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Slow Cooker Italian Sausage Mushroom Barley Soup
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Course Soup
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4 people

Equipment

  • Slow Cooker
  • Skillet

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
  • 8 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
  • 1/2 cup pearl barley
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 6 cups beef broth
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  • Grated Parmesan cheese for serving

Instructions
 

  • Brown the Italian sausage in a skillet over medium heat, breaking it into crumbles as it cooks. Drain excess fat and transfer the sausage to the slow cooker.
  • Add the sliced mushrooms, diced onion, diced carrots, minced garlic, pearl barley, beef broth, dried thyme, bay leaves, salt, and black pepper to the slow cooker.
  • Stir everything together, cover, and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours until the barley is tender and the vegetables are soft.
  • Remove the bay leaves before serving. Ladle the soup into bowls and top each with chopped parsley and grated Parmesan cheese.

Notes

Brown the sausage well before adding it to build deeper flavor in the broth. Pearl barley thickens the soup as it cooks, so stir once near the end if you prefer a looser texture. Leftovers reheat nicely on the stovetop with a splash of broth to loosen them up.
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Italian
Equipment: Slow Cooker, Skillet