Chicken
Homestyle Barley Chicken Fall Soup
Homestyle creamy barley chicken fall soup, is the perfect comfort food, full of flavors and vegetables and hearty enough for dinner
- Serves 6 Portions
- Prep 10 minutes
- Cook 1 hour
- Total 1 hour
Kick in the cozy season with this Homestyle Barley Chicken fall soup that is an ideal companion for when you want to laze around. Chicken and mushrooms, when put together, can never disappoint and this recipe is here to show you that! If the feeling of comfort had a face, it would look like a bowl of this soup that tastes best when left alone to simmer for a while.
I love this time of the year. Warm afternoons turn into chilly evenings and it’s the perfect weather to pull out those colorful sweaters and just want to snuggle up on the sofa with some comfort food. And this homestyle barley chicken fall soup fits right in.
It’s one of those soups, which just keep simmering on the pot and get slightly better if left alone. So you can go away and watch trashy TV shows, read, paint or do whatever it is that you enjoy this time of the year and come back later to this warm, homestyle goodness. I love how the simmering the soup cooks the barley cooks, and takes on all the wonderful flavors of chicken, carrots and mushrooms. It’s not your usual chicken soup where everything is a mish mash. The barley is creamy but firm, and the veggies have a nice bite to them. Add whatever you have in the fridge and if you are vegetarian, just skip the chicken altogether.
Tips To Make The Best Chicken Barley Soup
- This soup is easily customisable to include whatever you have at home. Apart from the onions, mushrooms, carrots, spinach, you can add corn, bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli, and beans to make it more nutritional. The veggies will also help to add a lot more texture and flavor to the soup.
- This soup can easily be made vegetarian by simply subbing chicken with lots more veggies of your choice and skipping the bacon entirely. Make sure to adjust the cooking time accordingly as well.
- You can soak the pearl barley in cold water for about an hour before cooking it. This will help cook it slightly faster and be less chewy. I prefer my barley chewy, so I usually skip this step.
FAQs
This soup is just the kind of thing that makes you feel that fall is here and winter’s slowly creeping in on us. So if you are ready for a cozy snuggle, and dying to get the sweaters out, go and make this soup first! Let’s welcome fall together.
More Healthy Chicken Soups For The Soul
The recipe
Homestyle Barley Chicken Fall Soup
Homestyle creamy barley chicken fall soup is the perfect comfort food, full of flavors and vegetables and hearty enough for dinner.
- Serves 6 Portions
- Prep 10 minutes
- Cook 1 hour
- Total 1 hour
Ingredients
- 1 Chicken Breast (Full)
- 3/4 cup Barley (Pearl)
- 2 tablespoons Butter
- 1 teaspoon Garlic (finely chopped)
- 1 Green Chili (finely chopped)
- 2 Onions (finely chopped)
- 6 – 7 cups Water (or Chicken Stock)
- 1 1/2 cups Mushrooms (sliced)
- 1 cup Carrots (chopped)
- 3/4 cup Spinach (chopped)
- 3/4 cup Milk
- 2 tablespoons All Purpose Flour
- 1 tablespoon Pepper
- Salt to taste
- Bacon (Fried and Cream for topping)
Method
- 1
Cut the chicken into tiny bite sized pieces and keep aside.
- 2
In a deep pot, add butter, garlic, green chilli and onions. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes, add chicken, barley and 4 cups water. Let this simmer for 35-40 minutes till the barley is almost cooked.
- 3
Add mushrooms, carrots, salt, pepper and the remaining water or stock. Cook this for 20 minutes till the vegetables are cooked through. Mix together milk and flour till there are no lumps and add this mixture to the soup. Bring it to quick boil while stirring continuously and add spinach. Add a little more stock or water if you’d like to thin out the soup. Simmer for five minutes and turn off the heat.
- 4
Let the soup sit for 15 minutes before serving. Top with fried bacon bits and a dollop of cream.
Notes
If you are vegetarian, just skip the bacon and chicken altogether. You may have to adjust the timings and water Adjust the amount of stock based on the consistency you like Leftovers keep for a few days in the fridge and taste just as good the next day
Nutrition
- Calories 218 kcal
- Carbohydrates 29 g
- Protein 15 g
- Fat 5 g
- Saturated Fat 1 g
- Cholesterol 27 mg
- Sodium 131 mg
- Potassium 516 mg
- Fiber 6 g
- Sugar 5 g
- Vitamin A 3976 IU
- Vitamin C 7 mg
- Calcium 89 mg
- Iron 2 mg
Common questions
1. Can I make this in the Instant Pot?
Absolutely! To make this soup in the Instant Pot, start by cooking the veggies on the sauté function, followed by adding the rest of the ingredients and. Pressure cook for about 20 minutes on high heat and allow the pressure to release naturally.
2. What type of barley works best for this soup?
I have used pearl barley which I have for this recipe. This type of barley is processed and the outer layer has been removed. This is what makes it cook a lot faster and taste less chewy. If you don’t have access to pearl barley, you can use other grains like quinoa or brown rice.
