Step 1

Start by spraying the bottom of your rice cooker bowl with a little cooking spray. This will help prevent the barley from sticking. This step is optional but makes clean-up a breeze.

Step 2

Next, rinse your uncooked barley with cool, clean water. This removes any dust or starch that has settled in storage.  Rinsing it prevents it from becoming a sticky blob of grains.

Step 3

Add your rinsed barley and water to the rice cooker pot and place the lid on. You'll want to add 2 cups of water for every 1 cup of pearl barley.  See notes for other varieties of barley.

Step 4

If you have a basic rice cooker, push the button down and let the rice cooker do its magic. The button will pop, letting you know the barley is done.Since each rice cooker is different the amount of time to cook the barley may vary. For me, it takes about 50 mins to cook 1 cup pearl barley. If you have a rice cooker that has multiple settings, you'll want to choose the "brown rice" setting before starting the rice cooker.

Step 5

Once the rice cooker is done, remove the lid, give your barley a nice fluff with a fork, and get ready to serve it!