While I’m a huge fan of the big, hearty, chewy grains like barley, farro and wheat berries, I’m not as big of a fan of the long cooking times. Here’s a very simple recipe for cooking barley that uses a pressure cooker, or an Instant Pot, to cut the cooking time in half. No worries if you don’t own a pressure cooker, it’ll just take a little longer with a traditional pot.
I think the texture and chewiness of barley is really interesting. When cooked right, it has a firm shell that pops and releases the flavors of whatever liquid that it was cooked with. For that reason, I like to use a flavorful stock for the simmer and add one or two other big flavors to accompany the cooking.
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In this recipe, I’ve used chicken stock as the base and added in shallots and parsley. The technique here is very similar to a risotto. In fact, it’s a good process to follow for cooking a lot of different grains. You can basically swap out barley for wheat berries or arborio or quinoa, alter the cooking times (and water ratio) and get the same results.
- 2 Cups Barley rinsed
- 1/2 Cup Shallots minced
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
- 1/4 Cup Parsley chopped
- 3 Cups Stock
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Melt the butter over medium low in the bottom of the pressure cooker. Be careful not to brown it....you just want to evaporate the foam
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Raise the heat to medium and sweat the shallots for 5-7 minutes until the are translucent. If they have dried out too much and are sticking, add in a touch of Olive Oil
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Add the barley and toast for 7-10 minutes until you get a Rice Krispies (snap, crackle & pop) effect. You should also notice a lightly toasted smell.
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Add the cooking stock, seal, raise the heat and cook for 20 minutes once pressure is reached
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You can use either a quick or natural release once it is done. If you still have water left, put the pot back on the stove and simmer off the water.
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Fluff the barley once it is cooked and add the chopped parsley
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It looks good. I'll try this recipe this week. Thank you for sharing! My recent post Timely Cooking With the Kuhn Rikon Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker
Delicious. Came out absolutely perfect. I served with pulled chicken and salad. 10/10 would recommend.
Hi Jess – Thanks so much for sharing!