Savory Instant Pot Mushroom Barley Soup Recipe (Vegetarian) – Ready in Under an Hour

Instant Pot Mushroom Barley Soup is filling and full of savory mushroom flavor. It’s a simple vegetarian soup made with everyday ingredients like mushrooms, barley, and plenty of veggies in a vegetable stock or broth. The Instant Pot does most of the work, so you can have a pot of hearty soup on the table in under an hour.

This post has been refreshed in January 2026 with clearer steps, updated tips, and a few small tweaks.

Here is What You Will Need

How to Make Mushroom Barley Soup in the Instant Pot

1. Prepare the ingredients: Clean and slice the mushrooms, chop the carrots, onions, and garlic. Measure the broth, wine, barley, and tomato paste.
2. Cook the veggies: Add oil, set to sauté mode, and sauté the mirepoix (onions, carrots, chopped celery stalks) and garlic until soft, then stir in mushrooms and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring often. Deglaze the pot with a splash of the wine, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom.
3. Add Tomato Paste: Stir in the tomato paste until it coats the veggies, then turn off the saute setting.
4. Add the remaining ingredients: Stir in the diced tomatoes and bay leaves, pour in the broth and remaining wine, then add the pearl barley and the rest of the soup ingredients. Stir everything well to combine.
5. Cook: Set the pressure cooker to high pressure for 20 minutes. Let it do a natural pressure release for 5 to 10 minutes, then open, stir, and serve.

Stovetop Instructions

This soup can easily be made on top of the stove. Here’s how:

1. Sauté the veggies in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium to high heat.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the soup pot, reduce the heat to low heat, cover the pot, and cook for at least 50 to 60 minutes.

How to Store and Reheat Leftovers

Soup tastes even better after it sits overnight, and this Instant Pot mushroom barley soup is no exception. It’s great for meal prep, so if you have leftovers, follow the instructions below to store and reheat them.

Refrigerate

Let the soup cool to room temperature, then transfer it to an airtight container. Keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days.

To reheat, warm it on the stovetop over low heat until heated through. Barley soaks up liquid as it sits, so if the soup is thick, add a little broth or water until it loosens up,

Freeze

For longer storage, freeze mushroom barley soup for up to 3 months. Portioning it first makes reheating easier, and these silicone freezing trays work well for that.

Thaw the soup in the refrigerator overnight, or add it straight from the freezer to a saucepan. Warm it over low heat, stirring now and then, until heated through. Add a little water or broth if it’s too thick.

Serving Suggestions

Barley mushroom soup is a hearty, comforting soup and a meal all by itself. We like it garnished with some thyme sprigs and a piece of crusty bread, or whole wheat Yorkshire pudding and a salad on the side.

Recipe Variations

• Change the Grains: Replace the barley with farro, brown rice, wild rice, quinoa or orzo.
• Vegetables: Add more vegetables such as kale or Swiss chard (add at the end) or zucchini or yellow squash for a lighter feel.
• Add protein: Make it even heartier and add cooked sausage, stew meat, ground beef, chicken, white beans or lentils.

Mushroom Barley Soup Frequently Asked Questions

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