Background: Millets serve as a staple food for a significant portion of the global population. Despite their high nutritional value and therapeutic benefits, they are often overlooked. While millets contain certain anti-nutrients that may have adverse health effects, employing specific processing methods can effectively reduce these compounds.  Materials and methods: In the present study, soaking was used as the method to reduce the anti-nutrients like tannins, phytates and oxalates, phenolics and flavonoids. The grains were washed and soaked for different time periods from 6, 12, 18, 24 hours.   Results: Results showed that Total phenolic content (TPC) content varied from 31.03 to 53.06 mgGAE/100g; Total flavonoid content (TFC) content varied from 120.02 to 173.12 mgCE/100g; Tannin content varied from 2.01 to 3.11 mgTAE/100g; Phytic acid content varied from 2.11 to 3.21 mg/100g; Oxalate content varied from 0.03 to 0.05 µg/100g. Conclusion: The results indicate that the anti-nutrients of the barnyard millet can be reduced by soaking the millet grains before cooking which also improves the cooking quality and increases the digestibility of the barnyard millet.