Delicious, flavorful and hearty, this traditional porcini & barley soup is the most favorite soup of many Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian folks. If you try it once, you will want to make it again and again. Dried porcini add a unique and complex aroma to broth that cannot be compared to any other mushrooms.
This rich and satisfying soup, infused with a deep mushroom aroma, is made in a traditional way without any blenderizing.
Porcini are high in protein, making them a nice addition to a vegetarian diet. They also have a high content in B vitamins and dietary minerals. Learn more about porcini at wikipedia.
You can find really good dry porcini in Eastern-European stores. They are also generally available in common grocery stores. When purchasing dried porcini, examine the package and avoid those with lots of small crumbs because the crumbs are less flavorful.
Don’t be discouraged by the long cooking time. You can work on something else while the porcini & barley soup is being cooked. If you are a vegetarian or would rather use beef or chicken store-bought broths the cooking time will be reduced by half.
Porcini & Barley Soup
Course: SoupDifficulty: Easy8
servings20
minutes1
hour325
kcal1
hour20
minutesThis old-fashioned Porcini & Barley soup is a mushroom lover’s dream – nourishing, satisfying and intensely-flavored. It can easily be converted to a vegetarian dish by substituting a vegetable broth for the pork broth. Perfect for chilly days.
Ingredients
- Soup
1 cup 1 dry porcini mushrooms
5 tbsp 5 barley
300 grams 300 boneless pork rib chops
12 small 12 small potatoes, sliced
1 medium 1 carrot, sliced
4 tbsp 4 Spanish onion, diced
2 tbsp 2 butter
12 cup 12 12-14 cups of water
- For Serving
Chives or other herbs such as dill, parsley or cilantro
Freshly ground black pepper
Sour cream (optional)
Spices to your taste (see below)
Directions
- Prepare all dry ingredients
- A home-made broth is a secret base of many favorite Slavic soups. I use pork chops to make the soup base. But, you could substitute any white meat. A few bay leaves and some peppercorns will add additional zest.
- Bring broth to a boil, then skim off the foam and discard. Let the broth simmer on low heat for 60 min.
- While broth is cooking, soak mushrooms and barley (separately) in 1- 2 cups of cold water for about 30-40 minutes. Set aside.
- Slice carrots and potatoes. Mince onions
- At the 30 minute point, drain the barley and add it to the broth.
- At the 40 minute point, stir in sliced carrots and potatoes.
- At the 45 minute point, remove softened mushrooms from their bowl using a slotted spoon and transfer to the broth pot. Reserve the mushroom liquid as the water used is infused with the rich mushroom aroma. Strain the reserved liquid through a fine-mesh sieve and add to the pot. If you don’t have a sieve, you can let the mushroom liquid stand for a minute or so and then carefully add it to the pot discarding except for the last 5-10% of liquid in the bottom of the bowl.
- Season to taste with coarse salt (e.g. sea salt or Kosher salt), freshly ground black pepper, and your favorite spices. But please don’t overdo – protect the mushroom flavor. I use my home-made spice mix containing cumin seeds, black pepper and dry dill, or simply an Italian spice mix.
- Remove pork chops from the pot, slice them and transfer back to the pot.
- Heat the butter in the frying pan, add minced onions, and saute over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the onion is golden brown, about 4-5 minutes. Add to the pot at the very end. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Garnish with fresh chives and sour cream, if desired. Add a piece of fresh or toasted bread, crostini, or your favourite crackers.
Notes
- You can refrigerate this soup, excluding chives and sour cream, for up to 5 days (a working week). This soup becomes even more flavorful and aromatic after a few days. After reheating, add fresh herbs / sour cream. This can be your dinner for a few days or you can take it to work in a thermos for lunch. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
8 servings per container
- Amount Per ServingCalories325
- % Daily Value *
- Total Fat
7.8g
12%
- Saturated Fat 3.5g 18%
- Cholesterol 34mg 12%
- Sodium 62mg 3%
- Potassium 1273mg 37%
- Total Carbohydrate
47.8g
16%
- Dietary Fiber 8.3g 34%
- Sugars 3.6g
- Protein 16.3g 33%
- Calcium 2%
- Iron 13%
- Vitamin D 10%
* The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Nutrition information is estimated. It is calculated using an online nutrition calculator based on recipe ingredients as inputs. Accuracy is dependent on the calculator. It is not intended as a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Iryna, your step by step instructions and pictures are excellent and easy to follow. I look forward to trying this soup recipe!
Thank you Teri. Glad to hear that. You won’t be disappointed ♥️
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