Italian Vegetable Beef Soup

If you’re on the hunt for an easy weekday dinner or a cozy lunch on a chilly day, look no further than this Italian vegetable beef soup. It’s packed with veggies, cabbage and hearty beef to warm you up from the inside out.

The beauty of this recipe for Italian vegetable beef soup is in its flexibility. Once you’ve gotten the idea, you can replace pretty much any ingredient in favor of something you happen to have in the house or something you’re craving. You could re-create it with homemade poultry broth, ground chicken and any vegetables you happen to enjoy! Whatever you choose, the recipe is easy, hearty and warming.

Ingredients for Italian Vegetable Beef Soup

• Ground beef: The recipe calls for 90% lean beef, but you can use whatever type you enjoy the most.
• Salt and pepper: Simple seasonings, including salt and pepper, help bring out the rich flavors of the beef and vegetables.
• Onions: Yellow onions are perfect here, but you could use white or red onions if that’s what you’ve got. You could even get wild and use leeks.
• Cabbage: Green cabbage is the standard in this soup, but don’t hesitate to reach for a more delicate variation, such as Savoy or Napa, and add it to the soup a little closer to the end. For some tips, here’s more on how to cook cabbage.
• Frozen mixed vegetables: Unless you’re making this when the garden is in full swing, you may need to reach for a bag of frozen mixed vegetables to round out the soup. However, you could always chop up some carrots and celery, plus any other veggies you’ve got in the house, and throw them into the soup pot.
• Canned tomatoes: Crushed tomatoes are the acidic component in this soup and also add body to the broth. We love using the best San Marzano tomatoes when we make Italian-style dishes.
• Bay leaf: For a little hint of herbal earthiness, add a bay leaf (or two) to the pot. You’ll want to remove it before eating, but only because the leaves are no fun to chew … there’s no truth to the rumor that bay leaves are dangerous to eat.
• Italian seasoning: From-scratch Italian seasoning is a great backup when fresh herbs are nowhere to be found, or you can use store-bought seasoning too.
• Beef broth: Making homemade beef stock is rewarding but time-consuming. Luckily, there are plenty of great options at the store. The brands in cardboard packages are often the nicest.

Directions

Step 1: Brown the beef

In a 6-qt. stockpot, cook the ground beef and onions over medium-high heat until the beef is no longer pink, six to eight minutes, breaking beef into crumbles as it cooks. Drain if desired.

Editor’s Tip: Feel free to skip the draining step if you prefer. The fat in the pan will be full of flavor from the beef and onions, and you’ll lose that flavor if you toss it.

Step 2: Finish the soup

Add the cabbage, mixed vegetables, tomatoes, seasonings and broth, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until the cabbage is crisp-tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and serve.

Italian Vegetable Beef Soup Variations

• Get a different type of meat: Try using ground pork, chicken or turkey instead of beef. For an even richer soup, you could use your favorite type of bulk Italian sausage or chop up cased sausage links into rounds. If you use links, the chunks may still be pink in the center at the end of Step 1, but they’ll end up thoroughly cooked by the time the soup is done simmering.
• Use your own stock or broth: Whether you’ve got homemade chicken broth, a hearty bone broth or our ultra-flavorful vegetable broth, this soup will benefit. You can even mix and match, if that works best for you.
• Try fresh herbs: In place of the dried Italian seasoning, you could add a medley of minced fresh herbs. Flat-leaf parsley, sage, oregano and thyme would all be lovely, and rosemary would be another delicious addition. I like to buy the poultry seasoning blend at the supermarket and use a little of each herb that comes in the package.

How to Store Italian Vegetable Beef Soup

Portion leftover soup into jars with spill-proof screw-top lids, using pints for single servings and quarts for double portions. Glass snap-top containers are excellent too.

How long does Italian vegetable beef soup last?

Soup stored in the fridge will last up to four days.

Can you freeze Italian vegetable beef soup?

That’s a big yes! Freezing soup to make future meals easy is a great move. Portion the soup into freezer-safe containers, cool in the fridge, then store in the freezer for up to three months. Don’t forget to add labels to help you remember when you made it!

How should you reheat the soup?

From the fridge, just pour the soup into a pot and heat until it reaches a simmer, or microwave in a covered dish to prevent splatters.

If you’ve frozen the soup, let it thaw overnight in the fridge, then reheat as recommended above.

Italian Vegetable Beef Soup Tips

Can you use fresh vegetables instead of frozen for this soup?

I love using a medley of chopped, fresh vegetables in this soup, especially carrots, celery, cauliflower florets and snap beans. You could also try parsnips, fennel or shelled peas. Mix up fresh and frozen for even more variety. If you have leftover cooked vegetables in the fridge, you could add them in the last few minutes of cooking.

Can you make Italian vegetable beef soup in an Instant Pot?

Because this soup uses frozen veggies and already comes together quickly, we recommend against cooking it in an Instant Pot. If you really want to put your pressure cooker to work, try this Instant Pot vegetable soup, which has a very similar flavor profile but uses fresh veggies.

What can you serve with Italian vegetable beef soup?

This soup would be lovely served with a simple carb like rice, roast potatoes or garlic butter pasta, or get fancy and make a bulgur salad or butternut squash panzanella salad. I like to keep starches separate from soups so they don’t absorb all the broth and get mushy. To add rice, short pasta or cooked barley to the soup, place a portion in each bowl and ladle in the soup. For dessert, you can’t go wrong with Italian butter cookies or tiramisu.