How long does it take to prepare pearl barley? How much and how to cook pearl barley in water. How to cook pearl barley in a slow cooker, microwave and double boiler

Not everyone knows what kind of grain we eat in the form of pearl barley. This grain of barley, processed in a special way, looks like This grain, due to its high content of fiber and vitamins, perfectly normalizes the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. It contains a lot of protein, vitamins and gluten and is very affordable. It is for this reason that preparing pearl barley porridge is economically profitable and healthy.

How long should you cook pearl barley to get a tasty porridge from this grain?

This cereal needs to be cooked on average from fifty minutes to two hours. Its readiness is determined by its appearance and consistency. So, well-cooked pearl barley is soft and swollen, but not spread out and mushy. Before starting cooking, it is advisable to soak it in cold water to swell and leave for two hours, then the cereal will cook much faster. Porridge made from it is a tasty and healthy product, but we are often lazy to cook it, because we don’t know how and how much to cook barley so that the result is tasty and the cooking time is not too long. But there are ways to halve the cooking time of this cereal.

Methods for cooking pearl barley

1st method

For 2 (or 3) hours, soak the cereal in cold water. Then put it in a saucepan, add boiling water and boil for 15-20 minutes. When the porridge begins to thicken, remove from heat and put in the oven for another 20 minutes. According to this recipe, the time it takes to cook pearl barley is halved, and the porridge turns out very crumbly and tasty.

2nd method (on water)

Soak the cereal in cold water for two hours. Place it in a saucepan and pour boiling water over it, then cook for five minutes. Then remove the container from the heat and place the pearl barley on a baking sheet, add vegetable oil to it. Place the baking tray with the cereal in a preheated oven and bake (at a temperature of 160 degrees) for fifteen minutes. With this method, pearl barley cooks much faster and turns out very tasty and, most importantly, crumbly.

Everyone knows the first dish called “rassolnik”. One of the main ingredients included in its composition is this particular cereal. How long does it take to cook barley in this case? When should it be added to the pickle?

How long to cook pearl barley for pickle?

Sometimes you want to remember your childhood, the comfort of your home. And it is then, on a wave of pleasant memories, that it is advisable to prepare pickle with barley. This dish, I must say, is very tasty and healthy. And the taste of this soup will depend on how and how much you cook the barley.

Pickle recipe

You will need (for 4 servings):

Pearl barley -20 grams.
Potatoes -2 pcs. (large).
Pickled cucumbers - 1 pc.
Onion - 1 onion (medium).
Carrots - 1 pc. (not very big).
Pepper and salt - to taste.
Broth - 4 glasses.
Vegetable oil - 1

with pearl barley:

Soak in cold water in the evening. If for some reason you didn’t do this, it’s okay, you just have to cook it in two waters, it will take more time than with pre-soaking. Pour pearl barley into hot water and bring to a boil. Next, you need to drain the liquid, and re-place the contents in boiling water and cook until completely cooked. While the cereal is cooking, peel the onion, then chop it and carrots. After this, they should be fried in vegetable oil until they have a beautiful golden color. Wash the potatoes, peel and chop into small cubes. Cut the cucumber into strips and fry a little in 3 tablespoons of broth. After the barley is completely cooked, boil, add potatoes and porridge, bring to a boil, reduce heat (to medium), cook for five minutes. Then add carrots, onions, cucumbers to the pickle and cook until the potatoes are half cooked. Salt and pepper the soup a few minutes before the end of cooking.

Pearl barley is barley grains processed in a special way. It contains many useful microelements, vitamins, fiber and improves the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. You can use it to make pearl barley porridge or a traditional Russian soup - rassolnik. Barley has only one significant drawback: it takes quite a long time to prepare. However, there are ways to quickly prepare it.

