Grandma's Chicken-Barley Soup

Submitted by Outta Here

"This is the way my Grandma made barley soup (she also made a version using beef stew meat). Great on a cold day served with a crusty French bread."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 30mins
• Ingredients: 16
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 large chicken thighs, bone-in and skin on
• 6 cups chicken broth, divided
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced
• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 3⁄4 cup pearl barley, rinsed
• 1 (14 1/2 ounce) can tomatoes, diced (do not drain)
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (to taste)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano
• salt and black pepper (to taste)
• 2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, minced

directions

1. Heat oil over medium-high temperature in a large, heavy stockpot. Add chicken thighs, skin side down, and brown.
2. Add 2 cups of the broth to pan and turn heat down to medium-low. Cover pot with lid. Cook about 40 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Leaving broth in pan, remove chicken to a bowl and set aside to cool slightly. Cover and refrigerate.
3. Add remaining broth to pan. Stir in remaining ingredients (except salt, pepper and parsley). Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover pan. Simmer about 1 1/2 hours, until barley and vegetables are done.
4. Meanwhile, remove chicken meat and skin from bones. Discard bones and coarsely chop meat and skin (if you do not want the skin, skip the browning process and discard skin after removing meat from bones). Add to pot for last 1/2 hour and cook until heated through. (If soup is too thick at this point, add some water) Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add parsley and ladle into bowls.

Reviews

[king.hmk]

This was delicious. Definitely a keeper. Just a note, I used mushroom broth cause it's what I had on hand and it was awesome.

 

[Debbie S.]

awesome recipe. I used Quick Barley and drained the tomatoes

 

[lisatav1214]

I really enjoyed this recipe. I plan on freezing the extra in individual sized containers for the a quick dinner another night. I did find it to be to thick so I added 3 cups of water and 8oz extra of chicken broth. Also I used fresh basil from my garden and only used 3 medium carrots. I used baby bella mushrooms and they were great! Wonderful recipe. Love the barley and mushroom combination.

 

[pamela t.]

Really a nice soup. Loved the barley and mushrooms together. Made for Football Pool, Week 1, 2013 Season.

 

[WiGal]

Very tasty soup for cool sunny day! Surprised me, not dh, that chicken thighs were okay have always hung back from them. Economical too. Don't know much about barley, bought quick but next time will buy medium, as the quick barley disintegrated into broth. Thanks for sharing.