This alphabet vegetable soup recipe is easy, homemade, and satisfying. It freezes wonderfully and keeps perfectly for lunches all week. Add your favorite spices and use your favorite vegetables. Alphabet pasta is really fun, but any small shaped pasta works!
I know, I know. Vegetable soup where I usually share recipes like chocolate cake and peanut butter pie?
Stick with me. This is an absolutely delicious soup recipe, especially considering that most of your bowl is vegetables. Paired with lots of seasonings, plenty of garlic, hearty potato, and super fun pasta, vegetable soup finally receives a glamorous makeover.
This homemade soup is… SO GOOD!
Let’s Make Alphabet Vegetable Soup!
Spelling with our food calls for lots of excitement! I was inspired to make homemade alphabet vegetable soup because (1) it’s adorable and (2) homemade soup always tastes superior to canned. I bought the Amy’s brand organic alphabet soup a few times recently and while it tastes great (for kids and adults!), I knew I could replicate it at home.
This is a very low-key soup with a lot of room for substitutions. Chicken or vegetable broth? Either works. Fresh or frozen veggies? You pick. Green beans, corn, carrots? Use whatever. Just about any combination of ingredients, while somewhat following the recipe, works.
Two additions we love:
- Potato: 1 medium potato adds heartiness. Potato gives each spoonful a little more staying power and substance. Sweet potato works too!
- Tomato Paste: The tomato paste helps thicken and adds fantastic concentrated flavor.
Where Can I Find Alphabet Pasta?
I bought alphabet pasta online (affiliate link), but later realized it’s common in most major grocery stores. If you can’t find alphabet pasta or don’t want to buy it online, use any small shaped pasta. You need about 1 cup dry.
By the way, frozen veggies make the soup even easier. No need to thaw!
What makes me happy: This soup is really easy, loaded with vegetables, pretty healthy, feeds us for a few days, satisfies for hours, and tastes awesome.
What makes me even happier: My kids eat it!
If you don’t love it too, I promise to come spoon up your leftovers.
Here’s a friendly reminder that brown butter sage dinner rolls, no knead seeded oat bread, homemade breadsticks, and homemade biscuits all make the best soup dippers. And if you love biscuits as much as we do, you’ll probably also enjoy this biscuit vegetable pot pie recipe.
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Homemade Alphabet Vegetable Soup
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: serves 8
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This alphabet vegetable soup recipe is easy, homemade, and satisfying. It freezes wonderfully and keeps perfectly for lunches all week. Add your favorite spices and use your favorite vegetables. Alphabet pasta is really fun, but any small shaped pasta works!
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup chopped yellow onion (1/2 of a large onion)
- 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning*
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 8 cups beef, chicken, or vegetable broth
- 3–4 cups frozen, canned, or fresh vegetables*
- 1 medium potato, peeled & chopped (1 heaping cup)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
- 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
- 1 cup dry alphabet pasta*
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a 5-quart (or larger) pot or dutch oven. Add the garlic, onion, Italian seasoning, salt, thyme, and pepper. Stir and cook for 5 minutes as the onion softens.
- Add broth, vegetables, potato, bay leaf, tomato paste, and diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then add uncooked pasta. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove bay leaf.
- Serve soup warm and top with fresh parmesan cheese, if desired.
- Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to a week. To reheat, simply pour into a pot over medium heat and cook until warm. Feel free to add more broth to the leftovers as it cooks if it is too thick. (It thickens in the refrigerator as the potatoes and noodles soak up the liquid.)
Notes
- Freezing:Â Soup freezes wonderfully! Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator the day before eating, then reheat on the stove until warm.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Large Pot or Dutch Oven (5-quart or larger) | Alphabet Pasta
- If you don’t have Italian seasoning, you can use any combination of Italian spices that you like. Dried basil, rosemary, oregano, etc.
- I use a 19 ounce bag of mixed vegetables: corn, peas, green beans, and carrots. This medley tasted delicious in the soup! You can use your favorite fresh, frozen, or canned (drained) vegetables. Do not thaw if using frozen.
- You can usually find alphabet pasta in the pasta aisle of grocery stores or purchase it online. Or use any small shaped pasta.
- Slow cooker directions:Â Prepare the soup through step 1 on the stovetop. Transfer to a slow cooker, then add everything else except for the pasta. Allow to cook for 2 hours on low, then add the pasta. Cook on low for 1 more hour.
Love this recipe! I want to try it but my kids don’t like chunks of tomatoes can I just blend them with an immersion blender?
Hi Angie, that shouldn’t be a problem!
This looks good! Would orzo work or is that too small?
Hi Michele, orzo is fine–enjoy!
Yum. Made this today for lunch. So quick and easy. I would suggest cooking the pasta separately and adding it to your bowl as you serve it. The leftovers turned into cassarole, and adding broth the next day changed the flavor. It was still good, I just liked the flavor just the way it was on the first day.
This soup was both good and easy — so that makes it a home run in my opinion. Per the comments I used beef broth and an extra potato and it turned out great. You definitely need extra broth the next day. I will add this to my rotation.