Cheap Barley and Vegetable Soup (Budget-$10)
One pot, cheap ingredients, and you'll have leftovers for tomorrow night too.
When you're tired and the fridge looks thin, barley and vegetable soup is the answer. It's genuinely filling — barley swells up and thickens the broth in a way that feels like real dinner, not a side dish. Everything goes into one pot, there's almost no chopping skill required, and the total cost lands well under $10 for four generous servings. Expect about 15 minutes of hands-on work, then the pot does the rest. The soup only gets better the next day, so make a full batch even if you're cooking for one.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1 unit medium yellow onion — diced
- 3 unit garlic cloves — minced
- 3 unit medium carrots — peeled and sliced into coins
- 3 unit celery stalks — sliced
- 2 unit medium potatoes — any kind, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 cup pearl barley — rinsed
- 1 unit can diced tomatoes — 14.5 oz, undrained
- 6 cup vegetable broth or water with 2 bouillon cubes
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt — plus more to taste
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
- 1 cup frozen green beans or frozen peas — added at the end
Method
- 1 Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4–5 minutes until softened and translucent.
- 2 Add the minced garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly, until fragrant.
- 3 Add the carrots, celery, and potatoes. Stir everything together and cook for 2 minutes.
- 4 Pour in the diced tomatoes (with their liquid) and the vegetable broth. Stir to combine.
- 5 Add the rinsed barley, thyme, oregano, salt, and black pepper. Stir well.
- 6 Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 35–40 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the barley is tender and the potatoes are cooked through.
- 7 In the last 5 minutes of cooking, stir in the frozen green beans or peas and let them heat through.
- 8 Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot.
Variations
- Add protein on a budget — Stir in a drained can of white beans or chickpeas along with the barley to boost protein without spending much more.
- Faster version — Swap pearl barley for quick-cooking barley (found near regular barley) and reduce the simmer time to 12–15 minutes.
- Use what you have — Any sturdy vegetables work here — zucchini, cabbage, parsnips, or canned corn. Add softer vegetables in the last 10 minutes so they don't turn to mush.
Notes
Pearl barley is much faster than hulled barley — make sure you grab pearl barley at the store. The soup will thicken considerably as it sits and the barley absorbs more liquid; add a splash of water or broth when reheating leftovers. If your broth is salty, hold off on adding extra salt until the end.
Equipment that helps
- Large pot or Dutch oven (4–6 quart) — Barley expands a lot as it cooks, so you need enough room to avoid the soup boiling over.
Find more dinners like this
More like this
