The Diet Soup theory is the best soup for weight loss that I’ve found. Meet your new skinny food friend. An easy meal plan that rings in at under 500 calories and around 5 grams of fat per serving. Interchangeable with ingredients, you can eat this weekly and never get bored. This diet soup is a solid solution to a fresh, healthy, low fat and low calorie meal plan routine.
Table of contents
What Is The Diet Soup?
Because The Diet Soup builds on the so-called “unlimited” vegetables choices that so many diet plans encourage, it also works well if you follow a low fat routine.
It’s a strategy for eating as many of the foods you like as it takes to fill you up without risking fat-gram or calorie count overload.
And It’s bursting with flavor.
This soup, which I call my diet soup is simply a healthy brothy base loaded with vegetables and seasoning.
By following the basic outline, you’ll find so many ways to switch up the ingredients and seasonings, so you’ll be hard-pressed to become bored. Read on to learn more.
Nobody like the the word diet. I feel that if I eat plenty of lean meats and vegetables or big steaming bowls of brothy vegetable soup, then I can guilt-free splurge on a cheeseburger and some of those creamy, buttery, chocolaty, cheesy things on the weekend.
After all, food is a celebratory event. One that connects us with family and friends. Weekends shouldn’t be fraught with guilt …let’s hear it for the joy of indulgent food. It’s our 80/20 rule. Eat healthy 80% of the time and enjoy the rest.
The Diet Soup Never Needs to Get Boring
There are endless ways to change up the ingredients for this soup. Familiarity can breed contempt so make it one time with beans and one time with chicken, serve it one day over pasta with a little grated cheese on top or on another accompanied with toast, tortillas or rice.
Eat as many servings as it takes to satisfy your appetite.
How To Get Started
This soup is the easiest thing in the world to make, just keep your pantry stocked with a few key ingredients and you’ve got an easy and healthy dinner …and lots of leftovers.
And as I mentioned above, the calorie and fat count per serving is most certainly impressive. Around 300 calories and 5 grams of fat.
And with some simple planning, you can keep a variety of items on hand that are interchangeable and will keep this soup interesting.
You won’t use every one of these items each time you make this soup, it’s just ideas for variety
Let’s take a look on how to organize your pantry to make this an easy meal plan:
Key Pantry Items to Purchase for The Diet Soup
For the Broth, 6 – 8 Cups, A Mix Of
- Tomato Juice
- Chicken or Vegetable Broth
- White or Red wine
For the Fresh Vegetables, 4-6 cups, Your Choice Of
- Green beans, stems and tails removed, sliced cross-wise
- Zucchini or yellow squash, washed, split lengthwise and then sliced into chunks
- Celery ribs, leaves included, sliced into chunks
- Green or red cabbage, core removed and sliced into ribbons
- Fresh greens, spinach or chard sliced into ribbons
- Carrots, cleaned, split lengthwise and sliced
- Butternut squash, peeled and cubed. Purchase it pre-cut and cubed for convenience.
The possibilities are endless.
Or Substitute Convenience Vegetables
- Purchase keep on hand, a variety of packages of frozen vegetables
- A variety of canned vegetables, green beans come to mind.
- Canned tomatoes
- A supply of dehydrated vegetables. I buy them in the bulk section at Whole Foods or you can order them here at Amazon.
In addition to these vegetables, I also like to start the soup with diced celery, carrots, onions = the base for mirepoix seasoning. Optional
Protein – 2 Cups, Your Choice Of
Keep it lean. I really like protein in The Diet Soup, so for the photo above, I added some homemade cooked Healthy Chicken Meatballs that were in the freezer.
- Frozen Turkey meatballs from your supermarket freezer section
- Boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced thin
- Lean beef, sliced thin. A good quality sirloin steak works well.
- And always, a 15 ounce can of beans, pinto, great northern, black beans. Drained.
Seasonings to keep on hand for The Diet Soup
- Most important, Spice Mix for Bean Soup.
- Or a well spiced spice cabinet. Rosemary, thyme, sage …. etc.
- Worcestershire Sauce, I really like Pikkapeppa Sauce here.
- Tabasco Sauce
- Soy Sauce
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
If you’re diligent about keeping these staples on hand, The Diet Soup will be an easy fix for you, and ready in a jiff, quick to the table.
Soup Spice Mix
I’ve mentioned my Soup Spice Mix above. I highly urge you to make a batch of this for your pantry.
Next time you’re at the store, grab all the ingredients you need for this soup seasoning.
Find your favorite mason jar or storage jar and start adding spices.
It’s easy to make, and incredible with flavor. It’s a blend of over 15 different herbs and spices, it’s wonderful and it will last for months when stored in a sealed jar.
Promise me you’ll give this soup spice mix a try. Next time you’re at the store, grab all the ingredients you need for this soup seasoning. The ingredients may seem excessive, but the end result is marvelous.
It’s great for practically every soup recipe you can whip up in your kitchen.
How To Make The Diet Soup – So Easy
Whatever combinations strike your fancy, let’s get started working with the choices we’ve talked about above. This combination will give you a healthy, flavorful diet meal in minutes:
- 1/8 cup olive oil to sautee fresh veggies such as 1 onion and a couple stalks of celery and chopped carrots.
