Vegetable Barley Soup

Thick, hearty and loaded with veggies, this budget-friendly soup is so easy to make. It’s perfect comfort food for cold winter days.

Jan 21, 2025

This vegetable barley soup is wholesome, hearty, and perfect for chilly days. Packed with vegetables and fiber-filled barley, it’s one of the easiest and most budget-friendly soups you’ll ever make. Of course, barley is one of the main ingredients; this nutritious grain has a slightly nutty flavor and chewy texture. Barley tends to adopt the flavors of other foods it’s cooked with, making it a great addition to chilled salads, stews, pilafs, rice dishes, and soups like this one.

Just simple ingredients are needed for this soup.

Barley contains a cholesterol-lowering fiber called beta-glucan. Also found in oats, beta-glucan works like a sponge, cleaning up cholesterol in your digestive tract before it moves into your bloodstream. This same fiber seems to prevent sharp rises in blood sugar levels following a meal, a welcomed response for those with diabetes.

Today, barley is sold in a variety of forms – hulled, hulless, pearl (pearled), and quick-cooking. The Oldways Whole Grains Council provides a great explanation of each type.

Hulled barley has been minimally processed to remove only the inedible outer husk. With its bran layer still intact, this version of barley is considered a whole grain and is packed with fiber. Hulled barley is typically available through online ordering or at health food stores. After an overnight soak in water, hulled barley takes about an hour to cook.

Hulless barley, sometimes referred to as naked barley, grows without a tough outer hull. This variety requires minimal processing which ensures that the outer bran layer stays intact. Just like hulled barley, hulless barley is a whole grain and is typically only available through online ordering or at health food stores. It takes about 50 to 55 minutes to cook and does not require presoaking.

Pearl barley has been polished or pearled to remove the hull and most or all of the outer bran layer. If it’s lightly pearled, the barley will be tan colored. If it’s heavily pearled, it will be nearly white. Because of this processing, pearl barley is not considered a whole grain. However, the fiber in barley is distributed throughout the entire kernel and not just in the outer bran layer, making pearl barley an excellent fiber-filled grain. This version of barley cooks in about 30 to 40 minutes and is more commonly found in supermarkets.

Made from pearl barley, quick-cooking barley has been partially cooked and flattened to create flakes. It resembles rolled oats and cooks in just 10 minutes. Even though it’s not considered a whole grain, it does supply a nice dose of fiber just like pearl barley. The main reason I chose it for today’s recipe was because, honestly, it was the only version of barley I could find at my grocery store.

To your health,

Darlene

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VEGETABLE BARLEY SOUP

Yield: 12 servings

Serving Size: 1 cup

Prep: 15 minutes

Ready: 1 hour 25 minutes

INGREDIENTS

2 quarts vegetable broth
2/3 cup dry quick pearled barley
1 can (14.5 ounce) diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup diced onion
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 whole bay leaves
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning blend
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
4 cups fresh baby spinach, stems removed, lightly packed
1 can (16 ounce) dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
3 to 4 tablespoons minced fresh chives (optional garnish)

DIRECTIONS

Pour vegetable broth into a large pot. Add barley, canned tomatoes with juice, corn, carrots, celery, onion, tomato paste, bay leaves, Italian seasoning blend, thyme, and paprika. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Remove bay leaves from soup. Roughly chop spinach and add it to soup along with kidney beans, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and black pepper. Allow soup to simmer, uncovered, on low heat until spinach wilts and beans are heated through, about 10 minutes.
To serve, top each 1-cup serving with 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of minced fresh chives.

Cook’s note: The spinach stem, once wilted in the soup, can become stringy. That’s why it’s good to remove them.

Nutrition Information per Serving

133 Calories, 2 g Total fat, 1 g Saturated fat, 0 g Trans fat, 3 mg Cholesterol, 665 mg Sodium, 22 g Total carbohydrate, 5 g Dietary fiber, 4 g Total sugars, 0 g Added sugars, 6 g Protein, 0 mcg (0%) Vitamin D, 122 mg (10%) Calcium, 2 mg (10%) Iron, 329 mg (8%) Potassium