This stew is definitely for YOU!
So, here in Florida we have crazy weather. It has been abnormally hot the past week, and now it is freezing, literally. So here, for all my cold weather friends, I have this insanely amazing vegan roasted garlic mushroom and barley stew. A whole bulb of garlic roasted, then added to an already perfect stew made with lots of mushrooms, carrots and barley. With very few ingredients, you will wonder how this tastes so dang wonderful!
This vegan roasted garlic mushroom and barley stew is almost one pot. The barley is cooked right in the stew liquid. All you need to do to prep is roast the garlic. While the garlic roasts, I just chop all the mushrooms and carrots to use my time wisely. Then everything is cooked in a large soup pot.
So, usually, garlic is wrapped in aluminum foil to roast. However, I tested a method not using aluminum foil, so that it is not mandatory. It worked great! Just cut the tops of the bulb, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast on a sheet pan. Easy, peasy! I have had a lot of readers say they don’t cook with aluminum foil, so, I wanted to make sure everyone could enjoy!
Another thing I would like to mention, is that Trader Joe’s and I’m sure other brands, make parboiled (already partially boiled) barley. I like to use that since it only needs to cook for 10-15 minutes instead of 30-45 minutes. So, if you can get your hands on some of that action, I definitely recommend it! Saves a lot of time. If you can’t find it, no worries, this mushroom and barley stew is still very, very easy! Also, it’s very, very yummy!
Vegan Roasted Garlic Mushroom and Barley Stew
Ingredients
- 1 Large bulb of Garlic
- 1 Tablespoon + 2 Teaspoons Olive oil, divided
- 20 Ounces Mushrooms, I used half baby bella and half button
- 3 Large Carrots
- 1/2 Cup Pearl Barley
- 4 Cups Vegetable broth
- 1 Tablespoon Soy sauce or liquid aminos
- 1/2 Teaspoon Thyme, dried
- 1/2 Teaspoon Rosemary, dried
- 1 Tablespoon Apple cider vinegar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the top off the bulb of garlic, exposing the tops of all the garlic cloves. Place the bulb of garlic on to a sheet pan. Drizzle the top with about 2 teaspoons of olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Roast the garlic at 400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes, until the garlic is very soft and very brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- While the garlic is roasting, cut the mushrooms into large chunks, I usually quarter mine. Then chop the carrots.
- When the garlic is close to being ready, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large soup pot on medium high.
- Then add the mushrooms and carrots, saute, reducing heat as needed, until the mushrooms have released their liquid and are starting to brown. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Next, when the garlic is ready, squeeze all of the roasted garlic cloves out of the peel and into the pot with the mushrooms and carrots. Stir to combine.
- Now, pour the vegetable broth, soy sauce and apple cider vinegar into the pot. Stir to combine. Then add the dried thyme and dried rosemary.
- Bring the stew to a simmer, then pour the barley into the pot. Season with another pinch of salt and pepper. Continue to simmer on medium low until the barley is cooked. Check the package for timing. I like to use parboiled barley, which only takes 10-15 minutes, but regular barley takes about 30-45 minutes.
- Once the barley is soft, taste the stew and adjust seasoning. Serve immediately with fresh herbs on top if you want.
Notes
Love your recipes. You are my inspiration for all my work lunches. Just double a recipe & I have great vegan food for everyday of the week!
Yay! That’s awesome!
This sounds amazing! Do you know about how many cups of diced mushrooms equals 20 ounces? I have lots of mushrooms in the fridge that could be used up with this recipe 🙂
I would say it chopped up, 20 ounces would be about 2 1/2-3 cups. It doesn’t need to be an exact amount, so just around that much would work!
Made for lunch today, knew I had a winner when hubby said umm I,ediately. Thank you so much.
