Radish Greens Soup, a simple vegetable soup made with radish bulbs and leftover radish greens. A no-waste soup with radish tops!
Do you cook with radish tops? If not, you’re missing out! Radish leaves are actually edible…and delicious in sauces, smoothies, and soups!
👉 Here’s why you should make this easy vegetable soup with radish greens:
- It’s comforting. There’s something about a basic but savory soup that feels like a warm hug. With tons of flavor from onions, celery, garlic, and greens—it’s absolutely delicious and the perfect dish to cozy up with on a chilly evening.
- It fights food waste. Most people don’t know radish tops are edible and throw them away. This recipe was created to help you put those radish leaves to use.
- It can be made on the stovetop, pressure cooker, or Instant Pot. Whether you need a quick meal or have time to let your soup simmer, we’ve included three ways to cook this soup to meet your needs.
Ready to learn how to use those radish greens in an easy plant-based soup? Let’s do it!
🌿 Ingredients you’ll need
The ingredient list for radish greens soup is fairly simple: you may already have lots of these in your pantry! If not, consider adding them to your grocery list so you can make this soup ASAP:
- Radish Greens: the key ingredient! All you have to do is give the greens a quick wash, dry them, and stir them into the soup.
- Diced carrots, onion, and celery: the classic veggie mix for soup that brings tons of flavor, texture, and nutrients.
- Olive oil: you’ll need just a little oil to sauté a few ingredients.
- Minced garlic: don’t skip the garlic, it brings so much flavor to this soup.
- Vegetable stock: what we used as the liquid base.
- White beans: gives this recipe a boost of plant-based protein.
- Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, bay leaves: seasonings for extra flavor.
- Optional: Radish Top Pesto for garnish
- Recommended tools: knife set, cutting board, colander or large mixing bowl, large soup pot, salad spinner
🥣 How to make (step-by-step photos)
1️⃣ Step One: Prep radish tops
First, cut the radish leaves from the stems and place in a colander and run under water, rinsing well to remove any dirt. Remove any hard stems, reserving the soft radish leaves.
Cut the radish bulbs into slices and set aside.
👉 Food Scrap Tip! See our full guide on cleaning radish greens to prep them before cooking.
2️⃣ Step Two: Start the soup
Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add diced onion, sliced radishes, celery, and carrots to the pot and cook until the onions and celery begin to soften, about 6-7 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook until it becomes fragrant (about 1-2 minutes more).
3️⃣ Step Three: Simmer the soup
Next, add drained white beans, bay leaves, vegetable broth, and a pinch of salt and pepper to the soup pot and increase heat to bring the soup to a boil.
Once it’s boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes to let the vegetables release their flavor.
When the soup is finished, add the cleaned radish leaves to the pot and stir to mix them in the soup. Then serve for a tasty radish greens and vegetable soup!
🥘 Slow cooker + Instant Pot instructions
This soup is also an easy option to make in both the slow cooker and in a pressure cooker like the Instant Pot.
Slow cooker instructions: Add the oil, onion, celery, carrots, white beans, bay leaves, broth, and salt and pepper to the pot. Cook on medium for 1 hour, then stir in radish leaves and season to taste before serving.
Pressure cooker instructions: Add the oil, onion, celery, and carrots to the pot and, using sauté setting, cook until vegetables begin to soften. Then add the beans, bay leaves, broth, salt, and pepper, and cook on the high-pressure soup setting for 10 minutes. Remove lid carefully, stir in the radish greens, and season before serving.
❓ Recipe questions + quick tips
Radish stems are edible and can be eaten. The stems can sometimes be tough, so we recommend using the softer stem areas, which are right under where the leaves grow. Blend them in sauces like pesto or chimichurri, or sauté with the greens as a side dish. Don’t let the unused radish stem go to waste – they’re perfect to help flavor your stock.
Radish leaves are a healthy leafy green that can be added to soups, salads, smoothies, and sauces. They contain a variety of vitamins and minerals from iron and folic acid to calcium and vitamin C.
You do not need to peel radishes before cooking. In fact, the sharp, peppery flavor associated with radishes is highly concentered in the peel. While we recommend leaving the peels on, we encourage you to give them a good scrub before serving since radishes are root vegetables that grow in the ground.
Leave your radish intact and submerge the whole radish into water while storing. The radish will absorb the water, keeping your greens from wilting. If you’ve trimmed the radish leaves from the root, stick the stem directly into a glass of water to keep them in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Radish tops, radish stems, and the root of the radish (the part we eat) are great for flavoring soup stocks. Simply place them in a pot with other scrap vegetables, fill with water, season with salt and herbs, and simmer for one hour.
