A simple and hearty vegetable soup with ground beef.

A big pot of soup is a great way to knock out several meals for the week. This recipe has a nice depth of flavor that keeps us enjoying the leftovers!

Just the Recipe | 8 Servings

Ingredients

1 lb Ground Beef

1 Onion

4 Carrots

3 Celery Stalks

3 Potatoes

(1) 28 oz Can of Diced Tomatoes -or- (2) 14.5 oz cans of Diced Tomatoes

1/4 Head of Cabbage

2 Cloves Garlic

1 tsp. Greek or Italian Spice Blend

4 Cups Beef Broth

From the Pantry:

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

Stove Top | Dutch Oven or Large Soup Pot

Steps

Prep the vegetables
- Wash the potatoes, carrots, and celery.
- Peel the onion, garlic, potatoes (optional) and carrots (optional).
- Halve the cabbage and rinse well. Remove the outer leaves if they look limp or wrinkly. Shred a 1/4 head of the cabbage.
- Dice the onion, celery, carrots and potatoes into bite-sized pieces.
- Mince the garlic.
Cook the beef:
- Heat the Dutch oven or a large soup pot on med-high heat with 2 Tbs. Olive Oil.
- Add the ground beef. Salt (1 tsp) and pepper (1/2 tsp) the ground beef.
- Crumble as it cooks, breaking it down into small pieces. Cook until the ground beef is cooked through.
- Remove to a plate.
- Dispose of the fat if desired (I use very lean meat so not much fat is released).
Slightly cook/sweat the veggies:
- Heat 2 Tbs of olive oil if you drained out the fat, no need if you didn’t.
- Add the onions plus a dash of salt and pepper and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the Greek or Italian seasoning and garlic, stir thoroughly and cook for 30 seconds.
- Stir in the celery, carrots, potatoes. Sweat for 2 minutes.
- Add in the canned tomatoes. If there are any brown bits in the bottom of the pan scrape them up at this step (I usually don’t have any).
- Add the cabbage and stock. The Dutch oven or pot may be very full now! If not, feel free to add in some more cabbage.
Bring to a boil and then simmer:
- Cover and allow to boil, stirring occasionally until boiling. (Not too often, you want it to heat up!)
- Lower heat and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. This may depend on how large you dice them. I like a larger chunk for this soup to give it a rustic feel. I find that 30 minutes is perfect for the flavors to meld and the veggies to cook through.

Enjoy with crusty bread, grilled cheese sandwiches, or crackers and cheese on the side!

Meal Block Plan | 4 Meals

Cool and store in fridge. I like to store soup in quart mason jars. After using 2 servings immediately, I am left with 3 quarts of soup. I bought a wide mouth funnel to make scooping the soup into the jars easy. Each day I pull out a jar and split it between the two of us for a lunch or dinner. The jar goes in the dishwasher and if I reheat the soup in bowls in the microwave there is nothing to clean up!

Not: This soup does not freeze well.

In Need of Easy Recipes

At the time I’m posting this we are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic crisis. I’ve been on lockdown in my home for two weeks and need easy, yummy meals to stay healthy and sane. I love to cook but even I don’t normally cook this much. This soup was an obvious option this week. I had all of the ingredients because I had meant to make Corned Beef and Cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day. A few days before March 17th, the Governor announced a lockdown in my county and there was a mad rush on the grocery stores. I never ended up finding any corned beef so I tried a new brisket recipe instead. (More on that in a different post!) Cabbage is very filling but we don’t have it often except for coleslaw recipes during BBQ season. In trying to figure out how to use it I remembered this recipe. I can’t remember where I first found this one or I’d give credit. The beauty of this recipe is it is so easy I never have to look it up! I hope the same becomes true for you as well. I made it over my lunch break on Monday and it fed us all week. What a blessing! #OneDayCV

Kitchen Acumen Tips:

If you don’t have a Greek or Italian seasoning blend, use dried oregano.
This recipe is forgiving when it comes to the proportions of vegetables. Don’t sweat it if you only have two stalks of celery. Maybe add in some extra carrots. Only have baby potatoes? That works, add about the same amount as 3 medium potatoes (maybe 9?). Don’t overthink it!
Using lean ground beef makes this a very healthy meal. If you prefer ground turkey or chicken substitute chicken or vegetable broth.
Vegetarian Option. You could easily make this a vegetarian dish by skipping the beef and subbing in vegetable stock. If you do, consider adding mushrooms when you add the onions or beans when you add the cabbage for a heartier dish.
Homemade Stock. I keep a bag of veggie scraps in the freezer at all times so I can make stock anytime. I always keep an eye out on meat deals so I can make homemade stock affordably. Having the veggies in the freezer, ready to go, makes it so easy. And these days I make stock almost exclusively in the InstantPot so it doesn’t get any easier. Not all vegetables are good for stock (avoid starchy vegetables - beets, potatoes - and those with a strong flavor that would overpower a dish such as broccoli). If I am doing batch cooking and have a lot of veggie scraps I’ll start two bags and split them up roughly even. What goes in mine?
- Onion peels
- Leek trimmings (washed well)
- Carrot tops, trimmings, and peels
- Parsnip trimmings and peels
- Celery trimmings
- Herb stems (parsley, thyme, rosemary, sage)
- Any of the above that is about to go bad and which I won’t use up before that happens.
- If you want more of an Asian-style flavor you may want to vary what you keep in your freezer veggie bag such as mushrooms, lemon grass, chili peppers, and cilantro.