Warm Pearl Barley Grain Bowl

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This warm pearl barley grain bowl features sautéed asparagus and mushrooms, and a soft-boiled egg. Sriracha mayo puts it over the top!

parmesan pearl barley grain bowl with asparagus and eggs

Have you tried pearl barley yet? It's one of my favorite healthy grains to use in a warm grain bowl and is quite easy to cook. In this recipe, the barley forms a base topped with sautéed mushrooms and asparagus alongside. Add a soft-boiled egg too, because let's face it, a runny egg makes almost everything better.

Why Make This Recipe

- This grain bowl recipe is so versatile and perfect for weeknights! You can make it with whatever vegetables you might have in the crisper that day. And, if you make the barley in advance, you can pull together the rest of this recipe in under 25 minutes.

- Great for picky eaters, because they can make their own bowl with whatever vegetables they want. To be honest, sometimes that is zero vegetables, but even then a good grain plus an egg is not a parenting dinner fail.

- This recipe is very low in calories. This is a staple of mine when I've indulged for a while and need to set myself back on the right track!

🥗 Ingredients

This warm grain bowl recipe calls for just a few ingredients, and you can substitute almost all of them for whatever you have on hand.

- If you don't have pearl barley, feel free to replace this with white rice, brown rice, quinoa, farro, or another type of ancient grain.

- You can substitute all sorts of vegetables for the asparagus and mushrooms: broccoli, cauliflower, sweet peppers, carrots, spinach, etc. Feel free to roast them in the oven rather than sauté them on the stovetop.

- I call for freshly grated parmesan cheese in this recipe. Of course you can use the pre-grated kind, but freshly grated parmesan melts much better into the barley without clumping. My favorite technique is to use my microplane to grate parmesan cheese. This Microplane is my preferred style, and can also be used to zest lemons or limes perfectly.

🥣 Instructions

Bring 4 cups of water to boil in a medium saucepan over high heat. While the water is heating, rinse the barley in a fine-mesh sieve, then add to the pot when water is boiling. Turn the heat down to medium-high. Bring to a boil again, but pay attention to it. Barley has a habit of foaming over when it cooks. Turn down the heat if it does.

When the barley reaches a boil, turn down the heat to low-medium and simmer for around 25 minutes. Test a piece—you want it to be soft and a little chewy. If it’s not done, continue to simmer for another 10-15 minutes, checking every 5 minutes. You can add more water if all the water is absorbed and the pan is dry.

When the barley is done, strain it into a colander and then return it to the pan (you may not need to drain it if all the water has cooked out). Stir in butter and parmesan cheese and ¼ t. pepper.

parmesan pearl barley in pot with spoon and extra parmesan cheese

Meanwhile, trim ends of asparagus and cut into 1-2 inch chunks. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel, and cut off any dirty stems. Then cut mushrooms into halves or quarters depending on their size.

Make sriracha mayo by combining the mayonnaise and sriracha in a small bowl.

Heat a large 12-inch skillet over medium high heat, then add 1 T. butter. When butter has melted, add mushrooms and cook until they release most of their liquid and begin to brown, about 6 minutes. Add asparagus and cook another 8-10 minutes until mushrooms are very browned and the asparagus is bright green and tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Bring a small, deep saucepan of water to a boil. You need enough water to submerge your eggs. When water is boiling, submerge your eggs and cook for 7 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, then rinse under cold water until you can peel them.

Serve barley onto your bowl, topped with the vegetables, a soft-boiled egg, and drizzled with sriracha mayo.

🧐 FAQs

What is pearl barley?

With pearl barley, the husk and outer bran layers of barley have been removed, so it is less nutritious than hulled barley (the other common form of barley). Hulled barley has only had the husk removed, so it is higher in fiber. However, hulled barley can take over an hour to cook, which is way too long for a busy cook at the end of the day! Pearl barley cooks much faster, in 30-40 minutes. And, it's still quite nutritious and has more fiber than white, brown, or wild rice.

Where can I buy pearl barley?

You can find pearl barley in the rice section of many grocery stores. Personally, I prefer to buy it from the bulk bin section of Whole Foods or MOM's Organic Market. The bulk bins are frequently refilled, so you know you are getting fresh grains—plus, less packaging waste!

👩‍🍳 Expert Tips

When you are soft-boiling your eggs, watch the temperature of the stove. You want to cook the eggs just at a gentle boil, so turn down the heat if the water is bubbling wildly and the eggs are banging around in your pan. Remove with a slotted spoon, then rinse under cold water until you can peel them. They peel easier when they are still warm. If you like your eggs to have a firmer yolk, add a couple of minutes to the cooking time. You can also substitute a poached egg or a fried egg—whatever you prefer!
Here's a trick for trimming asparagus. Just take a stalk and bend it near to the thick end. The tough, woody bottom of the stalk will snap off, and you're left with the tender part to chop up for your meal. You can trim asparagus with a knife as well (about ½ to an inch off the bottom depending on how thick they are), but snapping asparagus is just more fun. And an easy job for little helping hands!
The best thing about grain bowls are how easy they are to make. Once you have the basic formula down: grain + veggies + egg + sauce, you can switch almost everything around. Quinoa bowls are a particular favorite of mine when I'm low on time, because quinoa cooks quite quickly.

Other Grain Bowl Recipes

If you're looking for other easy meals for healthy eating that will still please your family, I have plenty of great options on my Main Dishes page. In particular, you might enjoy some of my other warm grain bowl recipes, including:

Try any of these with fun toppings as well, like these Quick Pickled Shallots.

If you try this recipe, I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below—I read them all, and your feedback is invaluable to me. And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to my newsletter. I'd love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!

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