Simple, practical, and full of everyday flavour, Instant Pot Vegetable Barley Soup is a vegetarian Indian soup made with olive oil, bay leaf, and garlic in about 35 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 6
  • Category: Soup
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1 medium onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 large carrot (diced into 1/2 inch pieces)
  • 1/2 red bell pepper (diced into 1/2 inch pieces)
  • 1 large tomato (diced or (1 tablespoon tomato paste))
  • 1/2 cup green peas (frozen)
  • 1/2 cup sweet corn (frozen)
  • 3/4 cup pearl barley (rinsed)
  • salt (to taste)
  • black pepper powder (to taste)
  • 5-6 cups vegetable broth ((or water))
  • juice of half lemon
  • 2 tablespoons coriander leaves (cilantro)

Dry Spices:

  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder ((or garam masala powder))

Method

Instant Pot Method:

  1. Firstly, wash and rinse the Barley, keep aside.
  2. Press SAUTE on Instant Pot. Add oil and once it’s hot, add bay leaf, minced garlic, onions and saute for 2-3 minutes till onions soften.
  3. Add carrot, red bell pepper, tomato, green peas, sweet corn, pearl barley, dry spices like turmeric, ground cumin, curry, or garam masala powder into the pot.
  4. Then pour vegetable stock or water into the Instant pot along with some salt and black pepper.
  5. Close the Instant Pot with pressure valve to Sealing. Cook on High Pressure for 20 minutes. When the instant pot beeps, Quick Release(QR). Open the lid.
  6. Lastly, squeeze some lemon juice and garnish with cilantro. Stir it all up.
  7. Vegetable Barley Soup is ready to enjoy!

Stovetop Pot Method:

  1. Follow same steps as instant pot in a pot and cook covered for about 35-40 minutes until the barley and vegetables are cooked to your liking

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.