This Vegetable Orzo Soup is a perfect way to make use of your garden-fresh veggies. Are you looking for a healthy and delicious weeknight meal? Then look no further! Your entire family will love this Vegetable Orzo Soup, as a quick and easy healthy weeknight meal.
I love this time of the year; the gardens are booming with the end of year bountiful harvests and the fresh veggies are plentiful. The nights are becoming a little cooler in many areas across the country, and it’s the perfect time to start planning easy healthy weeknight dinners that can be cooked in 30 minutes or so.
I love a good soup that all the flavors come together like two peas in a pod. If you are a veggie-lover, this meatless Vegetable Orzo Soup is going to be the perfect addition to your fall menu. That’s right this Southern Blog went there with a meatless Recipe. I know I don’t usually post meatless recipes being there is so much focus on Iconic Southern recipes. However, I have shared a few in the past with Y’all, and there may become more in the future.
I decided it was time to use up some of the fresh Organic Garden ingredients I had on hand, and this is the perfect recipe for Vegetable Orzo Soup to enjoy them all in one pot! No worries if you don’t have a garden at home there are plenty of Veggie stands, Farmers Markets, and Roadside stands to be found. End of the season and no produce stands? Plan B is organic frozen and veggies from the supermarket with a mix of fresh produce.
Before we get started, we always have a few in the groups who do not care for certain veggies— If you don’t like one of the veggies listed in the recipe feel free to use another in place of it or omit the vegetable. Straightforward Peasy logic here guys, no worries, no hard feelings. We all have different likes and dislikes, and that is ok too. I want you to be a happy eater. However, remember if you make significant changes to the recipe and you aren’t satisfied—You now must OWN it. Don’t come back upset you changed my Kitchen Tested, Tried, and True method and ruined it. Fair enough?
The rest of you, look at all those veggie flavors and textures on that ladle of Vegetable Orzo Soup! Just color me delicious Y’all! I bet you are wondering, what veggie did I use in this a-m-a-z-i-n-g soup? Let me do a real fast rundown of the list for you. I am betting most of these veggies you may even have on hand in one form or another since harvest season is in full swing with many home and local gardens.
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Fresh Organic Produce: Zucchini, Asparagus, Red Bell Peppers, Green Celery, Yellow Onions, Carrots
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Organic Frozen Veggies: Green Peas, Sweet Corn, Green Lima Beans
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Organic Canned Veggies: Chickpeas drained and rinsed, Cannellini Beans drained and rinsed, Dark Red Kidney Beans drained and rinsed, Organic Stewed Tomatoes
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Fresh Herbs: Fresh Basil, Fresh Parsley
Let’s chat about reality and some of the ingredients:
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What we all want to know is what we can do to make this recipe if we don’t have our garden? This is simple either gather ingredients from the Farmers Market or your frozen vegetable section.
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Can I use other veggies instead of the ones you use? Be my guest to use other vegetables that you enjoy! Just remember adjustments might need to take place for prep time and cooking time.
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I hate chopping veggies, what can I do? Check out the produce section of your store, and they often sell prechopped fresh vegetables.
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What is Orzo? Orzo is a rice-shaped pasta that you can cook and serve in many of the same recipes that you would use rice such as soups, and Rice Pilaf recipes.
Vegetable Orzo Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 2 Ribs Green Celery thinly sliced
- 2 Large Carrots finely diced or shredded
- 1 Large Yellow Onion chopped
- 1 Large Red Bell Pepper diced
- 6 cloves Fresh Garlic minced
- 8 cups Vegetable stock
- 3-15- ounce Cans of undrained Organic Stewed Tomatoes Organic diced tomatoes can be substituted.
- 3 Bay leaves
- 1 cup Canned Chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 1 cup Canned Cannellini Beans drained and rinsed
- 1 cup Canned Kidney Beans drained and rinsed
- 2 cups Fresh Zucchini sliced
- â…” pound Fresh Asparagus trimmed and in bite-sized pieces
- 1 cup Sweet Corn fresh or frozen
- 1 cup Frozen Green Lima Beans
- 1 cup Frozen Green Peas
- ½ cup Fresh Parsley chopped
- 6-7 Fresh basil leaves torn
- 1 cup Orzo Pasta cooked and drained
Instructions
- Prep all veggies according to side notes on the recipe card before starting.
- Add 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil to a large Dutch Oven or Soup Pot on medium heat, once the Dutch Oven is heated add the celery, carrots, onions, red bell pepper, and minced garlic. Saute the veggies to soften-- about 4-5 minutes.
- Next, add the vegetable stock to the Dutch Oven with the sauteed veggies, add the 3 bay leaves, stewed tomatoes, chickpeas, cannellini beans, and the kidney beans to the Dutch oven and bring it to a low simmer --about 10 minutes before adding the zucchini, corn, lima beans, peas, asparagus, and fresh parsley to the Dutch oven. Stir off and on. Season the soup well with Kosher Salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Cook another 10 minutes and then add torn fresh basil.
- Meanwhile, cook the Orzo pasta per instructions on the package. Drain but do not rinse the Orzo pasta. Add to the Vegetable Soup and cook the soup stirring occasionally about-- 5 more minutes. Remove from the heat source and serve while hot.
Notes
Nutrition
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This delicious vegetable orzo soup is certainly a must-have for the season! Love that can be a meal on its own as it was quite filling!
Thank you, Gail. I love this soup. It so wonderful for using up garden fresh veggies.
H