Winter Vegetable Soup with Orzo and Butter Beans

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Jasmine

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Today I’m sharing a cosy, comforting soup that’s the perfect warmer for cold winter days. This is a plant-based broth soup as opposed to the creamier soups I often make, but this preserves more fibre and ensures you get all those immunity-boosting nutrients we need around this time of year!

INGREDIENTS

Broth base:

Celery

Carrots

Garlic

Shallot

Seasonal vegetables:

Courgette

Leek

Cavolo Nero

Carbs:

Butter beans

Orzo

Dried herbs and spices:

Paprika

Oregano

Cayenne pepper (this isn’t a spicy dish, a little Cayenne just adds some warmth)

Fresh herbs:

Rosemary

Thyme

Sage

Parsley or dill (as a garnish at the end)

TIPS

There’s really not much to this one! I just recommend pre-cooking the orzo until just shy of al dente beforehand so it leaches out most of its starch. Usually, we’re all about releasing starch into our dish to create a creamy texture, but as this is a broth-based soup, I don’t want it to make the orzo soft and mushy. I also recommend letting the broth simmer for a decent amount of time and to only add back in the orzo and the butter beans at the end so they don’t just absorb all the broth.

Winter Vegetable, Orzo and Butter Bean Soup

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy
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DESC

No special equipment or advance prep needed 




Ingredients

    

  • 1 shallot (finely chopped)
    • 
*
 5 cloves of garlic (crushed or finely chopped)
  • 1 carrot (diced)
  • 1 stick of celery (diced)
  • 1 leek (diced)
  • 1 courgette (diced)
  • 80g of cavolo nero (de-stemmed and roughly chopped)
  • Handful of fresh sage (c. 2g)
  • Handful of fresh thyme (c. 2g)
  • Handful of fresh rosemary (c. 2g)
  • Dried oregano (1 tsp)
  • Dried paprika (1 tsp)
  • Cayenne pepper (1/2 a tsp)
  • 125g of butter beans (from a tin, drained)
  • Olive oil for cooking
  • 100g of orzo
  • 1 lemon (juice only)
  • 1-1.5l of boiling water
  • Small handful of parsley (c.1g) (roughly chopped)
    • 
* Salt and pepper to taste



Directions

  1. Boil the kettle
  2. Add to a wide-based lidded pan, salt generously and bring to a rolling boil
  3. Cook the orzo until just shy of al dente according to the packet instructions (e.g. if 10 mins is cooked and 8 mins is al dente, go for 6-7 mins), drain the starchy water and set aside
  4. 
Drizzle the same pan with olive oil over a medium heat and add the shallot, garlic, carrot, celery, leek and courgette – cook with the lid on for 7 minutes
    5. 5.
 Add the oregano, cayenne pepper and paprika, season generously and stir
  5. Tie together the fresh sage, thyme and rosemary with food safe string or in cheesecloth
    6. 7.
 Add 1L of boiling water to the pan, add your bundle of fresh herbs and season again generously 8.
 Lower the heat right down and simmer with the lid on for 20-30 minutes 9.
 Remove the fresh herb bundle and add the lemon juice and cavolo nero and simmer for a further 5 minutes
  6. Add the butter beans and return the orzo to the pan and stir – add a further 500ml of boiling water if needed and season again
  7. Serve topped with the fresh parsley
    8. 


Let me know if you try this simple but satisfying plant-based soup!

See how I bring together this soup here:

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