This simple and yet easy Vegetable Barley soup is one of my family’s favorite soups! This Instant Pot Vegetable Barley Soup Recipe is hearty, satisfying, and so filling. It’s filled with fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Instant pot Barley soup makes a great dinner any night of the week and it is ridiculously easy and quick. Let me show you how!
Hey Everyone !! Hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving with your family and friends and all the Black Friday shopping. Did you get all your items on your list? Was Instant pot on your shopping list? I am hoping a lot of our readers got an Instant pot after seeing so many delicious, quick recipes from us. Instant Pot is definitely worth the hype. Bloggers and foodies have been going crazy about Instant Pots over the past 2 years and I must say Anvita and myself got one last year.
The Instant pot was gathering dust sitting in the box for around 6 months as we were not completely convinced about the benefits. We took our time and analysis before hopping on the instant pot train! For newbies, an Instant Pot is a multi-function electric pressure cooker with multiple pre-configured settings. These settings remove the guesswork out of cooking.
This Vegetable Barley Soup is perfect when the weather starts to become cooler, and the light outside gets dimmer and dark. Its a simple and comforting meal that takes only a few moments to put together and sounds like the perfect thing to prepare. Bright vegetables, hearty Barley, fresh cilantro come together to create a bold flavorful in a bowl big comfort food hug —a delicious soup finished with a healthy squeeze of a vibrantly ripe and juicy lime.
So what is Barley?
Barley is a part of the grass family and is most popular after wheat, corn, and rice. Barley is a whole grain that is high in fiber, and protein. When cooked perfectly, barley has a chewy texture and a nutty flavor which is a bit similar to brown rice. Whole grain barley is a healthy high-fiber, high-protein whole grain boasting numerous health benefits. You can serve vegetarian curries, or vegetable stir-fry over barley over instead of rice.
Why you should include barley in your diet?
Barley, as per FDA, reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and can lower cholesterol. It contains insoluble fiber that can reduce the risk of Type 2 diabetes and colon cancer. It is high in fiber and protein and a good substitute for wheat and rice.
What is Turmeric?
Turmeric is a relative of the ginger family. It is vivid yellow orange in color and is commonly used in Indian, Southeast Asian, and Middle Eastern cooking. It has great medicinal properties and has been touted as a super food that can fight cancer, ease depression, and more. If you are under the weather, try this Turmeric Milk to help you get back on track with its medicinal benefits.
I just know winters were going to be a tough this year when the snow arrived at the beginning of November. Kids coughing and parents down with a sinus headache becomes a pretty common scene in every home. There’s no better comfort food than this Instant Pot vegetable Barley soup when you’re under the weather. It’s pure comfort and nourishment on a spoon! This Instant pot barley soup is loaded with health-supporting ingredients like ginger, garlic, turmeric, and lemongrass.
Anti-inflammatory and wonderfully tasty, these amazing aromatics create a light and bright soup Comforting and good for you! It’s absolutely a win-win, whether you’re sick or not. It is so delicious, light, and healthy, this Instant pot Vegetable barley soup is easy to make, too — you’re just a half hour away from a big fragrant pot of soup! Make lots, eat some, freeze some.
Winter has just started, so start making some soup, dividing it into individual servings, and stashing it all in the freezer. I’m always so grateful to have this soup ready to go, for when a cold hits the house!
Stay healthy, everyone, and eat lots of soup! If you like this soup, you can try our Italian Lentil Soup, Tomato Basil Soup, Instant Pot Minestrone Soup, Instant Pot Vegetable Quinoa Soup or Instant Pot Vegan Pumpkin Soup.
Vegetable Barley Soup Recipe - Video
Instant Pot Vegetable Barley Soup
This simple and yet easy Vegetable Barley soup is one of my family’s favorite soups! This Instant Pot Vegetable Barley Soup Recipe is hearty, satisfying, and so filling. It’s filled with fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals. Instant pot Barley soup makes a great dinner any night of the week and it is ridiculously easy and quick. Let me show you how!
