Southwest Vegetable Soup with Meatballs

This hearty soup combines bell pepper, corn, tomato, and zucchini in a rich broth. Spicy meatballs make it a complete meal.

Southwest Vegetable Soup with Meatballs

I wanted to share this recipe for Southwest Vegetable Soup with Meatballs with you earlier in celebration of National Homemade Soup Day (Feb. 4, 2025), but the week got away from me thanks to a few writing assignments, volunteer work, and medical appointments. Then it came to me that a hearty soup is the perfect meal for weeks like the one I just had, and I’ll bet you’ve had a hectic week or two recently, too.

Southwest Vegetable Soup with Meatballs is a budget-friendly dinner or lunch. Ready in an hour and it’s delicious! My family enjoyed it with a side of tortilla chips and fresh homemade guacamole. If you’re really strapped for time, swap the homemade meatballs with frozen. Make it a vegan dish by using frozen veggie meatballs and vegetable stock.

Today, it’s chilly and raining where I live, so let’s make some soup!

You will need the following ingredients to make Southwest Vegetable Soup with Meatballs, which yields 6 servings:

Meatballs

• 1 pound ground turkey (or beef)

• ¼ cup uncooked white rice

• 2 teaspoons chili powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano (Extra points if you use Mexican oregano. It’s more citrusy and floral.)

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 egg, beaten

Soup

• ½ cup chopped onion

• ½ cup chopped celery

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 Tablespoon canola oil

• 4 cups beef broth

• 1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted tomatoes

• ¼ teaspoon dried oregano

• 1 medium orange or red bell pepper

• 1 medium zucchini

• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed

• Shredded Colby/Monterey Jack cheese blend

• 1 lime, quartered

• Optional cilantro or parsley for garnish

Follow these directions to make Southwest Vegetable Soup with Meatballs

To make meatballs, combine ground turkey (or beef), rice, chili powder, salt, oregano, garlic and egg. Mix well. Shape about 30 (1-inch) meatballs.

In a large skillet, brown meatballs thoroughly. Drain on paper towels.

If you need dinner on the table faster and choose to use frozen meatballs, I like homestyle or turkey variety in this recipe. You’ll use about half of a 32-ounce bag. Thaw in refrigerator for a few hours ahead of making the soup.

To make the soup, bring a 5-quart Dutch oven to a medium-high heat. Add oil and sauté onion and celery until tender. Add garlic and cook another minute. Stir in broth, tomatoes, and oregano. Bring to a gentle boil.

While that’s happening, cut bell pepper into 1-inch pieces and slice zucchini into coins. Add meatballs and bell pepper. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Stir in corn and zucchini. Cover and simmer another 5 to 8 minutes.

To serve, sprinkle grated cheese on top of each serving. Serve with a wedge of lime and an optional sprinkle of chopped cilantro or parsley.

More veggie soup recipes for you to try

I love adding meatballs to soups; it's such a comforting addition! If you want an Italian spin on a vegetable soup with meatballs, try my One-Pot Minestrone. More Southwest flavors combine in my Chicken Tortilla Soup. And I grew up eating my mom's Mormon Soup that's made with lots of veg and hamburger. Not sure how it got its name, but this is a comforting bowl of love in winter. All of these soup recipes will help you stretch your grocery budget, too.

A tip from the kitchen

Leftover soup will keep in your refrigerator for three or four days. You also can freeze leftovers with this soup. However, porcupine meatballs (meatballs made with rice) may fall apart when reheating. If you know you want to freeze a portion of the soup, best to use frozen meatballs that often have a denser texture.

Another option is to freeze the porcupine meatballs and soup separately. Make the meatballs as directed but freeze them separately. Use half the meatballs in soup you’re serving for dinner. Freeze half the soup after it's cooled and the remaining meatballs separately to enjoy later. And remember not to freeze liquids in glass.

Make this recipe vegetarian or vegan

You can make a vegan version of Southwest Vegetable Soup. Swap vegetable broth for the beef and select your favorite version of vegetable “meatballs.” My favorite brand comes from Ikea! I love their Huvudroll vegetable balls, but you can choose your favorite brand.

However, I’d recommend preparing the veggie balls according to package directions and adding them when you add the zucchini and corn to prevent them from breaking apart.

