Winter Barley Minestrone with white beans / carrots / turnips
A bowl of vegetable-packed minestrone is the perfect cozy meal for cold winter months. This one gets a seasonal twist with root vegetables and cooked barley leftover from Tuesday.
Smarts #1: Miso paste gives this soup a rich, savory flavor. This Japanese ingredient doesn't only add flavor to Asian recipes - it's a great "secret" ingredient to stir into soups.
Smarts #2: This recipe could be made in the Instant Pot. For tips, join the Cook Smarts Instant Pot Facebook Group.
Ingredients
- Onions, medium - 1, chopped
- Carrots - 12 oz, chopped
- Turnips - 6 oz, chopped (sub rutabaga or potatoes)
- Garlic - 3 cloves, chopped
- Green onions - 2 stalks, chopped, green and white parts separate
- Beans, cannellini or other white (14 oz / 397 g) - 1 can, drained and rinsed
- Oil, olive - 1 Tbsp
- Miso paste - 1 Tbsp
- Oregano, dried - 1/2 tsp
- Thyme, dried - 1/2 tsp
- Stock, any type - 5 cups
- Tomatoes, petite diced (14 oz / 397 g) - 1 can
- Bay leaves - 1
- Cooked Pearl Barley (leftover from Tuesday) - 1 cup
- Lemon juice - 2 tsp
- Parmesan cheese (opt) - 1 oz, grated
Nutrition Facts
Prep
Make
- Heat a Dutch oven with oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and turnips to heated oil with some salt. Saute until onions are starting to soften, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add white parts of green onions, garlic, miso, oregano, and thyme. Saute until spices are fragrant, ~2 minutes.
- Add stock, tomatoes (including liquid), and bay leaves to pan. Bring to a simmer. Cover with a lid and simmer until turnips are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Remove lid and stir in cooked barley and beans. Continue cooking until everything is heated through.
- Stir lemon juice into soup and season with some salt and pepper. Discard bay leaves.
- Ladle soup into bowls. Top with green parts of green onions and some parmesan cheese, if you’d like. Enjoy!
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
This meal has 52 reviews
Meh! This recipe is just a baseline. I’m not knowledgeable enough to take it to the next level.
Really good. The miso added some nice depth to the flavor.
I was going to freeze the leftovers but then ate them all. Found this to be super quick in the instant pot and a good use of turnips.
Delicious warm soup for a cold winter night.
For some reason my soup had a very bitter finish and it ruined the whole soup. Almost like there was rind or something. I think it might have been my turnip. But I think if I had supped a different root veggie it would have been great
I really liked the flavor of this soup. I used soy sauce in place of the miso and a can of diced tomatoes with green chiles because that's what I had on hand. It gave the soup a little bit of heat which I liked.