Easy Vegetable Barley Soup Recipe (2024)

Ingredient Notes

• Oil: I prefer olive oil but you can substitute any cooking oil or use a bit of water or vegetable broth for an oil-free recipe.
• Onion: White or yellow onion can be used.
• Carrot and Celery: If you’re missing one of the other, that’s ok. Bell pepper can be substituted for the carrot or celery.
• Sweet Potato: Substitute potato or butternut squash.
• Barley: This recipe uses for pearled barley, or pearl barley, for a quicker cooking time. You can use pot barley with no further adjustments to the recipe. You can use hulled barley but the soup will require a longer cooking time.
• Vegetable Broth: You can use any homemade or packaged vegetable stock, broth or bouillon cubes. Note that the sodium content of broth varies greatly so you’ll need to season the recipe to taste depending on the broth used.
• Spinach: You can use spinach or substitute finely chopped kale.
• Herbs & Spices: The recipe calls for paprika, thyme and oregano. These are flexible. Try using smoked paprika, substitute Italian seasoning for the thyme and oregano or adding additional dried herbs like rosemary or basil.

This list is not complete. Please see the recipe card at the end of the post for the complete ingredient list with measurements and detailed instructions.

Variations & Additions

• Barley Bean Soup: Add 1 can of chickpeas, white beans or kidney beans towards the end of cooking.
• Add up to 1 bell pepper when you add the carrot and celery.
• Add up to 1 cup small cauliflower florets or green beans when you add the sweet potato.
• Up to 1 cup green peas can be added towards the end of cooking.
• Gluten-Free Option: Substitute brown rice for barley.

Step 1: Heat the oil in a large pot then add the diced celery, carrot and onion. Season with salt and pepper and cook 5-7 minutes until softened and fragrant.

Step 2: Add the garlic, tomato paste, paprika, thyme and oregano, stir and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Step 3: Add the sweet potato and barley and stir to coat.

Step 4: Add the diced tomato, vegetable broth and bay leaves and simmer the soup, uncovered for 20 minutes until the sweet potato and barley are tender.

Recipe FAQs

Cooking Tips

• This soup thickens up a lot as it sits, as the barley will absorb more liquid.Extra vegetable broth and seasonings can be added when reheating if making ahead of time.
• If you’re making vegetable substitutions, try to keep the total amount of veggies about the same. Add any root or longer-cooking veggies with the sweet potato. Add quick-cooking vegetables towards the end of cooking or at the end.