If you want to read more about the history of soup, here’s a quick look. I think those 18th-century French cooks were smart to sell quality soups, called “restoratifs” from carts. I’ll bet we’d be able to keep common colds at bay if, instead of reaching for that bag of chips or candy bar for our mid-afternoon snack, we instead reheated a cup of homemade soup.

About the blog

Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.

Mom's Hot Dish

This main course casserole of ground beef, potato tots, and mixed vegetables in a creamy sauce is a hug for your tummy.

Mom's Hot Dish

Sometimes you need to put on your sweatpants, a comfy sweater, fuzzy socks, and curl up in front of the television with your favorite movie and a plate of Mom’s Hot Dish. If you’re from Minnesota, you know all about hot dish. The rest of us Midwesterners call the same meal “tater tot casserole.” What’s the difference? Honestly, it’s a regional thing, but “hot dish” always is a main course, whereas a casserole can be a main or a side dish, like my Skinny Squash Casserole.

There are hundreds of hot dish recipes, but ground beef seems to be a common protein, and all ingredients are bathed in a savory sauce and often topped with those hard-to-resist Tater Tots. It’s a real belly warmer for a winter supper, but it also can be a gut buster! Although you can make a few swaps to help with the caloric count, make no mistake — this is not low-calorie food!

This vintage recipe is Lillian Helbig’s from a Carondelet United Church of Christ cookbook my mom purchased in the 1970s. Let’s get cooking!

You will need the following ingredients to make Mom’s Hot Dish, which yields 6 servings:

• 1 pound ground beef

• ½ package dry onion soup mix

• 1 (10.5-ounce) can Campbell’s Heart Healthy Cream of Chicken Soup

• 5 ounces water

• 1 (12-ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

• 1 (32-ounce) package Tater Tots

• 3 ounces grated cheddar cheese (optional)

To cut back on fat, swap ground beef for ground turkey, which has 50 grams per pound (there are 90 grams in the 80/20 beef). You won’t sacrifice flavor. If you choose beef, try the leaner 85/15 mix with 15 percent fat.

Follow these directions to make Mom’s Hot Dish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat and lightly brown the ground beef until the pink is almost gone. Drain excess fat off the ground beef.

In a small bowl, mix the soup and water until combined. Stir thinned soup and dry onion soup mix into the ground beef. Fold in the vegetables.

Spray a 9-by-13-inch casserole with non-stick and transfer beef mixture into the pan.

Line the top of casserole with the frozen Tater Tots in neat rows until the surface is covered. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. Remove casserole, add cheese on top of tots, and bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes until cheese has melted. If you're not adding cheese, bake casserole 35 minutes or until tots have browned and casserole is bubbly.

Allow casserole to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

A tip from the kitchen

You may remember from the Skinny Squash Casserole recipe that a 10.5-ounce can of Campbell’s Heart Healthy cream of chicken soup contains 175 calories, 2.5 g total fat and 410 mg sodium. When I compared this prepared product with the homemade cream of chicken substitute, the healthier option of canned soup had fewer calories and fat with almost equal amounts of sodium. Because you’re not making hot dish every week, I’d say use the canned soup and save a little time.

A final word on the hot dish v. casserole debate

Late last summer, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota’s award-winning hot dish recipe went viral and for good reason; it’s delicious! Fun fact, Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state in the country. This led the Today show to go deeper in this culinary question. If you’d like to learn more, check out the story.

You can learn more and have all the hot dish recipes you could want in the cookbook, “The Great Minnesota Hot Dish.”

About the blog

Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.

Skinny Squash Casserole

Zucchini, carrots, onions, plain yogurt, and reduced-fat canned soup bring this familiar casserole recipe into modern kitchens.

Skinny Squash Casserole

Here is a lightened-up version of a casserole side dish that is probably in one of your vintage cookbooks. Squash casserole — a favorite at church potlucks, especially in the South and Midwest — usually included cheese, cream of chicken or mushroom soup, sour cream, and buttery crushed crackers as a topping. Most of the time, you don’t even know you’re eating any vegetables!

I’m lucky to have Mom’s old Trinity United Church of Christ cookbook. I grew up in that church and recognize the names of many home cooks among the book’s pages. But almost every recipe in the vegetable section is in the form of a casserole and includes a can of “cream of something” soup. My mom’s Broccoli Casserole recipe called for cream of mushroom and a cup of mayonnaise!

