A healthy green soup that is filling and delicious as much as it is good for your body. This summer soup made of radish leaves is a perfect example of a zero waste meal. It also instantly pumps up your green vegetable intake.

I definitely do not have “green hands” as they say here in France. Before the kids, when I was working at my 9-to-5 job, taking care of the plants in the office was my responsibility. I managed to kill 3 out of 5 plants in my first three weeks… Edible plants on the other hand have survived considerably longer in my care than the non-edible ones.

I love homegrown vegetables. And fruit. And herbs. This is why we have an area in the back of our garden with a some vegetable beds. Its main purpose is to show the kids where real food comes from. I must admit though that there is some kind of primal satisfaction and pride in eating food you have grown yourself.

Every year I plant a few potatoes and a few pumpkin or squash plants that my neighbor grows from seeds. There is a strawberry corner and an aromatic herbs’ corner. There is also a tiny forest of peppermint.

But the two things I myself grow regularly from seeds are radishes and lettuce. Both my Monsieur and I love plain lettuce salad as a side so we can easily eat two big heads of it in a week and radishes are a favorite as an appetizer. Only recently though did I start using up the huge bunches of leftover greens that I previously just threw into the compost.

This radish leaves soup is surprisingly filling: with a few toppings or a slice of bread on the side it can easily be a healthy main course. The browned bacon and onion make the soup taste amazing and it works wonders at keeping the waistline under control – the main ingredients are really just green leaves and water.

Radish leaves soup recipe

Ingredients

• A big bowl of thoroughly rinsed radish leaves
• The leftover trimmings of about two heads of lettuce (or any other mild salad)
• 100 g of smoked bacon, cubed (optional)
• 1 big onion
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1 1/2 L of water
• Salt

The vegetarian version is also really nice: just leave out bacon and add another onion. You should also brown the onions a bit more for flavor and maybe add some more salt.

Instructions

Brown the bacon on medium-high heat on the bottom of a soup pot. While it is cooking, peel and roughly chop up the onion and the garlic. It doesn’t need to be finely chopped since it’s going to be puréed afterwards.

When the bacon is nicely browned and crispy add the chopped onion, let it become translucent, then add garlic and cook for another minute or two. If you don’t use bacon you should slightly caramelize the onion to get more taste into the broth.

Toss all the greens in and let them wilt down a bit.

Pour in the water. Scrape the bottom of the pot well with a wooden spoon or spatula to get all the flavorful browned bits.

Let cook on low heat for 10 minutes.

Mix until smooth with a hand mixer straight in the pot or transfer in your blender (in this case you might want to let everything cool down a bit).

Serve with croutons (homemade are the best😉). You can also stir in some grated cheese to make it more filling.

Variants:

• You can replace water with light chicken/vegetable stock if you prefer.
• You can also swap out the radish leaves for carrot leaves or make the soup with just one whole head of salad.

Radish leaves soup freezes perfectly well for up to two months. It is a great make ahead meal – add this recipe in your freezer-meals list!

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