Making this now and it is already tasting delicious (waiting for the barley to finish cooking)! Big fan of your recipes in general (and I’m not vegan) but I do have one thing for you to consider. I find that when ingredients are listed in the order in which they get added to be extraordinarily helpful as I bounce back the list after reading the instructions. Just an idea, I may be a freak, you’re mileage may vary.
It is actually my goal to put the ingredients in order, and goofed on this one. Thank you for bringing that to my attention! Hope you enjoyed!
Ahh, gotcha. Thanks. Loved this recipe, btw.
This is really good. I only had two packs of mushrooms that were 8 ounces each. I have some dehydrated shiitake mushrooms so I threw those in at the same time as the barley. I also browned up 2 apple sage Field Roast sausages (wheat gluten/seitan) and cut those up and added them. That was done primarily to boost protein content since it was our main meal. It seemed like a good addition to me but the recipe is great without. Since we had this for dinner I wish that it had made a bit more. We will make more next time.
Field Roast is a vegans dream! Im using Gardein be’ef tips in this. Right now!!
I was looking to boost the protein, and came up on your post. Thank You!
We’re expecting snow this weekend and I can’t wait to make this for a cozy after-snow-playtime meal for my family. My sons (4 and 6) love mushrooms and my husband and I are looking for ways to reduce the amount of meat we eat. We’re heading gradually toward veganism. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I made this tonight for my 3-weeks-vegetarian fiance and his garlic-loving omnivorous BFF (who never gets to eat mushrooms because his wife is allergic) and both fellas loved it! The only change I made to the recipe was using farro instead of barley because that’s what I had available. It was very easy to make too. Thanks for the recipe!
Wonderful soup. I added chopped onion too. The thyme and rosemary from my garden taste fantastic. Good way to eat the Nutritarian way!
Hmm can you recommend a gluten free alternative for barley?
A few readers have had success with quinoa and/or rice. Do either of those work for you?
Hmmm… Add in what gluten free alternative you want . Quinoa or rice would work fine . But honestly you could just add more veggies and skip them altogether. 😉
Just made this with a few tweaks. I followed your amounts of barley, broth (used a no-chicken broth) and soy sauce and vinegar. I did 2 carrots, 2 potatoes, half a yellow onion, half a bunch of kale, two boxes of mushrooms and TWO heads of roasted garlic! Added some Cajun seasoning too. Hands down this was one of the BEST VEGAN MEALS I’VE EVER HAD. Husband loves mushrooms too and stews so this was a big win for him. Ate it with some crusty bread and vegan butter and we are sooooooooo happy and full!
Sounds AMAZING! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Am getting started on this recipe today. Making for our road trip from Texas to Colorado. It’s hard to eat on the road so I like to bring food along. Can’t wait to try it.
I hope you enjoy! Safe travels!
Dear Lauren, thank you for all your delicious and amazing finger licking good recipes. For Thanksgiving at my mom’s and New Years Eve dinner at my house it was nothing but 4 of your dishes that I made. Everyone fell in love. I followed your recipes as indicated. Thank you again. For this barley soup recipe, you have roasted a whole bulb of garlic in the oven, can I use garlic that is already peeled and pre cut and roast it on a pan or in the oven?
I do think you can roast pre-peeled garlic. I would just toss them in olive oil, salt and pepper. I would just keep my eye on them, they won’t take long to brown.
Amazing recipe. I have a few go-to recipes that I return to time and again. This will be a terrific addition to my regular cold weather rotations. I also love that it’s vegan. I’m always looking for healthy vegan recipes that don’t make family and guests feel like they are being deprived of a truly satisfying meal. No compromises here.
So yummy! I didn’t have time to roast the garlic, so I added about 6 cloves of minced fresh garlic halfway through the mushroom cooking time. I will make this again!
I absolutely love your recipe! I am writing vegetarian recipe round ups on my blog in 2019 for people who are trying to make more meat-free meals (everyone has to start somewhere). I would love to feature you. You can check out my blog (for beginner environmentalists) at sunshineguerrilla.com. Is it alright if I share this link to your recipe?