How to quickly cook pearl barley

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How to cook pearl barley with pre-soaking

To cook a delicious pickle, you first need to prepare all the ingredients, the most important being pearl barley. Many housewives are interested in how long to cook pearl barley for pickle. Depending on the size of the grains and the cooking method, it can cook from a few minutes to an hour and a half. To speed up the cooking of pearl barley, there are various methods - for example, pre-soaking the barley for several hours.

To cook pearl barley, you will need:

1 liter of water
1 cup pearl barley

Sort out the pearl barley and rinse it thoroughly. Then transfer the pearl barley into a bowl, fill it with cold water and leave to soak for 5-6 or 10-12 hours (ideally overnight). Drain off the excess liquid, pour the cereal into a saucepan, add fresh water and cook. After the water boils, drain it and rinse the pearl barley with cold water. Then pour boiling water over the cereal and cook for 20–30 minutes. As a result, the pearl barley will turn out crumbly, and its grains will not stick together. Ready barley does not cook for long in the soup. Add it to the pickle about 5 minutes before the end of cooking.

How to quickly cook pearl barley without soaking

To prepare pearl barley quickly and without pre-soaking, sort out the barley, then rinse it thoroughly. Place a pan of water on the fire. When the water boils, pour the cereal into it and cook over high heat for 2-3 minutes. Then drain the liquid and fill the pearl barley with cold water. Put it back on the fire. When the water boils, reduce the heat to low and simmer until tender.

It is better to boil pearl barley for pickle separately, adding it to the almost finished soup. Otherwise, the pickle will turn out to be too cloudy, slimy and not so tasty.

You can also quickly cook pearl barley in the microwave. On grocery store shelves you can find pearl barley packaged in bags. It costs a little more, but it takes much less effort and time to prepare. Take a bag of cereal, place it in a glass container, then fill it with cold water and place it in the microwave at maximum power for 10–15 minutes. After this time, reduce the power and leave the cereal until completely cooked.

Alternatively, use a pressure cooker to quickly cook pearl barley. Pour water into a container, add pearl barley to the rice bowl, and then turn on the steamer. As a rule, the cooking time is indicated in the instructions for this household appliance.

In this article we will look at how and how much to cook pearl barley. In short, then cook pearl barley from 50 minutes to 1.5 hours, it all depends on the age and type of pearl barley. To properly cook pearl barley porridge, look at its production date.

Note that it only takes 45 minutes to cook pearl barley from bags.

How to cook pearl barley

How to cook pearl barley correctly

First, rinse the cereal and add water. Leave to swell for 2-3 hours.
Drain the water and place the pearl barley into a saucepan.
Pour boiled water. The ratio is 1 to 3, that is, for a glass of pearl barley we take 3 glasses of water.
Place the pan on the stove and cook the barley over low heat for 50 minutes.

To make the pearl barley soft, you can add a little sunflower oil or butter.

How to quickly cook pearl barley

First, pour 5 cups of water into 1 cup of pearl barley.
Place the pan on the stove and cook the barley over low heat after the water boils for 45 minutes.
After cooking, drain the water, put a piece of butter in the porridge, stir and leave covered for 10 minutes. Then the pearl barley will swell and become more tasty and aromatic.

How to cook pearl barley in bags

Place a bag of barley in the pan, add water so that it covers the barley with a margin of 1 centimeter.
Add salt (1 teaspoon). Place on the fire and cook the pearl barley in bags for 45 minutes.

There is no need to pre-soak the cereal from the bags, as it is processed and ready for cooking. After cooking, you can immediately add it to, use it as, or prepare other dishes with pearl barley.

How to cook pearl barley in a slow cooker

Rinse the cereal in cold water, soak in water for 2-3 hours.
Place pearl barley in a multicooker bowl. We take 3 times more water than cereal (for 1 multi-glass of pearl barley – 3 water).
Set the “Buckwheat” or “Porridge” mode. Cooking time without soaking barley is 1.5-2 hours, with soaking – 1 hour. And so that the pearl barley does not run away, you should not load it into the bowl to the maximum.

