Description

This flavorful, easy, and wholesome oil-free Spicy Sicilian Soup is a vegan nod to the popular Carrabba’s Spicy Sicilian Chicken Soup.

Ingredients

Scale

Base Ingredients:

1 cup yellow onions, fine dice
2 Tablespoons minced garlic
3 celery ribs. diced
3 medium carrots, diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
3 cups water (or broth)
1 cup low-sodium vegetable broth *
1 – [ 14 oz. can ] petite diced tomatoes
1 Tablespoon reduced-sodium tamari *
1 Tablespoon white miso *
1 – [ 15 oz. can ] kidney beans, drained and rinsed *
¼ teaspoon baking soda *

Spice/Herb Ingredients:

1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
1 ½ teaspoons garlic powder
2 Tablespoons dried minced onions
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
¼ teaspoon smoked paprika (+/-)
¼ teaspoon ground cumin (+/-)
½ teaspoon dried oregano
2 bay leaves
½ – 1 teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes *

Other Ingredients:

2/3 cup dry ditalini pasta, cooked (or elbow macaroni)

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Instructions

Fill a large stock pot full of water. Add some sea salt to the water. Bring the water to a boil then add the pasta. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking. Boil the pasta until almost el dente, drain, rinse with cold water to remove any excess starch, shake well, set aside, then transfer the cooked pasta into the soup in at Step 5.
Place the Spice/Herb Ingredients (except the red pepper flake) into a small bowl, mix well. Set aside.
Place the diced onions, celery, carrots, and red bell peppers into an enamel-lined/ceramic lined pot, sauté over medium-high heat until softened, approx. 7 to 9 minutes, then add the minced garlic, sauté for one minute.
Then add all the remaining Base Ingredients and the Spice/Herb Mix. Bring to a boil, then immediately lower to simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Add in the cooked ditalini, stir well to combine, boil on low for a couple minutes. Then remove from the stove, put a lid on the pot, and allow to set for 10 minutes. Discard the bay leaves, add the red pepper flakes. Stir, then serve and enjoy.

Notes

*Tips for Success:

Macaroni/Pasta: We prefer cooking/boiling the pasta separately then adding the cooked pasta at the end to avoid losing any liquids much like most restaurants do. This helps preserve the soup flavor, reduce broth cloudiness, and eliminates the pasta from drinking up too much broth while it cooks.
Gluten Free Macaroni/Pasta: If using a gluten free macaroni/pasta, we recommend cooking the pasta separately as gluten free pastas tend to release a lot of starch which makes the soup cloudy.
Amount of Pasta: While it is tempting to use more than the recipe amount of 2/3 cup of pasta, we recommend you stick to this amount otherwise the pasta will soak up all the liquids and the soup will no longer be “soup.”
Red Pepper Flakes: We recommend adding the red pepper flakes at the end in order to get a good base flavor. Or if you wish, you can add it to individual servings.

*Notes Continued:

*Vegetable Stock: We use Pacific Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Stock. We love this brand because it is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, as it does not contain MSG, has no oil, and does not contain any highly-processed ingredients.

*Tamari: We used San J Tamari Soy Sauce, Gluten Free, Reduced Sodium. You can substitute the tamari with reduced sodium soy sauce, Braggs Liquid Aminos, or Braggs Coconut Liquid Aminos.

*Miso: We used Miso Master Organic Mellow White Premium Lite Miso, Certified Gluten Free. Miso really lends itself to balancing flavors when you don’t use oil. You can also use chickpea miso for a soy free version.

*Baking Soda: Baking soda is often used as a neutralizer for dishes that contain a lot of acidity, typically from tomatoes. We use it in this dish to remove some of the tomato acidity (from the petite diced tomatoes) without losing the tomatoey flavor. When you add it, the mixture will bubble up, then settle down as it neutralizes the acidity.

*Beans: We kitchen tested with both chickpeas and kidney beans. Both worked great. You can pretty much use any type of bean you want into this soup. We preferred the kidney beans for this soup.

*Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

*Makes: Serves about 3 – 4 (makes about 7 ½ cups)

*Storage: Refrigerate up to about 4 – 5 days