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
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 (about 400g/14oz)
- 800g / 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:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
When Dozer sings…
Thanks Nagi! An estimate is a big help. Will be making this soon. Thank you for posting photos of Dozer. He’s so precious and I look forward to seeing his photo after each recipe!
I knew he’d steal the show Sachi 😂
I just made this tonight and it is AMAZING! My house smells wonderful! I added some green beans and a chunk of a parsnip that I needed to use up. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. It’s absolutely delicious! Thanks so much.
Wahoo!!
Just a general question I wonder about with all recipes calling for cups… If you need eg 5 cups of cabbage, 2 cups of shredded mozzarella of 1 cup of diced carrots – HOW do you guys know how much to buy in the store? I’ve been wondering about this for ages 😹
Hi N, I usually just estimate – I always have left over vegetables that I use in other recipes 🙂
As I was reading the recipe, I wondered the same thing. If you can include in the recipe approximately how many pounds of cabbage would make 5 cups, that would be extremely helpful. I wish all recipes would include this kind of information. Thank you!
Hi Sachi! Just popped it in – about 400g/14oz but it really does vary depending on how densely packed the cabbage is, and the water content! It could be that 300g/10oz is enough – once cabbage is chopped, it does substantially increase in volume! N x
Thanks Nagi! An estimate is a big help. Will be making this soon. Thank you for posting photos of Dozer. He’s so precious and I look forward to seeing his photo after each recipe!
Hi – just made a big pot of this – I love it! Can I freeze it? Thanks Nagi – love your site.
Delicious soup Nagi ! A pleasant change from turkey and ham . 🤣
Omitted the cayenne but added lots of black pepper .
SO much better than the original WW recipe .
I’m so glad you loved it Sue, I could easily eat this every day for a week and not get bored!
Made this last night and will be having the rest for lunch today – so tasty!
For anyone that isn’t on a diet you can do what I did and pan fry a sliced chorizo then add to the soup in the last five minutes – mega!!
YUM! I love this idea Mike!
This is an example of when you should video him singing.
x x
Nagi, Was thrilled to see this delicious soup recipe. Just back on WW trying to get back on track from the holidays. It is sooo packed with flavor and very filling. Am very excited to see all the healthy recipes coming this month. Our thoughts are with you Aussies during the terrible fires.
Thanks so much for thinking of us here ❤️
I am not a fan of bell pepper – what could I use instead in this recipe? Thanks so much.
Hi Tara, you could really use anything! (or just leave it out completely) – N x
thank you, that’s me. right now we are enjoying bit cooler weather and I went on automatic pilot SOUP, and more soup. Having broccoli soup tomorrow. Love Dozer pic.
Enjoy Vera! It’s no where near soup weather here 😂
Delicious!!! So happy we found this recipe!! Thank you
Wahoo!
This is a nice simple soup that’s easy to put together. I agree that the mirepoix step was very important but what made the soup special was the smokey depth of the paprika and touch of heat from the cayenne. I paired the soup with with a baguette and nice Reserva Rioja. A crisp Albarino would also complement. This tastes even better the next day!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Ted ❤️
Nagi, this was amazing. So tasty, and simple to make. Very filling too. Thank you!
Yessss how good is it!!?? It’s my go to diet soup 😉
This should be called ultra yummy vege Soup! It’s absolutely delicious as are all you your recipes!
Yum! When I saw this recipe and the amount of cabbage I thought it would be bland and watery…how wrong I was. This is one of the most delicious soups ever. Easy and quick to make and tastes divine
I’m so glad you still gave it a go and love it!
Just to earthy and so delicious, you don’t even know your eating healthy. Thanks Nagi. I LOVE your recipe blog. I tell EVERYONE about you.
Woah what a nice compliment – thanks so much Sue ❤️
Nagi I made this soup today for mine and my husbands lunches for the week. It was so good we just ate it for dinner too! So tasty! I used chilli flakes instead of cayenne pepper because that’s what I had and it is deliciously spicy. I love with your recipes that I can make little adjustments to my taste or what ingredients I have and still they turn out fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing.
I’m so glad you loved it Jessica! ❤️
AMAZING … So good … thank you for making this “lo-cal” staple … The BEST!!!
Great to hear you enjoyed this one Brooke! Thanks for letting me know – N x