Skinny Squash Casserole will yield 10 servings (about a half cup each), but I cut the recipe in half for my small family. And with a few easy swaps, I also cut the original recipe's calories, fat and sodium content!

Although I’m not proposing we chuck healthier roasted veg to the side, it’s sometimes a nice switch to have a dish like Skinny Squash Casserole at the ready as a great compliment to a grilled piece of fish or chicken for a fast weeknight supper. But we can do better to reduce calories, fat, and sodium. With a few simple tweaks, this could also be a vegan or vegetarian dish. Let’s get cooking!

Skinny Squash Casserole can be baked in individual ramekins.

You will need the following ingredients to make Skinny Squash Casserole, which yields 10 servings:

• 4 yellow squash or zucchini (or two of each)

• 1 large yellow onion

• 1 box stuffing mix

• 3 Tablespoons butter

• 1 cup grated or shredded carrots

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt

• 1 (10.5-ounce) can Campbell’s Heart Healthy Cream of Chicken Soup

Use any type of stuffing mix for Skinny Squash Casserole, but I like this brand from Aldi markets.

Follow these directions to make Skinny Squash Casserole

Wash squash and remove ends. Slice into rounds about ¼ inch thick. Peel and chop onion.

In a medium saucepan, add 1/3 cup of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, add squash and onion. Cover and simmer for 3 minutes and drain well.

Do not follow directions on the stuffing mix box. Instead, empty the seasoned breadcrumbs into a small bowl, add melted butter, and stir to combine. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine cream of chicken soup and yogurt. Fold in drained squash, carrots, and about half of the stuffing mix crumbs. Transfer to a casserole dish sprayed with non-stick and top with remaining crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

A tip from the kitchen

I know there are home cooks who won’t use canned soups in recipes. Some of you are strict about knowing every ingredient in your recipes, and that's fine. But while working on my Skinny Squash Casserole recipe, I was curious about comparisons between made-from-scratch cream of chicken soup substitutes and the “heart healthy” canned soup. First up, the traditional cream of chicken soup.

• One 10.5-ounce can of “traditional” Campbell’s cream of chicken soup (what Mom would have used) has 300 calories, 8 g total fat, and 870 mg of sodium.

• One 10.5-ounce can of Campbell’s Heart Healthy cream of chicken soup contains 175 calories, 2.5 g total fat and 410 mg sodium. You can see the difference between traditional and “heart healthy!”

There are plenty of substitute recipes out there, but I tried cobbling the “internet’s best” and came up with this:

You’ll note the calories compare to traditional canned cream of chicken soup, but there the fat content is slightly higher, while the sodium content is a little lower and is closer to that in the “heart healthy” canned soup.

The consistency of homemade substitute is thinner than the canned product, which might be a preference for some. You can control flavor better in the homemade sauce, but for convenience, the “heart healthy” version is tough to beat and will stay in your pantry until you need it.

Read labels and make the choice that's best for you and your family.

How to make this recipe vegetarian or vegan

Skinny Squash Casserole would make a tasty, satisfying vegetarian entrée — served with a green salad and/or fresh fruit — for “meatless Monday” dinners. Just swap vegetable stock for chicken stock when making my cream of chicken soup substitute.

This could be a vegan recipe, too, when using the homemade sauce. Dairy-free milk (unsweetened) and vegan butter, plus vegetable stock and plain plant-based yogurt are swaps to use.

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I’m fascinated by culinary histories and stories and read with interest a paper from the University of North Carolina about squash casseroles. The writer noted that during the 20th-century world wars, casseroles fed our bellies and souls when some foods were scarce. After World War II and the availability of canned foods — including creamed soups — casseroles or “covered dishes” were a comfort to people, as neighbors brought the dish to welcome someone next door or to feed grieving friends. Squash casserole was a common sight at many funeral dinners in the South and Midwest. I think that holds true today.

Sometimes, you just need a warm, savory dish that satisfies our tastebuds and stimulates a memory. Do you know someone who might appreciate a casserole this week?

About the blog

Three Women in the Kitchen is an award-winning food blog offering today’s home cooks comforting, hearty recipes with a personal touch. The website also pays tribute to Deborah’s mother, Katie Reinhardt, and paternal grandmother, Dorothy Reinhardt (the “three women” in the kitchen). Whether you’re an experienced or a novice cook, you’ll find inspiration here to feed your families and warm your heart. Subscribe today so you won’t miss a single delicious detail.

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