There is nothing more comforting than a warm bowl of chicken soup. Whether it is the chicken noodle variety, chicken and rice, or in this case chicken and barley, each hearty bite of chicken soup is soul warming-ly tasty. What I love about homemade chicken soup is its versatility—if you’re like me, most of the time you have an onion, some carrots and maybe some celery in the fridge already. Those items, plus some chicken stock and a handful of dried pasta or rice and we are already half way to having soup! This recipe for Chicken & Barley Soup with Vegetables is just that—a creation made purely of items I already had in my kitchen. A leftover grilled chicken breast, a variety of vegetables from the produce drawer, a sprinkling of barley and a box of chicken stock from the pantry. Soup is always a welcoming main course and is one of those simple, but super impressive presentations.
(To view this recipe, click on the blue title of the blog post above*)
Chicken & Barley Soup with Vegetables
Ingredients:
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 shallots or ½ yellow onion, diced
- 2 carrots, cut into ¼ inch rounds
- 1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
- 1 cup of cubed, cooked chicken
- 1/2 cup quick-cook barley
- 4 cups of reduced sodium chicken stock
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- In a stock pot heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add in the shallot/onion, carrots and green beans and cook, stirring often for 5-7 minutes. Add in the fresh thyme and mushrooms; reduce heat to medium and continue cooking, stirring often, until the mushrooms are tender (another 3 minutes or so.) Add the chicken, barley and stock to the stock pot, reduced the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 25 minutes. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.
Tagged: barley, carrots, chicken, chicken soup, chicken stock, green beans, mushrooms, shallot, soup, thyme
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