This is my adaptation of a popular soup that is offered at a renowned dinner venue in southeast Massachusetts. Utilizing ordinary components that you might already have in your cupboard and freezer, it is easy to prepare. Feel free to adapt the basic recipe by substituting low-fat turkey or veggie-soy burger for the ground beef and adding seasonal fresh vegetables.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 35 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion, minced
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ (6 ounce) can tomato paste
- 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 envelope onion soup mix
- 2 beef bouillon cubes
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 (16 ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables
- 2 quarts water
- ⅔ cup orzo pasta
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the ground beef in a large pot over medium heat until completely browned, 7 to 10 minutes. Drain as much fat from the beef as possible. Add the onion and garlic to the beef; cook and stir until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, onion soup mix, beef bouillon cubes, bay leaf, mixed vegetables, and water to the ground beef mixture. Raise heat to medium-high, and bring the mixture to a boil. Stir the orzo pasta into the boiling liquid; cook until the orzo is tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper to serve.
- If you plan on using a slow cooker to prepare in advance, or you are not serving right away, you may want to cook orzo separately, adding to soup just prior to serving to prevent pasta from getting too soft.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 254 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 36 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 6 g |
| Protein | 16 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 805 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 8 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
The restaurant no longer exists so cherish this recipe… This soup is amazing
I added finely chopped poblano, jalapeño, and a banana pepper from my garden. I also chopped up tomatoes from my garden instead of the canned crushed tomatoes. Had fresh parsley and chives to add as well from my garden too. All good. Great soup! Didn’t add Bay leaf.
I grew up in Somerset/Swansea, MA near the establishment for which this soup was legendary! And I also spent a couple years working at The Venus de Milo as well. Personally I prefer to omit the mushrooms but they are indeed part of the original recipe. Topping it off with grated Parmesan cheese and served with just the right bread…my preference was always a nice Portuguese stick bread! This recipe is a good version and definitely brings back a lot of fond memories!
Didn’t add garlic and in a pinch use thin noodles…orzo sometimes hard to find…it is delicious…
Delicious! I threw in about 1/2 cup of frozen kale and used ground turkey instead of ground beef. It came out yummy and the perfect soup for a cold winter day.
This is a consistent family pleaser. I use roasted chicken instead of ground beef and it’s delicious.
Excellent soup and very easy. Shared it with my daughter’s family and everyone loved it. I added diced zucchini but it’s perfect as is.
I was recently at the Venus for the first time for a lunch and show. I didn’t get a chance to purchase the soup there, but this recipe intrigued me. I halved it, and it still makes a lot. I didn’t have orzo on hand so I subbed brown basmati rice. Per some of the reviewers, the soup has mushrooms in it, so I did add some along with the onions and garlic. Also had it with some parmesan cheese and wheat French bread and had it a day after I made it for better flavor. A good, hearty soup.
Made with 4 cups of chicken broth and 4 cups of water instead of onion soup mix, and it was delicious!
I AM FROM RI AND HAVE BEEN TO VENUS’S RESTAURANT THIS IS SOO CLOSE TO THE REAL THING, I ADDED SOME CHOPPED ZUCCHINI FANTASTIC
Did everything exact. So easy and very hearty. Took about an hour total. Thanks for sharing!
Pretty darn close to the real thing ?? I’ll take it since I live 250 miles away now.
My husband and daughter loved it! Easy, economical and delicious recipe. I used the entire 6 oz of tomato paste because I don’t like little bits of leftover stuff, also used 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef because that’s how mine is packaged. We will use this recipe a lot in the winter!
I made this recipe as written. It was a big hit in our household and definitely made it to my make again list.
Let me first start off by saying this soup was delicious. I have had this version of Venus de Milo soup more times than I can count. So the only change I will make next time is use less crushed tomatoes or omit the tomato paste. The end product had a very potent tomato flavor it almost took away from the rest of the soup. I omitted the mushrooms as well even though the original Venus soup has it.
amazing soup, don’t forget mushrooms and parmesian cheese! I also put in two tablespoons of worsterchire about five minutes before turning off the heat! 😉 my family lives off of these great foods!
Fantastic soup. I followed the recipe the first time and it was great! The second time I used 1Qt each home made chicken and beef stock in place of the bouillon and water, added 3 more bay leaves, 2 tbs of Worcestershire sauce, some red pepper flake and a full carton of fresh sliced mushrooms. It was even better, but no matter how you slice it this is a great recipe!
This is a great soup. I used spicy Itallian chicken sausage and that worked well.
My goodness this is a delicious soup. I had everything on hand so it went together really fast. I subbed tortellini for the orzo just for grandkids fun. They gobbled it down!
This soup was wonderful! Easy to make, economical and the whole family loved it! I subbed beef broth for the water and bouillon, but otherwise followed the recipe. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, lizchedid!
Awesome! Easy to make and inexpensive.