Vegan “Chicken” Soup

Featured, Healthy Living, Recipes May 14th, 2008

Photo by ann-dabney

This soup is first and foremost, delicious! But more than that this soup will:

give you great nutrition- calcium, beta carotene, lots of vitamins and minerals
prevent junk food cravings- why? because your body will have the nutrition it needs. When we don’t have enough nutrients, we crave junk food.
give you plenty of fiber for a healthy digestive system
help you lose weight - why? when you eat plant-based whole foods, your body naturally sheds excess weight. Want proof? Check out Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedmand and Kim Barnouin.
help you reverse and prevent major life threatening diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and debilitating auto-immune diseases. Want proof? Check out The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II.
easy meal for a few days. Cook once, eat for several days.
give you a yummy eating experience! It’s the vegetables that make chicken soup taste good so give it a try!

So here’s the recipe:

Wholesome Vegan “Chicken” Soup

Ingredients

Step 1

4 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium-large Vidalia or yellow onions chopped
6 Celery stalks chopped
1 red bell pepper chopped
8 oz chopped mushrooms

Step 2

1 elephant garlic clove or 3 regular garlic cloves finely chopped/shredded.
5 cups water
1 cup vegetable broth (or water + bullion cube)
1 small bag of organic baby cut carrots
2 red potatoes diced into 1/2 inch squares (or whatever size you like) (no need to peel, just wash)
2 cans (rinsed) navy beans (or your favorite beans) (15 oz each)

Step 3

juice from 2 lemons
1/2 - 1 pound chopped kale
1/2 - 1 tsp hot red pepper flakes
few fresh basil leaves chopped or 1/2 tsp basil flakes (if you have it - it won’t break the soup if you don’t have it)
salt & pepper to taste

Cooking Instructions

Crock Pot Instructions

You can throw this all in one large crock pot and leave it while you go to work. If you do that, depending on how you like your kale, you could wait to put the Kale in 20 minutes before serving. But the simplest way is to put everything in together. If your crock pot is small you can cut the recipe in half.

Stove Top Instructions

In large stew pot saute all the ingredients from step one on medium-high heat, stirring as needed. Cook until the veggies are soft.
Add garlic and stir for 30-60 seconds on medium heat to prevent burning the garlic.
Stir in water and vegetable broth.
Stir in carrots, potatoes, and beans. Adjust heat as needed to produce a very low simmer.
Add lemon juice.
Add chopped kale one handful at a time stirring it in as it wilts.
Add spices: red pepper flakes, basil, salt and pepper.
Cook for a minimum of 30 more minutes. For richer flavor let slow cook on low heat for longer, say 1 hour or even more. Keep the lid on, keep on very low heat, and check every so often for a stir.
Serve and enjoy!

Feel free to add your favorites to this such as noodles, rice, barley, etc. You’ll just need to add more water.

To your health!

Please Share!

What’s your favorite soup recipe? All comments big and small are very welcomed!

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Comments

1
Thomas
May 15th, 2008 at 7:11 am

Thanks for the recipe, just the right time. We are approaching winter (in Australia) and my wife just discovered nice healthy soups again. Another one we can add to our recipe book.
2
kurye
May 17th, 2008 at 11:15 am

i just started to read your posts.
they are realy very goog.
thnx a lot.
3
Cristian
May 19th, 2008 at 4:48 am

Thanks for the interesting and very nutritious recipe. By the way, have you tried Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup? Have a look at it here:

http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/korean_ginseng_chicken_soup

Koreans swear by its health benefits. Worth the try.
4
JEMi | Tips for Life, Love, You
May 20th, 2008 at 3:17 pm

I always love a good soup I’m going to give it a try!
5
allnewrelease.com
May 20th, 2008 at 7:27 pm

very good tips.. thanks.. looks delicious tho..
6
agentsully
May 21st, 2008 at 12:09 pm

@Cristian - thanks for the link. Looks like a yummy soup. Not vegan, but if you’re gonna eat meat, it looks good.
7
Keistian Liebrand
May 22nd, 2008 at 4:20 am

Thanks for the facinating and very nutritious recipe. I would like to try it myself.By the way, have you tried Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup?
8
Dean
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:20 pm

Always looking for something new to cook, going to give this a shot. Thanks
9
sharon
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:34 am

How can it be chicken soup if it is vegan soup…isn’t that an oxie moron…excuse the pun.

