Hearty Chicken and Barley Soup - My Gorgeous Recipes (2024)

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Hearty Chicken and Barley Soup with lots of vegetables, a healthy, low calorie, quick and easy soup for those chilly days, although it's light enough to be enjoyed throughout the year. Best made with leftover or rotisserie chicken, this soup is a favourite with kids too, who will love the colourful veggies added to the soup.

Hearty Chicken and Barley Soup - My Gorgeous Recipes (1)

When you go outside in the morning and the cold air slaps you hard in the face, you know that the soup and comfort food season is here.

And soups are your best bet when it comes to homemade goodness that keeps you going. One pot of heavenly flavours, super healthy, and super filling, the kind of soup that make you proud of yourself for staying away from junk food.

One trick when it comes to making a good soup is using a lot of colourful veggies. They not only made the soup denser and richer, but they add the most flavour without any nastiness at all.

Barley isn't something I cook with often, but it's so good and wholesome, great in stews, soup and even porridge.

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  • How to make a chicken and barley soup
  • Expert tips
  • More chicken soup recipes
  • Hearty Chicken and Barley Soup
Hearty Chicken and Barley Soup - My Gorgeous Recipes (2)

How to make a chicken and barley soup

For this recipe I used leftover roast chicken, but rotisserie chicken can be used too, or deli chicken. Alternatively, any other leftover meat could do.

  • Add the chicken stock to a large pan, chop the vegetables and add them in too.
  • Add the barley too and cook for about 15 minutes or until the barley is cooked, then add the frozen spinach and leave to cook for a further 5 minute. Add more chicken broth is necessary.
  • Season with salt, pepper, herbs, add the lemon juice and tomato paste, and give it a good stir.
  • Add the cooked chicken, freshly chopped parsley, and remove from the heat.
  • Serve hot!
Hearty Chicken and Barley Soup - My Gorgeous Recipes (3)

Expert tips

I used quick cook barley, which was ready in about 15 minutes or so, but otherwise you can just leave it to cook for longer if it's not as soft as you'd like.

Leftover or rotisserie chicken work best here, saving you time and hassle, but you can also cook the chicken separately in case you don't have ready cooked one.

You can safely freeze any leftover soup, I actually tend to cook a bigger batch of food, and freeze whatever is left, in this way I don't need to worry about having freshly cooked food all the time.

If you are looking for other variations of meat and barley soup, how about my Vegetable Beef Barley Soup recipe? It's so filling and comforting.

More chicken soup recipes

Homemade Cream of Chicken Soup

Slow Cooker Chicken Soup with Vegetables

Leftover Roast Chicken Noodle Soup

Hearty Chicken and Barley Soup - My Gorgeous Recipes (4)

If you’ve liked theseHEALTHY CHICKEN AND BARLEY SOUP WITH VEGETABLESor any other recipe on the blog, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can alsoFOLLOW MEonFACEBOOK, andPINTERESTto see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.

Hearty Chicken and Barley Soup - My Gorgeous Recipes (5)

Hearty Chicken and Barley Soup

Hearty Chicken and Barley Soup with lots of vegetables, a healthy, low calorie, quick and easy soup for those chilly days, although it's light enough to be enjoyed throughout the year. Best made with leftover or rotisserie chicken, this soup is a favourite with kids too, who will love the colourful veggies added to the soup.

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Course: Soup

Cuisine: International

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 232kcal

Author: Daniela Apostol

Ingredients

  • ½ cup pearl barley
  • 1 onion
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 swede
  • 1 celery
  • 1 cup frozer spinach
  • 5 cups chicken broth (stock)
  • 1 tablespoon tomato puree
  • ½ teaspoon salt and pepper
  • ½ teaspoon Italian herbs
  • fresh parsley to garnish
  • ½ tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 cup shredded cooked chicken

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

  • Add the chicken stock to a large pan, chop the vegetables and add them in too.

  • Add the barley too and cook for about 15 minutes or until the barley is cooked, then add the frozen spinach and leave to cook for a further 5 minute. Add more chicken broth is necessary.

  • Season with salt, pepper, herbs, add the lemon juice and tomato paste, and give it a good stir.

  • Add the cooked chicken, freshly chopped parsley, and remove from the heat.

  • Serve hot!

Notes

  • Add more chicken broth (stock) if necessary, depending how thick you like the soup.
  • Leftover or rotisserie chicken are the best, but you can cook the chicken separately too and add it to the pan once the vegetables and barley are cooked.

