Healthy mushroom barley soup
This super comforting mushroom and barley soup is a great recipe to share with anyone looking for nourishing lunch or dinner ideas.
This is my version of the popular detox cleanses that only allow you to drink green juice, honey water, and cayenne pepper.
If you do like cleanses, don’t let me stop you. I prefer to combat that sluggish I’ve-eaten-way-too-many-holiday-cookies feeling with balanced meals like this healthy and nourishing mushroom barley soup.
This is the perfect recipe for cold days or evenings when you want to stay in bed and cuddle by a fireplace.
It’s nice to return home from a cold day and find a bowl of hot soup.
Easy mushroom soup
This is my favorite soup recipe I have been making for many years.
Sometimes, I add spinach or kale to the dish for extra nutrition. Or I can substitute rice for barley.
After I could no longer buy a packaged mushroom barley recipe I loved in college from the famous vegetarian Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca, New York, I decided to make my own.
When I lived in the dorms, without an oven or stove, their vegan mushroom barley was my go-to comfort food. I often ate this soup in my tiny closet dorm, with whatever bread or roll I could get from the dining hall that day.
This plant-based meal was not gourmet but was delicious, cozy, and comforting. It was the perfect meal for a young girl who had just moved out and missed having a home-cooked, healthy meal.
Vegetarian mushroom barley soup ingredients
This recipe uses pearl barley and salt with dried thyme and rosemary, as well as vegetable broth, sliced onions, mushrooms, carrots, celery, or celery.
I usually use white button mushrooms. Mix and match porcini mushrooms with portabella, maitake, oyster, or king trumpet.
In my Buffalo Chickpea Chilli recipe, I mentioned using the Trader Joe Mirepoix blend whenever a recipe requires diced carrots, onions, or celery. You won’t have to chop onions or celery as much, and you’ll be able to enjoy the recipe without wasting a lot of celery.
This is why you may have noticed in the video above that I added the onion, and then suddenly, celery appeared.
How to prepare the recipe
To add flavor, sauté the garlic and onion in butter or olive oil. Cook the onion for 5 minutes or until it begins to brown.
Mix all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a rolling boil on medium heat. Cover the pot once it reaches boiling point. Reduce heat to simmer, and cook carrots for an hour or until soft.
Serve immediately or cool down before dividing and refrigerating any leftovers. The next day, this soup is even better.
Ingredients
4 cups vegetable broth
1 tbsp of minced garlic
12 oz sliced mushrooms
1 cup diced onions
1 1/2 cups diced carrot
Add 1 cup of carrots or celery or an additional cup to the recipe.
1 cup pearl barley (rice can also be used)
Optional: 2 tbsp of butter, oil, or tahini for a richer taste
1/4 tsp dried Thyme
1 tsp of dried rosemary
Salt 2 tsp
Instructions
Sauté the garlic and onion in butter or oil for 5 minutes or until the onions brown. This step adds flavor, but you can skip it and combine the ingredients simultaneously. Bring all ingredients to a boil in a medium-sized pot. After boiling, cover and reduce to simmer for an hour. You can also use a slow cooker if that’s what you prefer. The soup is much better the next day. You can freeze leftovers. Instant Pot Version: First, cook the barley (either on the stove or in the instant pot), then add all the ingredients to your instant pot and cook for 3 minutes.
