Dr. Green Mom’s Green Detox Soup

When your body feels sluggish or in need of a reset, Dr. Green Mom’s Green Detox Soup is the perfect solution. This warm nutrient-packed soup combines plenty of herbs with sulforaphane-rich vegetables in a nutrient-rich broth to support your body’s natural detoxification processes. Think of it as the soup version of a green smoothie! Easy to prepare and full of delicious flavor, this recipe freezes well and has a pleasant fresh flavor… Your kiddos won’t even know they just slurped down a bowl full of broccoli and kale!

This article shares why I’ve chosen this recipe’s specific ingredients and provides a step-by-step recipe for how to prepare my favorite detoxifying soup!

Why I Love My Green Detox Soup

This soup is designed to include ingredients that support the body’s natural cleansing processes…while tasting delicious! Food can play a significant role in detoxification by providing essential nutrients that fuel the liver’s detox pathways, promote the elimination of toxins through the kidneys, and more (1).

To learn more about how detoxification works, read these articles:

Broccoli & Kale: The Power of Sulforaphane

Cruciferous vegetables kale and broccoli, which I include as florets and as sprouts, are key in this recipe as they contain sulforaphane. Sulforaphane supports the production of certain enzymes in your liver that neutralize toxins, making them easier for your body to eliminate (1,2).

To maximize the sulforaphane content in these vegetables, simply add a pinch of mustard seed to the soup. Mustard seed contains the enzyme myrosinase, which activates sulforaphane (3,4). For the broccoli sprouts, I chop them as finely as possible, which helps release more of the naturally occurring enzymes that activate sulforaphane (3). Instead of cooking the sprouts with the soup, I add them as a garnish just before serving to preserve their maximum nutrient value. For kids who might not like visible “things” in their soup, either add the sprouts during blending or omit them. A white bowl full of broccoli.

Nutrient-Dense Broth

At the heart of this soup is a nutrient-dense broth. I recommend using homemade bone broth or a homemade vegetable broth, but a quality store bought broth works in a pinch, too. Homemade bone broth is rich in amino acids (5) that support your body’s detoxification pathways (1).

Get my homemade bone broth recipe here: The Benefits Of Bone Broth (And How To Make It Yourself)

Kombu: A Seaweed Rich in Minerals & Chlorophyll

Kombu, a mineral-rich seaweed, enhances the broth with trace minerals, including iodine which supports thyroid function (6). Kombu is also very rich in chlorophyll (7), which is a favorite of mine for supporting detoxification. Kombu’s umami flavor pairs beautifully with the other ingredients, adding depth to the soup. If kombu isn’t available in your area, don’t worry! You can omit it and still enjoy a delicious, nutrient-packed soup.

To learn more about the importance of iodine and chlorophyll, read these articles:

Flavor & Nutrients: Garlic, Cilantro, and Parsley

Garlic, cilantro, and parsley add flavor and contribute powerful nutrients to the soup. Garlic is rich in sulphur and supports glutathione production (8); cilantro is known to support the body in eliminating heavy metals (9); parsley is widely regarded as being supportive of kidney function (10), which is essential for flushing out waste. All of these ingredients are rich in antioxidants, too!

This recipe uses an entire bunch of parsley and cilantro, which may seem like a lot, but the flavor blends beautifully with the rest of the ingredients! To best retain the nutrients in cilantro and parsley, add them at the end of cooking once the heat is off and just before blending.

A few cloves of garlic on a wooden surface.

A Zesty Lemon Juice Finish

Lemon juice adds brightness to the soup while supplying more antioxidants (11)! I recommend adding the lemon juice just before serving, but go slow. A little goes a long way!

To learn more about antioxidants, read this article: Everything You Need To Know About Antioxidants

A Boost of Herbal Wellness

You’ve probably heard of adding herbal remedies and supplements to smoothies, but have you ever thought of adding them to soups? For an extra boost of nutrients, I like to add a serving of Nature’s Nutrients™ to each bowl of soup just before serving for the extra benefits provided by nettle leaf, dandelion leaf and root, yellow dock, and so much more.

Why This Detox Soup Is Great For Busy Families

Despite it containing more ingredients than most of my recipes, I love this recipe because it’s quite straightforward to make, and it can be made in big batches and frozen so you can prepare it ahead of time and defrost as needed. Not to mention, it is surprisingly kid-friendly thanks to its creamy texture and mild flavor!

View more of my healthy family-friendly recipes here.