What Is Barley? Benefits, Types, and How to Use It

Barley is one of the oldest cultivated cereal grains in the world, a member of the grass family with the botanical name Hordeum vulgare. Archaeological remains from the Fertile Crescent show it was domesticated from its wild ancestor roughly 10,000 years ago, making it one of the founding crops of agriculture itself.¹ Today it ranks among the top cereal crops globally, prized for its adaptability to harsh climates and a nutritional profile anchored by unusually high levels of a soluble fiber called beta-glucan. That fiber is the thread running through most of barley’s health benefits, from cholesterol reduction to blood-sugar control to gut health.

What Barley Actually Is

At its simplest, barley is a cereal grain harvested from a tall grass that thrives in temperate climates. It tolerates drought, poor soil, and altitude better than most other cereals, which is why it has historically been grown in places where wheat struggles.² The grain itself looks like a plump, elongated seed, lighter in color than wheat and encased in a tough outer hull. Most of the barley grown worldwide goes into animal feed or brewing. Only a fraction ends up on dinner plates, which is somewhat ironic given its nutritional strengths.

Barley does contain gluten, so it is off-limits for people with celiac disease or a confirmed gluten sensitivity. The gluten in barley differs slightly from wheat gluten in its protein composition (barley’s main storage proteins are called hordeins), but it triggers the same immune response in sensitive individuals. This is worth knowing because barley and barley-derived ingredients turn up in unexpected places: malt vinegar, many beers, some soy sauces, and various processed foods.

Two-Row, Six-Row, Hulled, and Hull-Less

Barley varieties are classified in two main ways, and knowing the difference helps you pick the right type for cooking versus brewing versus health goals.

The first distinction is botanical: two-row versus six-row. These names describe how the kernels arrange themselves on the plant’s seed head. Two-row barley has plumper, more uniform kernels. Compared to six-row varieties, two-row barley contains roughly 14 to 20 percent more protein, about 4 percent less starch, and 6 to 7 percent more beta-glucan.³ Six-row barley, on the other hand, has higher enzyme activity, which makes it the preferred choice for brewing and malting. If you are buying barley primarily for its fiber and protein content, two-row varieties have a slight edge.

The second distinction is about the hull. Most barley has a tough outer husk that clings tightly to the kernel after harvest. Hull-less (sometimes called “naked”) barley is a naturally occurring variant where the hull falls away during threshing, similar to wheat. This matters in the kitchen because hull-less barley requires less processing to become edible. Here is how the forms you will find at the store relate to this:

Hulled barley: The outer hull has been removed, but the bran layer remains intact. This is the least processed form and retains the most fiber and nutrients. It takes the longest to cook, usually 45 to 60 minutes.
Pearl barley: Both the hull and most of the bran have been polished away. It cooks faster (about 25 to 30 minutes) and has a softer, creamier texture, but it loses a meaningful share of its fiber and vitamins in the process.
Barley flakes: Kernels that have been steamed and rolled flat, like rolled oats. They cook in about 15 minutes and work well in porridge or granola.
Barley flour: Milled from whole or pearled kernels. It can be blended into bread doughs to boost fiber content, though it produces a denser loaf than wheat flour on its own.

Highland barley deserves a quick mention because it appears frequently in health-food contexts. This is a hull-less variety traditionally grown at high altitudes in Tibet, Ethiopia, and parts of the Andes. It comes in white and black varieties, and the black type tends to have somewhat higher antioxidant activity.⁴ You may see it sold as tsampa flour or in specialty grain blends.

Nutritional Profile

Barley kernels contain roughly 70 percent carbohydrates, 10 to 20 percent protein, 5 to 10 percent beta-glucan, 2 to 3 percent fat, and 1 to 2.5 percent minerals by dry weight.⁵ The protein content is respectable for a grain, and the amino acid profile, while not complete, is richer in lysine than wheat’s. But the real nutritional standout is the beta-glucan, a type of soluble fiber that forms a gel-like substance in your digestive tract. Most whole grains contain some beta-glucan; barley and oats happen to contain much more than average.