🍲 How to serve
This recipe is delicious just the way it is, but here are some ways that you can adjust it so you’ll never get sick of the soup:
- Switch the veggies: Try adding other types of vegetables to the soup, like potatoes, broccoli, peas, or cauliflower. You can also mix in other greens, such as spinach or kale.
- Make it creamy: Pour some coconut milk or cream (vegan cream to keep it plant-based) into the soup for a thicker consistency.
- Get creative with seasonings. Add any herbs or spices that you like to radish green soup. Try it with a little ginger, basil, or cilantro. You could also top it with some chives or lemon juice or zest.
🧊 How to store
Whether you have leftovers or are making a big batch of soup to save for quick meals, here are our suggestions for storing it:
Refrigerator storage: Bring soup to room temperature, then place in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to four days.
Freezer storage: Keep the soup in a freezer-safe container and store for up to 2-3 months (or more). To rethaw, simply place in the refrigerator overnight or on the counter for a few hours before heating.
🥶 Want to freeze radishes themselves? Check out our guide for freezing and thawing fresh radishes.
♻️ Sustainable kitchen tips
Ready to take your sustainable lifestyle to the next level? Here are some tips to make this recipe as eco-friendly as possible:
Take advantage of radish season. Get the freshest radishes (and their greens) while they are in season. Not only are they more sustainable when purchased locally and in season, they will last longer too! The seasonality of radishes varies based on where you live, but you can look up when radish tops are in season in your area on Seasonal Food Guide’s produce season calendar.
Reuse radish scraps in vegetable broth. Make this recipe even more sustainable by using any radish scraps (stems, peels, leaves, ends of the roots) to make your own vegetable stock.
Make a big batch of soup for later. This soup is perfect for big-batch cooking! Use the recipe card below to increase the serving size for the ingredient amounts needed to make a large pot and freeze for future use.
💚 More recipes using radish greens
We LOVE using obscure ingredients and root-to-stem cooking techniques to reduce our food waste and be more sustainable eaters. Here are a few other ideas for using up radish tops: ****
- Radish Top Pesto
- Radish Top Chimichurri
- Sautéed Radish Greens
- Radish Top Pesto Pasta
- Radish Greens Salad
want to kickstart going plant-based?
Get my meal plan!
Subscribe and I’ll send you my FREE 4-day plant-based meal and prep plan.
Radish Greens Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 2 bunches radishes, about 1 pound
- 1 pound carrots
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 4 stalks celery, with leaves, sliced
- 3 whole garlic cloves, minced
- 2 whole dried bay leaves
- 8 cups vegetable stock
- 1 15 ounce can white beans, or cannellini, drained and rinsed
- 1 pinch salt and pepper
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- Optional: radish greens pesto, for garnish
Instructions
- Prepare radish tops: Cut radish root from the stem*. Cut the radish greens from the stem and place in a colander or bowl to wash, rinse well to remove excess dirt, then set aside to dry (about 20 minutes). Once dry, remove any hard stems from radish leaves. Then sliced the radish bulbs and set aside.
- Prepare and simmer soup: Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add diced onion, sliced radishes, celery slices, and sliced carrots to the pot and cook until onions and celery start to soften and carrots begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook 2 minutes more, until it begins to brown and become fragrant. Add bay leaves and vegetable broth, white beans, and a pinch of salt and pepper and increase heat to high and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
- Serve soup: When soup has cooked for 30 minutes, remove from heat and stir in radish greens. Add red pepper flakes and more salt and pepper to taste. Add a dollop of radish top pesto, if desired.
- Slow cooker instructions: Add the oil, onion, celery, carrots, white beans, bay leaves, broth, and salt and pepper to the pot. Cook on medium for 1 hour, then stir in radish leaves and season to taste before serving.
Recipe Notes
- Notes: *Radish stems are edible, however they are sometimes very tough and do not soften well when cooked, even in soups. Instead of throwing radish stems out, you can add to soup stocks for extra flavor, like in our homemade vegetable broth. In this recipe you can add the stems to the broth and then remove before serving (use a twine to tie them together for easy removal).
- Tools Needed: knife set, cutting board, colander or large mixing bowl, large soup pot
- Prep Ahead: Wash and dry radish leaves up to a day before serving. We do not recommend washing and drying radish leaves too far ahead of cooking because they will become wilted. To prevent wilting of cut radish leaves, place the stems in a cup of water in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use them.
- Leftovers and Storage: To store leftovers, first bring soup to room temperature and then store in airtight containers. This soup will keep in the refrigerator for up to four days and in the freezer for up to 2-3 months (or more). To rethaw, simply place in refrigerator overnight or on the counter for a few hours before reheating.
- Nutrition notes: This simple vegetable soup with radish greens is completely plant-based (or vegan), gluten-free, and contains a small amount of oil that you can substitute with water if you’re looking for an oil-free soup recipe. It is high in fiber, iron, and vitamin C.
Leave a Reply