Wouldn’t a vegan be appauld that you call it chicken soup???

Just a thought…

I liked your site…it is colorful, like mine…come by sometime and see me.

Southern smiles and world peace,
Sharon
~THe Baby Boomer Queen~
10
robee
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:32 pm

Thanks for the recipe, but is it suitable for diabetes people. My father got diabetes several years ago.
11
Joedel
May 25th, 2008 at 4:27 am

I’m not fond of eating vegies so I like vegie soups to balance my diet. Nice recipe. Thanks!
12
jessie
May 26th, 2008 at 6:20 pm

Im going to cook this soup for dinner tonight and thought you might like it too. Its vegie chowder.
2 cups potatoes, cubed, 1 cup diced carrots, 1 cup chopped celery, 1/2 minced onion, place the vegies in a large pot of water and cook till they are tender, about 20 minutes.
Add 1 cup chopped broccoli, 1 1/2 T chicken boullion, and simmer for 5 more minutes. In a separate pan melt 3 T margarine and add 3 T flour and 2 tea dry mustard. Stir to make a roux. Add 2 cups milk slowly as you stir. Add to soup and stir till thickened. Grate some cheddar cheese on top if you would like and enjoy! Thanks for the great soup recipe.
13
agentsully
May 28th, 2008 at 10:49 am

@Jessie
Thanks for the recipe!!
Yours is vegetarian since it has milk and cheese. Sounds good. It could quite easily be made vegan by using soy milk, rice milk or almond milk.
14
agentsully
May 28th, 2008 at 10:51 am

@Robee
This would be very suitable for people with diabetes. Along with a whole foods plant-based diet, it can help you lose weight, and possibly reverse diabetes!
15
lowfat-recipes
May 30th, 2008 at 11:27 am

great blog!
i have a new site about low fat recipes,can i make a exchange link with you?
http://www.lowfat-recipes.info
thanks!
16
Marc Klein
May 31st, 2008 at 6:56 am

Its a very useful reciepe full of vitamins& calcium. It is very usefull for the old age people & is not much difficult to make.
17
facebook
June 14th, 2008 at 5:35 am

Hmm.. Taking soup before the main food is really nice. It is also very good for health.
18
Daisy
June 15th, 2008 at 11:36 am

Thanks for the recipe! I like how you say: “prevent junk food cravings- why? because your body will have the nutrition it needs. When we don’t have enough nutrients, we crave junk food.”

I never thought of it that way, but it actually makes sense.
19
Croatia real estate
July 4th, 2008 at 2:36 pm

OMG the name sounds it is a real non-veg stuff. But the looking at the ingredient cleared my doubts. I was just thinking how could a soup be named a vegan as well as a chicken. N e way M gonna experiment wth the recipe and hv that delicious soup this weekend. I invoite all u readers to this post to have a sip.
20
Fredericks
July 9th, 2008 at 6:14 am

i will try it out. hope it helps me losing my belly fat
21
agentsully
July 9th, 2008 at 8:58 pm

@Croatia - thanks for the comment! Let me know how it goes!
22
sixpackabs
July 15th, 2008 at 5:29 am

although i am not at all good in cooking but surely i would love to try out the recipe…
23
lucia
September 14th, 2008 at 12:28 pm

I followed this recipe yesterday and it was wonderful!
24
agentsully
October 2nd, 2008 at 6:12 pm

@Lucia - yay! Thanks for the testimonial!
25
easy recipes
December 30th, 2008 at 3:58 pm

I just tried your recipe today and it was really tasty!
26
heartburn
January 11th, 2009 at 9:45 am

I just tried your recipe today and wanted to say thank you, because it was really tasty!