Superfood Quinoa Soup
Cozy, comforting, and HEALTHY! This superfood packed soup is loaded with quinoa and all those lingering veggies in your fridge!
Greetings from NYC! After shooting a few segments for the Today Show on NBC and Delish.com, I ended my Friday morning with this: a morning segment with Good Day New York.
I had the most amazing, exhilarating time on set, and then immediately started inhaling all the cookies from Levain Bakery as soon as we wrapped.
So with all the cookies, hot dogs, bagels and pretzels I’m packing here, I need to detox with this superfood soup.
This soup is packed with all sorts of goodies.
Quinoa, onions, carrots, celery, kale, broccoli and pretty much all of your veggies just sitting prettily in your fridge.
It’s a great way to clean out the fridge, sneak in those veggies, and pack yourself with all those nutrients after a week of traveling (and overeating a few too many cookies)!
Superfood Quinoa Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 red onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves chopped
- 8 ounces broccoli florets
- 2 cups shredded red cabbage
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
- Add garlic, onion, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in thyme and oregano until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in vegetable stock, bay leaves and 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Stir in quinoa; reduce heat and simmer until quinoa is tender, about 12-15 minutes.
- Stir in kale, broccoli and cabbage; simmer, stirring occasionally, until kale is tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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My fav!!Â
I don’t really cook, but even I was able to make this. This is super easy and delicious. I did have to add another 4 cups of water towards the end.
I love this soup after I altered it to my liking. Added extra liquid in the form of chicken broth for extra flavour and chicken. It’s the only meat we can eat.Â
I do have a problem with the measurements for the veggies. You say 8 ounces of broccoli and everytime I have to look up what that is in cups. Plus the bunch of Kale. What does a bunch mean to you? Because the stores sell bunches in totally different sizes. In a recipe I expect the measurements to match and find it highly frustrating when they don’t.Â
Shelby, there’s really no need to be frustrated here.
8 ounces of broccoli is, well, 8 ounces. That is an exact measurement. Cups would not be as accurate as the size of florets can vary so much.
There is no standard size for a “bunch of kale”, but on average a bunch of kale is 7 ounces. But as always, when cooking at home, you can use as little or as much as you would like. If you add too much, you can add extra stock as needed.
Great soup! Alter the recipe to fit what you like; I ended up tripling the broth and spices to get the consistency I wanted and it is a tasty, healthy soup I am going to include in my regular rotation! Thank you for sharing this.
This was incredible! As others have said, quinoa tends to soak up most liquids – so just add some extra water or broth right before eating and you should be off to the races! I have tried a lot of superfood soups and this is my favourite by far.
I am trying to diversify my meals! I found this and happened to have everything to make it. It turned out so much better than I anticipated. I followed the recipe to a tee, although, I added some canned salmon from Alaska as the main garnish. I will be making this again and passing it forward…
Thank you! I needed a new soup to love!
Delicious but definitely needs more water if you want it to stay as a soup and not a quinoa with veggies dish!
Glad you enjoyed it Paula! Yes, sometimes you have to improvise a little. Thank you for sharing!
Cabbage gives me gas, can it be substituted?
You can omit!
As a suggestion to those who are saying to add more liquid at the end because the quinoa soaks it up, raisins would be an issue as well the next day as you eat your leftovers. The solution here is to cook your quinoa separate from the soup. You can still use veggie broth instead of water to do so. Then upon serving youd just spoon a portion of quinoa into the bottom of your bowl before you ladle over the soup. I do this same method with all soups that require any type of noodle, rice, or grain. Works beautifully and keeps the noodle, rice or grain from getting too soft and saves the beautiful broth! Hope this helps! Doing this will mean you won’t need to add extra liquid for more broth, unless of course you simply just want more broth, but it won’t be because the quinoa soaked it all up.
Can mushrooms be added…and frozen peas?
Absolutely!
This looks delicious! Never thought of putting quinoa in a soup (:
Can spinach be substituted for the kale?Â
Yes, absolutely.
I made this because it look so damn delicious but added about two more cups of water when I added the kale, cabbage, and broccoli. With the initial 4 cups of veggie stock and 2 cups of water it wasn’t soup-ish. Did I do something WRONG?
