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Vegetable and Barley Soup

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Barley and vegetable soup recipe

With the recent spate of cold wet weather we’ve been having in Brisbane I found myself craving soup.  I wanted something healthy (to make up for all the baking I’ve been doing recently) and satisfying and I decided to make a vegetable and barley soup.

Vegetable and barley soup reminds me of a soup my Nan used to make when I was a little girl.  When we visited my Nan we’d often find that she’d have a soup bubbling away on the stove.  I think this is where my love of soups comes from…..I guess that’s also what happens when you grow up in Tasmania where the winters are bitterly cold.

Barley, if you’re not familiar with it, is a grain derived from grass.  It’s health benefits include the fact it is high in both soluble and insoluble fibre, assists in lowering cholesterol and aids in regulating blood sugar.  Aside from it’s health benefits, it’s filling, making it a great addition to soups.

vegetable barley soup recipe

How to make vegetable barley soup

Whilst this vegetable and barley soup recipe is vegetarian and vegan but you could also just as easily incorporate your favourite meat stock.

Vegetable and Barley Soup

Ingredients:

  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 shallot, diced
  • 2 stalks of celery, diced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, diced
  • 2 tbsp of olive oil
  • 2 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 8 mushrooms, cleaned and diced
  • 1 parsnip, peeled and diced
  • 2 zucchini, diced
  • 12 cherry tomatoes, chopped into quarters
  • 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme leaves, chopped
  • 1 400g tin of diced tomatoes
  • 2 cups of barley
  • 2 litres of vegetable stock

Method:

1. In a large soup pot, over a medium heat, sautee the onion, shallot, celery and garlic in the olive oil until the onion begins to turn translucent.

2. Add the carrot, parsnip, mushrooms and zucchini and cook until they start to soften.

3. Then add the cherry tomatoes and thyme and cook for a couple of minutes before adding the vegetable stock, tinned tomatoes and barley.  Cover and simmer for 1 hour or until the barley is tender.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I'm going to do this soup in the slower cooker 2MORO do you think it will work out the same

    Reply

  2. Luv this recipe and tastes great – but it’s so thick

    with barley. I did exactly as the recipe. Did anyone

    else discover this too.

    Reply

    • Hi Pammie, sorry to hear your soup turned out so thick. Whilst the one I made had a relatively large amount of barley it wasn't thick. Maybe you will need to reduce the barley by half next time. Glad to hear you enjoyed it nonetheless. 🙂

      Reply

  3. Love the pictures! Making this tomorrow/making a big batch in hopes that I can munch on it until we have Thanksgiving here in the states. The cold has just recently hit my state pretty good so this'll keep me warmed up!

    Reply

  9. I stumbled on your site while searching for a barley soup….and I m so glad to have found you.beautiful pictures and easy recipes…what more could one ask for.I particularly like the addition of parsnip in this recipe…never tried it in soups.
    Will come back soon for more goodies!

    Reply

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