Barley is also a decent source of several micronutrients. It provides B vitamins (especially niacin and thiamine), iron, magnesium, and selenium. The phenolic compound content in barley exceeds that of both rice and wheat across diverse cultivars, contributing antioxidant activity.⁶ The grain contains vitamin E as well, primarily in the form of tocotrienols rather than the tocopherol form found in most supplements.⁶

One practical note: barley contains phytate, a compound that binds minerals like iron, zinc, and calcium and reduces how well your body absorbs them. Sprouting or malting barley substantially reduces its phytate content, so if mineral absorption is a concern, sprouted barley products may be a better choice.⁷

How Beta-Glucan Lowers Cholesterol

The most studied health benefit of barley is its effect on blood cholesterol, and the mechanism is fairly well understood. When you eat barley, its beta-glucan dissolves in your gut and forms a viscous gel. That gel traps bile acids, which are cholesterol-rich digestive compounds your liver produces. Normally your body reabsorbs most of those bile acids and recycles them. When beta-glucan carries them out in your stool instead, your liver has to pull cholesterol from your bloodstream to manufacture replacements, which lowers circulating LDL cholesterol.

Animal research has added more detail to this picture. In hamsters fed a high-cholesterol diet, barley beta-glucan significantly increased the excretion of fats and cholesterol in feces. It also reduced the activity of an enzyme the liver uses to make cholesterol (HMG-CoA reductase, the same enzyme that statin drugs target) and increased the activity of an enzyme that converts cholesterol into bile acids.⁸ So barley beta-glucan appears to attack high cholesterol from multiple angles: blocking reabsorption, slowing production, and speeding up conversion to bile.

This evidence is strong enough that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows a health claim on barley products containing at least 0.75 grams of beta-glucan per serving, stating that they may reduce the risk of heart disease. The European Food Safety Authority has approved a similar claim. You typically need about 3 grams of beta-glucan per day to see a meaningful effect, which translates to roughly one to one-and-a-half cups of cooked barley.

Blood Sugar and Satiety

Barley has a lower glycemic index than most other grains, including white rice, and the beta-glucan fiber is again the main reason. The viscous gel it forms slows the rate at which your stomach empties and the speed at which glucose enters your bloodstream after a meal. In people with type 2 diabetes, replacing white rice with a barley-rice blend significantly reduced the rise in both blood glucose and insulin after eating.⁹ The blunted insulin response is particularly useful for people managing diabetes or insulin resistance, because it means the pancreas does not have to work as hard after each meal.

Barley also appears to increase feelings of fullness more effectively than refined grains. A randomized trial in overweight adults found that eating barley-based cereal for six weeks led to significantly higher scores for fullness and satisfaction compared to corn-based cereal. The barley group also showed a meaningful increase in GLP-1, a gut hormone that signals satiety to the brain.¹⁰ A separate study comparing whole-grain barley, whole-grain wheat, and refined rice at breakfast found that barley was the only one that significantly reduced hunger before lunch, even though all three resulted in similar calorie intake at that lunch meal.¹¹ In other words, barley made people feel less hungry between meals, though it did not automatically make them eat less at the next one. Over longer periods, that sustained sense of fullness could contribute to better appetite regulation.

Gut Health and Short-Chain Fatty Acids

This is where the research has gotten especially interesting in recent years. When barley fiber reaches your large intestine undigested, the bacteria living there ferment it and produce short-chain fatty acids, particularly butyrate, propionate, and acetate. Butyrate is the preferred fuel source for the cells lining your colon, and it plays a role in maintaining the gut barrier, reducing inflammation, and possibly protecting against colorectal cancer.

A human study found that after a period of eating fiber-rich barley, butyric acid concentration in the gut increased by roughly 44 percent. When participants stopped eating the barley, butyric acid dropped back down, suggesting a direct link between barley intake and butyrate production.¹² The researchers also found that barley increased the population of butyrate-producing bacteria themselves, meaning the fiber acted as a prebiotic, selectively feeding beneficial microbes.