- 6-8 cups of liquid (your choice of chicken or vegetable broth)
- 2 cups tomatoey liquid (your choice of V-8, tomato juice, fresh or canned tomatoes pureed)
- 1 cup white or red wine (optional)
- 1 Tablespoon Soup Spice Mix
- 16-32 ounces vegetables (your choice of fresh, frozen or canned)
- 1/2 cup dehydrated vegetable mix (optional)
- 1-15 ounce can of beans (your choice, black, pinto, great northern, etc.)
- Seasoning: 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire, 1 teaspoon Tabasco, 1 tablespoon cider vinegar, salt and pepper
Not only do you have a satisfying meal, but healthy as well. Not only do you get to have a lot of it…it is guilt free, and good.
Recipe For The Diet Soup, The Best Soup For Weight Loss
I hope you give this fresh healthy soup recipe a try. And if you do, please come back and give the recipe a star rating. And please leave a comment about your experience with this recipe.
This soup is not an end all solution to a healthy lifestyle, you need to keep it real during the day. Oatmeal for breakfast, raw almonds, pistachios, cashews and fruit for snacks, fresh vegetable salads for lunch and your’e on our way to a stellar routine so you can enjoy that cheeseburger on Saturday.
Below this basic recipe for the Diet Soup, you’ll find some cultural variations below. Make the diet soup Mexican Style. Make the diet soup with a French flair.
More Healthy Soup Recipes
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 100 times, soup is my “diet” food. Full of lean meats and lots of veggies, here are some more healthy soup recipes to take a look at:
- Chicken Fajita Soup
- Mixed Bean and Vegetable Soup
- Ginger Lemon Chicken Soup
- Tortilla Soup with Mushrooms
And if you’re a soup lover, don’t miss my soup category, you’ll find a ton of great recipes. Including the most popular soup recipe on my site for Anthony Bourdain’s New Mexico Style Beef Chili.
The Diet Soup, The Best Soup For Weight Loss
Ingredients
- 1/8 cup olive oil
- 1 – 2 onions chopped
- 2 stalks celery chopped
- 2 carrots peeled and chopped
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 6-8 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth
- 2 cups tomato juice or V8, diced fresh tomatoes, or canned tomatoes pureed chunky.
- 1 cup white wine or red wine
- Herbs and spices:
- 1 tablespoon soup spice mix
- 1/2 cup dehydrated soup vegetables. optional, it just adds another layer of mixed veggies.
- 15 ounce Black Beans canned, drained
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce Or soy sauce. I prefer Pickapeppa and soy sauce will work.
- 1 teaspoons Tabasco Sauce or your favorite hot sauce
- Salt and pepper
- 16 ounce frozen broccoli. or your favorite frozen vegetable. Of course you can use fresh
- 1/2 pound chicken breast boneless, skinless and sliced thin. Or other lean meats such as lean thin sliced steak, or frozen turkey or chicken meatballs.
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
Instructions
- In a large soup pot that's been heated over medium high burner, add the olive oil. When the olive oil is hot, add onions, carrots, and celery Sautee untill just turning soft. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Deglaze the pan with white wine and then add the broth and tomato soup.
- Add the dehydrated vegetables, the soup spice mix, Worcestershire sauce and the hot sauce. Let simmer for 15 minutes.
- Drop in the bags of frozen vegetables, the beans and the sliced meat. Turn down heat to medium low and simmer partially covered until vegetables are tender and meat is cooked through. About 25 – 30 minutes.
- Stir in cider vinegar and taste and adjust seasonings. If it's too tomatoey add a teaspoon of sugar. Serve immediately.
The Diet Soup Mexican Style:
- Saute 1 – 2 sliced jalapenos, 1 carrot cleaned and sliced, 1 rib celery and 1/2 onion chopped
- add 2 cloves chopped garlic until fragrant
- add the combination of liquids you’ve selected
- ditch the Soup Spice Mix and add 1 tablespoon cumin, 2 teaspoons crushed coriander seeds, 2 teaspoons chili powder and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper.
- For vegetables choose a combination of green cabbage cut into thin ribbons 2 – 3 cups of sliced yellow squash and some sliced green beans
- Want some protein for the Mexican version? Add a can of rinsed black beans, cubed chicken or shrimp
The Diet Soup French Style:
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup canned chopped tomatoes with juice
- 1 cup white wine
- for your seasonings: 1 teaspoon each dried tarragon, thyme, savory, marjoram, sage, and 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 medium carrots, cleaned and sliced, 1 cup domestic white mushrooms, sliced, a parsnip, cleaned and sliced, celery root, cleaned and thin sliced, 2 cups fresh spinach, 2 cups frozen peas …
See where I’m going with this? The possibilities and versions, spices, lean meats, beans are endless.
The Diet Soup…It’s the best soup for weight loss.
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
Damn straight I’m ditching the diet for this goodness!
Just what I need! Happy 2016, Lea Ann!
We eat soup a lot, too, particularly at this time of the year. Had some last night, as a matter of fact. And are having a different one tonight. 🙂 This is perfect for us — our kind of recipe. Thanks!
Now that looks like a delicious and filling soup, Lea Ann.
Great, full of flavor and comforting.
Looks like a good meal to spend a winter day with.
This is exactly the kind of soup I like to have on hand for lunches all winter long. I like all the variations you’ve suggested. Happy New Year!
Wow! That looks like a great soup! I’m with ya! Soup is such a healthy way to get your veges and protein in- plus it just tastes darn good! I should make some today. My nose is a faucet!
Perfect post! I don’t diet either. Sometimes I just get healthier with my choices- especially after a month of eating with abandon. ? And I love the Mexican and French seasoning suggestions.
Thank you for the nice recipes.