Spring Barley Soup Recipe (2024)

For those with high blood pressure, a warning. The soy and miso ingredients in this recipe add up to a small sodium bomb. It's also critical to use the called-for unseasoned rice vinegar, as the seasoned variety contains loads of sodium. While barley is known to offset some of the effects of salt on high blood pressure, consider using low sodium soy sauce, tamari or coconut aminos to bring down the sodium levels - and your blood pressure.

This is a terrific soup! I missed the part where there are not any mushrooms in the soup, and had already bought some shiitakes (about 3/4 lb.), so I chopped them coarsely and gave them a quick saute in a tiny bit of olive oil, then added them with the asparagus and peas and edamame. Also used a veggie stock instead of water. I added chopped, cooked kale to my bowl, left the kale out of my husband's bowl (he's not a fan), so I also got my greens/calcium. This is definitely a keeper!

I commend the chef for a soup recipe that doesn’t rely on store bought broth. Creative alternative

Delicious! Added some homemade chicken stock instead of 1 cup of water, 8 oz cremini sautéed first, edamame, about 1 t of garlic chili paste at the end and garnished with scallions. Lots of depth of flavor. Really good ginger notes from very fresh ginger. A big hit!

Next time I will use 1/2 c pearled barley. 3/4 cup made this more like a stew.

While this soup couldn't be easier to prepare, I was left thinking, but why bother? I found it to be bland and uninteresting. I made the recipe exactly as written and didn't taste the miso, the ginger, nor the rice vinegar. It tasted like some barley with asparagus and peas thrown in to a pot of water, and that's it. I finished two small bowls in about five minutes, and it certainly didn't constitute a meal. I would never, ever, bother to make this again.

Husband made for me and it was excellent. Yum!

I would like to try this but asparagus is not yet in season where I live and I avoid buying it until I can buy local asparagus. Thus, it is elevated to a greatly anticipated seasonal treat. Once in season we will enjoy this soup and eat asparagus til it's coming out of our ears.

This was delicious. I used farro as I didn't have barley and the cooking time was the same. I added a leftover grilled chicken breast, that had been marinated in soy sauce, ginger and sesame oil before grilling, and it made a very satisfying dinner. Highly recommended

This was a hit and very well received by my young adult children who, like me, like to concentrate on eating plants.I deliberated between using "pearled" or regular barley. I went with the pearled as suggested. I paused the recipe after step one for a few hours prior to adding the vegetables and the the barley continued to expand soaking up a great deal of the liquid. This became quite thick and still very yummy. Reminded us of risotto. Looking forward to trying some variations

I love this soup! The miso paste I use is very salty, so I reduced it to 2 TBSP, and I added an extra cup of good store bought vegetable broth with the water, and I cut the barley in half. This, to me, was perfect. I wish I could think of what to replace the asparagus with once it’s out of season…would love to make this soup year round.

Fantastic. Added some parmesan rinds to the broth as it simmered and one bouillon cube, and was generous with the ginger. Very flavorful.

I note that the cooks who called this delicious did a lot of creative upgrading. I made the soup as written. As written, this is a waste of asparagus. When it was done, I made it edible by adding three packets of instant dashi, several tablespoons of Shaoxing wine, black vinegar, and several lashings of white pepper. It's unfortunate, because I love asparagus and peas and barley and miso. Not worth making again.

While this was tasty, I didn’t feel like it was worth the super hydrating necessary considering the amount of sodium needed. The Spring Tofu Soup by Alison Roman is a much better option for a flavorful, spring, veggie soup.

Used farro. Had no barley. Used turkey stock I made and needed to use. That added a bit of flavor. I would increase the grain to a full cup next time, for a more substantial meal. Good way to use veggies from weekly CSA boxes but as written was a bit bland. Easily spiced up with your favorite zing. Extra vinegar didn't do it for me and I'm not thrilled with soy sauce. Gochujang worked well. Don't give up. Experiment.

I use more water (additional 2-3 cups) than what was listed, making a true 6 portions, so the sodium was much less of a concern. I think next time I'll add some silken tofu... and something crunch, as well... maybe fresh scallions. Overall, great recipe!

I liked it, but would make half a batch and less barley in relation to broth.

It was OK. Even with the miso and soy sauce, I felt like it needed salt. I also squeezed in a half of lemon- still, meh. Probably won't make it again.

Those complaing about the salt ought to read https://nutritionfacts.org/2020/04/14/what-about-the-sodium-in-miso/ along w'a # of other statements about salt in general, it's relationship to potassium and soy and how to use salt in our cooking! I have found that miso makes a very handy ingredient in recipes that are NOT considered "Asian" !

This turned out to be one of the most boring dishes I’ve made in a long time. Sorry chef, it just didn’t rock my boat. Bland, despite the miso and ginger, felt healthy but almost like I should have been down with a bad cold and flu to make it seem like a medicinal remedy.Nope, shall not be making this again.

Beautiful soup! Added a few tbsp. wakame. Simply delicious!

Very easy to make and very tasty. We’ve opted to cut back on the asparagus and added a few green beans, some celery, and a bit of kohlrabi to vary the veggies.

I wanted to cook this outside of asparagus season, so I improvised and used chantarelles instead. It turned out real well.

made with Son's homemade miso fermented 18 months. oh wow, the funk! was incredibly delicious!

Edamame work great. used between ½ and ¾ cup barleyadded a scallion towards the endadded separately-sauteed shiitake mushroom slices towards the endLove the ¼ inch thick asparagus cuts. Innovative! mingles with the beans well that way

Delicious. Replaced water with vegetable broth and, as suggested, poured the soup over tofu.