What Makes This Chicken and Barley Soup So Comforting?
Ingredients. All the best comfort-food ingredients you love. Tender chicken, perfectly cooked barley, and simply seasoned broth and veggies.Quick. Comfort food shouldn’t take forever to cook. Some Chicken and Barley Soup recipes can take upwards of two and a half hours to make! This recipe will only take about 30 minutes of cook time.Simple. Comfort food can’t be complicated. This is a recipe just like your Grandma would have made, and it’s going to warm you to your bones with that first bite.
How Do You Make Chicken and Barley Soup?
Pour. Place chicken, barley, onions, carrots, turmeric, salt, pepper and broth into the Instant Pot.Cook. Close the lid and cook on HIGH PRESSURE for 15 minutes.Pressure Release. Allow the pot to release pressure naturally for 5 minutes. Then, release all remaining pressure.Shred. Remove the chicken and shred. Add the shredded chicken back into the Instant Pot.Serve. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Should Barley Be Cooked Before Adding to Soup?
Some sources will say yes, but the beauty of Instant Pot barley is that it’s totally unnecessary to cook it before making this chicken and barley soup. Pour it in with the rest of the ingredients and cook it at high pressure. You’ll get perfectly cooked barley and tender chicken all in one step.
Can You Overcook Barley?
Yes. As with any grain or pasta, you can overcook barley, and you don’t want to. I suggest a Natural Pressure Release (NPR) for 5 minutes, and then a Quick Release (QR) for this reason. Food continues to cook during a Natural Pressure Release, which is why I limited it to just five minutes so as not to overcook the barley or chicken.
Tips and Tricks for Chicken and Barley Soup
Chicken. Frozen chicken? No problem. You don’t need to change the cooking time, it will just take your Instant Pot longer to come to pressure. See more on that here.Rotisserie Chicken? No problem. Just cook the rest of the ingredients in chicken broth, and stir in the cooked chicken once the soup is cooked. Carrots. Don’t want to chop carrots? Use thick baby carrots to cut down on prep time.Shredding. Use a hand mixer to shred the chicken quickly if you don’t want to use a fork. This will dirty an extra dish, so it may not be worth it for you to use this method, considering how tender the Instant Pot makes the chicken. But this will work well for pre-cooked chicken.
Want More Instant Pot Soup Recipes?
Instant Pot Caldo De Res - a lovely Mexican soup.Butternut Squash and Bacon Soup - easy and absolutely delicious.Indian Tomato Soup - one of my most popular recipes!Tuscan Bean Soup - the best Ribollita you’ll ever have and made in the Instant Pot!
I can’t wait for you to see how simple cooking barley in your Instant Pot is with this one-pot Chicken and Barley soup recipe! All the comfort, and none of the fuss. Pin this recipe on Pinterest, or share it on Facebook to keep from losing it.
Don’t forget to check out my other Best-selling Instant Pot Cookbooks!
Indian Instant Pot, Keto Instant Pot, Instant Pot Fast and Easy, Healthy Instant Pot & Vegetarian Instant Pot.
