This Homemade Alphabet Vegetable Soup is a hearty, delicious spin on your favorite canned soup and is ready in just 30 minutes. It's also freezer-friendly for quick weeknight meals!
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This alphabet soup recipe is a delicious and healthier twist on your favourite childhood canned soup. It's healthier because we're making it with fresh vegetables, and we're able to control the amount of salt in the soup.
Ingredients in homemade alphabet vegetable soup
Besides being a homemade version of everyone's go-to canned soup, this soup is full of protein. This makes it great for serving as an all-in-one meal. Of course, it also makes the perfect side serving to a grilled cheese.
There's a can of kidney beans in here, plus a whole bag of frozen vegetables, canned diced tomatoes, vegetable broth and alphabet pasta. That's it! As a result, you also have a great source of fibre along with the nutrient-rich veggies plus a very simple ingredient list that you likely already have on hand at home.
Ingredient substitutions
Don't feel like you have to use all of the traditional vegetables you see here. This is a great soup for using any soon-to-expire produce from the fridge. Consider adding some of these ingredients to your soup:
- Fresh leafy greens like spinach or kale – Keep in mind that these won't take long to cook, so add them near the end of the cooking time.
- Zucchini
- Bell peppers
- Carrots
- Mushrooms
- Sweet potatoes
Just keep in mind that the cook times for certain veggies will be less than others. Firm veggies such as carrots will take longer than softer ones, such as zucchini. As a result, you may need to wait until 5 minutes before the soup is finished cooking to mix in your softer vegetables of choice. Zucchini cooks very quickly, and will turn mushy if it cooks too long.
How to make alphabet soup
Making this soup recipe is as easy as learning your A-B-C's!
- Prep your ingredients. Be sure to rinse the potatoes well under running water to remove the excess starch.
- Saute onion and garlic. Before you add the onion, be sure that the oil in the pan is hot.
- Add potatoes, seasonings, and a bay leaf or two. You'll saute the potatoes for a few minutes to soften them slightly before you add the remaining ingredients.
- Add the remaining ingredients and bring everything to a boil.
- Simmer on medium-low heat for 30 minutes, stirring often, until the pasta is cooked through.
- Remove bay leaves, then serve and enjoy!
How to add more protein
This is a vegetarian soup recipe, so the protein in the soup comes from kidney beans and pasta. Other vegetarian options for more protein include:
- Tofu
- Quinoa
- Chickpeas
- Edamame
If you eat meat, you have plenty of options for extra protein, including:
- Shredded or cubed cooked chicken or turkey
- Beef sirloin tips
- Leftover beef roast
- Cooked ground beef or turkey
Where to find alphabet pasta
You should be able to find the pasta in larger grocery stores, and sometimes in the kids/toddlers section – that's actually where I found my pasta! If it's proving tricky, you can order it online at places like Amazon, or you can just use another small pasta shape such as macaroni, ditalini or orzo.
Other classic soup recipes to try:
Storing and reheating alphabet soup
This recipe for homemade alphabet vegetable soup is one that you will want keep handy for busy weeks. It cooks up quickly, so even if you need to make it on demand, it doesn't take long.
The kidney beans and alphabet pasta soak up a lot of the broth during the cooking process. As a result, when you reheat the soup, you may want to add a little bit of water or extra vegetable stock to thin it out. Check the seasoning and if needed, add more salt and/or pepper.
Other than that, this soup stores well in the refrigerator or freezer. As a result, the leftovers are as tasty as when the soup is fresh.
To reheat the soup, add a little bit of extra water and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes, stirring halfway through. You can also reheat it in a pot on the stove.
Freezing instructions
Before you freeze the soup, be sure to cool it down to room temperature. Then, place it into meal prep containers or another type of airtight food-safe container. It will keep well frozen for 3 to 4 months.
To reheat, you can either defrost in the fridge overnight and then microwave as directed above, or you can reheat directly from frozen. Just microwave for 6-8 minutes, stirring halfway through and possibly adding more water if you think it needs it. The frozen leftovers will taste just as good as fresh!
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on turning this soup into your weekly lunches.
- I get all my free-range chicken from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
- This is the wild rice blend I use
- Freeze this recipe in glass microwave-safe bowls up to 3 months
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Homemade Alphabet Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 medium-sized white potato, chopped
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
- 6 cups vegetable broth
- 1 (796mL) can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup dried alphabet pasta
- 1 package frozen vegetables
Instructions
- Rinse potatoes well under running water to remove excess starch.
- In a large, deep pot, heat olive oil over med-high heat. Add onions and garlic, sauteeing for 30 seconds, then add potatoes, Italian seasoning, bay leaves and salt & pepper. Saute for 5 min, stirring often.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer on medium-low heat for 30 minutes, stirring often, until pasta is cooked through. Remove bay leaves, then serve and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Kelly says
Haha, I love the “noms” 🙂
Also I am totally that girl who drops a bunch of money at the grocery store only to come home and eat a PB&J because everything else is too overwhelming!
Taylor Stinson says
Thanks so much Kelly! 🙂 It literally took me 10 minutes alone to dig around and find the letters hahaha
Wendy says
Hello Taylor,
I was wondering if you have the nutrition facts for this yummy soup?
Thank You
Taylor Stinson says
Unfortunately I’m not able to include nutritional info on older recipes in my archives like this one. Sorry about this!
Colleen Volcjak says
I just made this and it is soooo good. Only thing I did different was I used 1/2 cup alphabet pasta (I was afraid of how much broth would soak the pasta) and used frozen lima beans instead of kidney. Not that I don’t like beans I love them but as a child when I would have them I was the one that ate my soup and saved the lima beans for last lol. Thanks for the great recipe and memories!
Colleen Volcjak says
OH. I was unable to rate for some reason but I would give it 10 stars!
Inder says
This will be the 3rd time I am making this soup from your recipe. My husband and I absolutely love it and we find the flavors even get better after a couple of days. This soup recipe is definitely a hit a my house!