Pan-Seared Chicken & Barley
with Creamy Mushroom Sauce & Roasted Carrots
- Milk
It’s like having Sunday supper any day of the week! Tender chicken cutlets are dusted in a savory spice blend, pan-fried and topped with a rich and creamy sauce that’s packed with earthy mushrooms. Served up with a side of pleasantly chewy barley and caramelized carrots. You won’t have to call ‘em twice to the dinner table for this one!
Ingredients
1 unit
Veggie Stock Concentrate
1 tablespoon
Fry Seasoning
12 ounce
Carrot
2 tablespoon
Cream Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
2 unit
Chicken Stock Concentrate
2.5 teaspoon
White Wine Vinegar
10 ounce
Chicken Cutlets
0.56 cup
Barley
teaspoon
Garlic Powder
4 ounce
Button Mushrooms
Not included in your delivery
1 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
1 teaspoon (tsp)
Olive Oil
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Adjust rack to top position and preheat oven to 450 degrees. • Bring ½ cup barley (1 cup for 4 servings; save the rest for another use), half the Fry Seasoning (you’ll use the rest later), 3 cups water (5 cups for 4), and a big pinch of salt to a boil in a small pot. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer; cover and cook until tender, 30-32 minutes. • Reserve ¼ cup barley cooking liquid (1⁄3 cup for 4), then drain and return to pot.
• While barley cooks, wash and dry produce. • Trim, peel, and cut carrots on a diagonal into ½-inch-thick pieces. Trim and thinly slice mushrooms (skip if your mushrooms are pre-sliced!).
• Toss carrots on a baking sheet with a drizzle of olive oil. Season with half the garlic powder, salt, and pepper. • Roast on top rack until tender, 20-25 minutes.
• Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms in an even layer; season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, undisturbed, until lightly browned on one side, 2-3 minutes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and tender, 2-3 minutes more. • Turn off heat. Transfer to a cutting board; wash out pan.
• Pat chicken* dry with paper towels and season all over with remaining Fry Seasoning, salt, and pepper. • Heat a drizzle of oil in pan used for mushrooms over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until browned and cooked through, 3-5 minutes per side. TIP: If chicken begins to brown too quickly, reduce heat to medium and cover. • Turn off heat. Transfer to a cutting board and tent with foil. Wash out pan and let cool slightly.
• While chicken cooks, whisk together cream cheese, half the vinegar (all for 4 servings), half the chicken stock concentrates, remaining garlic powder, and reserved barley cooking liquid in a medium bowl. (It’s OK if there are lumps—the cream cheese will melt when it cooks.) • Once cool enough to handle, roughly chop mushrooms; stir into the cream cheese mixture. • Add cream cheese mixture to pan used for chicken and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until reduced and thickened, 1-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4 servings). Taste and season with salt and pepper. TIP: Add a splash of warm water if sauce seems too thick.
• Add veggie stock concentrate and remaining chicken stock concentrates to pot with barley; stir to combine. • Slice chicken crosswise. • Divide barley, chicken, and carrots between plates. Spoon mushroom sauce over chicken and serve.
Chicken is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 165º.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many enjoyed the mushroom sauce's balanced taste, though some found it too salty or tangy. Carrots were a hit! 🍲
- Ease of prep: Several felt the recipe had too many steps and dishes. Barley cooking instructions were challenging for some.
- Suggestions: Consider substituting barley with couscous or bulgur. Cook barley longer than instructed for better tenderness.
- Texture: Some found the barley too chewy or undercooked, even when following the recipe closely.
Reviews from our home cooks
Too salty by far! If there is salt in the fry mix, no need to add it to the gravy or the chicken. The barley would have been fine with just fry mix, but with both concentrates added it was so salty it was hard to eat. Shame since the sauce would have been nice with fresh mushrooms.
I've never had barley like this before, which is why I picked this recipe out. The sauce was by far the best part and i liked how it used vinegar to cut the rich flavor of the dairy. We weren't sure if we cooked the barley enough though because we weren't familiar with it. It was definitely worth trying though!
DELICIOUS! I have a chronic illness so I just cannot cook meals like I did in the past. I wanted to try Hello Fresh and see if I could handle the preparation. I can, and I did. The meals are very healthy with super fresh ingredients. When I eat nutritional, balanced meals, my symptoms dimenish drastically. It's too soon to tell how I will do in the long run, but I am hopeful.
I really liked the mushroom sauce. Most restaurants' mushroom sauce is too sweet or too strong. This had a soft welcoming flavor.
It was wonderful to have barley. Your Israel couscous is slimy. Normal couscous would be much better. And of course your rice is horrid. Barley made this dish.
Simplify the steps, it felt like there were many more steps and splitting of ingredients for different steps in this recipe.
Good, but waaay too many steps and dishes to make the final result worth it. Still tasty though.
This was my absolute favorite, it all mixed together perfectly in a bowl
Liked everything except the barley! Bulgur or couscous would be preferred
The sauce is odd, maybe I'm just not a fan of vinegar and cream cheese together. The barley cooking instructions were also a bit hard to follow, and mine ended up crunchier than I'd like.
