Green Soup Variations from Readers Digest & Eating Well

Last month I read the article “The Soup That Changed My Life” featured in Readers Digest. The article sang the praises of this delicious and healthy soup that had a side benefit – weight loss. The article originally came from Eating Well. In my post I’m going to give you the basic recipe plus a few variations that I found to be yummy! Break out your Vitamix blender and let get ready to get healthy and skinny!

Green Soup Basic Recipe

Makes 8 Servings

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for garnish
2 onions, Chopped (I use Vidalia or sweet Spanish)
1 tsp salt, divided
1/4 cup arborio rice (risotto rice) – leave out if you are doing Paleo version
1 lb greens: chard, kale, mustard greens, bok choy, etc – any you choose, trim ribs and coarsely chop
14 cups gently packed spinach – about 12 oz
4 cups vegetable broth – Paleo you can use chicken broth if you like
Big pinch cayenne pepper
1 tbsp lemon juice, or more to taste

Directions (I’ve condensed the directions to make it easier to read.)

Saute onions + 1/4 tsp salt for 5 mins. Once browned, cook on low with cover to let carmelize. Add a little broth if too dry.
Meanwhile in large pot combine 3 cups water, rice, and 1/4 tsp salt and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer. Cover and cook 15 minutes.
Chop greens while this is cooking.
Stir in greens to rice. Return to simmer and cover. Cook 10 minutes.
Add carmelized onions, Spinach, broth, and cayenne. Return to simmer and cover. Cook 5 minutes until spinach is tender, but still bright green.
Puree soup with immersion blender (this is a great kitchen tool set!) or in batches in a (Vitamix – so recommend one!) blender.
Salt & pepper to taste.
Stir in a bit of olive oil, lemon juice to garnish
Enjoy!

Green Soup Variations

Ingredient Variations

Leeks in place of or in addition to onions
Add 2-4 celery stalks with the onions
Add a few cloves of garlic to the onions a couple minutes before they are done. (Recommended!)
Broccoli instead of greens (with or without still using the spinach)
Leave out the rice for Paleo or for different taste
Use 1/4 cup cashews to make the soup creamier – still Vegan, not Paleo
Use 1/4 cup almonds to make soup creamier – Vegan and Paleo
add 1/2 white wine to onions and reduce – adds nice flavor

Cooking Variations

Instead of browning the onions, cook at lower temp so they become soft and translucent. Then add to the greens.

Garnish Variations

Smoked paprika gives it a Louisiana taste
Sprinkle Nutritional Yeast on top
Add crumbled bacon (Paleo) or Fake Bacon (Vegan) on Top

Serve with toasted bread (Vegetarian), or with wild meat or fish (Paleo).

Enjoy!

You can use the Print button below to print a clean version of this page or you can download the PDF: Green Soup Basic Recipe for printing or sharing with friends.