Herbed Ground Pork and Vegetable Soup (AIP)

Recipe: $14.56 | Per Serving: $2.43 | Yield: 6

Make this cozy herbed ground pork and vegetable soup (which is AIP compliant!) all fall and winter long! This baby is bringing all the healing vibes in the form of vegetables, dried herbs, fresh lemon juice, and broth, paired with the rich flavors of ground pork and just a splash of coconut milk. 

This recipe came about, as a good portion of my recipes do, by surveying what's available in the kitchen, how much time we have, and how everybody is feeling. In this particular case, we were trialing AIP for some autoimmune issues that are present in our household, which eliminated some of my favorite flavor boosters (tomatoes, paprika, red pepper flakes, Thai curry paste, black pepper). 

As a result, we amped up the flavor in a few other ways - primarily with rich and flavorful ground pork, tons of dried herbs, peppery arugula, and bright lemon juice.

Here is a direct screen shot of the 'recipe' as I sent it to Zac one day when I was working late and he was cooking dinner. This also serves as a cheat sheet for the recipe so feel free to save this if that makes your life easier. 😊

Not only did this resulting dish not disappoint, it actually WOWed us! I have made it several times since and have tweaked the recipe here and there, as you'll see in the recipe card below. 

We made a bunch of different versions of this soup - using whatever starches we had on hand, including sweet potato, butternut squash, and honeynut squash (a gourd I picked up on a whim from the grocery store and had no idea how to use!). 

In my favorite version, we use carrots and a yellow or Japanese sweet potato. But at today's shoot all we had were parsnips - no carrots - and I have to say I like the look of the primarily white and green colors for the photos! Zac loves parsnips, I prefer carrots, so maybe in the future we will do a combination.

You can also use other greens, such as spinach or kale, but arugula is my favorite vegetable and the green we have on hand most often. I also think arugula is great if you're on AIP or not using black pepper because it has such a delightful peppery flavor. 

Suggested substitutions:

• Carrots for parsnips: I I opted for parsnips here, but carrots are great too, and much cheaper.
• Winter squash for sweet potato: I have made this with orange sweet potatoes, Japanese sweet potatoes (as shown here), butternut squash, and honeynut squash. Use whichever you prefer.
• Spinach or kale for arugula: arugula is my favorite vegetable, and I think it adds such a nice peppery flavor here, but we have used spinach, kale, and even mixed greens in place of the arugula.
• Cream for coconut milk: This soup doesn't taste like coconut at all. The coconut milk is here to add some creaminess and slightly thicken the soup. You should be able to replace it with heavy cream or half and half with no change in flavor or consistency. (Though this is a variation I have not tested.)

This soup is a cinch to put together, and has all the healing vibes we need for these cooler fall and winter months. Stay cozy, friends. 

Paleo: Yep, as is!
Vegetarian: Nope! You can't fully replicate the flavor of pork, but if you increase the coconut milk and replace the pork with white beans, I think that would be a delicious soup.

PIN THIS RECIPE FOR LATER! 

 

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