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Garden Basil Pesto Soup
Vegetable soups are something I always enjoyed with my mom growing up. My Dad on the other hand, was much more of a meat and potatoes kind of guy. On the night of the week he wanted a steak, my mom and I took the opportunity to have a very healthy or vegetarian meal like this one. I love to make vegetable soups now because you can add pretty much anything you want from leftovers to fresh or frozen vegetables. And did I mention, they are a great way to lose weight? Hearty vegetarian soups are filling without all the fat and calories of other meals. In this recipe, I used some leftover basil pesto that I had stored away in the freezer and lots of zucchini and tomatoes. If you don’t have frozen pesto, or don’t want to make it fresh, just pick up a small jar of basil pesto in the same aisle of the grocery store where the pasta sauces are.
Be sure to check out these other winter soups on Babble too.
Garden Basil Pesto Soup
Ingredients
1 – 28 oz can diced tomatoes
3 zucchini, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
4 stalks celery, diced
4 carrots, diced small
1/4 cup basil pesto, or a small jar
1 large bunch of fresh Kale, chopped
olive oil
2 quarts, or enough to cover all vegetables, vegetable or chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
1 small can tomato paste
Method
1. Preheat a large soup pot. Drizzle with olive oil. Add onions, green peppers, celery and carrots. Saute until translucent. Add zucchini and kale. Saute until kale has wilted. Then add canned tomatoes, tomato paste and stock. Add enough stock to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 – 20 minutes, or until vegetables are very tender.
2. Add basil pesto and simmer for about 5 minutes and serve.
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6 Comments
[...] I had no idea what a great vegetable soup tasted like before now. I found a promising recipe, garden basil pesto soup, to use as a base but did some slight recipe tweaks to give the soup a bit more [...]
Who says a garden can’t fit in a pot! « jazzykitchen commented on Jan 26 11 at 11:29 pmJason's BBQ Adventures commented on Jan 07 11 at 8:11 amNice soup with great flavors.
Fight the Fat Foodie commented on Jan 11 11 at 12:27 pmLooks wonderful, I love using kale in soups.
Sharon White commented on Oct 20 11 at 12:24 pmOne of my favorite “non-homemade” soups is Panera’s Garden Vegetable Pesto Soup. When I googled this soup, I was delighted at your reference to “this is as close as you could get” to Panera’s version. Well, I made it on a brisk, cool day in fall and it was fabulous!!!! The diced tomatoes made it and I added fresh spinach since I didn’t have kale. It’s a keeper!!! Thanks for sharing it.
Erin Gorecki commented on Dec 07 11 at 4:13 pmDoes anyone know how many calories per serving? Say for a 16 oz. serving? Love this soup by the way….it is very tasty! The pesto really adds something special.
Heather commented on Feb 18 12 at 4:58 pmThis is absolutely delicious!
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