Breakfast Barley Porridge Recipe (2024)

Barley porridge is an easy breakfast hot cereal alternative to oatmeal or other hot breakfast cereals. This easy breakfast bowl is flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg while golden raisins give it just a touch of sweetness and pecans or walnuts for a little crunch.

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After learning to make Instant Pot Barley, I immediately wanted to find all the different ways I could use barley to create all types of meals.

I’ve mostly eaten it in soups and in this vegetable barley salad, but I felt like it’d be fantastic for breakfast as well.

Barley is one of those ingredients that I often forget about using, but it really makes a great base for breakfast porridge, salads, soups, and even a pilaf side dish. Any dish made with other grains can use barley as a replacement.

The naturally creamy texture of barley is perfect for making a tasty and satisfying breakfast bowl perfect for those mornings when it’s a little cooler outside and you need a warming breakfast meal.

If you enjoy eating hot cereals for breakfast, you might also enjoy this quinoa flakes porridge and this chocolate banana oatmeal! For fancier breakfast and brunch parties, I think you’ll love vegan baked oats.

🛒 Ingredients You Need

Making barley porridge for breakfast is simple and uses easy-to-find ingredients.

• Barley: You want to use pearl barley to make this lightly sweet porridge recipe. It’s the more processed form of barley and isn’t technically considered part of the whole grains family. However, even though it’s processed it brings a whole range of health benefits to your morning breakfast.
• Golden raisins: I love the lighter flavor of golden raisins when making breakfast porridge. Brown raisins, dried cranberries, or any other dried fruit are excellent substitutes.
• Nuts: My favorite nuts to complement the warming fall flavors in this barley porridge recipe are pecans or walnuts, but almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, and hazelnuts will also work to make a barley breakfast bowl.
• Spices: I usually use a combination of cinnamon and nutmeg when making hot barley cereal but sometimes I swap it for pumpkin pie spice.
• Brown Sugar: Or maple syrup are my two favorite ways to add a bit of sweetness to barley porridge.
• Milk: Adding milk after the barley cooks makes a creamier hot barley cereal. I am using almond milk but you can use your favorite milk option.

🔀 Substitutions and Variations

• Natural sweetener: Stir in mashed bananas or cooked apples in place of the brown sugar.
• Fall flavors: Swap the cinnamon for pumpkin pie spice and stir in a half cup of pumpkin puree.
• Add fresh fruit: Stir in some fresh or cooked apples along with the milk after the barley cooks. Berries are another favorite to stir into the barley.
• Vanilla: For a bit of warming and natural sweetness you can add a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract.
• Chocolate: Stir in cocoa powder after cooking and top with chocolate chips.

🥣 How to Make Barley Porridge

You can make this hot breakfast cereal using the Instant Pot or stovetop. Both methods are simple and there are certainly advantages to each.

Barley Porridge in the Instant Pot

1. Add the water and barley to the Instant Pot.
2. Secure the lid in place and make sure the pressure valve is in the closed position. Cook on high pressure for 20 minutes.

3. When the pressure cook time ends, allow the Instant Pot to release the pressure naturally for 10 minutes. Then carefully open the pressure valve to allow the rest of the pressure and steam to release.
4. Stir in the milk, spices, raisins, and nuts before serving.

Hot Barley Cereal on the Stove

Barley porridge on the stove has a slightly longer cooking time, but it’s definitely an alternate way to cook this barley recipe.

1. Place 4 cups of water and barley in a medium saucepan on top of the stove over high heat and heat to a boil. When it boils, reduce to low heat and cover with a lid.
2. Cook for 25-30 minutes or until the barley is tender. If excess water remains, drain it off. Add the milk, spices, raisins, and nuts and let cook for 5 minutes. Serve it up.

➕ More Instant Pot Recipes

If you love cooking meals with the instant pot, here are some of my other favorites for you to make! It’s great for cooking grains such instant pot farro and wheat berries.

Even better, it’s the best option for cooking beans quickly, such as these creamy mayocoba beans and my favorite flavorful cuban black beans. It’s also a simple way to steam broccoli.

🧺 How to Store

If you have breakfast porridge left or if you decide to meal prep this recipe. Here’s the best way to store and reheat.

• Refrigerator: Store in the refrigerator for up to five days.
• Freezer: Place it in a freezer-safe container and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• Reheat: To reheat, place the amount you wish to prepare in a saucepan on top of the stove. Add water or milk to thin it out just a bit and then heat until it’s hot, stirring frequently. You can also reheat it in the microwave.

IDEA FOR LEFTOVERS: Another great way to serve up leftover barley porridge is to use it to make grain, fruit, and yogurt parfaits. Simply layer it into a container with yogurt, peanut butter, and fruit on top. So yum!

🥗 How to Serve Barley for Breakfast

Breakfast barley porridge is a complete meal just on its own, but you can jazz it up a bit by adding some additional toppings.

• Make it sweeter. The porridge is only lightly sweetened so if you want it a bit sweeter you can stir in your favorite sweetener before serving it up.
• Add more milk: You can also serve it up with extra homemade soy milk or your favorite milk poured over the top.
• Topping ideas: You can add some chopped nuts, coconut flakes, cacao nibs, chocolate chips, maple syrup, yogurt, or fresh fruit.
• Drizzle it with a bit of nut butter including pistachio butter, almond butter, or peanut butter.
• Sprinkle it with a bit of vegan granola and stir in a bit of strawberry chia jam.

💭 Expert Tips

• Too much water after cooking? No worries. Check if the barley is tender and if it is, then drain off the water and then proceed with making the recipe. If it’s not ready, replace the lid and cook it for additional time.
• Best flavor. Make sure your spices are fresh for maximum flavor and add them at the end of cooking. The Instant Pot cooks at super high temperatures which don’t work well for the flavor of cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Cooking methods use different quantities of water. If you cook your barley on the stove, be sure to add four cups of water instead of the 2 ½ cups in the recipe for the Instant Pot.

❓Recipe FAQs

More Hot Cereal Recipes to Try

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📖 Recipe

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