ABC Soup
ABC soup offers deep, savory flavor and effortless comfort in one pot. It’s packed with nutritional vegetables and boasts a playful addition of alphabet pasta that brings fun back into your mealtime!
I can’t begin to tell you how fire-roasted tomatoes can easily transform an ordinary vegetable soup into a mouth-watering experience! Using the entire can, including the smoky, caramelized juices, infuses the broth with a remarkable depth of flavor that transforms simple ingredients into an extraordinary soup.
Best of all, this ABC soup recipe is a no-fuss, one-pot meal that comes together from scratch with just about 25 minutes of active cooking time. The variety of hearty vegetables makes it a nourishing choice, while the playful alphabet pasta (or any small pasta shape you prefer) gives the classic vegetable soup a fun makeover everyone will love!
What is ABC soup?
ABC soup is a comforting dish with simple, nourishing vegetables (carrots, onion, peas, corn, celery, and tomatoes), a savory broth, and tender pasta.
The name of this vegetable soup offers a playful triple pun: supposedly being “as easy as ABC” to make, packed with Vitamins A, B, and C, and often loaded with fun alphabet pasta that’ll make the ‘kid’ inside of each of us want to play with our food again!
It’s certainly a soup that transports me right back to my childhood – great to make if you have little ones or grandkids.
Ingredients needed to make ABC soup recipe
- Olive oil: Enhances the richness in this soup and helps sauté the aromatics. You can also use vegetable or avocado oil.
- Onion, celery, and carrots: This is the trifecta of veggies for most soup recipes. They add depth of flavor when sautéed.
- Garlic: Freshly minced garlic enhances the savory aroma. Garlic powder can be used in a pinch.
- Seasoning: The vegetable soup base is seasoned with a mixture of salt, dry thyme, Italian seasoning, and black cracked pepper.
- Fire-roasted diced tomatoes: Adds texture and bright acidity as well as extra smokiness. We buy our fire-roasted tomatoes at Trader Joe’s.
- Tomato paste: Helps to thicken the soup and adds concentrated flavor.
- Bay leaf: Infuses earthy notes throughout the simmering soup. Make sure to remove the bay leaf before serving.
- Vegetable broth: This is the main cooking liquid for the soup. You can use beef broth, chicken broth, or bone broth instead.
- Alphabet pasta: This adorable pasta is the star of the recipe, adding some fun as well as texture and volume to the soup. The uncooked pasta is added directly to the simmering soup mixture for maximum flavor infusion.
- Frozen mixed vegetables: Added for an extra boost of hearty vegetables. These are only added towards the end of the simmer to prevent them from becoming overly soft.
- Maple syrup: Adds a lovely touch of sweetness to balance out the acidity from the tomatoes. Granulated sugar can be used instead, if needed.
How do you make alphabet vegetable soup?
Sauté the aromatics:
- Sauté the onions, celery, and carrots in a large pot with oil over medium heat until soft – about 5 minutes.
- Add the pressed garlic and stir for 1 minute.
- Add the seasoning and sauté for another minute.
Add remaining ingredients:
- Add the fire roasted tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, and broth into the pot and bring to a simmer.
- Add 1 cup of uncooked alphabet pasta.
Simmer the soup:
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer and continue to cook on low heat for 15-25 minutes or until the pasta becomes soft and cooked through. Stir frequently to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning.
- Add the frozen vegetables and stir in 2 teaspoons of maple syrup.
- Return the soup to a simmer and continue to cook for another 3-5 minutes.
Serve:
- Top each bowl of soup with a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese and enjoy alongside hot crunchy bread!
Serving
Enjoy this ABC soup with these favorite soup dippers: Quick Dinner Rolls, Old Fashioned Buttermilk Biscuits, Biscuit Pretzels, or Zucchini Bread.
A Grilled Cheese Flatbread Sandwich or a slice of Cottage Cheese Pizza will always be a happy addition too!
Sandy’s tips and substitutions:
- Storage: Store leftover ABC soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5-7 days. Reheat in a pot over medium heat until warm. You can add broth to the leftover soup as it reheats since the pasta tends to soak up some of the liquid as the soup sits in the fridge.
- Freezer: Once completely cool, store this soup in the freezer for up to 3 months, either in an airtight container or individual portions in freezer-safe bags. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat to serve.
- Make-ahead: Assemble and cook the soup without the pasta. When ready to serve, boil the pasta separately from the pot of reheated soup and mix it in just before serving for the best texture.
- Adjust the liquid: Add extra broth (or water) if the base of the soup boils down too much. Adjust seasoning as needed.
- Large pot: A Dutch oven works the best when making this ABC soup, but you can use a regular large pot too. Just make sure that the pot you use is big enough to hold all of the ingredients comfortably for even cooking and no spilling over.
- Prepare your sides: Prep optional sides like garlic bread while the soup simmers so that everything is ready to enjoy at the same time.
- Stir frequently: It’s important to stir the simmering soup regularly to prevent the alphabet pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning. This alphabet pasta is delicate, so be gentle. You don’t want to be mushing it against the sides of the pot.
Variations:
- Gluten-free ABC soup: Use gluten-free pasta and ensure that any store-bought broth is also certified gluten-free.
- Protein-boost: Add shredded chicken or turkey, pork meatballs, lean ground beef, or stewing cubes for a hearty and meaty twist.
- Potato, tomato, and carrot ABC soup: Add 1 medium chopped potato to the simmering soup with the softened carrots and fire roasted tomatoes for extra heartiness.
- Spicy kick: Add smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, or cayenne pepper for a slight kick of heat, if you like.
Interested in other meatless soups? Give our Easy Pear Potato Soup, White Bean and Kale Soup, or Butternut Squash Rosemary Soup a try. You won’t regret it!
More veggie-loaded dinners you may want to try:
- Vegetarian Lasagna Roll-Ups
- Orange Basil Tomato Soup
- Vegetarian Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili
- Zucchini Galette Recipe
Get the Recipe:
ABC Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 white onion, diced
- 3 stalks celery, diced
- 1 cup carrots, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
- ¼ tsp black cracked pepper
- 1 28 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 6 oz can tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
- 8 cups vegetable broth, or beef or chicken or bone broth
- 1 cup alphabet pasta
- 1 16 oz frozen mixed vegetables, peas, carrots, corn
- 2 tsp maple syrup
Equipment
Instructions
- Sauté the onions, celery, and carrots in a large pot with oil over medium heat until soft – about 5 minutes.
- Add the pressed garlic and stir for 1 minute.
- Add the seasoning and sauté for another minute.
- Add the fire roasted tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, and broth into the pot and bring to a simmer.
- Add 1 cup of uncooked alphabet pasta.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer and continue to cook on low heat for 15-25 minutes or until the pasta becomes soft and cooked through. Stir frequently to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning.
- Add the frozen vegetables and stir in 2 teaspoons of maple syrup.
- Return the soup to a simmer and continue to cook for another 3-5 minutes.
- Top each bowl of soup with a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese and enjoy alongside hot crunchy bread!
Notes
Sandy’s tips and substitutions:
- Storage: Store leftover ABC soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5-7 days. Reheat in a pot over medium heat until warm. You can add broth to the leftover soup as it reheats since the pasta tends to soak up some of the liquid as the soup sits in the fridge.
- Freezer: Once completely cool, store this soup in the freezer for up to 3 months, either in an airtight container or individual portions in freezer-safe bags. Thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat to serve.
- Make-ahead: Assemble and cook the soup without the pasta. When ready to serve, boil the pasta separately from the pot of reheated soup and mix it in just before serving for the best texture.
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
