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chicken barley soup in a white bowl on a vintage cutting board

Best Ever Chicken Barley Soup From Scratch

Chicken barley soup so easy to make from scratch and full of delicious vegetables like carrots, celery and barley!
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Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
1 hour
Total Time: 4 hours 20 minutes
Course: Soup
Cuisine: American
Keyword: barley soup, chicken barley soup, easy chicken recipe, how to make chicken barley soup, soup
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 204kcal
Author: Deborah McDonald
Cost: 20

Equipment

Ingredients

Chicken Broth Ingredients

  • 1 Whole Roasted Chicken Shred and remove the meat.​
  • 1/2 cup Onion Diced
  • 8 cups Water or 7 cups of Pre-Made Low Sodium Chicken Broth
  • 1 tbsp Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/2 tbsp Dried Rosemary 
  • 1/2 tbsp Dried oregano
  • 1/2 tbsp Dried Savory Spice (optional)

Chicken Barley Soup Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp Oil
  • 1/4 cup Onion
  • 1 cup Carrots, cut into bite-size pieces.
  • 1 cup 4 stalks of celery, cut into bite-size pieces. cut into bite-size pieces.
  • 1 1/2 cups Barley, Pearl or Pot barley is best.
  • 1 tbsp Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Chicken Broth Instructions

  • Remove the chicken meat from the bones.
  • Place the leftover bones in a large stock pot with half the onion, rosemary, oregano, savory spice and salt and pepper.
  • Cover with water and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 4-6 hours.
  • Remove the bones from the chicken broth and discard.

Chicken Barley Soup Instructions

  • In a separate stock pot, add oil and vegetables. Sauté the vegetables until the onion is translucent. Browning the vegetables ahead of time should give your soup a ton of flavor.
  • Add the soup stock, remaining ingredients and chicken meat to the pot. The stock should deglaze the pot and pick up all the extra flavor from the little brown bits left at the bottom, giving the soup a much more delicious flavor.
  • Simmer for 30 minutes or until the barley and rice are soft. 
  • Serve and Enjoy!

Notes

  • Barley expands as it cools! Therefore, if you are making this soup knowing you will use it for leftovers, you may want to reduce the amount of barley by half.
  • You may want to skip the steps for making your own broth from scratch. If so, add 5 cups of pre-made chicken broth to the pot instead.
  • Be sure to RINSE your barley prior to adding it to your soup. This will help to prevent it from becoming slimy, and get rid of any leftover dust that is on it.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cup | Calories: 204kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 24g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 60mg | Sodium: 1285mg | Potassium: 413mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1874IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!