Chicken and Barley Soup
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Chicken Barley Soup – a hearty, easy to make soup loaded with barley, chicken and veggies that’s sure to satisfy!
If you are looking to add more healthy foods to your diet, here is a great alternative to chicken noodle soup that taste just as good but is a healthier option. The traditional egg noodles found most chicken noodle soups don’t have much nutrition but barley on the other hand is perfectly good for you.
I make chicken noodle soup at my house almost every week lately so it’s nice to have something I can rotate it with. I will likely even find myself making this more than the traditional chicken noodle soup. I love the texture the barely adds and how filling it makes this soup.
This would also be a great recipe to have on hand next week when you have an abundance of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving.
Enjoy and stay warm!
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Chicken and Barley Soup
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast , cooked and shredded
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups chopped carrots (about 4)
- 1 1/2 cups chopped celery (about 4)
- 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large)
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 4 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken broth, plus more as desired
- 3/4 cup pearl barley (uncooked)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 1/2 tsp of each dried rosemary , thyme, and marjoram
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper , to taste
- 1/4 cup slightly packed , chopped fresh parsley
- 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrots, celery and onion and saute 3 - 4 minutes, add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer.
- Stir in chicken broth, barely, bay leaves, sage, rosemary, thyme, marjoram and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until barely is tender, about 50 - 60 minutes.
- Stir in chicken, parsley and lemon juice and serve warm. As soup rests the barely will absorb more liquid so add more chicken broth to thin as desired.