Healthy Vegetable Soup (Extra Tasty!)

A Healthy Vegetable Soup made extra tasty……this is my version of the famous Zero Weight Watchers Points cabbage soup. It has 0.4 points (let’s round it down to zero!) but it tastes way, way, way better!

A healthy vegetable soup made extra tasty.

Do you know about the zero Weight Watchers Points cabbage soup? Essentially, all you do is put all the vegetables, broth/stock and a dollop of tomato paste into a pot, bring it to a boil then that’s it.

I don’t even need to try it to know that it would be rather bland. I just couldn’t bring myself to make it. So I made up my own version.  of a healthy vegetable soup:-)

Yes, mine involves a tiny bit of oil so a soffrito of onion, celery and carrots can be slowly sautéed until sweet which creates a beautiful flavour base for this soup. There is a reason that this is the way that many of the greatest classics in this world start – like Beef Ragu!

In addition to the soffrito, I also sauté oregano and fennel. Much like hot water makes the flavour of cocoa powder “bloom”, sautéing dried herbs and spices really opens up their flavour. If you haven’t tried it before, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

I know fennel may sound like an interesting choice, but the reason I chose it is because I wanted to give this soup a Spanish kick and what better way to give a soup a big flavour kick than to use Chorizo seasonings? 🙂

So that’s why I use fennel. It’s very subtle and not a key ingredient, so skip it if you don’t like or have it.

But if you do buy it especially to use in this recipe (and it costs no more than the usual dried herbs), use the leftovers to make my brother’s epic Sausage Rolls. They are da bomb! – Nagi x

Soup Dippers

Quick Cheesy Garlic Bread • Better-Than-Dominos Garlic Bread • Soft No Knead Dinner Rolls

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

Healthy Vegetable Soup (0.4 WW Points) recipe video!

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Spanish Healthy Vegetable Soup

Author: Nagi

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 30 mins

Total: 45 mins

4.93 from 26 votes

Servings4 -5 people

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Recipe video above. This is my version of the famous Zero Weight Watchers Points vegetable soup. Mine has 0.4 WW points but is much MUCH tastier! Spanish flavours inspired by the seasoning for homemade Chorizo (yes, really!), the broth of this soup is MUCh tastier than the Zero WW soup!!! 

Ingredients

Soup:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 onion , finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp fennel seeds (optional)
• 2 medium carrots , finely chopped
• 1 large celery stalk/rib , finely chopped
• 2 red capsicums / bell peppers , cut into 2 cm / 4/5” pieces
• 5 cups cabbage , cut into 3 cm / 1.2” pieces
• 800 g / 28 oz crushed tomato
• 3 cups / 750 ml vegetable or chicken broth (low fat!)
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika (or any paprika)
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (adjust spiciness to taste)

Finishes (not optional!):

• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lemon – zest + juice to taste
• Finely chopped parsley

Instructions

• Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 30 seconds or so.
• Add oregano and fennel seeds, cook for 2 minutes (lets flavour “bloom”).
• Turn heat down to medium low. Add carrots and celery, cook, stirring regularly, for 8 minutes until onion is sweet (not browned). This step is key to the flavour base of this soup.
• Add capsicum, turn heat up to high and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
• Add remaining Soup ingredients, bring to simmer then place lid on. Turn heat down to medium low, simmer for 25 minutes.
• Remove lid, adjust salt and pepper to taste.
• Ladle soup into bowls. Grate over lemon zest, squeeze of lemon juice and sprinkle with parsley. Serve!

Recipe Notes:

1. Feel free to add other vegetables you desire (other than red cabbage - turns it purple!)! Healthy low cal ones like zucchini, fennel, baby spinach (stir through at end), chopped beans, asparagus etc. will add more dimensions to the soup while keeping it very healthy. High carb vegetables like pumpkin, potato and peas (hidden carbs alert!) would also be terrific but will raise the calorie count of this soup.

2. Keeps great for 3 - 4 days. Add lemon zest and juice just before serving for best flavour.

3. The 0.4 points in this recipe is from the olive oil. I can't bring myself to omit it. The extra flavour you get from sautéing the vegetables and spices is a million times more valuable - and key to why this tastes so great!

4. Nutrition per serving, assuming 5 servings.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 391gCalories: 112kcal

Course:Mains, Soup

Cuisine:Spanish Style, Western

Keyword:Healthy Vegetable Soup

Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @RecipeTinEats.

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