I hate using the term “diet”, so let’s just say that ever since I got back from vacation I’ve been focusing on healthy lifestyle choices. I’m trying to focus (again) on increasing my vegetable intake and reducing my dependency on simple carbs. Judging by my Pinterest feed, it’s suddenly time for all-things-fall, so I thought a nice basic vegetable soup was in order. I wanted something classic and simple, like the kind you get out of a can, but homemade. Since I’ve also been hitting it hard at the gym lately, I knew I was going to need a little extra protein in the soup, and that’s how this became a Garden Vegetable Quinoa Soup.
What is Quinoa?
Quinoa is technically a seed, but it cooks up a lot like a grain, which makes it very versatile. It’s higher in fiber and protein than rice, which makes it a great alternative if you’re trying to swap out those simple carbs. Quinoa can be pricey, so I like to use it in recipes like this soup where it’s balanced with lesser expensive ingredients, like the carrots, celery, spinach, and tomatoes in this soup.
Substitutions for Quinoa
If you’re not into quinoa, you can try another grain like pearled barley, or even pasta (orzo or couscous), or rice. Just be aware that the cooking time for other grains, pasta, and rice will not be the same as the quinoa.
How to Store Your Garden Vegetable Quinoa Soup
This Garden Vegetable Quinoa Soup will freeze great, so don’t be frightened by the 10 cup yield! That just makes it great for your weekly meal prep. Make a huge batch, stash 4-5 portions in the fridge for the week ahead and then freeze the remaining portions for the future when you’re running low on funds or time to cook.
P.S. Serve this soup with a couple slices of garlic bread, which you can also keep in the freezer, and you’ll be in fall soup heaven!
Garden Vegetable Quinoa Soup
Servings 8 (1.25 cup each)Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.11)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.25)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 3 carrots ($0.32)
- 3 ribs celery ($0.44)
- 1 15oz. can kidney beans ($0.69)
- 1 15oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes ($1.35)
- 1/2 tsp dried basil ($0.05)
- 1 tsp dried oregano ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika ($0.05)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.05)
- 1 cup quinoa, uncooked ($1.97)
- 4 cups vegetable broth* ($0.54)
- 2 cups water ($0.00)
- 1/4 lb. frozen spinach ($0.40)
Instructions
- Mince the garlic and dice the onion. Add the olive oil, garlic, and onion to a large pot and sauté over medium-low heat until the onions are soft and transparent.
- While the garlic and onion are cooking, wash and peel the carrots, then slice into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Wash the celery and slice into 1/4-inch pieces. Add the carrots and celery to the pot and continue to sauté until they just begin to soften (about 5 minutes).
- While the carrots and celery are cooking, rinse the quinoa well with cool running water in a wire mesh sieve. Drain and rinse the kidney beans. Add the quinoa, kidney beans, diced tomatoes (with juices), basil, oregano, smoked paprika, and some freshly cracked pepper (about 20 cranks of a pepper mill) to the pot.
- Add the vegetable broth and water to the pot, place a lid on top, and turn the heat up to medium-high. Allow the pot to come to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and let simmer for 25 minutes (make sure it’s simmering the entire time, turning the heat up just slightly if it stops).
- After simmering for 25 minutes the quinoa should be slightly translucent and tender. If not, let simmer a few minutes longer. Stir in 1/4 lb. of frozen spinach until heated through. Taste the soup and add salt or adjust the seasonings if necessary. Serve hot.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down to see the step by step photos!
How to Make Garden Vegetable Quinoa Soup – Step by Step Photos
Begin by mincing four cloves of garlic and dicing one yellow onion. Add both to a large pot along with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Sauté the onion and garlic over medium-low heat until the onions are transparent.
While the onion and garlic are cooking, wash and peel three carrots. Slice the carrots into 1/4-inch rounds. Wash three ribs of celery and slice into 1/4-inch pieces. Add the carrot and celery to the pot and continue to sauté until just slightly tender (about 5 minutes).
While the carrots and celery are cooking, rinse 1 cup quinoa really well with cool water. This step is very important because quinoa has a natural substance on the surface that tastes kind of bitter. Since the quinoa are very small, you’ll want to do this in a fine wire mesh sieve.
Add the rinsed quinoa, a 15oz. can of kidney beans (drained and rinsed as well), 15oz. can of fire roasted diced tomatoes (WITH juices), 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp dried basil, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, and some freshly cracked pepper (maybe 20 cranks of a pepper mill).
Finally, add four cups of vegetable broth and 2 cups of water. Stir to combine. I use Better Than Bouillon base to make my broth, which usually has enough salt to season my entire soup. If using a low sodium or less flavorful broth, you may want a pinch of salt at the end of the soup. Adding salt at the end of a dish often gives a bigger flavor punch with less salt than salting earlier at the beginning.
Place a lid on the pot and turn the heat up to medium-high. Let the pot come up to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 25 minutes. Make sure it’s simmering the whole time. After 25 minutes, the quinoa should be tender and slightly translucent.
Now pour in about 1/4 lb. of frozen spinach and stir until the spinach has melted. The residual heat from the soup should be plenty to thaw the spinach. I like to add the spinach at the very end like this so that it doesn’t over cook and the color stays vibrant and green (instead of an icky dark olive color).