Thank you so much! You can definitely share this link. Thank you so much for asking first!
I’m so looking forward to making this tomorrow for dinner. I don’t have parboiled barley, will the veggies get over cooked do you think with the barley needing longer to cook? I was also thinking I could pat cook the barley and then add to the stew. Look forward to
Your thoughts!
Tanya
I don’t think that the veggies will over cook, but if you like firmer vegetables and are worried about them being too mushy, you definitely can par boil the barley first. It may be a time saver in the end too!
This was amazing! I made it tonight for dinner. I did replace the rosemary as I don’t like it, it tastes like soap to me. I used basil instead and also added a 1/4 cup Marsala wine. So good!
Can I use squash so something else instead of carrots? I don’t like carrots but love mushrooms.
Sure! I think squash would be great! This stew is pretty versatile and I think it would work great with any veggies you really like!
This stew was so flavorful and delicious!
I made 1.5 times the recipe for 6 servings.
Only change I made was I pureed the roasted garlic cloves into the heated vegetable broth before adding the broth to the soup and it worked very well.
Thank you! Keeping this in the recipe box for sure!
This stuff is stew-pendous! I used fresh thyme and added some kale. It’s so hearty and perfect for the rainy/snowy weather we have been having in the Pacific Northwest. This is the first recipe from this blog I have made and I am stoked to try more!
This was very flavourful and delicious! Just made it.
Sick at home and wanted comfort. This stew did it’s job! So rich in flavor. YUM!!!
This looks so good! Do you think it would freeze well?
I haven’t tried it myself, but I have had several people tell me it freezes really well!
This is so good! And so easy. I will be making this a lot.
Just made this. Delicious! it was quite liquidy so I added a bit of corn start to thicken it, but otherwise, I stayed true to the recipe and it turned out great. I’ll be making it again for sure.
The entire family loved this and it will go into my regular winter rotation. I added a large onion and held back a little broth and added in some red wine in its place. Fantastic!
This was delicious!!! I never find that I have enough broth in my soup, so I did add quite a bit of extra vegetable broth and as a result also added an extra head of roasted garlic. I was oooohhing and ahhhhing all through my meal! 😋
FYI…I made this in my pressure cooker. Sautéed veggies, added the rest. 18 minutes on high pressure with natural release. Perfect!
This stew is amazing and a new family favorite, just as your other recipes we have tried! My 9 year old doesn’t like mushrooms, but both my toddlers devoured this stew and my husband and I loved it as well. So delicious!
This was so DELICIOUS!!!! Very hearty and full of flavor! Thank you for s great recipe!
I just made this last night and it’s an awesome recipe, thanks. My only change was to sautee half the carrots and then add the other half about 8 mins before the end to have a little fresher slightly crunchy carrot as well. Snow peas or green onion would also be a great last-minute addition.
I was going to make this ahead of time in the afternoon to get a head start on dinner. Will the barley keep absorbing too much liquid if not eaten immediately? Should I prep the the rest and bring back to a simmer and add the barley on right before dinner?
The barley will keep absorbing the liquid and it gets super thick. So, I do recommend prepping the rest, and then adding the barley right before dinner.
Made this tonight and it was so delicious! It’s been so cold here in Seattle, and a hearty soup like this was perfect. My husband isn’t a huge soup person and went back for seconds. We’re just starting to take meat out of our diet and I’m so excited to add this soup into our rotation. I added some diced onion, opted for sautéing garlic with the veggies and par cooked the barely for about 15 minutes. Wonderful! Thanks again!
Hubby said this was the best soup I’ve ever made! Thanks for the awesome recipe! It is SOOOO good!!
