Butternut, white bean and sage soup
Roasted squash and white beans blended into a smooth sage soup.
About 50 min · 345 kcal · 20 g protein per serving
Vegetarian
Chicken and leek barley soup
A warm chicken soup with soft leeks, carrots and pearl barley.
By The foodose editorial team. Nutrition calculated from USDA FoodData Central. Checked on paper on 12 September 2026; not yet cooked in a test kitchen or photographed, so the times and yield are estimates. How we develop our recipes
What still needs a real kitchen
- Confirm the barley is tender in 30 to 35 minutes
- Photograph the finished bowls
- Time
- About 55 min
- estimated
- Serves
- 2
- see below
- Energy
- 405 kcal
- per serving
- Protein
- 36 g
- per serving
Ingredients for 2 servings
Check off ingredients as you go.
Contains gluten. Check the labels on packaged ingredients:
- chicken stock. Stock often contains celery, and sometimes gluten or soya; check the label.
Cooking steps
Warm the oil in a large pan over medium heat and cook the leek and carrot for 8 minutes, until softening.
Add the barley and stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 to 35 minutes, until the grains are tender.
Add the chicken and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, until cooked through.
Cooked when: 74°C / 165°F in the thickest part. A food thermometer is the reliable way to tell.
Stir in the parsley and divide the whole pan between two bowls.
The useful detail
Add chicken later so it does not simmer for the barley's full cooking time. Half an hour in a broth leaves breast meat stringy; ten minutes leaves it tender.
Make it work for you
One serving is A large bowl, half the pan. You can switch to a smaller portion in the ingredients above; it is three quarters of this, and it contains correspondingly less energy and protein. It is an option, not a goal.
Turkey breast instead of chicken
Leaner, with the same safe endpoint.
Per serving: about 10 kcal less, about 1 g more protein, about 1 g less fat.
Spelt instead of pearl barley
Nuttier and firmer, with a similar time.
Per serving: about 5 kcal less, about 2 g more protein, about 1 g more fat.
Rice instead of barley
Softer, and ready in about 15 minutes, so add it later.
Per serving: about 5 kcal more, about 1 g less protein, about the same fat.
Allergens: Removes gluten.
Estimated nutrition
Per standard serving, calculated from the ingredients above. Nutrition changes with substitutions, brands and how much oil stays in the pan.
A main-course soup. The chicken carries the protein and the barley brings fibre that a broth-and-vegetable soup would not have.
| Energy | 405 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 36 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| of which saturates | 1 g |
| Carbohydrate | 49 g |
| of which sugars | 7 g |
| Fibre | 9 g |
| Sodium | 1,670 mg |
Show calculation notes
Each ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its USDA FoodData Central values per 100 g. The whole recipe is added up and divided by 2. Raw weights are used for meat, fish and vegetables; beans and lentils are drained weights. All of the oil is counted as eaten. Added salt is not included; sodium from stock, bread, cheese and tinned food is.
| Ingredient | Weight used | Source | Energy | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| olive oil | 4.5 g | FDC 171413Oil, olive, salad or cooking | 40 kcal | 0.0 g |
| leek | 150 g | FDC 169246Leeks, (bulb and lower leaf-portion), raw | 92 kcal | 2.3 g |
| carrot | 100 g | FDC 170393Carrots, raw | 41 kcal | 0.9 g |
| pearl barley | 80 g | FDC 170284Barley, pearled, raw | 282 kcal | 7.9 g |
| chicken stock | 840 g | FDC 174536Soup, chicken broth, ready-to-serve | 51 kcal | 5.4 g |
| chicken breast | 250 g | FDC 171077Chicken, broiler or fryers, breast, skinless, boneless, meat only, raw | 300 kcal | 56.3 g |
| parsley | 5 g | FDC 170416Parsley, fresh | 2 kcal | 0.1 g |
| Whole recipe | Divided by 2 | 807 kcal | 72.9 g |
Per serving the energy is rounded to the nearest 5 kcal, grams to the nearest whole gram and sodium to the nearest 10 mg. Calculation method 1.0, September 2026. How the calculation works.
Storage and reheating
- In the fridge
- Cool it quickly, cover and refrigerate within 2 hours. The FDA chart gives soups and stews 3 to 4 days. The barley keeps swelling, so it thickens overnight.
- In the freezer
- The same chart gives soups and stews 2 to 3 months in the freezer for best quality.
- Reheating
- Reheat until it reaches 74°C / 165°F, steaming hot throughout, stirring so it heats evenly.
Checked against US Food and Drug Administration, Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, Leftovers and Food Safety, FoodSafety.gov, Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures and FoodSafety.gov, Cold Food Storage Chart. UK guidance from the Food Standards Agency is shorter, at two days for most leftovers.
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