I was on a college road trip when I had my first taste of Mushroom Barley Soup. My friends and I stopped at a roadside deli—I wish I could remember the name of the place. What I do remember is that piping hot bowl of delicious soup. It was love at first bite.
You can find this soup on most Jewish deli menus. The dish has roots in the Ashkenazi Jewish communities of Eastern Europe. Mushrooms were popular in these cold-weather countries because they could be harvested, dried, and stored for later use. In my friend Etti Hadar’s family memoir, her Polish uncle Dov Levin talks about how his mother used to string up rows of mushrooms with a thread and needle in the attic. They would hang the mushrooms near the chimney; the heat of the stove would dry them out faster that way.
Barley was also plentiful and easy to grow in the Eastern European climate, making it a common addition to hearty winter dishes like soup and cholent. Barley’s history goes back even further; in fact, it is arguably the world’s first and most ancient cultivated grain. It is also one of the Seven Species mentioned in the Bible.
Ever since that fateful college road trip, I’ve worked on creating my own soup recipe to achieve what I consider the perfect balance of mushroom barley flavor. I’ve stuck to simple, natural ingredients. Inspired by Uncle Dov’s memoir, I added dried mushrooms with their soaking liquid to the broth, along with fresh mushrooms seared golden brown. The combination adds complex flavor to an otherwise simple soup. A long, slow simmer reduces the broth, making the soup thick and rich.
This robust, filling soup makes a hearty lunch or dinner on a chilly autumn day. Despite being “comfort food,” it is surprisingly healthy. Barley is rich in dietary fiber and selenium. The grain also contains beta glucan, a complex sugar that can help to lower cholesterol. Enjoy!
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Mushroom Barley Soup
Ingredients
- 3 quarts chicken or mushroom stock (low sodium okay)
- 1 1/4 cups pearl barley
- 2 bay leaves
- 6 dried shitake mushrooms
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 cup chopped celery, including leaves
- 1 cup peeled and chopped carrots
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- 1 pound white mushrooms, scrubbed and sliced
- Salt and pepper
NOTES
Instructions
- Pour chicken or mushroom stock into a large stockpot and bring to a boil. Stir in the barley, add the bay leaves, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered. Set your timer for 2:15 (2 hours 15 minutes) starting now.
- While the soup simmers, place dried mushrooms in a separate small saucepan. Add 3 cups of water to the saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. As soon as the water boils, remove saucepan from heat and let the mushrooms soak for 20 minutes.
- Drain the mushroom water by straining it through a coffee filter (use a mesh strainer or colander to hold the filter). Reserve the mushroom water.
- Chop the soaked, softened mushrooms into small pieces and reserve.
- Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onion to the skillet and sauté till softened.
- Add the celery and carrots and sauté for 5 more minutes till everything is browning and starting to caramelize.
- Add the soaked chopped dried mushroom pieces and crushed garlic, sauté for 2 more minutes. Your kitchen should smell really good right about now!
- Scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the skillet. Pour the strained mushroom broth into the skillet, bring to a boil, stir. Cook for 2 more minutes till mixture is hot and bubbly. Add the contents of the skillet to the simmering stockpot with the broth and barley.
- Without rinsing the skillet, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium high heat, tilting to coat the bottom of the pan. Spread half of the sliced white mushrooms in a single layer at the bottom of the skillet. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper and turn heat to high. Let the mushrooms sear without stirring.
- After 2 minutes, stir the mushrooms continuously for another 1-2 minutes until they are seared golden brown and shrink to about half their size.
- Pour the seared mushrooms into the soup pot. Heat the last 1 tbsp olive oil in the skillet and repeat the process for the remaining mushrooms. Add the rest of the seared mushrooms to the soup pot, stir to blend all ingredients.
- Reduce heat to a low simmer. Let the soup cook uncovered until your timer goes off (2 hours 15 minutes total cooking time), or until the barley is completely tender and the soup is nicely thickened. Add water during the simmer if the soup becomes overly thick. At the end of cooking, season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot.
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
Other Great Recipe Ideas
In Erika’s Kitchen: Winter Greens Soup with Mushrooms
The Pioneer Woman: French Onion Soup Stuffed Mushrooms
Simply Recipes: Mushroom Risotto
Kalyn’s Kitchen: Chicken Barley Soup
Weelicious: Barley, Chicken and Broccoli Salad
Mr Nanda Kirpekar says
There are 3 great soups in this world (at least, the vegetarian world, to which I belong). These are Potage Parmentier (Potato and Leek Soup), Potage au Pistou (Provencal vegetable soup with two pestos, one tomato and one basil) and Tori’s Mushroom Barley Soup. The first two are by Julia Child, the third is by an equally gifted master of the art. Thank you!
Hilary says
HI Tori,
This is, without a doubt, the best mushroom barley soup I’ve ever had! And I made it!!! I’m a so so cook and I followed your directions to the t. It was so good that I ate every spoonful (except for the bit I mixed in with my dogs food…she has a very sofisticated palette and wouldn’t leave my side until I shared some with her). I am right now making my second batch so this time I will share it with friends so they know what an awesome soup maker I am. Thanks for sharing this delicious recipe!