I can’t wait to try this recipe. I was wondering if you’ve ever used hulled barley for this recipe and if it changes any of the cooking times or steps? I have read that hulled barley is better for you than pearled barley because it’s not as processed. Hulled barley is really good for people with diabetes or heart disease. Since I am borderline diabetic, I turned to Pinterest for some barley recipes and came upon this delicious looking/sounding recipe. 😄
I have not tried hulled barley in this recipe, but I do believe it needs to cook longer. There should be timing instructions on any package you buy though so hopefully that can help out!
Super yummy umami flavors and I love the mushrooms and barley together! Followed recipe almost to a T, I was a little short on carrots but it was still delicious! I’ll be making this again for sure! I thought the garlic might be too much but it was so mellow and perfect after roasting it. Can’t wait to share with friends 🙂
Beautiful recipe, will definitely make again !!
Much love from Australia x
I just want to say thank you so much for this recipe. I’m currently loosing weight and as a vegan, even though our food is very nutrient dense, I find everything rather high in calories. I just replied the olive oil in this recipe with spray rapeseed oil and had it as 3 portions for about 170 calories each. It’s so nutrient dense and satisfying and low in calories. Thank you for this recipe, it’s delicious xx
This was SO good. I’ll be honest, I rely on a lot of spices and onions in almost all of my food so I was worried this would be a little bland. But it was de-fucking-licious. I did use a very generous full teaspoon of both thyme and rosemary, and I added some coconut aminos on top of the soy sauce plus a splash of almond milk to make it a little creamier. I will be using this recipe for years to come, thank you!
Just made this stew ,so good the flavor is absolutely delicious. This will be something I make over and over.
Omg, I tried did the first time tonight to use up some pot barley and wow! So simple yet tastes amazing! Will be a staple from now on!
I made this stew this evening using shitakes and we all loved it. I will definitely make it again. Topped with steamed kale. Perfect dinner.
This is my new Fav soup! Its so so so good!
Unbelievable satisfying and full of flavor.
This was absolutely delicious, who knew so few ingredients could be packed full of so much flavour. Thank you!
Do you think balsamic or red wine vinegar could be a good substitute for the Apple Cider vinegar?
Yes, I think either would work great! The balsamic will have a deeper flavor, so if you want it to be closer to the apple cider vinegar, I would use the red wine vinegar!
Loved this recipe. I have made it twice and both times it was a hit. Roasted Garlic…yum. Mushrooms….yum.. Barley….yum. So good. Thank you for this recipe Lauren.
This recipe is awesome. Substituted 1/2 cup quina for barley to make if GF. Used chickpea miso instead of the tamari…2 tbls. No s&p.
THANK YOU FOR A DELICIOUS RECIPE!
This is a delicious recipe – thank you!
Delicious and so full of flavor!
I love this recipe but was wondering on the site in general if you could add a search function??
Suggestion cut the carrots into pieces and spray with the oil ,then roast same time as the garlic .Makes a big difference
You have the BEST recipes! This was delicious!! My only changes: I used Vegetable Better Than Bouillon and water in place of veg broth. I also had some leftover oven roasted Brussel sprouts that I added in the last 10 minutes or so. They were a great flavor blend in this awesome stew!
Made this last night and we hoovered it! So good. Only made one change – used farro instead of barley, because I didn’t have any on hand. Next time will add some chopped spinach to it (just because I like throwing spinach into whatever I can). This recipe is definitely a keeper and will be made numerous times this winter!
Made this last night and we hoovered it! So good. Only made one change – used farro instead of barley, just because I didn’t have any barley on hand. Next time will add some chopped spinach to it (just because I like throwing spinach into whatever I can). This recipe is definitely a keeper and will be made numerous times this winter!
Hi Lauren! I bought 40 oz of mushrooms to make a double batch of this tomorrow, and then couldn’t find barley at two different stores 🙁
Trader Joe’s did have 10-minute farro right next to where the barley should have been.,.. would that work okay and if so, could I throw in the whole 8.8-oz package? It looks like it’s just over a cup.
Yes! I think the farro will work out fine!
Just made this, and it is wonderful! This will definitely be a staple at my house!