How to cook pearl barley in a Rotex multi-pressure cooker

Rinse the pearl barley, pour it into a bowl, add water so that it covers the porridge by 1 centimeter with a margin.
Select the “Porridge” mode and cook the barley for 45 minutes.

How to cook pearl barley in the microwave

To cook pearl barley in the microwave, you need to take the following proportions: for 1 cup of cereal, 1.5 cups of boiled, lightly salted water. Cook covered for 25-30 minutes (power 400 W).

It is enough to cook pearl barley in a bag (processed) for 20 minutes, the power is the same.

How long to cook barley in soup (including pickle)

Cooking pearl barley in the soup is enough for 1 hour, but before cooking you need to soak it in water for several hours.

How to make delicious barley in a double boiler

Rinse the pearl barley under running water, add water, keeping the proportions 1:2, and place in a cold place to swell for at least 6 hours.
Rinse the pearl barley in a colander under running water. Place the cereal in the container of the cereal steamer, add boiling water (take 2.5 cups of water per glass of cereal). Cook for 30 minutes first.
Gently stir the cereal and cook again for 30 minutes. Readiness can be determined by the softness of the porridge at the bottom of the container.
If the pearl barley is undercooked, you can extend the cooking time by another 30 minutes. It depends on the variety and size of the grains. To finish cooking the barley, you need to drain the remaining water from the steamer and fill it with new one.

How to cook pearl barley in a rice cooker

We will need the following products:

Water – 3 glasses
Pearl barley – 1 cup
Salt – 1 teaspoon

Step-by-step recipe for cooking pearl barley in a rice cooker

Rinse the cereal, add water so that the pearl barley is completely covered with water, and leave to swell for 2 hours.
Drain the water, transfer the cereal to the rice cooker bowl, add 3 glasses of water, turn on the “Cooking” mode for 1 hour. Cook with the lid closed! Without soaking, cook the pearl barley for 1.5-2 hours.
As soon as cooking is finished, set the heating mode for 20 minutes. Then the pearl barley will be crumbly. Next add salt, stir well and serve.

What you need to know about pearl barley

Pearl barley is considered the pearl of cereals due to its beneficial components: lysine (has antiviral properties), protein-containing cell (helps with weight loss), B vitamins, selenium, minerals and proteins.
What is pearl barley made from? From barley. The barley grains are cleaned and polished.
Barley can be soaked not only in water, but also in milk or yogurt.
How much does pearl barley expand during cooking? 5 times.
How to determine the readiness of pearl barley? Fully prepared pearl barley is soft, swollen, but not mushy.
Pearl barley is considered one of the cheapest cereals.
Pearl barley can be stored for 1-1.5 years.
The calorie content of pearl barley is per 100 grams of porridge / 320 kilocalories.

Many people underestimate pearl barley, considering it tasteless. It only turns out this way when cooked incorrectly. To make this cereal crumbly and tasty, it must be cooked for a long time - from one to two hours, and sometimes even more. It all depends on the quality of the cereal and the method of preparation. The degree of readiness is determined by the type and consistency of the pearl barley - the finished cereal turns out soft, swollen, grain to grain.

To reduce the cooking time for barley, you need to pre-soak it in water. First, rinse the cereal well until the water is as clear as possible. Fill it with water in the following proportion: per glass of pearl barley – one liter of water. Soaking time is 10-12 hours. However, it can be reduced to 3-4 hours.

Barley will turn out much tastier if soak it in whey or sour milk. If you cook it for dietary nutrition, cook the cereal only in water.

How to cook pearl barley after soaking

You can cook pearl barley in different ways. The most common is cooking in a saucepan. To do this, rinse the swollen cereal and fill it with water at the rate of 2 liters of liquid per glass of pearl barley. An important nuance is that the water should be cold, even ice-cold. Bring the cereal to a boil and simmer over low heat for 45-60 minutes. Remove the pan from the stove, wrap it well with a warm blanket or towel and leave it like that for half an hour. During this time, the cereal will harden well and become more tender.

