Redeeming Green Soup with Lemon and Cayenne
A super fresh and healthy soup filled with greens and seasoned with lemon juice and cayenne pepper. This recipe is vegan and gluten free. The soup requires some multitasking; you’ll be caramelizing the onions in a skillet while you cook the rice and greens in a pot. If you’re cooking additional rice as a garnish, you’ll need one more pot on the stove (see notes for rice cooking instructions).
Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 8 of 10 ingredients — the other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 8 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Rice | 1 cup cooked (158g) white | 206 |
| Chickpea | 1/2 cup canned (120g) drained | 134 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Chili | 1 tsp (2.7g) | 8 |
| Spinach | 1 cup raw (30g) | 7 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Chard | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for garnish
- 2 large yellow onions, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt, divided
- 2 tablespoons plus 3 cups water, divided
- ¼ cup arborio rice, rinsed (I used brown arborio rice)
- 1 large bunch kale or green chard, preferably organic (about 1 pound)
- 14 cups gently packed spinach or baby cooking greens, like chard, preferably organic (about 12 ounces)*
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- Big pinch of cayenne pepper, to taste (I used over ¼ teaspoon)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, or more to taste
- Serve with (optional): cooked brown basmati rice and cooked chickpeas