegetable barley soup.
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Recently, I roasted vegetables for a vegan carrot soup recipe I made. Because I loved the rich flavors, I chose to do the same for vegetable barley soup.
To use various veggies, I roasted some of the vegetables while I left the other vegetables raw to cook in the pot. As a result, the roasted vegetables season and flavor the soup, while the other vegetables are cooked al dente.
What is Pearl Barley?
Like other whole grains, Pearl barley is high in fiber, minerals, and vitamins. Although not gluten-free, pearl barley is processed to remove its outer hull, making it easier to digest.
Because pearl barley expands about three times its original size when cooked, it is often used in soups or stews. As a result, vegetable barley soup leaves you full and satisfied.
Therefore, I often serve vegetable barley soup with a small salad as an entree because it's so filling. So, if you're looking for a hearty, comforting soup, vegetable barley soup is for you.
How to Cook Barley
When I make vegetable barley soup, I suggest cooking the barley separately. As a result, you will avoid overcooking the barley when cooking the soup.
Although most recipes include oil, barley can be cooked without oil or butter. And, to cook barley perfectly, you need to use a 2:1 ratio of water to barley. I also suggest, for example, including a bay leaf and little salt while cooking.
Like cooking quinoa, all the ingredients are added to a pot and then boiled, covered, and simmered. Barley, though, takes 45 minutes to cook. Then, it gets fluffed with a fork before serving, or in this case, used in a soup or stew.
Vegetable Barley Soup Ingredients
As I said before, I chose to roast some of the vegetables while leaving the rest of the vegetables to be cooked in the soup pot.
Roasted Vegetable Ingredients
- Sweet Potatoes: When cooked, sweet potatoes have a mild, starchy, sweet flavor.
- Red Bell Pepper: Red bell peppers are sweet and vibrant in color.
- Butternut Squash: Butternut squash is nuttier in flavor compared to the sweet taste of sweet potato.
- Rosemary: I prefer fresh rosemary whenever possible.
- Balsamic Vinegar: Balsamic vinegar is a slightly sweet, dark, richly flavored vinegar that enhances salad dressings, marinades, and sauces. It can be reduced to a glaze and drizzled over strawberries, stirred into a risotto, or tossed with Brussels sprouts or red onions to let its sugars caramelize in the oven.
- Dijon Mustard: Dijon mustard is tangy in flavor.
- Soy Sauce: Soy sauce provides a roasted vegetable mixture with an umami taste.
Roasted Vegetable Ingredient Substitutions
- Try baking potatoes instead of sweet potatoes.
- I like baby bell peppers as a substitute for red bell peppers.
- Acorn squash is an excellent substitute for butternut squash.
- Sage or thyme works well as a fresh herb for roasted vegetables.
- For every 1 Tablespoon of Balsamic vinegar, substitute 1 Tablespoon of Cider vinegar or red wine vinegar plus ½ tsp. sugar
- Stone ground mustard is similar in flavor to dijon mustard.
- Tamari or liquid aminos substitute soy sauce and is also gluten-free.
Raw Ingredients
- Garlic: I prefer using fresh garlic cloves.
- Yellow Onion: Yellow onion is a strong flavor, yet softens and softens in flavor.
- Yellow Summer Squash: Summer squash has a mild, slightly sweet, grassy flavor (the aroma intensifies with wet cooking) and a faint bitterness on the skin. The texture of summer squash is firm yet tender when young, and as they age, the skin becomes tougher and the center pithier.
- Zucchini: Zucchini flavor-wise is mild-tasting with a hint of vegetable sweetness.
- Carrots: Carrots add sweetness to the soup.
- Celery: celery's extract enhanced the sweetness and umami (meaty or savory) taste of the broth, even though the extract had virtually no flavor of its own.
- Fresh Herbs and Spices: I used dill, thyme, and basil.
Roasted Vegetable Ingredient Substitutions
- One clove of garlic equals about ⅛th of a teaspoon of garlic powder.
- White onion is a great substitute for yellow onion.
- Use all zucchini or all summer squash instead of both.
- Any root vegetables work to replace carrots.
- Fennel is often used as a replacement for celery.
- Choose any combination of herbs you like.
To allow everything to cook simultaneously, cutting all the vegetables in a uniform size is essential.
Therefore, I used my favorite vegetable chopper with a large blade. As a result, all my vegetables are cooked perfectly every time.
Cooking Vegetable Barley Soup
While the vegetable roast in the oven, cook the barley and chopped all my veggies.
Once the vegetables are roasted and cooled, mash them with a fork. Consequently, the combination of flavors enhances the savoriness of the vegetable barley soup recipe.
