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If you’re always looking for fun and EASY ways to get your kids to eat more vegetables then I HIGHLY recommend this Vegetable Alphabet Soup! It’s so simple to throw together (especially if you do like me and use a big ole bag of frozen vegetables!), makes for great leftovers, and your kid(s) will love the fun alphabet noodles!
Love a good hearty bowl of homemade soup? You should absolutely give my Crockpot Potato Soup a try as well as my Easy Vegan Lentil Soup and my new favorite Roasted Cauliflower Soup! ALL so good!
We make this easy alphabet soup on a REGULAR basis because my daughter loves it so much. Now that she can read, we have a lot of fun playing with our food and making different words out of the fun pasta :)
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
✔️ Cozy & nostalgic – A childhood favorite with homemade goodness.
✔️ Quick & easy – Ready in about 30 minutes!
✔️ Customizable – Swap the veggies or pasta for what you have on hand.
✔️ Kid-approved – The alphabet pasta makes it extra fun!
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
- Alphabet Pasta– The fun part! Swap for another small pasta shape if needed (such as orzo, ditalini, or Acini di pepe.
I found a very inexpensive box of alphabet noodles at my local grocery store but they’re not at all stores. You can find them on Amazon HERE and HERE (affiliate links). - Broth– I really like using this Better Than Bouillon veggie broth base and find it to be very flavorful! You can also use beef or chicken broth as desired.
- Veggies– I used a big $2 bag of frozen vegetables for this recipe to keep it simple and quick. But you can see my notes below if you’d like to to fresh veggies. I used a classic mix of veggies (corn, carrots, peas, and green beans) but anything works in this soup!
- Tomatoes– to enhance the flavors and just overall add more to this soup, we’re also adding in a can of diced tomatoes and some tomato sauce as well. you could also add in some tomato paste as desired!
- Spices– I love using fresh herbs + dried Italian seasoningwhen I’m making a recipe like this but feel FREE to sub them for ALL dried herbs if you’re wanting to save the money/ time of buying and prepping fresh.
- Celery (Optional)– Adds extra crunch and flavor, but you can leave it out.
How to make this Homemade Alphabet Soup Recipe
This soup is pretty simple to make and comes together even quicker with the help of the frozen veggies (because sometimes chopping a bunch of produce is the LAST thing I can handle after work!).
Let’s go over the simple steps (full recipe is down in the recipe card!).
STEP #1: Sauté the aromatics – Cook the onion, garlic, and seasonings in olive oil over medium-high heat oil until fragrant.
STEP #2: Add the broth & veggies – Stir in the vegetable broth, frozen veggies, tomatoes, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil.
STEP #3: Cook the pasta – Reduce to a simmer, add the pasta, and cook until tender.
STEP #4: Serve & enjoy – Remove the bay leaf and serve with fresh herbs and cheese. ENJOY!
Expert Tips
- Don’t overcook the pasta – It will absorb liquid as it sits, so cook just until tender.
- Make it heartier – Add a can of drained beans for extra protein.
- Storage tip – If making ahead, cook the pasta separately and add when serving to avoid it getting too soft. It’s important to know that the longer this leftover soup sits in the fridge, the cooked pasta will REALLY soak up the liquid. It’ll still taste good but I often end up adding a little more broth to the soup as I’m heating it up. This is not at all necessary but when I eat soup, the broth is one of my favorite parts. But if you’re fine with a chunkier soup, no need to add much broth.
Yes! Just swap the alphabet pasta for a gluten-free variety or another small GF pasta.
Absolutely! Just chop and add them in at the same step as the frozen ones. You could also saute them a little with the onion as desired to get them a bit softer.
Adding beans, lentils, ground beef, or even small diced potatoes will make it more hearty.
MORE VEGAN SOUP RECIPES
If you try this Homemade Alphabet Vegetable Soup recipe or any other recipe on Food with Feeling, don’t forget to leave a comment and a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below to let others know how much you loved it. Happy cooking!! And don’t forget to tag me on Instagram @foodwithfeeling!
Alphabet Soup
Ingredients
- 1 ½ tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced (more or less as desired)
- 1 small yellow onion, diced (about 1 cup)
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped (can sub for dried)
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- 1 pound frozen mixed vegetables
- optional: 2 sticks of celery, diced*
- 1 bay leaf
- 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes in their juices
- 8 ounce can of tomato sauce
- 1 cup of dry alphabet pasta**
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add in the garlic, onion, italian seasoning, sea salt, and thyme. Cook until the onion begins to soften, about 5 minutes.
- Turn the heat to high and add in the broth, frozen vegetables, celery, bay leaf, diced tomatoes in their juices, and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, lower heat to a gentle simmer and add in the pasta. Cook until the pasta is tender (check the box of the pasta you’re using for reference), about 20 minutes. Check pasta for doneness (cook to your liking) and when the pasta is done, remove the bay leaf.
- Sere immediately and ENJOY! I like to serve mine with fresh herbs and little bit of cheese (non diary works great as well or you can obviously leave the cheese off all-together).
Notes
- the celery is not at all necessary, but I just really love it in my soup and most frozen veggie mixes don’t include celery so I like to add it.
- see notes above in the blog post for suggestions if you can’t find alphabet pasta
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Realized after starting to cook I was out of tomato ingredients, subbed marinara and it all still tasted great. You think this would freeze well? Or everything would be mushy?
I used the vegetables (a mix of frozen and added zucchini!) and pasta I had on hand and it turned out great! This will be my go to recipe for vegetable soup now!
I had made these long time back for my daughter and then completely forgot about it. I remember she was really curious and it was so easy to get her to eat it. Thanks for reminding. I am going to get myself a pack already!