Meatless Monday Recipe Idea: Vegetable Rotini Soup

Meatless Monday Vegetable Rotini Soup is a delicious and satisfying blend of savory broth, fresh veggies, and rotini pasta.

Meatless Monday Vegetable Rotini Soup is the latest recipe in a series of vegetarian entrees I’m blogging about here on The Goldilocks Kitchen. I certainly don’t have a problem with eating meat, and no one else in my family does either. My goal with meatless monday is to help my family eat a little less meat and a little more healthy veggies, legumes and grains on a regular basis.

The backbone of any soup is a great broth. I simmer chicken stock with herbs and spices and veggies on low so the flavors can mingle and mature. The secret ingredient to this dish is the V8 juice, which although I don’t prefer to drink on it’s own, does wonders with the bright colorful and fresh flavors of the veggies and the pasta. Meatless Monday Vegetable Rotini Soup is definitely a tasty recipe worth putting into your Meatless Monday rotation!

The ingredients for Meatless Monday Vegetable Rotini Soup include:

• onion
• garlic
• herbs
• celery
• carrot
• bell pepper
• green beans
• roasted tomato
• zucchini
• lemon zest

All of which you could totally grow in a little backyard vegetable garden (except maybe the lemon zest, but I plan to have my own little potted meyer lemon tree someday…). In fact I plan to grow this soup myself in our garden next growing season. Meatless Monday Vegetable Rotini Soup is the perfect recipe to make use of a vegetable garden. Plus, I don’t just use run-of-the-mill rotini pasta, I go for the garden vegetable rotini pasta, which includes spinach and tomato in the pasta itself, adding another layer of nutrition and color to this soup. You know what they say, “eat the rainbow!”

A food processor is recommended for Meatless Monday Vegetable Rotini Soup

Chopping up all these veggies by hand can be a task, but is a cinch if you have a good food processor. I cut all these by hand just for texture (and photography’s sake) but please, use a food processor if you have one. They are meant to make recipes just like this one super duper easy.

I also like this soup because the veggies don’t turn to mush, they actually have a little structure left to them, which is nice for texture and also nutrients are saved by not over-cooking. The final touch to this lovely recipe is a bit of lemon zest for brightness and some freshly minced Italian parsley. Grab a loaf of crusty bread and go to town on that bowl of vegetable soup! You’re fueling your body with greatness!

I will admit, I have avoided making vegetable soup in the past because I’ve never had one that I thought was great. I’m not gonna lie, I much prefer my chocolate candy bar to a bowl of vegetables. However, this recipe is great, and my whole family, including picky kids, ate it with no complaints (small miracle there). I love the added pasta element to it, and I think it really helped my kids to gobble it up too. As always, I love feedback, so don’t hesitate to leave a comment below and rank the recipe if you give it a try!

Meatless Monday Vegetable Rotini Soup

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• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 10 servings 1x

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Description

A delicious and satisfying blend of savory broth, fresh veggies, and rotini pasta. Even my picky kids had no problem finishing off their entire bowls of this colorful soup.

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Ingredients

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• 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium or large onion, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced or pressed
• 10 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups V8 original vegetable juice
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
• 1/2 cup sliced celery
• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 yellow bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1 cans chopped green beans, drained
• 1 (14-ounce) can of fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 cups dry rotini noodles
• 1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup minced fresh Italian parsley
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest

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Instructions

1. In a large dutch oven or stock pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium high heat. Add onion and sprinkle with salt. Cook, stirring often, until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds.
2. Add in the the chicken broth, V8 juice, oregano, thyme, cumin, chili powder, carrots, celery, bell peppers, green beans and tomatoes. Turn the heat to high. Once the broth has reached a rolling boil, cover and turn the heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the cover and bring the soup up to a rolling boil, then stir in the rotini pasta and zucchini. Boil for about 6 minutes, or until rotini is cooked. Turn off the heat and stir in the parsley and lemon zest. Serve.

• Prep Time: 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Category: Dinner
• Cuisine: American

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cup
• Calories: 90
• Sugar: 4.3 g
• Sodium: 118 mg
• Fat: 2 g
• Carbohydrates: 14.1 g
• Fiber: 2.2 g
• Protein: 4.4 g
• Cholesterol: 6 mg