Mouse studies have confirmed this general pattern. Animals fed barley flour showed markedly higher fecal levels of acetate, propionate, and butyrate, along with an increased abundance of beneficial gut bacteria.¹³ Highland barley beta-glucan has shown similar effects in laboratory fermentation experiments, boosting short-chain fatty acid production and lowering the pH of the fermentation environment, both indicators of a healthier microbial ecosystem.¹⁴

How Barley Compares to Oats

Since oats get most of the public attention for beta-glucan, it is worth addressing the comparison directly. Averaged across varieties, barley and oat groats contain similar total amounts of beta-glucan. However, oats have a higher proportion of soluble beta-glucan, and a greater ratio of soluble to total beta-glucan, than barley.¹⁵ Since soluble fiber is the fraction responsible for the cholesterol-lowering and blood-sugar effects, oats may deliver those specific benefits a bit more efficiently gram for gram.

That said, barley has its own advantages. It generally contains more total dietary fiber than oats, including insoluble fiber that supports digestive regularity. It has higher phenolic content and a different vitamin E profile. And its culinary versatility is arguably greater: barley works in soups, stews, pilafs, salads, and baked goods, while oats are mostly confined to breakfast bowls and baking. For someone choosing between the two for health reasons, the honest answer is that both are excellent, and rotating them gives you the widest range of benefits.

How to Cook and Use Barley

If you have never cooked barley, it is about as straightforward as cooking rice, just with a bit more water and patience. The basic method is to simmer one cup of hulled or pearl barley in about three cups of water or broth, covered, until the liquid is absorbed and the grains are tender. Pearl barley takes roughly 25 to 30 minutes; hulled barley closer to 50 minutes. The cooked grain has a pleasantly chewy texture and a mild, slightly nutty flavor that absorbs surrounding flavors well.

Some practical uses that go beyond the obvious soup-and-stew applications:

Grain salads: Cooked and cooled pearl barley works well in place of farro or quinoa. Toss it with roasted vegetables, herbs, and a vinaigrette.
Risotto substitute: Pearl barley releases enough starch during cooking to create a creamy consistency similar to risotto, though with more chew and a fraction of the effort.
Breakfast porridge: Barley flakes cooked like oatmeal make a high-fiber breakfast. They take a few minutes longer than rolled oats but produce a heartier bowl.
Flour blending: Replacing 20 to 30 percent of wheat flour with barley flour in bread recipes adds fiber while preserving an acceptable loaf texture and sometimes improving sensory quality.¹⁶
Barley water: A traditional drink in several cultures, made by simmering barley in water, straining, and adding lemon or sweetener. It retains some dissolved beta-glucan.

Cooked barley keeps well in the refrigerator for four to five days, making it a good candidate for meal prep. You can also freeze it in portions and reheat directly in soups or stir-fries.

Barley in Brewing and Malting

Most of the world’s barley crop goes into beer, whisky, and other malted beverages. The malting process involves soaking the grain to begin germination, which activates enzymes that break down the barley’s starch into fermentable sugars. Those sugars then feed yeast during fermentation.¹⁷ Six-row barley varieties are traditionally favored for brewing in some regions because of their higher enzyme activity, while two-row barley is standard in European brewing traditions for its more uniform starch conversion.¹⁸

The spent grain left over after brewing is far from waste. It retains significant protein and fiber and is increasingly being recycled into animal feed, compost, and even ingredients for lactic acid production, enzymes, and other value-added products.¹⁹ Some craft bakeries now incorporate spent barley grain into bread for an added fiber boost, though this remains a niche use.