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon olive oil or vegetable broth
- 1 medium yellow onion/ diced
- 2 carrots/ peeled and chopped
- 2 celery stalks/chopped
- 3 cloves garlic/ minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger/ finely chopped
- 1 cup Green peas
- 1 teaspoon Cumin powder
- 1/2 cup Corn
- 1 cup Pumpkin/ Chopped
- 2 tablespoon Cilantro/ chopped
- 1 cup organic Pearl Barley / Jau (called in India)/picked and washed
- 6 cups low sodium vegetable broth/ water
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- 2 teaspoon Dried Lemongrass powder
- salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Turn the Instant pot on to the saute setting and add the oil or vegetable broth.
- Add in the onion , Carrots, Celery , Pumpkin, Peas, corn, chopped garlic and ginger and give it a stir .
- Add salt to taste, cumin powder, turmeric powder, and dried lemongrass powder and saute for 1 minute. Turn off the pot.
- Add the Pearl Barley and the broth or water. Cover and set the Instant Pot to manual for 6 minutes with the valve set to sealing. It will take about 8-10 minutes to pressurize before the pressure cooking begins.
- Do a quick release (QR), take off the top away from your body. Sprinkle the chopped cilantro. Season with pepper to taste and serve it warm!
Notes
This recipe makes a mild, kid-friendly soup. For more spice add more herbs or add a few splashes of hot sauce before serving.
This soup can easily made Plant based .. just substitute the oil for vegetable broth or water .
Richard K. Jolliffe says
I think I'll soak the barley before making this again. After six minutes the barley was still pretty hard. I did another five minutes but still not done enough. i didn't want to do more for fear of turning the vegetables into mush. I also found that i needed to add more broth than the recipe called for.
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Richard, I think you used hulled barley which takes double the time (maybe more) peral barley cooks in lesser time. Do check which barley you used :)
Ashley says
Can I use rice instead of barley. I dont have barely but really want to make this!!
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Ashley, yes you can use rice , quinoa, bulgar wheat instead of barley. Do share your feedback with us.
Chuck Cunningham says
Just made this soup. Great. I thought the pearl barley had too much bite, but more cooking time would have mushed the carrots. Next time I will soak it a little first. Unless the reheated leftovers have softened it some. Thanks for the post.
Sande says
Do you suggest using frozen peas and corn or the canned version of them? Thank you.
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Sandi, we have used the frozen peas and corn. When you make it do share your experience with us :)
Joan Stulginskas says
Can you suggest if I could replace the fresh pumpkin with canned and how much?
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Joan, if you don't have fresh you can skip and add 2 potatoes or sweet potatoes.skip the canned stuff :) if you try it do share your feedback with us. Namaste ?
Ingrid Rizzolo says
Vegetable Barley soup is healthy meal. The barley would make it also very filling. I know it is delicious too because it includes corn.. I love corn and any dish with corn in it would inevitably taste delicious.
Amanda says
Oh man! I need to get in on this instant pot thing! I keep hearing about it but I'm too scared to try! Looks tasty!
Luci Cook says
This looks like a really tasty soup. Perfect for the cold weather we are having.
Joan says
This looks delicious I love using turmeric in most of my dishes, makes the colours pop and helps with flavour too.
Marlynn | UrbanBlissLife says
Yum! This is the perfect way to warm up after being out in the chilly weather!
Sonal says
Absolutely loved the recipe. Now I am tempted to use barley in the recipes. Always thought barley would take so much more time. 6 minutes is magic.
Nancy says
If hulless barley is used, would the cook time be adjusted at all?
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Nancy , If you are using HUlless Barley ( Soak it foe 4 - 6 hours) drain it and the cook time will be 15 mins. hope this helps :) Do share your feedback with us .
Colleen Fedak says
Pearl barley is not a whole grain,it is more refined than pot barley. The whole barley is called hulled or hulless barley. It would still be a very filling soup, though.
Soniya Saluja says
Hi Colleen , we have used Pearl Barley in this recipe! yes its very filling and delicious at the same time.Thanks!