All the comfort of a mushroom barley soup, made into a hearty healthy meal.
You can also use skinless, boneless thighs for this dish which will keep it leaner and easier, but we use the more commonly available thighs in our preparation.
If you want some extra greens, try adding some kale or spinach to just wilt at the end of cooking so it allows you to separate out a portion for those non kale lovers in the house.
Chicken, Mushroom Barley Skillet Dinner
Servings
4 Servings
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion diced
- 2 carrots peeled and diced
- 2 celery stalks diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 8- ounces button or cremini mushrooms diced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt divided
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme chopped
- 1 cup pearled barley
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 4 bone-in chicken thighs (skin on or off)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Coat a large cast iron skillet or heavy bottomed saute pan with 2 tablespoons evoo and set over medium high heat.
- Saute onions, carrots and celery until soft. Add garlic and mushrooms and cook until soft. Top with ½ teaspoon salt, pepper, 2 sprigs thyme, barley and broth to cover. Mix well.
- Arrange the chicken on top of the barley mixture.
- Season chicken with remaining salt, pepper and thyme. Simmer covered for 20 minutes, until barley is mostly soft and there is not much liquid.
- Uncover, place in the oven and roast, for 20 minutes until barley is cooked and chicken is golden. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Chicken, Mushroom Barley Skillet Dinner
Amount per Serving
Calories
539
% Daily Value*
Fat
27.2
g
42
%
Cholesterol
98
mg
33
%
Carbohydrates
49.1
g
16
%
Fiber
10
g
42
%
Protein
26.5
g
53
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Absolutely delicious, but holy cow, what a lot of chopping! I don’t cook very often, so that was an even bigger chore than I was anticipating – and my back is killing me. I have no idea how you figure that *anyone* can do all that in 15 minutes!
Unfortunately, I only had boneless and skinless thighs, which were good enough, but there’s no question that bone in and skin on would be even better.
Next time I make it, I will spread the chopping out over a couple of days.
Thanks for the feedback, I recommend using a food processor or other chopper. For this recipe it would work well even for the mushrooms.
Can I sub chicken breasts? My family will not eat dark meat. If so, does this change the timing, and am I better off with bone-in breasts or boneless breasts?
I would use bone in breasts and then it depends on how large they are. If small it would be the same so you will have to just check on it.
This dish is fabulous! It's one of our favorites and I make it often. But don't make it with boneless, skinless thighs – they cook too quickly and the flavor of the barley is not nearly as good without the fat and juices expelled from the bone-in, skin-on chicken. I cut the olive oil for sautéing the veg way down (or even better, render a small piece of chicken fat and use that) since the chicken thighs expel enough fat into the barley when cooking.
I made this today before Shabbat, it turned out perfectly! Thank you for such a good recipe. (I had to borrow a pan from my brother that could go from the stove to the oven.)
i love the easiness of this recipe. I just have a problem that when making a chicken dish I always marinate the chicken with some spice overnight so it has more flavor otherwise it seems to not turn out good.