Young Barley Grass Products

Walk through the supplement aisle and you will see barley grass powder and barley grass juice marketed as superfoods. These products come from the young leaves of the barley plant, harvested before the grain develops, and their nutritional profile is quite different from the grain itself. Dried barley grass is high in protein (about 27 percent), dietary fiber (around 30 percent), and contains notable amounts of vitamins A and C, calcium, iron, magnesium, and potassium.⁵

The phytochemical makeup of young barley differs from the grain as well. It is rich in certain flavones, chlorophyll, and enzymatic antioxidants that are not present in meaningful amounts in the mature seed.²⁰ Two principal commercial forms exist: dried grass powder and juice-derived products, which differ in how concentrated their bioactive compounds are. The evidence for specific health claims around barley grass supplements is thinner than the evidence for the grain itself, and the serving sizes in supplements deliver far smaller amounts of fiber than eating actual barley. If you already eat a varied diet with plenty of vegetables, barley grass powder is unlikely to fill any nutritional gap you do not already have covered.

Who Should Be Cautious

Beyond the gluten issue already mentioned, barley is high in fermentable carbohydrates (specifically fructans), which places it on the “avoid” list during the elimination phase of a low-FODMAP diet for irritable bowel syndrome. People who tolerate other whole grains well can usually handle barley, but if you have IBS and have not tested your tolerance, start with small portions.

Barley is also relatively high in fiber compared to grains like white rice, so jumping from a low-fiber diet to large servings of hulled barley can cause bloating and gas. Increasing your intake gradually over a week or two gives your gut bacteria time to adjust. Drinking plenty of water alongside high-fiber meals also helps, because soluble fiber absorbs water as it moves through the digestive tract.

For people on blood-sugar-lowering medications, the glucose-blunting effect of barley’s beta-glucan is generally a benefit, but it is worth being aware that combining a very high-fiber meal with medication could theoretically amplify the blood-sugar drop. This is unlikely to cause problems at normal food portions, but it is the kind of thing worth mentioning to a doctor if you are making a significant dietary shift.

1
PubMed. On the origin and domestication history of Barley (Hordeum vulgare)
2
International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas. Unveiling Drought-Resilient Pathways: Integrating High Throughput Phenotyping and Multivariate Modeling to Enhance Barley Adaptation to Climate Change
3
Crop Science. Comparisons of Two‐Row and Six‐Row Barley for Chemical Composition Using Doubled‐Haploid Lines
4
PubMed. Ultrafine grinding improves the nutritional, physicochemical, and antioxidant activities of two varieties of whole-grain highland barley
5
PubMed Central. Barley a nutritional powerhouse for gut health and chronic disease defense
6
Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science Journal. Evaluation of Diverse Barley Cultivars and Landraces for Contents of Four Multifunctional Biomolecules with Nutraceutical Potential
7
European Food Research and Technology. The influence of germination conditions on beta-glucan, dietary fibre and phytate during the germination of oats and barley
8
PubMed. Effects of dietary hull-less barley β-glucan on the cholesterol metabolism of hypercholesterolemic hamsters
9
PubMed Central. Effect of High β-glucan Barley on Postprandial Blood Glucose and Insulin Levels in Type 2 Diabetic Patients
10
PubMed Central. Barley-Based Cereals Enhance Metabolic Health and Satiety in Overweight Korean Adults: A Randomized Trial
11
PubMed. Influence of whole grain barley, whole grain wheat, and refined rice-based foods on short-term satiety and energy intake
12
PubMed Central. Fiber-Rich Barley Increases Butyric Acid-Producing Bacteria in the Human Gut Microbiota
13
PLoS ONE. Barley β-glucan improves metabolic condition via short-chain fatty acids produced by gut microbial fermentation in high fat diet fed mice
14
PubMed Central. Effects of highland barley β-glucan on gut microbiota composition and metabolism in vitro fermentation
15
Cereal Chemistry. Comparisons of β-Glucan Content of Barley and Oat
16
European Food Research and Technology. Nutritional and functional performance of high β-glucan barley flours in breadmaking: mixed breads versus wheat breads
17
PubMed. Barley for Brewing: Characteristic Changes during Malting, Brewing and Applications of its By-Products
18
PubMed. Reassessing the importance of barley starch and amylolytic enzyme properties in malting and brewing
19
PubMed. An overview: Recycling of solid barley waste generated as a by-product in distillery and brewery
20
PubMed Central. Young Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Preparations: From Phytochemical Complexity to Clinical Relevance