This easy and delicious turnip green soup is a savory, smoky and slightly spicy southern recipe favorite. Loaded with beans, sausage, greens and a bit of pasta, swamp soup makes the perfect meal.
Why This Recipe Works
Southern flavors: The combination of savory, smoky and spicy hits the spot every time. It’s feel-good comfort food.
Any greens will work: While the classic southern swamp soup recipe calls for turnip greens, it works equally well with collards, mustard greens or spinach. I usually use canned greens but fresh or frozen greens will cook up nicely too.
Perfect year-round: The light, non-tomato-based broth isn’t heavy at all, so it’s a great dinner soup option for any month.
Reheats well: Like most soups, stews, and chilis, turnip green soup tastes as delicious as ever when reheated. Add a little chicken broth, if needed, and grab your spoon.
Ingredients
- Sausage – I use cajun andouille sausage for its spicy, smoky flavor. (See swap suggestions below.) I recommend slicing the sausage and then quartering it.
- Knorr Vegetable Recipe Mix – You’ll find this in the soup section of the store and in fact, it used to be called soup mix but it’s “vegetable recipe mix” now.
- Ditalini pasta – These tiny tube-shaped pasta cuts are perfectly sized so as to enhance the soup without overwhelming it.
- Chicken broth – Use a low-sodium prepared chicken broth or mix it up yourself using water and low-sodium chicken bouillon.
- Turnip greens – Seasoned canned turnip greens (like Glory or Margaret Holmes) are just perfect for this southern-style swamp soup recipe.
- White beans – I use two cans of great northern beans and two cans of navy beans. Rinse and drain them to reduce the sodium and starch content.
- Hot sauce – I love Texas Pete hot sauce but you can use your favorite hot sauce or jarred hot pepper vinegar sauce. The hot sauce adds just a hint of heat to the turnip greens soup recipe.
Swaps and Additions
- For a milder flavor, you can use any smoked sausage (like Polish Kielbasa), chicken or turkey sausage instead of the Cajun andouille. Chopped ham would work nicely as well. You could also make swamp soup with mudballs by adding meatballs!
- Substitute an equal amount of collards, mustard greens or spinach for the canned turnip greens.
- Fresh turnip greens, collards or spinach can also be used. I like the ease (and the seasoning) of canned greens, but fresh will work. Rinse it well to get the sand and grit out before using.
- Instead of ditalini, you could use tubetti (slightly smaller) or elbow macaroni.
- Make turnip greens soup with black-eyed peas for a little extra smokiness.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Add andouille sausage and onions to a stockpot on the stove over medium-high heat until the sausage chunks have browned a bit and the onions are soft and fragrant. Add the garlic; cook and stir one more minute.
Step 2: Add chicken broth, vegetable recipe mix, beans, turnip greens, hot sauce and black pepper and stir together.
Step 3: Bring mixture to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Let simmer, covered for an hour to allow flavors to develop and mingle. Add cooked ditalini in the last 15 minutes or so.
Recipe FAQ
Turnip green soup is often referred to as swamp soup because of its well, swampy… appearance from the greens.
Absolutely and reheating it in the microwave works perfectly. I do this all the time. Sometimes I add a little bit of chicken stock when reheating.
Of course. Use vegetable broth or half vegetable broth/half water instead of the chicken broth and omit the meat.
Helpful Tips
- You don’t need additional salt in this recipe!
- This soup is delicious served with honey glazed cornbread donuts, pumpkin cornbread or warm pumpkin biscuits.
- To make turnip green soup recipe in a crockpot, add all ingredients except pasta to the slow cooker and cook on low for 5-6 hours, adding cooked ditalini in the last 15 minutes.
Related Recipes
Swamp Soup
Ingredients
- 1 pound andouille sausage sliced and cut into quarters
- 1 medium onion chopped or diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 8 cups chicken broth low sodium chicken broth
- 1 pkg Knorr Vegetable Recipe mix seasoning
- 2 15 oz cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 15 oz cans navy beans, rinsed and drained
- 2 15 oz cans seasoned turnip greens or 1 pound bag frozen turnip greens, thawed
- 1 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 2 cups cooked ditalini
Instructions
- Add andouille sausage and onions to a stockpot on the stove over medium-high heat until the sausage chunks have browned a bit and the onions are soft and fragrant. Add the garlic; cook and stir one more minute.
- Add chicken broth, vegetable recipe mix, beans, turnip greens, hot sauce and black pepper and stir together.
- Bring mixture to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Let simmer, covered for an hour to allow flavors to develop and mingle. Add cooked ditalini in the last 15 minutes or so.
Notes
- Instead of ditalini, you could use tubetti (slightly smaller) or elbow macaroni, but you’ll want to use a small pasta so you enhance the soup, not overwhelm it. Add the cooked pasta in the last 15 minutes or so of cooking.
- This recipe doesn’t need additional salt.
- For a milder flavor, you can use any smoked sausage (like Polish Kielbasa), chicken or turkey sausage instead of the Cajun andouille. Chopped ham or a ham hock would work nicely as well. You could also make swamp soup with mudballs by adding meatballs!
- Substitute an equal amount of collards, mustard greens or spinach for the canned turnip greens, if desired.
- Fresh turnip greens, collards or spinach can also be used. I like the ease (and the seasoning) of canned greens, but fresh will work. Rinse fresh greens well to get the sand and grit out before using.
- Rinse and drain beans well to reduce the sodium and starch (gas-producing) content.
- To make it vegetarian, use vegetable broth in place of chicken broth and leave out the meat.
Amanda Haider says
I don’t have enough chicken broth, can I use beef broth ? I only have about 5 cups of chicken broth, can I mix those two together?
Liz says
I think mixing them to get to the right amount would be just fine. 🙂
Mary says
I followed the recipe exactly but used chicken smoke sausage. To make up for the “zip” of the cajun sausage, I added a can of original rotel and it was zingy but yummy! Served it with southern cornbread.
Liz says
Oooo, love that you added some tomato zing!
Tiffany says
This recipe is phenomenal! I used kielbasa just due to family preferences. My girls scoffed a little bit about the idea of turnip greens, but agreed to try it. Both ate their entire bowls and went back for seconds. My 12 year old declared it her new favorite soup. I expect that this one will become a regular in our dinner rotation.
Liz says
So glad you all loved it! Kielbasa sounds perfect, and I’m impressed your girls are now turnip green fans. I’m so happy this one earned a spot in your dinner rotation.
K Fazi says
So should you drain the cans of turnip greens or not?
Liz says
I don’t drain them!
Shayla says
This soup was delicious and easy to make. I didn’t have ditalini pasta so I used Orzo. I used fresh greens,cannelli,navy and black eyed peas for the dish as well
Ken says
I made my own version of this southern delight. I used canned seasoned mixed greens, 3 beans and a tomatoe based pasta soup mix. I added a little of my home made hot sauce and it is delicious. Thus is a “come up with your own version” soup. Clean the leftovers in the fridge out and throw them in with the broth, greens and you have a meal.
Liz says
It’s always great when you can use up what’s in the fridge!
Barbara Pearson says
I don’t particularly care for greens but I need them for the superfoods that they are. This recipe is an excellent way to get those benefits. Excellent flavor! I have also made with collard greens: equally excellent. I also like to substitute black beans and garbanzo. There is no difference in taste and provides another nutritional boost.
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Swathi says
This trnip green soup looks yummy
Seanna Borrows says
Love the spice level in this soup. Hearty and delish!