This is a hearty vegetable barley soup made hearty with potatoes, onion and celery. It's lightened with a squirt of lime and a little freshly chopped mint.
If you don't have barley on hand, either farro or brown rice simmered with one or two bay leaves works well too.
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Do you need a soup easy enough to make for lunch, and hearty enough for dinner? Soups with grains are perfect for this, like with this Summer Vegetable Soup with Farro, a Vegetable Rice Soup and this barley soup recipe.
If you're new to going vegetarian, or even just trying to add more vegetarian dishes to your weekly menus, soups can be a great solution. Many soups that include meat can be easily adjusted to a vegetarian soup. Read this post >> if you're wondering how to become a vegetarian. It's full of tips.
🧅 Main Ingredients + Notes
The secret to faster and easier meals often lies in the ingredients. Shortcut store-bought options and ingredients you can make ahead and save in the refrigerator can turn a dish that takes 60 (or more) minutes to make into a 30 minute meal or less.
Please go to the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post to get all of ingredients, measurements and directions for this veggie barley soup.
- Barley - pearled barley cooks faster, so that what I use. And check out this post if you want to know how to cook pearl barley.
- Bay leaf
- Onion - yellow onions are best in this recipe.
- Garlic
- Celery
- Tomato paste
- Vegetable broth - make your own vegetable broth or use Better Than Bouillion Roasted Vegetable Paste.
- Turmeric
- Potato - I like Yukon golds for this recipe.
- Lime juice
- Mint
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🔪 Recommended Equipment
📝 Instructions Overview
Detailed instructions for making this vegan barley soup are in the recipe card below, but here's an overview!
Step 1
Cook the barley.
Step 2
Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed, large pot you plan to cook the entire soup. Add the onion, garlic, and celery, and sauté over medium heat until soft and fragrant, about 10 minutes.
Step 3
Add everything except the lime and mint. Simmer and stir in the lime and mint before serving.
👩🍳 Preparation Tips
Cook the barley in advance to make this soup super fast.
💡Ideas for Possible Variations
- Feel free to experiment with other fresh vegetables in this hearty soup, such as green beans or bell peppers.
- Swap out the potatoes for white beans.
🥩 For the Meat Eaters at the Table
This soup is traditionally made with beef. I recommend a chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat, and cut into ¾" cubes. It's seared in the soup pot, removed, and then added back into the soup later.
📇 More Soups with Grains
Persian Yogurt Soup (Ash e Mast)
Summer Vegetable Soup with Farro
Vegetable / Chicken and Rice Peasant Soup
Don't have time to run to the grocery store? Order the ingredients for this recipe using Instacart (affiliate link). Just click on the Instacart button in the recipe card below, and the ingredients will all be organized for you on their site. Plug in your zip code, choose the store you prefer, and select the ingredients you want delivered to your home.
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Vegetarian Barley Soup with Potatoes, Lime and Mint
Ingredients
Cooking the Barley
- ⅓ cup pearl barley (to make 1 cup barley cooked)
- 1 cup vegetable broth or Better Than Bouillon, or water
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt or ¼ teaspoon table salt (do not add salt if you use Better Than Bouillon)
- 1 bay leaf
Making the Soup
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ⅔ cup grated yellow onion
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ¼ cup finely chopped celery
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt or ½ teaspoon table salt
- freshly ground pepper
- 2 cups vegetable broth or Better Than Bouillon
- 1 Yukon gold potato diced
- 1 teaspoon lime juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
Instructions
- If you don't have cooked barley in the refrigerator or freezer, start it first. To do this: bring 1 cup of broth (or water) to a boil, and add ⅓ cup of barley to the broth. Add ½ teaspoon kosher salt (or ¼ teaspoon table salt) and the bay leaf. Cover the pot, reduce to a simmer, and cook until al dente. This should take 25 - 30 minutes for pearl barley. Drain. You should end up with 1 cup of cooked barley grain.If you have hulled barley, it will take approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour to cook. This step can be done ahead. Click the link for more details on how to cook pearl barley.
- Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed, large pot you plan to cook the entire soup. Add the onion, garlic, and celery, and sauté until soft and fragrant, about 10 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste, turmeric, salt and pepper, and cook for another couple of minutes to bring up the flavor of the tomato paste. The tomato paste adds great umami to this dish, and contributes to a super flavorful broth. So, make sure it's very fragrant before moving to the next step.
- Stir in the broth, bring to a simmer, and add the potato and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the cooked barley (you should about 1 cup of cooked barley).
- Add the fresh mint, lime juice, and serve immediately with a hunk of crusty bread. Serve with a lime wedge and additional mint.
Rosemary Mark
If I'd seen this today before I made lentil minestrone, i would have tried it! Next time. Lovely story and woven well into your post. My daughter worked with underprivileged youth in the East Bay one summer and it brought tears to her seeing the kids play in the ocean for the first time.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Oh, your lentil minestrone sounds wonderful. And I totally understand why your daughter was so affected. It's something we take for granted, and something that was so novel for them. And it sticks with you, that experience.
Garagegymplannner
Wow, this looks delicious !! And I love to try this at weekend my family will love it, especially my aunt loves vegetarian soup she'll surely come back and comment on your post.Thanks for sharing this variety soup with us.
Rita
Looks yummy. I've never "grated" a onion before. What's the benefit vs minced with a knife?
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks Rita! Speed, for one thing. Also, I feel that it reveals more surface area inside each onion 'ring' since you end up slicing (grating) the onion at an angle, and you get onion 'juices' as well. I believe this brings out increased onion flavor into a dish.
The Wimpy Vegetarian
Thanks Garagegymplanner! It one of my go-to soups right now. If you try it, I'd love to hear how it goes for you!
LYN
This looks wonderful and I can't wait to make it! Loved the story, also. Sei una bravissima scrittrice! xo
The Wimpy Vegetarian
E sei una buonissima amica, cara Lyn. xo Mille grazie, e spero che provi questa minestra! Penso che ti piace!!