Ground Pork Soup with Vegetables

4.72 from 7 votes

Ground Pork Soup with Vegetables

This herb-packed ground pork soup is easy to throw together on a weeknight, and is packed with tons of dried herbs from the pantry! Swap out the sweet potato with your favorite winter squash when they're on sale!

Course Dinner

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 26

Total Time 36

Servings

Calories 359kcal

Author Caitlin Self, MS, CNS, LDN

Ingredients

1 pound ground pork
1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning
1 teaspoon ground sage
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 ½ teaspoon salt
2 parsnips or carrots, diced
2 stalks celery diced
1 sweet potato ~14 oz, any type will work, diced
6 cups unsalted broth chicken or vegetable
1 medium zucchini diced
½ cup coconut milk
3 cups arugula roughly chopped
juice of ½ a lemon about 1.5-2 Tablespoons
additional salt as needed

Instructions

Dice all of the vegetables - parsnips, celery, sweet potato, and zucchini - into bite-sized pieces. Roughly chop the arugula. Set the zucchini and arugula aside to add towards the end of the cooking process.
Heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add the pork. Break up the pork and stir to brown. After it's been cooking for a few minutes, add in the dried herbs, onion powder, and salt, stir to combine and cook until the pork is browned through.
Add diced parsnips/carrots, diced celery, diced sweet potato, and 6 cups broth. Bring this to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
Simmer for about 15 minutes, uncovered, or until the sweet potatoes and parsnips are fork tender.
Add the diced zucchini and ½ cup coconut milk. Cook for about 5 more minutes.
Stir in the chopped arugula and the juice of half a lemon. Taste to add more salt if needed and serve.

Notes

Suggested substitutions:

Carrots for parsnips: I was going for just white and green colors here, so I opted for parsnips, 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.)

Nutrition Label:

As always, please note that the nutrition label is just an approximation. For example, if using my homemade chicken bone broth recipe, you will get an additional 6-8 grams of protein per serving. (Compared to the label below.)

Nutrition