Do not forget to take into account that the volume of pearl barley increases approximately 5-6 times during cooking. That is why cook the cereal in a spacious pan. Add butter and salt at the very end of cooking.

How to cook dry pearl barley

You can cook pearl barley without pre-soaking. To do this, rinse the pearl barley thoroughly, add water at the rate of 4 cups of liquid per cup of cereal, place over high heat and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and cook the cereal under a closed lid for two hours. Check the pearl barley periodically to ensure that all the water has not boiled away. Let the finished cereal simmer under the lid for half an hour.

There is another way to prepare pearl barley. Bring the cereal to a boil, as in the previous method, and then set it to finish cooking in a water bath. At the same time, always keep the lid of the pan with barley closed.

Crumbly pearl barley will become An excellent side dish for fish or meat. In addition, it can be used in appetizers and salads, as well as in soups - mushroom, fish, meat. The most popular barley soup is rassolnik. However, it is necessary to remember that you should not add raw pearl barley to soups - the dish may acquire an unappetizing bluish tint. It’s better to pre-cook it until half cooked and add it to the soup halfway through cooking.

It is recommended to use pearl barley hot. In this case, it is not only tasty, but also more beneficial for the body. Nutritionists say that cooled pearl barley is less beneficial and is less easily absorbed by the body.

Properly prepared delicious pearl barley porridge can conquer many gourmets, even despite the not-so-popularity of porridges made from this cereal, so let’s look in more detail at how to deliciously cook barley as a side dish and for soup, and how long to cook pearl barley in water so that it is crumbly and tasty, whether it needs to be soaked and in what proportion to mix it with water when cooking.

The ratio of pearl barley and water during cooking (proportions of pearl barley and water during cooking)

Before you learn how to deliciously prepare pearl barley as a side dish, you need to know the exact proportions of liquid and cereal when preparing this porridge:

The ratio of pearl barley and water when cooking viscous porridge= 1 cup pearl barley + 4 cups water.
The ratio of pearl barley and water when cooking crumbly porridge= 1 cup pearl barley + 2.5 cups water.

How long to cook pearl barley

On average, the cooking time for pearl barley ranges from 50 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on the quality of pearl barley, the method of cooking it and the desired consistency of pearl barley porridge in the end:

How long to cook pearl barley without soaking? Without pre-soaking, barley is cooked for at least 60 minutes.
How long to cook pearl barley with soaking? After soaking, pearl barley is cooked for at least 50 minutes.
How long to cook barley for pickle (how long to cook barley in soup)? In the soup, pearl barley should be boiled for 1 hour, while the barley should first be soaked for 2-3 hours in water. It is possible to add pre-cooked pearl barley to the soup (after adding, for example, rassolnik to the soup, it needs to be cooked for 10-15 minutes).
How long to cook pearl barley in a slow cooker? In a slow cooker, pearl barley is cooked for 50 to 70 minutes (after 50 minutes of cooking, you should check the porridge every 5 minutes for readiness).
How many minutes to cook pearl barley in bags? Cook pearl barley in bags for an average of 45-50 minutes until fully cooked.

How to cook pearl barley porridge in water in a saucepan?

The most common way to prepare pearl barley porridge is to cook it in a saucepan on the stove, since not every housewife may have a double boiler or a slow cooker, but the methods given below are widely known and have been popular for many years.

How to quickly cook pearl barley in water without soaking it in a pan?

