Fuel8

Dinner

Pearl Barley with Peas, Broad Beans and Mint

A green, lemony barley risotto with leeks, peas and broad beans, finished with mint and nutritional yeast rather than cheese. 19 g of protein for 490 kcal.

Calories
490kcal
Protein
19g
Fat
10g
Carbs
78g

Per serving, makes 2. 15 minutes of work, then 35 minutes on the hob. Published 8 September 2026.

Allergens

  • Gluten
  • Celery
  • Nearly every stock cube and pot lists celery. Home-made stock without it carries no flag.

Flags follow UK labelling rules and come from the ingredients as listed, not from any particular brand. Check the packet before cooking for somebody with an allergy.

Ingredients

  • Cooked pearl barley380 g

    Cooked weight.

  • Frozen peas150 g
  • Broad beans, podded150 g

    Frozen are fine. Slip the grey skins off after cooking if you have the patience.

  • Leek150 g
  • Olive oil15 g
  • Vegetable stock700 g

    Made up from a cube or a pot.

  • Nutritional yeast3 tbsp (15 g)
  • Garlic2 cloves, about 6 g
  • Lemon zestOne lemon
  • Lemon juiceHalf a lemon
  • Fresh mintA big handful, chopped

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Method

  1. Soften the sliced leek in the oil for eight minutes, add the garlic, then 150 g of dry pearl barley and stir to coat.

  2. Add the hot stock a ladle at a time over 30 to 35 minutes, stirring now and then, until the barley is tender. It should weigh about 380 g cooked and be loose enough to spread on the plate.

  3. Add the peas and broad beans for the last four minutes.

  4. Off the heat stir in the yeast, zest, lemon, mint and a good grind of pepper. Taste for salt.

Worth knowing

  • Broad beans and peas between them are 9 g of the 19 g a serving. Without the beans it is a much thinner dinner.
  • The yeast does the savoury work parmesan would. If you have parmesan and no objection to it, 30 g makes this about 60 kcal more a serving.

Other dinner recipes that share ingredients with this one, or every dinner between 450 and 600 calories a serving.

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Macros are calculated from the weights listed above using standard food composition values, and will shift with your own brands and measuring. Weigh what you can. This is a recipe, not dietary advice. The full health disclaimer is below.