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Aaaaand we're back to stew. Because sometimes, it's just necessary to life. The weather went gray (yes!) so it was definitely time for some warming, filling, (and healthy!), Chicken and Barley Stew. Made from scratch with plenty of veggies and flavorful herbs to go around, you won't believe how easy this meal is to make.
Super thick and filling, this stew greatly benefits from the use of chicken thighs as opposed to chicken breasts. Don't get me wrong, if you've got leftover chicken breast, feel free to use that instead! Chicken and Barley Stew is a great way to use up leftovers by the by. BUT if you're going all out, I've included how to start from scratch with chicken thighs in the recipe. I find the use of thighs in a chicken stew adds more flavor and helps thicken up the broth a bit.
Did I mention this is a one pot thing? I know most stews are but nevertheless, I just LOVE a one pot meal. Cook everything in the same pot and BOOM! Chicken and Barley Stew with less mess. Nothing gets easier than that 🙂
Chicken and Barley Stew
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: Serves 4 to 6 1x
Description
Warming, filling and healthy stew made from scratch with chicken thighs, fresh veggies and herbs.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tablespoon dried italian seasoning
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 3 large carrots, peeled and diced
- 3 celery ribs, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 small potatoes, diced
- 8 cups chicken broth
- ¼ cup white wine or white wine vinegar
- 1 cup raw barley
- 1 tsp fresh thyme, minced
- 1 tsp fresh rosemary, minced
- 1 tsp fresh sage, minced
- Fresh parsley, roughly chopped for garnish
- Salt and ground black pepper
Instructions
- Pat chicken thighs dry with a paper towel. Season both sides of each thigh liberally with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a dutch oven or large stew pot over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cover the pot with a lid. Cook for 5-7 minutes until golden brown on bottom, remove lid and flip chicken thighs over. Cook for another 5-7 minutes, covered with lid, again until golden brown and cooked through (temperature reaches 165˚F). Remove to a bowl, shred with two forks, and set aside.
- Drain excess fat out of pan, and when back on heat, pour half of the wine into the pan. Deglaze the pan by scraping the browned bits off the bottom of the pan (keeping it in the pan!).
- If necessary, add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Saute onion, carrot and celery in pan over medium high heat and until softened, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and sauté for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Deglaze the pan again with the rest of the white wine (or white wine vinegar), scraping up browned bits on the bottom of the pan.
- Add the chicken broth, potatoes, shredded chicken, barley, chicken broth, thyme, rosemary, and sage to the pot. Stir to combine and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover with a lid, and cook for about 30 minutes, until chicken and potatoes are tender. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 50 mins
Dan says
I think I liked seconds more than firsts!! This was a good warm up leftover for work lunch. Spicy and hot, just the way I like it.
Julie says
Very, very, very, did I say enough very's amazing soup. The only thing that was missing was the reddish brown color of the soup. Not sure if I missed an ingredient. But it was really good!
Aberdeen says
Thank you so much!
Vicky says
Did you serve this with anything? Rice? Mash? Etc.
Aberdeen says
Hi Vicky! Sometimes I eat with a piece of buttered artisan bread but for the most part nope! Just on it's own.
Susan says
Add 14.5 oz can of tomato sauce. That's what is missing. Make a similar recipe and that's a must have.
Erin says
What does the reddish brown color of the soup come from? It looks delicious!
Aberdeen says
Thank you! It comes from a mixture of the browning of the chicken when you scrape all the delicious "fond" off the bottom of the pan and then broth itself :-).
Katie says
I was wondering if it was suppose to be 1 cup of cooked barley or 1 cup of raw barley then cooked.
Aberdeen says
Thanks for pointing that out! I've edited the recipe to include "raw" to avoid any confusion.
Jami Jipson says
Hi, do I use italian seasoning that is for making italian dressing or the kind you use making lasagna? Just double checking!
I'm making this tomorrow.
Thank you,
Jami
Anna says
Can this be done in the slow cooker do you think?
Julieta says
Will this recipe freeze okay? It made a pretty big batch and I'd like to stock my freezer 🙂
Lizzywhiz says
I see red bits which look too red to be carrot, have you added a red pepper too?
Aberdeen says
Nope just carrots ????
Lizzywhiz says
I made it tonight, I didn't have Italian seasoning, so I used Oregano, Basil and a dollop of Tomato Puree. Not very red, but very tasty.
Rachel says
This was a hit- even with my 2 toddlers!
Aberdeen says
Thank you so much!
Lindsay says
I couldn’t find barley at my grocery store. Do you think Farro would be an okay substitute?
Aberdeen says
Yes! farro would work as a subsitute but it will might change the cooking time of the stew. I've never made it with farro so I'm not sure how different the timing will be, check on the back of the package to see how long it regularly takes to cook and give it a try!.
Mel says
I use Farro in soups and stews. It cooks much faster than Barley, probably half the time.
Excellent substitute.
Janel Barthe says
I treasure my slow cooker, and would appreciate ideas to incorporate this delicious sounding recipe using that method.
Laura says
Do you think this would freeze ok?
Aberdeen says
I have never frozen it myself so I can't say with certainty but I say give it a try!
Melissa says
Do you have nutritional facts for this recipe?
Aberdeen says
I do not, apologies!
Eric Yanofsky says
Throw in a a can of diced tomatoes and it's a 5 star for us. We also usually increase the broth and barley.
Colleen says
The recipe sounds delicious, but any time I made beef and barley soup, family tradition, we used diced tomatoes, and a small can of tomato paste. I'd probably add it to this recipe as well, being I love diced tomatoes in my beef and barley soup c
Elaine says
This is really good. Thank you
Deb says
This looks great? Anything I could substitute for barley to make it gluten free? Would rice or quinoa work?