We measure out a glass of pearl barley and rinse the cereal with cold water, then pour it into a pan and fill it with water so that it completely covers the cereal and the water level is 1-2 cm higher
Bring the barley with water to a boil, cook for 5 minutes and drain all the water, then add the required amount of water (the proportions are higher in the article) and bring to a boil again.
Add salt to taste and cook the pearl barley over low heat, covering it with a lid (leaving a small gap for steam to escape) for at least 50 minutes, making sure that all the water has boiled away.
When the water has boiled away and the porridge is ready, if desired, you can add a piece of butter, set the pan off the heat and let the porridge sit for 10-15 minutes under the lid (you can also wrap the pan in a towel).

This method falls into the category of how to quickly cook pearl barley, since you do not need to spend a lot of time pre-soaking pearl barley.

In the same way, pearl barley is cooked in bags, which also does not need to be soaked in advance (it already comes prepared for cooking).

How to properly cook pearl barley in water with pre-soaking

Ingredients: pearl barley - 1 cup, water - 3 cups, salt - a pinch (to taste).
Total cooking time: 4 hours, preparation time: 3 hours, cooking time: 1 hour.
Calorie content: 129 calories (per 100 grams of product).
Cuisine: Slavic. Type of dish: side dish. Number of servings: 2.

We prepare pearl barley in advance by rinsing it with cold water, then pouring it with water and leaving it to steep for 3-4 hours before cooking.
We drain the water in which the pearl barley was infused and rinse it again with plain water, after which we pour it into the selected pan.
Fill the cereal with the required amount of water (the ratios of water and pearl barley for cooking crumbly and viscous porridge are described at the beginning of the article). Add salt to taste.
Bring the pearl barley to a boil, reduce the heat to a minimum and cook for 50-60 minutes (until the water boils away).
Remove the pan from the stove, add a piece of butter if desired and leave the finished pearl barley porridge to steep under the lid in the pan for 10 minutes.

Note: soaking pearl barley in water for a long time will not harm the cereal and will even be beneficial when cooking porridge, so some housewives leave the cereal to soak in water overnight, after which in the morning they cook pearl barley porridge as a side dish or for soup.

How to cook pearl barley in a slow cooker?

Before cooking pearl barley in a slow cooker, the cereal should be prepared in advance for cooking: rinse with cold water several times, then leave the barley to soak in water for at least 3 hours.
After soaking, rinse the cereal again with plain water and place it in a multicooker, which can be pre-lubricated with butter.
Add pre-salted water to the multicooker in the proportion: 3 cups of water to 1 cup of pearl barley.
Turn on the multicooker to the “Porridge” mode and leave the barley to cook for 1 hour.
When the pearl barley porridge is cooked, you can additionally add a piece of butter to it and leave it in the multicooker in the “Warming” mode for 10 minutes.

Answers to popular questions that will help you cook pearl barley correctly

Do I need to soak pearl barley before cooking? It is advisable, but not necessary, to soak pearl barley before cooking (it depends on the cooking method you choose, but it is always better to soak pearl barley before cooking so that the porridge is tasty and crumbly).
How many times does pearl barley expand when cooked? During the cooking process, pearl barley increases 5 times, so you need to take this into account in advance and choose a pan with a reserve.
When to salt pearl barley during cooking? Depending on the chosen cooking method, salt is added at different times, but in most cases at the beginning of cooking (after the water boils).
How to cook friable pearl barley? To cook crumbly pearl barley, you need to pre-soak it and also cook it with a small amount of water so that it does not have time to boil.
Do I need to rinse pearl barley after cooking? There is no need to rinse the pearl barley after cooking.

In conclusion to the article, it can be noted that the tips listed in the article on how to cook pearl barley porridge as a side dish, as well as how to cook pearl barley in water in a slow cooker or saucepan, will be useful to all lovers of this healthy barley cereal. It is also important to know not only the entire sequence of cooking pearl barley, but also not to forget how many minutes to cook pearl barley, as well as whether it needs to be soaked and why, what proportions of water and barley to use for the best result. We leave our tips and reviews on how to cook pearl barley porridge in water so that it is tasty and crumbly in the comments to the article and share it on social networks if it was useful to you.