Nutrition

Calories: 232kcal | Carbohydrates: 37g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 27mg | Sodium: 1528mg | Potassium: 1011mg | Fiber: 9g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 8115IU | Vitamin C: 89.2mg | Calcium: 140mg | Iron: 2.9mg

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Hearty Chicken and Barley Soup - My Gorgeous Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the story of chicken soup with barley about? ›

It spans 20 years of the lives of the Jewish, immigrant Kahn family living in 1936 in London, and traces the downfall of their ideals in a changing world, parallel to the disintegration of the family. The protagonists are the parents, Sarah and Harry, and their children, Ada and Ronnie.

How many calories are in a bowl of chicken barley soup? ›

This is one of my family's favorite soups!!! The barley adds an amazing amount of fiber and the squash, carrots, celery, and onions are loaded with vitamins. You can replace the chicken with turkey if desired. One cup has just 142 calories, 1 gram of fat and 5 grams of fiber.

Who wrote the play "Chicken Soup"? ›

Arnold Wesker's play charts the collapse of an East End family over 20 years as their political ideals disintegrate; from the highs of Cable Street to the lows of the Cold War.

What is the purpose of barley in soup? ›

Barley's fiber content helps prevent constipation and promote regularity for a healthy digestive tract. Eating fiber-rich foods such as barley may also contribute to weight loss. This is because it functions as a “bulking agent” in the digestive system, making a person feel fuller for longer.

Are the chicken soup stories true? ›

A Chicken Soup for the Soul story is an inspirational, true story about ordinary people having extraordinary experiences.

What is the most important ingredient in soup? ›

For clear, brothy soups, stock is your most important ingredient. If you want to make a good soup, you need to use an excellently flavored stock — otherwise, the entire pot could be tasteless.

How do you make soup taste deeper? ›

"If your broth is lacking in savory richness, try adding roasted onion, tomato paste, mushrooms, seaweed, soy sauce, or miso. These ingredients add umami flavor and depth to broth," she says. The choice of ingredient depends on the recipe, though.

Does barley need to be cooked before adding to soup? ›

Do you cook barley before adding it to soup? Your beef barley soup will simmer long enough to cook the barley. There is no need for the additional step of cooking the barley first.

Do you soak barley before cooking? ›

Do you have to soak barley before cooking? Pearl barley does not need to be soaked prior to cooking because it cooks quickly. Hulled barley benefits from soaking in water for a few hours before cooking. However, you should still budget more time for the hulled grain to cook (about 35 to 40 minutes).

Does barley soup have a lot of carbs? ›

Beef barley soup, reduced fat and sodium (1 cup) contains 20.2g total carbs, 17.1g net carbs, 2.1g fat, 8.2g protein, and 129 calories.

Who invented chicken soup? ›

Chicken noodle soup, as we know it today, has its origins traced back to recipes created in Jewish, Amish, and Mennonite communities in Scotland and Poland that immigrated to the USA 2.

What were the chicken soup books? ›

Chicken Soup for the Soul is a series of books, usually featuring a collection of short, inspirational stories and motivational essays. The 101 stories in the first book of the series were compiled by motivational speakers Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. There have been numerous volumes of Chicken Soup issued.

Who played the chicken song? ›

"The Chicken" or simply "Chicken" is an instrumental funk tune composed by Pee Wee Ellis that was the B-side to James Brown's 1969 single "The Popcorn". The tune gained greater exposure with versions by jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius.

What does the expression chicken soup mean? ›

(figuratively) A cure for a wide variety of illnesses or other problems.

What were the pigs doing with all the barley? ›

The pigs cook up barley and instead of using it to feed the hungry animals, the use it to brew beer. They give each pig an allowance of a pint of beer a day with a half gallon for Napoleon.

What is the meaning of Chicken Soup for the Soul? ›

They called it Chicken Soup for the Soul because they wanted it to soothe and provide comfort, just like their grandmothers' cooking. They took the book to New York, hoping to sell it to one of the big publishers, but every single one turned them down.

What is the history of chicken soup? ›

So much so, it's easy to forget that the origins of this Jewish staple are actually found in ancient Greece and China. The Greek version evolved over the centuries into avgolemono, a broth that is seasoned with egg and lemon and sometimes cooked with a little rice.

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