Chicken Barley Soup
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A cozy and delicious Chicken Barley Soup Recipe. Filled with chicken and vegetables, this secretly healthy, hearty soup is a must try!
If you’re looking for a cozy soup that can be done in under an hour, that’s perfect for the fall/winter months- this Chicken Barley Soup is for you!
Our beef barley soup has been a staple for years, but we love the lighter chicken version just as much!
This soup has an abundance of veggies and over 30g of protein per serving. Perfect for dinner, or for meal prep!
Liz’s Tip for the Best Chicken Barley Soup
- Use a parmesan cheese rind! These make a huge difference in the flavor of the soup. You can usually find them in the cheese section at the grocery store/
Ingredients:
substitutions
Olive Oil: You could use avocado oil, but we recommend extra virgin olive oil
Chicken Thighs: You can substitute chicken thighs with boneless chicken breasts or chicken tenders, but we like the texture and flavor of the chicken thighs the best. If you prefer beef, try our Beef Barley Soup.
Vegetables: Our staple of carrots, celery, onion and garlic is the base of almost every soup we make, so we don’t recommend substituting them. The peas and corn pair so well with the barley, but can be omitted as well. Other vegetables that would work in this recipe include: fennel, leeks, green beans, bell peppers, and kale.
Broth: Any broth or stock (broth and stock are the same) can be used in any soup recipe. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.
Barley: Pearl barley is ideal for this recipe, but it can be substituted with rice and farro. If you prefer noodles, try Chicken Noodle Soup.
Tomato Paste: Tomato paste helps build the flavor of this soup, but it can be swapped for crushed tomatoes or tomato puree. It can be omitted if needed.
Spices: Thyme and sage can be used in place of rosemary and parsley; the bay leaves add flavor as well, but these can be omitted if needed.
Parmesan Cheese Rind: This is optional, but we highly recommend it. The Parmesan cheese rind slowly melts into the stock and adds a lot of flavor and seasoning to the broth.
How to Make Chicken Barley Soup
- Sauté carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in oil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in the chicken thighs, chicken broth, barley, tomato paste, spices, and parmesan. Cover and bring to a boil. Then, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Once cooked, shred the chicken with two forks, then add it back to the pot.
- Stir in the corn and peas. Remove the bay leaves and cheese rind before serving.
What to Serve with Chicken Barley Soup
We love to add crunchy croutons to Chicken and Barley Soup.
You could also serve this with a side salad like our Blueberry Spinach Salad, Spinach Strawberry Salad, or Peach Salad with Goat Cheese!
storage
Storing: This chicken and barley soup leftovers will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: You can freeze this recipe for up to 3 months. We like these containers for freezing.
Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave, toaster oven, oven or on the stove.
other Easy Soup recipes:
Chicken Barley Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups diced carrots
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1½ pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 quarts low sodium chicken broth
- ¾ cup dry pearl barley
- ¼ cup tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 Parmesan rind
- 1 cup corn
- 1 cup peas
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic to the pot. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the chicken thighs, chicken broth, barley, tomato paste, garlic powder, black pepper, parsley rosemary, salt, bay leaves and parmesan to the pot. Stir to combine.
- Cover the pot and turn the heat to high. Bring the soup to a boil. It should take about 10 minutes to come to a boil. Once the soup is boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Once the soup has cooked for 20 minutes, remove the chicken from the pot. Shred the chicken with two forks. Add the shredded chicken back to the pot.
- Stir in the corn and peas.
- Remove the bay leaves and cheese rind before serving.
I loved this soup! I didn’t have enough chicken so I added some frozen (cooked) turkey meatballs toward the end (and cut them in half when heated) and added frozen chopped kale (no celery). Loved the barley in it and the parm rind gave the broth a nice flavour boost. Will definitely make this again! 😋
This is a great recipe but I needed to add another 1 1/2 cups of broth, otherwise I had stew. But it was delicious!
Looks delicious and can’t wait to try it! Thank you for all these wonderful recipes! Question: The cooking instructions on the pearled barley that I have states to simmer for 45 to 50 minutes. Is it okay to cook the barley separately then and add it to the soup once the soup has finished cooking?
Hi! I wouldn’t recommend cooking the barley separately, as it won’t have as much flavor, and the soup will have too much liquid. The barley is cooking for about 45 minutes in this recipe. It takes about 10 minutes to come to a boil, then cooks for 20 minutes. It continues to cook while you shred your chicken, stir the chicken in and stir the peas/corn. It also continues to cook as the soup cooks. We tested this multiple times with no issues on the barley so I’d follow the recipe as is 🙂 Hope this helps!
Thanks, Liz! Your response was very helpful and appreciated!