This Jamie Oliver Soup Is the Best Quick and Easy Weeknight Dinner

My freezer is often stuffed with frozen pizzas, leftover sauces, and other random bits and pieces. I use it to store everything I need to make dinner at a moment's notice. It’s so full sometimes that I don’t even know what’s in there anymore. That’s when I search for “kitchen sink–style recipes that use frozen ingredients.”

Usually, I discover a basic casserole or stir fry recipe, but recently, I hit the jackpot and landed on Jamie Oliver’s “Freezer Raid” Pasta Soup.

How I Make Jamie Oliver's "Freezer Raid" Pasta Soup

The recipe begins with sautéing fresh or frozen onion, carrot, and celery in some olive oil in a stockpot until tender. While that’s cooking, you whip up a batch of pesto, which simply involves blitzing some Parmesan cheese, fresh basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor, along with extra virgin olive oil. Set that aside, and then it’s time to add frozen peas, beans, and broccoli to the pot, along with vegetable broth. Add a Parmesan rind and simmer for 15 minutes. Add some torn lasagna noodles, and cook until tender. Then, serve the soup in bowls topped with the pesto, a drizzle of olive oil, and chili flakes.

This meal is light, with the pesto providing vibrant garlic and basil flavors that make it cozy. It’s a surprisingly satisfying soup, too, due partly to the variety of vegetables and those big, torn pieces of pasta. What a fantastic way to use up those half-emptied bags of frozen vegetables!

The really superb thing about Oliver’s recipe is the many ways you can customize it. While he calls for specific vegetables, almost any veggie combination will work. Go ahead and grab that bag of mixed vegetables in the back of the freezer and toss the contents into the pot. The homemade pesto is delicious, but it adds another step, along with more dirty dishes, so consider purchasing your favorite store-bought version to use in its place. Finally, dried pasta, instead of the fresh-frozen version Oliver calls for, also works. Add it when you drop in the Parmesan rind.

With its versatility in mind, I came up with a bunch of interesting ways to make and serve this freezer-raid soup.

Tips for Making and Serving Jamie Oliver’s Freezer-Raid Pasta Soup

Choose your vegetables: Let me provide a reminder that most frozen vegetables would work well in this soup. Experiment and don’t be afraid to mix and match.

Try a different bean: Broad beans may be hard to find in the U.S. If you can’t locate them, edamame or lima beans make a great substitute. You could also consider adding your favorite canned beans, such as garbanzo or cannellini.

Noodles, but your way: I personally enjoy the big, torn pieces of lasagna, but if you’d prefer to swap those for another pasta, go for it. Any pasta shape will work in this recipe.

Serve it up: The recipe makes more pesto than you’ll likely need for garnishing. I like to serve extra pesto on the side along with sliced Italian or French bread for dipping.

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