Chicken and Barley Stew

“When i first reviewed this recipe I gave it 4 stars for being bland, but after making it a few times I have found a way to make it spectacular.First, start with a good stock, not boullion cubes.Next, increase the celery and use the inside leafy part and top leafy part – just chop them up.Then substitute fresh thyme, add some sage (fresh is really best) and increase all the herbs by about 2-3times as much.Also, I add several cloves of garlic.With the new recipe my husband and I can’t get enough, even though the soup is quite filling.I have also tried adding some lemon juice, which changes the flavor a bit and is just wonderful.”

“My mom made something just like this and it was everything a good meal should be — hearty, healthy and delicious.”

“Loved it!Instead of using uncooked chicken, I used some left over chicken breasts that were cut up.Added them in the last half hour.Everyone loved it and it was filling with the barley.Served with salad and crusty bread.Yummy, thanks.”

“This soup was so simple to make and used such basic ingredients it was surpising how delicious it turned out.I will be sure to add this to my list of frequently made soups.”

“Wonderful stew.I made as written but used fresh herbs right at the end.Wonderful!”

“Great recipe! I made quite a few changes, but I wanted to post so I could repeat it in the future because it was so delicious! I sauteed the onion and 4 cloves of garlic in a little EVOO before adding the stock. I used 3 cups of stock + 3 cups of H20 + 2 tsp chicken base. I had roasted a chicken with sweet potatoes, carrots and parsnips, so I added the leftover chicken and veggies to the stock. I added about 3/4 cup of sherry because I Love sherry in chicken soup, and 3 stalks of celery and 1 tsp of sage per another reviewer’s suggestion and it was a perfect compliment! Thanks so much for the recipe, Bertha, this soup was awesome!”

“Very good but next time I’ll add carrots for color.”

“This was delicious, hearty and healthy!Great recipe!I did find that I needed to up the seasoning a bit.I used chicken stock, as ordered, but also added some stock concentrate, salt, garlic salt, pepper and a bayleaf.I also added some green beans and a diced potato.Those additions upped it to 5 servings.It was GREAT!”

“This was the best chicken stew I’ve made. I made it for friends and they all requested the recipe. They’ve made it for friends who now want the recipe too. It’s so easy and tastes like you’ve been working on it all day. To save time I use a 16 oz bag of frozen veggies (carrots, corn, peas, green beans) and use fresh onion, garlic, etc. No celery. I only use 1/3 c. barley. This is a keeper!”

“I made this for dinner tonight and it was very good, which was a pleasant surprise because I have a hard time finding barley recipes that I enjoy. The flavor was delicious. Even my husband liked it a lot. I added pepper. I do think it was too salty, but I think I might have measured in too much bouillon–some days I just can’t count to five without problems! thanks for a great recipe! This is going to become a staple meal in our home.”

“Very nice on a cold winters day. I did however add a few other ingredients. Like frozen peas, potatoes, and Mrs Dash garlic and herb (I still added the garlic clove). I have some for tonight and had enough to put some in the freezer for another night. Thanks!!!”

“Very nice.I had fresh basil instead of dry, so I added it at the very end of cooking. Instead of chicken breasts I used 2 packets of chicken drumsticks, but deboning was no problem. After they had simmered for so long the meat just fell right off.The family loves it, even as leftovers!”

“Barley soup (meatless) is a tradition at Thanksgiving and Christmas in my dh’s family. This morning my 8-year old son asked me to make “that soup thing with the little white bead-like stuff in it”. When I found this recipe it was so similar to the soup my son was trying to describe, I decided to try it.I cooked this in the crock-pot, but sauteed the celery and onion first, adding the garlic for a minute. Layered it in the crock w/carrots first, seasonings, onion & celery mixture, barley, then 3 cans of Swanson’s Natural Goodness broth. Covered it and cooked on high 4 hours. I had 2 cups of diced cooked chicken in the freezer. I thawed it and stirred it into the pot just before serving (so the meat wouldn’t get chewy). We all enjoyed the soup, and I thank you for posting. I’ll definately use this at Thanksgiving!”

“We found this to be very tasty and very quick to fix.I used leftover roasted chicken instead of the chicken breasts, and 2 stalks of celery instead of 1.I think I would add another cup of chicken stock, there wasn’t a lot of liquid, but that is personal preference.”

“I made this recipe at a co workers request for a soup with barley.I made one small change.I used bone in chicken breasts to make my own stock.This was a big hit here at work.I will be adding this to my soup rotation.Thank you for sharing your recipe.”

“I found this recipe while looking for a soup for a crowd that was filling but easy.I tripled the recipe and threw in some veggies I had on hand.It was great. I froze the leftovers for the next cool day.Thanks for the recipe!!”

“I love this stew, I have made it twice now and really enjoy it, I added a parsnip, some frozen peas and corn to the last batch and it tastes great, especially on a cold day.”

“Very good, easy to make, very tasty. I thought it was looking a little “thin” so I sliced up and threw in 3 medium potatoes. This recipe seems very forgiving and you could probably add lots of other veggies (i.e. greens, etc.) I used the powdered chicken broth packets and that worked well.”

“Wonderful. Luckily I froze a batch, and then when my hubby and I got sick last week, this was like money in the bank. Excellent comfort food!”