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My family loves easy vegetable soup recipes!
Soups are one of our staple meals in the winter.
I love to just curl up with a warm bowl of hearty soup when it’s cold outside.
But it’s April in Texas right now and that ain’t happening!
With the warmer weather ahead, soups are the very LAST meal on my family’s mind.
But in April, the weather can fluctuate a lot and soup can still be nice to have on those cooler days.
Definitely, a MUCH lighter soup!!
Table of Contents
What Vegetables Can You Add to an Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe?
You can add pretty much any kind of vegetable and any kind of herb to an easy vegetable soup recipe. It will depend on your taste.
In the winter, I like it hearty with lots of root crops and then I add a vegetable broth to it.
But right now, with the weather being so nice and being so active outside, I really don’t want to have a bear-size meal then hibernate all winter.
In the spring, you want something a little lighter.
Leafy greens are in full swing right now for the season and I’m overloaded with them.
If you garden yourself, I’m sure you are too!
So that’s how I came up with this easy vegetable soup recipe that is BURSTING with flavor, it uses LOTS of greens and bonus…
It can be used as a vegetable broth!
Check out this video where I make this soup recipe and then turn it into a vegetable broth!
What Leafy Greens Can I Use in This Recipe?
Any leafy greens that are edible.
I use celtuce and salad mix in this recipe…which are both lettuces!
Lettuce is never thought of to put in soups but it’s really amazing and brings on a whole new flavor than what you’re used to!
You can also do things like radish and carrot tops, bok choy, broccoli greens, romaine, anything you’d like!
It would be fun to play with all the different tastes!
How to Make The Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe
- You want to OVERLOAD your pot with leafy greens. They will cook down to a normal level so start off with a lot.
- Add a WHOLE onion and garlic. I’m not talking one or two cloves…grab a HANDFUL! Somewhere around 10 garlic cloves!!
- Add thyme, sage, and oregano. Can you use dried herbs??? Yes, but fresh would be best.
- Add salt. I use pink Himalayan salt which has lower sodium content than regular table salt. So if you’re using regular table salt, you may want to lower the amount.
- Add 2 qt of water and simmer for 1 hour.
Done!!
How to Preserve the Soup
You can eat this easy vegetable soup recipe fresh after making it or you can freeze the soup in mason jars.
But I LOVE to use this recipe as a vegetable broth recipe.
I take out the greens and squeeze them with cheesecloth to get all the juice out. I want to get as much broth as I can. I will save the greens to eat with something else because they are amazing…look like mush but super good!
You can also compost the vegetables!
You can then freeze the broth in mason jars for up to 6 months…which by then leafy greens will be back in season for you to make more!
Canning the soup to make it shelf-stable is a little bit more tricky. You cannot water bath can your soup. You need to use a pressure canning method.
The leafy greens have a very low acidity which cannot fight off any bacteria that may grow when canned.
So unless you’re a professional pressure canner…stick with freezing in mason jars!
Are You Ready For Your Kids to Attack You?
My daughter walked in as I was making this and said, “I don’t know what that is but you better be putting some noodles with it or something because that smells soooo good!”
She tasted it and then tasted it and then tasted it some more!
I had to say, “Get out of here, you’re going to eat all of it!”
Ready to grow your own leafy greens? Check out our Start Your Garden Workbook to learn how!
Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe (Broth)
This easy vegetable soup recipe is great for slighter warmer spring days! The veggies are amazing! And the best part…you can use this as a vegetable broth too!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Cook Time 1 hour hr
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Ingredients
- 1 bunch Swiss Chard
- 1/2 lb Celtuce Lettuce Leaves
- 1/2 lb Salad Mix
- 1 Whole Onion
- 10 Garlic Cloves
- 1 handful Sage
- 2 tsp Thyme
- 1 handful Oregano
- 2 qt Water
Instructions
Wash all greens.
Chop onion in large chunks.
Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for 1 hour. Serve warm.
To Make Vegetable Broth
Follow all steps above.
Let cool.
Strain veggies through a cheesecloth. Squeeze all liquid out.
Add liquid to a mason jar to store in the refridgerator for 7 days.
Notes
*You can use any greens or herbs you’d like.
**If making broth, the veggies will come out mushy but you can still eat them. You can eat them on their own or add them to a pasta sauce. They are very tasty. They can also compost.
***The broth can be frozen to preserve for up to 6 months.
Keyword easy vegetable soup recipe