Next, saute the onions and garlic in a large soup pot until the onions are translucent. Then, I add other raw vegetables and vegetable broth.
Once it comes to a boil, cover the soup pot and reduce the temperature to simmer. Subsequently, the sweet potatoes and butternut squash will become soft.
Of course, the next step is to add the mashed-up roasted vegetables and the cooked barley. Once it is all heated, eating and adding the herbs is time.
Not only will vegetable barley soup satisfy your hunger, but it also reheats well for lunch the next day.
Recipe FAQs
Barley is a versatile and inexpensive whole grain; it's rich in fiber and other important folates and minerals like selenium, great for heart health. Plus, the fiber content makes you feel fuller for longer, promoting weight loss.
If you want to add pearl barley to a soup or stew but don't want the barley to thicken it, then cook it separately first. Boil in water for 20-30 minutes and rinse before using.
Hulled barley, considered a whole grain, has had just the indigestible outer husk removed. It's darker in color and has a sheen. Pearled barley, or pearl barley, is not a whole grain or as nutritious. It has lost its outer husk and bran layer and has been polished.
Tips
- Choose any combination of vegetables you enjoy.
- Sauteing the vegetables in a particular order to ensure the vegetables aren't under or overcooked.
- Before adding it to the soup pot, cooking the barley first makes it the perfect consistency.
- Cutting the vegetables in similar sizes for roasting and cooking in a pot helps cook the vegetables evenly.
- Heat broth-based soups over medium heat, occasionally stirring, until hot, or reheat in the microwave on the reheat setting.
- I like Souper Cubes for freezing the vegetable barley soup recipe. Thaw overnight in a refrigerator before reheating.
Give this vegetable barley soup a try for a hearty and delicious soup. You may want to double the recipe.
More Delicious Vegan Soup Recipes
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📖 Recipe
Vegetable Barley Soup
Ingredients
Roasted Vegetables
- ¾ cup sweet potatoes ½ large sweet potato, diced
- ½ cup red bell pepper ½ large red pepper, diced
- ¾ cup butternut squash diced
- 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary
- 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce or Tamari
Soup Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 large yellow onions diced (mild 1 cup)
- ½ cup zucchini diced
- ½ cup yellow summer squash diced
- ½ cup sweet potatoes diced
- 1 cup butternut squash diced
- ½ cup carrots diced
- ½ cup celery diced
- 6 cups organic vegetable broth
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice plus 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
- 1 ½ cups cooked pearl barley
- 1 bay leaf
Garnish
- ¼ cup fresh chopped dill
- 3 Tablespoons fresh thyme chopped
- 3 Tablespoon fresh basil chopped
Instructions
Roasted Vegetables
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- In a large bowl, chop sweet potatoes, red bell pepper, and butternut squash.
- Combine balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, dijon mustard, and rosemary.
- Whisk ingredients together and pour over the vegetables.
- Stir to combine.
- Pour the vegetables into a casserole dish, cover, and cook for 45 minutes.
Cooking the Barley
- In a medium-sized pot, combine 2 cups water, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 bay leaf, and 1 cup pearl barley.
- Bring to a boil.
- Cover, and reduce heat to simmer.
- Cook for 45 minutes.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool.
- Using a fork, mash roasted vegetables.
- Set aside.
Preparing the Soup
- Saute onions and garlic in a large soup pot until the onions are translucent.
- Add raw, chopped vegetables.
- Stir and cook for a few minutes.
- Add 6 cups of vegetable broth.
- Add bay leaf, lemon juice, zest and salt, and pepper.
- Stir and bring to a boil.
- Cover and reduce heat to simmer.
- Cook for 30 minutes covered.
- Add mashed roasted vegetables.
- Stir to combine.
- Add cooked barley last.
- Stir to combine.
- Add herbs, and stir.
- Serve hot.
Notes
- Barley is NOT gluten-free, so if you suffer from gluten-intolerance, do not use barley.
- Cook barley separately to avoid overcooking
- Vegetable barley soup can be reheated
- Vegetable barley soup can be frozen but should be at room temperature before freezing.
- Thaw soup completely before reheating as well.Choose any combination of vegetables you enjoy.
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- Cutting the vegetables in similar sizes for roasting and cooking in a pot helps cook the vegetables evenly.Heat broth-based soups over medium heat, occasionally stirring, until hot, or reheat in the microwave on the reheat setting.
- I like Souper Cubes for freezing the vegetable barley soup recipe. Thaw overnight in a refrigerator before reheating.
Nutrition
Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
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