Not at all – you can always add more water/stock as needed.
Has anyone tried blending the soup
this looks frigging AMAZING…I am counting calories and looking for new recipes to try! 194.7 calories…WOW…I just have one question…what is a serving size of this amazing soup? I am looking to make it this weekend.
About 1-2 cups. 🙂
can this be done in a slow coker??
Yes, absolutely.
This dish taste very good. Third recipe I have made of yours and they have been great.
OMG, this looks so delicious! Thank you for sharing. 🙂
The dish came out delicious – but all of the liquid cooked down and it became more of a quinoa dish then a soup. I double checked my portions – any suggestions for the next batch? It looks so delicious as a soup.Â
Sidenote – next day it’s delicious even as is.
Yes, you can add additional vegetable stock as needed.
Oh, and I received my cookbook and love it! Â I hope you had a great time in New York! Â You earned it!
Jen, I haven’t tried freezing this soup yet but it was my first thought when I read the recipe. Â I’m betting it would freeze well, and I encourage you to try it. Â I will. Â I’m always trying to make big batches of things and freezing some so I always have a stockpile of meals for when I’m too tired to cook. Â
I am try this recipe for dinner today.
Sounds yummy. How much is a “bunch of kale.” Can you give a weight or a volume of chopped kale?
Thanks
About 1 pound.
Is the serving size 1 cup? Looks amazing!
Yes, about 1-2 cups.
I just made this for my lunch for today and this week, it’s really good! I sprinkled it with a little parm, because that is what I do with everything, but this soup is super flavorful without. I just got your cookbook too and can’t wait ti use it, I am new follower of your blog and love it. Thanks for a great recipe.
Never seen quinoa in a soup before but this looks awesome. So vibrant, great work! (:
Congratulations on your recent star turns! Every week, Damned Delicious opens a window to a world of culinary inspiration direct from my e-mail inbox. Girl, you can COOK! Easy-to-follow, “non-daunting” recipes preceded with good-natured introductions, complemented by studio-quality photos (of course, because you have a photo studio, per the video clip). (The close-ups are a great idea.) I feel validated that some of my own creations are similar to yours. Love the vegetarian entrees. In a digital farmer’ market newsletter that I wrote for several years, I often included links to your blog to recipes using seasonal ingredients. (I hope this is all right.) I admire the fact that you created an opportunity from adversity and grew it into a fabulous success.
Just wanted to Congratulate you on your cookbook which I have already received and thank you for all the great recipes that I have collected from you over the years. My all time favorites are your Shrimp Enchiladas with Pablano Cream Sauce and the Coffee Cake. I wish you all the best and hope you sell out every book. Please try to get your book on QVC with In the Kitchen with David. I know it would do well there. He is one of the biggest foodies I know!
Looks so yummy and very healthy. Â Thanks for sharing.
Should the quinoa already be cooked? Â Or do you put it in uncooked?
You want to add uncooked quinoa as it is cooked in the soup.
Congratulations on your TV appearances. You’re adorable!!! Will being making this soup for sure.
What do you think about freezing this soup? Would it freeze well?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer this with certainty as I have never tried freezing this myself – there were no leftovers left to freeze! Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
Can I substitute another grain for the quinoa? I am not a big fan.
Yes – barley, rice, or brown rice would be great substitutes.
CHUNGAH; Thank you so much for all the interesting ideas, tried many and they are fun and easy to make as well as good tasting recipes.
Yes, nutritional values would be nice but one can tell what’s healthy right away.
Keep up the good work,
Best, Horst
Every Sunday I clean out the fridge and make a pot of “Sunday Soup”. Â I use chicken stock and what ever veggie, bits of cooked meat, etc that need using up. Â So far, each batch has been very tasty and no complaints from the family. Â I eat this for breakfast it’s so good!!!
My son not eat vegetables but he loves soup and you just solve my big problem. This is amazing! love it! I am really excited to try this!
I am slapping my head beause why didn’t I think of this? I use most of the same ingredients to make a salad, about twice a week. Turning it into soup is so brillant!Â
BTW I am a big fan of more variety, rather than just a few ingredients. Each different vegetable adds different nutrients.Â
Are you going to post the nutrition facts for the Quinoa superfood soup?
Yes!