And that’s it! Easy vegetable filled goodness right there. As always, you should taste the finished product and adjust the salt or other seasonings to your liking (everyone’s taste buds are different!). As for me, I liked it just the way it was.
It’s just screaming “GARLIC TOAST!” isn’t it? I don’t know how I forgot to pick up a baguette at the store. *sigh*
I still have some queso fresco left over in my fridge so I sprinkled a little of that on top of my Garden Vegetable Quinoa Soup, but honestly it didn’t add much. The soup had enough flavor going on on its own! #win
this was very yummy!
This has been my lunch all week and I love it. Perfect pick me up for the middle of a cold day. Mine came out a little thick, more like a stew, but still tastes great!
Great directions and excellent final product! I followed the super easy step by step instructions and the soup turned out very well. The addition of smoked paprika is unique to any vegetable soup I’ve made and makes a great change. Thanks for an easy and yummy recipe!
Can this soup be frozen?
Hmm, I actually didn’t get to try freezing this one. The only questionable item in there is the quinoa. I’ve never frozen cooked quinoa, but I think you can buy pre-cooked quinoa frozen, so chances are it will be fine.
Decided to try this recipe over the weekend. I don’t usually like soup (especially when chunky), but this was a really pleasant surprise. The only tweak I’ll make next time might be to cook the quinoa before putting it in the soup. Even with all the liquid, the quinoa soaked up a majority and left the soup looking like a vegetable porridge. Still very delicious though!
I just made this tonight and it was delicious! My boyfriend was even a big fan and he usually doesn’t enjoy of lots of veggies (lol). It was perfect for our right college budget and even provided plenty of leftovers! Hurray! Thank you for this one!!
I made this for dinner tonight, I had to substitute barley for quinoa due to what’s available locally but it still turned out great and it’s definitely one of many go-to recipes I’ve gotten from this site over the years.
Just finished cooking this now! It came out delicious. Like some others said, the quinoa thickened up the soup considerably but since I like stews better, I’m totally okay with this. Others might want to add another cup or two of water if they want it “soupier”.
I may just be a volume eater but this came out to 5 servings for me. I’m going to freeze them for my lunches for the week!
Thanks for a tasty recipe!
This soup is on my stove as I type this ~ looking forward to the finished product ! Your narrative and photos are wonderful ~until I got to the photo of the Spinach from WalMart …….insert super sad face here …..Sorry, I guess this isn’t the venue for my Anti WalMart Rants ! Anyway, thank you for a new dinner idea !
I feel ya. I have rarely shopped at Walmart for the past five years or so. I don’t remember why I was there that day, but I decided to grab my spinach while I was. :(
How would you adjust the liquid to cook the quinoa separately? This was a disaster for me. The quinoa absorbed all of the liquid so by the time my 20-25 mins were up it was a porridge. I double checked my quinoa and liquid amounts…no idea what went wrong :(
Hmm, if there were no instructions on the package (like if you got the quinoa from bulk bins), I’d follow these instructions from The Kitchn. Then you can just add that into the soup at the end.
Same thing happened to me the first time I made this. I reduced the quinoa to a quarter cup and it came out perfect!
As a big fan of both quinoa and vegetables of all kinds,I did not like this as much as I thought I would. I feel like the volume of quinoa overwhelmed the flavor of the veggies. Will try again, with less quinoa and additional seasonings.
Made this other night, the only substitution I made was the kidney beans for cannellini beans. Turned out great, tasted amazing! Only thing that was a bit disappointing was the appearance. Mine looked nothing like yours it was more grey looking (I assume from the cannellini beans?) and stewish. I had to add an extra cup of water and an extra cup broth at the end it make it soup. Colour was still off though.
And for the life of me, I cannot find a store that sells Vegetable Better than Bouillon. They all carry chicken and beef but no vegetable. :(
Aaron, an easy-peasy fix for your dilemma is something we do about three times a week ….Anytime that you make a salad or use vegetables for a recipe , save the ends, tops, whatever scraps that you would normally toss out in a container and refrigerate. We always have a variety of things, from onions to celery to carrots to bell pepper and garlic ~ toss in peel, rind , all of the excess….Rinse it first and put into a sauce pan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer a few hours. Strain and discard the scraps and the resulting broth will be rich and delish. You are at an advantage here because you can control the salt as well. We freeze our stock and use it for soups, stews, to cook rice or pasta, and to cook beans, even chickpeas for our hummus. It is basically zero cost and so much better than a purchased stock, which is packed with unknowns…. Have fun on the range !
This soup was amazing. I didn’t add the frozen spinach however (because I forgot) and it was still delicious! The only thing I would say is it’s a very full soup that ends up more like a stew, which for me personally, was a total bonus. My partner was “mmm..ing” the whole time he was eating it. I will definitely be making this again.
Delicious and so easy to make! My family of 5 all loved it! My co-workers are all jealous this morning after eyeing my leftovers LOL
Wow – so little ingredients, so cheap, and yet *so* filling. This stayed good in my fridge for a week and gave me a ton of servings. The quinoa didn’t get too mushy! I am a huge fan. So much flavor! Thank you!