Hilary
Tori Avey says
I think your dog and my dog were separated at birth! Haha glad you’re enjoying the recipe!
Melanie Cole Goldberg says
Recipe turned out great. Delicious!
barb says
I made this with only 1tbs of olive oil and it was delicious! No need to add all those extra calories.
Judith Kelly says
I made this soup for dinner last night. The only change I made was that I halved the recipe because we are only two. Oh my gosh, I have to say that it was spectacular. We both went back for seconds and my partner took the rest of it for lunch today. This is a keeper and I will make it again and again. Thank you Tori for some lovely ideas and delicious food.
Yael says
hi Tori
I have celiac and cannot have barley
This recipe for mushroom barley sounds amazing would love to try it what can I replace the barley please let me know
Thanks
Karen says
There is a chinese grain called Jobs Tears. It looks like barley but is gluten free. I bought mine from amazon, but asian stores likely have it.
Carol says
On this night of Hanukkah I was craving mushroom barley soup. I consider myself an excellent cook but was never happy with my mushroom barley soup. This one is perfect! I followed recipe exactly and it is wonderful. I follow your recipe for challah as well and will add this to my recipe book – to your credit of course!
Thanks for this soup reminiscent of my Jewish grandmother!
Tori Avey says
Happy to hear that Carol! 🙂
Juli E. says
I have been making this soup for a few years now, and it never fails to gain a new fan whenever I serve it. My family loves this in the winter, and I make sure it’s always on the menu during our Hanukkah celebratory dinners. My husband makes potato knishes to go with the soup, and a side salad completes the meal. I LOVE this soup, and am so grateful that you shared it with us.
Mardi D. says
I made this soup for dinner to make use of turkey stock I had made and dried mushrooms I was given that I had no idea of what to do with. I was looking for something other than the usual turkey noodle or turkey vegetable that I was in the habit of making. This was a good choice. I will admit that I made a half recipe and loaded all the ingredients into a slow cooker at the beginning as I knew I would not be around for the 2+ hour steps as outlined in the recipe. I did all the prep steps for the vegetables and mushrooms loaded everything in, came back 5 hours later, and the result was fabulous! Perfect for the cool autumn day! I look forward to trying the recipe without using a slow cooker since I can guess that it will be even better.
CDir says
Just done this soup last night. Probably the best Ive ever made. The dry mushrooms are soooo good. Thanks to your kindness in sharing this.
Christine Ruggiero says
This has to be the best Mushroom Barley Soup I’ve ever had.. The cooking directions were so easy to follow, the outcome was delicious
Lori says
Delishious! Thank you!!
Rebecca says
I have made this soup several times, and every time I knew it was missing something. Finally I figured it out! It’s a little bit of lemon juice. It brightens the flavors and adds the acid that’s needed! Eating it in this cold weather!
HomemadeMother says
Excellent recipe! Just like I remember enjoying on Christmas Eve with my Polish relatives. Thank you for sharing!
Wanda says
Is it possible to use quick cooking barley instead? I have not had good luck with regular barely and don’t want to spend a lot of time and barely isn’t soft enough. Thank you.
Tori Avey says
Wanda quick cooking barley should work fine, although it might end up softer in texture depending on how long it is supposed to cook. I would say prepare the soup as written but without barley, then add the quick cooking barley to the broth towards the end of cooking and cook it for the time recommended on the box, but not much longer than that (otherwise you might end up with mushy soup).
Jordan says
This is delicious- and your instructions were so easy to follow (thank you!)
Tori Avey says
You’re welcome!
Diane says
We just made this soup – very easy to make. It is excellent! It has been added to our list of favorites.
JCarol says
Hi Tori,
I followed your recipe very closely – the only changes I made were vegetable stock to make it vegan, and nearly doubling the vegetable quantities so it would be heartier.
Wow! What a great soup! I’d never before worked with dried mushrooms but felt confident using them because of your photos and detailed instructions. (For some reason I thought they would be expensive, hard to find and difficult to work with – they were none of those… I got them at Trader Joe’s for $1.99 and prep was a breeze.)
Thank you for a Keeper Recipe!
Tori Avey says
So happy to hear that JCarol! You’re very welcome. 🙂
Judi says
I love this soup. Mushroom and barley……..the best……one question……how many calories, carbs etc.?
The FrenchSchikse says
Dear Tori,
I must thank you for this delicious soup, which now takes place in my own collection.
I just slightly modified it : in a first version, I soaked the barley overnight to reduce the cooking time, and cooked it as a risotto, (this is actually not a soup anynmore 🙂 ). In a second version, I used barley flour instead of pearled barley to make a “velouté” (it’s much faster :-)) and, as a genuine french cooker, I also added some cream (which of course wrecks any cashrout 🙁 ).
In both versions, I omit garlic and bay leaves.
Thank you again for all your yummy dishes – and sorry for the broken english.