White Bean Barley with Arugula Pesto
on Apr 05, 2021, Updated May 18, 2024
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Ready in less than 20 minutes, this white bean barley has homemade arugula pesto stirred into the grains and cannellini beans. The pesto is made with baby arugula, fresh lemon juice, almonds, garlic and parmesan. Make this easy grain recipe for a vegetarian side or main dish that you can serve warm, at room temperature or cold as a salad.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Cannellini beans make this barley filling for a vegetarian side dish or main dish. Between the beans and grains, this is a hearty recipe that you can make in less than 20 minutes.
Pesto is the best no-cook sauce ever. With so much flavor and not much effort, you can make the arugula pesto for this barley recipe. As I always say, pesto, no matter the base ingredient, is an instant flavor boost. That’s why I use it so much in my cooking.
You can eat this white bean barley warm, at room temperature or cold, so it is very helpful for meal planning. You can even add more arugula and turn it into a grain salad.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Barley: I simmer the grains in water on the stove. You also can use low-sodium vegetable broth. Instead of pearled barley, you can substitute with brown rice or farro, which both have grains similar in size to barley. I prefer them over quinoa.
- White beans: I like cannellini beans, but you can use smaller beans such as great northern beans or navy beans instead. When they are smaller, they will be more distributed throughout the barley.
- Baby arugula leaves are the base of the pesto. From there, the ingredients are similar to what you would find in classic basil pesto. You can substitute with baby spinach.
- Almonds are the nuts in this pesto, and I also stir chopped almonds into the barley and beans. You can substitute with walnuts.
- Parmesan cheese: Just like the almonds, I include parmesan in the pesto and fold it into the final dish.
- Garlic is a must-have pesto ingredient.
- Scallions add mild green onion flavor to the overall dish. You can substitute with finely chopped red onions.
- Lemon: The pesto calls for the juice of one lemon. Always use fresh juice and never bottled.
- Olive oil: Extra virgin olive oil has the best flavor.
- Salt & pepper in the pesto season this barley recipe.
How To Make White Bean Barley with Arugula Pesto
1. Cook the barley. Combine the barley and water in a pot. Bring them to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the grains are tender but chewy, about 12 minutes. Let stand for 2-3 minutes and fluff with a fork. Drain any excess water from the pot.
2. Combine the pesto ingredients in the bowl of a food processor or a blender. That includes the garlic, arugula, whole almonds, Parmesan, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
3. Puree the pesto ingredients. Then drizzle the olive oil through the feeder tube with the motor running for the sauce to come together.
4. Combine the barley with the pesto and beans.
5. Stir the remaining arugula, chopped almonds and parmesan into the barley and beans.
Serving
As mentioned, you can think of this as a vegetarian side or main. It would be great with grilled halloumi and vegetables, barbecue veggie tofu skewers or sheet pan baked feta. Recipes with grains and vegetables are simple and satisfying. There are so many ways to approach them depending on the season. Arugula pesto goes with Mediterranean and Italian dishes that can include proteins such as chicken, salmon or shrimp.
Leftovers & Storage
You can store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days. Either warm them in the microwave or eat them cold. You can add more arugula or another type of leafy green to turn it into a salad with a splash of balsamic vinaigrette or lemon vinaigrette.
Make-Ahead Tips
You can make both the barley and pesto up to 2 days in advance. Store them in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator. Before you are ready to assemble the recipe, let the cooked barley and arugula pesto sit out at room temperature for 20 minutes, so they aren’t as cold.
Recipe FAQs
Barley contains gluten. You can substitute with brown rice to make the recipe gluten free.
You can leave out the Parmesan cheese or use a plant-based, dairy free substitute.
More Easy Grain & Vegetable Recipes
Wild Mushroom Barley
Baked Kale Barley Risotto
Baked Butternut Squash Risotto
Roasted Carrot Farro
Mushroom Farro with Tomatoes
Tabbouleh Salad with Pearl Barley
White Bean Barley with Arugula Pesto
Ingredients
- 1 cup pearled barley
- 2 cups water
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 cups baby arugula
- 1/4 cup whole almonds plus 1/4 cup chopped almonds
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan plus more for serving
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1-15 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 scallion, thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine the barley and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 12 minutes until tender but chewy. Let stand for 2-3 minutes and fluff with a fork. Drain the remaining water if necessary. Transfer to a large bowl.
- To make the arugula pesto, put the garlic, 1-1/2 cups arugula, 1/4 cup whole almonds, Parmesan, lemon juice, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor. Finely chop the ingredients. With the motor running, drizzle the olive oil through the feeder tube until the pesto is fully combined.
- Stir the pesto and beans into the barley.
- Then fold in the remaining arugula, 1/4 cup chopped almonds and Parmesan.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I have made this several times, great summer salad!
This is such a great side!
So delicious and FAST! I didn’t have scallions so I finely chopped up some shallot and it was yummy! Served for July 4th BBQ and sister-in-law asked for recipe. 🙂