Pam says
I use Bob’s Red Mill organic whole grain Buckwheat cup for cup.
Susanne says
Made this yesterday on a cold and rainy Mother's Day in NYC! I made it in my InstantPot. It came out great. I sauteed the barley first until it was brown and toasted. Then I added all the other ingredients. I added a sweet potato cut into big chunks because we're trying to add more fiber to our diets. Left out the regular potatoes. I cooked it for 20 minutes on HIGH pressure. The chicken was pull apart tender and the flavor was great. This will definitely be on the InstantPot rotation of recipes. Thank you!!
Mel says
Oh Thanks!! I wanted to try in the Instant pot!
Yonela S says
Mmmmhm yummy!! Im from South Africa and I was not sure if we have Barley so i used Samp (Dried Corn kernels). Delicious!!!!
Jade says
Hi , definitely delicious. I'm from South Africa as well and we do have pearl barley here. It is very cheap as well! Give it a go.
Aberdeen says
Thank you!!
Kelly Deis says
Very tasty on a cold, windy day, I also added a tbsp tomato paste and about 1/2 cup chopped fresh tomatoes as otherwise it tasted too much like chicken pot pie ( nothing wrong with that but I wanted a bit more zip)! I will be making it again.
KellyDeis says
I forgot to rate this dish. Comments above.
Jane says
Crock pot instructions?
Aberdeen says
I havn't made this in a slow cooker yet but once I do I'll update the recipe for you!
Lois Garcia says
You missed listing the carrots in the instructions. Assume the get added with the onions and everything.
Aberdeen says
The carrots are in step 4 👍.
David Jefferson says
Hearty and tasty, can't ask for more. The deglazing seem to help with the flavor and color. Look forward to trying with farro. Thank you for sharing.
Brenda says
Can the barley cook that quick? Seems to me that barley takes longer to cook.
Aberdeen says
Cooks up in the time stated just fine for this recipe!
Holly PDX says
Mine took a bit longer, maybe 45 minutes.
Amber says
I made this tonight and it was excellent. It turned out dark and rich as pictured. I couldn’t get fresh thyme so I used dried but half the amount states in the recipe. I’ll definitely make this again.
Sam says
This turned out great! Thank you for sharing!
Di says
This stew was amazing ! I froze a bowl and just had it for lunch and it was just as good as the night I made it ! Thanks .
Mary says
Love the looks of this stew because of the barley and NO Tomatoes! I am on a low potassium diet so very happy to see no tomatoes in the recipe.
Kathleen Weinman says
I am making your Chicken and Barley Stew tonight.
We have a cat that looks just like yours. She is 6 ,her name is Jasmine and she is absolutely adorable - the most
loving,,affectionate cat we have ever had.
I hope your cat is doing well.
Aberdeen says
I hope you liked the stew! Awww aren't snuggly little black cats the best?? Calypso is currently attempting to get my attention while I write this by sitting in my lap and pawing at my nose 🤣.
Jill says
Even though it’s 90 degrees out today, this stew sounded awesome and it was! Even pleased the hard to please teenager!
Sharon Claydon says
This was absolutely delicious!! I doubled this recipe and although this is a stew I added 8 more cups of liquid and made a huge pot of soup! We are freezing it in individual containers to give to the organization that looks after helping feed the less fortunate in our City.
Muriel says
Great recipe except when do you add the Chicken Stock... it’s NOT in your recipe....
Aberdeen says
Omg. Fixed it, thank you!
RUBEN says
Thank you, so good stew! I’ll trying many before but this one is Tammy. Thanks again 🙏
Holly PDX says
I quite liked this stew… it is rich and tasty and very satisfying. I think next time I’d make a roux with the celery and onion before adding other ingredients, just to make it thicker, and I did add a bit of crushed tomato for flavor. It took 45 minutes for my barley to cook but maybe they vary. Delicious! Can’t wait to share with others.
Pat Lange says
We loved this soup. Wonderful flavor and loved the use of fresh herbs…clearly a big win in our house! Like others, the soup was missing that pretty reddish brown color. I used a chicken soup broth with a richer color and had plenty of brown bits from the chicken thighs to deglaze. The broth was still an unappetizing blah color. So, I added some sweet paprika to add color and that worked. It did change the flavor a bit from the original but it was still awesome. Next time, I might add a can of diced tomatoes. Honestly this is one of those soups you can add anything. (Oh, I also added some frozen corn…so good!). Key thing is to use the fresh herbs.
Mike says
Raw barley takes 45 mins to an hour to cook so cook time is off unless ya all like under cooked barley. Simmered mine for 50 mins and just dumped everything in once the onions, carrots, and garlic were done. Added lots of hot sauce.
Donna says
I agree with you, Mike, I cooked my barley separately then added to the stew. It takes a lot longer than 30 to thoroughly cook. Plus, I’ve never heard it called raw barley. I’ve always seen it listed as uncooked barley in any ingredients list. .
Reinie says
Delicious soup. I'll definitely be making it again and again. Broth turned out nice and brown. I swapped green beans for the potatoes as my family doesn't like potatoes in soup. Also added some fresh lovage and a tablespoon of sundried tomato pesto.
Aberdeen says
Ooo love those additions, may have to try them myself!
Jessica Respini says
Was wondering if you could use chicken breast instead of thighs.
Aberdeen says
Absolutely!
Amanda says
Love this recipe! Will make often in the winter months! Great alt to chicken noodle!
Georgie says
Gorgeous. Cooked it for 6 hours on low in slow cooker and it was perfect.