This garden soup features juicy chicken drumsticks, tender potatoes, macaroni, & sautéed veggies. Healthy, filling, & perfect for quick, weeknight dinners!
This garden soup recipe is full of different flavors and textures. The colorful vegetables add such a pop of freshness, while the potatoes, macaroni, and chicken make it filling enough to be a meal all on its own. It’s also an easy way to get more veggies in the diet of a picky eater!
How to Prepare Fresh Garden Soup
All you need to make this soup is a couple of ingredients you likely already have hanging out in the kitchen.
- Boil the Chicken: Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the chicken drumsticks for 15 minutes. Rinse the chicken, slice it off the bone, and cut it into tiny pieces.
- Build the Soup: Fill a 5 quart soup pot 3/4 of the way full with water. Add the chicken, sliced potatoes, and dried macaroni and cook for 20 minutes. Add ground black pepper and salt to to taste.
- Sauté the Veggies: In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the carrots and garlic until softened and slightly brown (about 7-10 minutes). Add the green onions and sauté them for another minute. Pop the veggies and dill into the soup pot and cook the soup for another 10 minutes. Ladle yourself a bowl and enjoy!
Dutch Oven Recommendation: Make this soup in your Dutch oven if you have one – the heat and moisture it brings are unparalleled! We love our Staub Dutch oven so much.
3 Tips & Tricks for the Best Fresh Garden Soup
Follow these easy tips and tricks to help you nail this simple garden vegetable soup.
- Slice the veggies into similar sized pieces. To promote even cooking, make sure the veggies are sliced into similar sized pieces.
- Use bone-in meat. Bone-in chicken adds so much flavor to the soup and will bring a nice richness to it. Opt for chicken drumsticks or even bone-in chicken thighs.
- Cook the soup over medium heat. Keep the soup over a steady medium heat. This will help give it time to draw out the flavors from the ingredients, while also preventing the veggies from getting too mushy too fast.
Different Variations
This vegetable soup recipe is incredibly versatile, so feel free to experiment with different ingredients to make it your own. Here are a couple ideas to experiment with:
- Add in different veggies. Add in fresh green beans, tomatoes, cauliflower, peas, corn kernels, broccoli, kale, or whatever other vegetables you have hanging out in your fridge. You can also add in a squeeze of lemon juice for a pop of flavor once the soup comes off heat.
- Play with different spices. Add some paprika, red pepper flakes, or Italian seasoning into the sautéed veggies to bring even more flavor into the soup.
- Swap in your favorite herbs. Swap the dill out for a sprinkle of fresh parsley leaves, oregano, or basil.
What to Serve Your Fresh Garden Soup With
This soup is definitely filling enough to be eaten all on it’s own, but can be paired with a crusty piece of bread for sopping up the tasty broth. Baguette or honey wheat bread are both great options. You can also pair it with a homemade caesar salad or a berry spinach salad for a classic soup and salad feast.
Storing Leftover Soup
To keep the soup on hand for up to a week, store it in an airtight container in the fridge. The longer it marinates in the fridge, the more the flavors will develop and the tastier it will get. Hello, meal prep!
Note: Avoid freezing this soup, as the veggies and potatoes don’t tend to thaw very well and turn mushy upon thawing.
FAQ
Can you use broth instead of water?
Yes! You can swap in a low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth if you want to add more depth of flavor.
Do you need to cook the macaroni before adding it to the soup?
There’s no need to cook the macaroni before adding it to the soup. It will cook in the broth itself and the starch will help thicken up the broth slightly.
What’s the best potato to use for this soup?
Yukon gold potatoes are our favorite to use for their natural sweetness and buttery flavor. In a pinch, you can also use russets.
Can you add a different meat into the soup?
You can swap the chicken drumsticks out for oxtail or bone-in pork.
More Tasty Soup Recipes to Try
- Minestrone Soup (Olive Garden Copycat) – Veggies, beans, and noodle soup
- Italian Sausage Kale Soup Recipe – Sausage and kale soup
- Creamy Spinach and Tortelli Soup – Stuffed pasta soup in a creamy broth
- Grandma’s White Bean Soup (The Best) – White bean and bone-in pork soup
Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Boil the chicken drumsticks in salty water for 15 minutes. Rinse the chicken, cut it off the bone, and slice it into small pieces.
- Fill a 5 quart soup pot 3/4 of the way full of water. Add the chicken, sliced potatoes, and macaroni into the water and boil them for 20 minutes. Add ground pepper and salt to taste.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the carrots and garlic until softened and slightly brown (about 7-10 minutes). Add the green onions and sauté them for another minute. Add the veggies to the soup pot, followed by the dill. Boil the soup for 10 more minutes on low heat. Enjoy!
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