Mustard Green Soup with Sweet Potato (Italian-Style)

Peppery mustard greens, sweet potato, Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano, make this Italian-style mustard green soup a healthy and delicious addition to your weekly menu.

What are mustard greens?

Mustard greens are the leaves of the mustard plant, Brassica juncea, the same plant used for mustard seeds. They have a distinctive peppery, pungent, and slightly bitter taste.

Low in calories and high in fiber, raw mustard greens are extremely high in vitamin C. When cooked, mustard greens provide impressive amounts of Vitamin A, K, and copper.

Depending on where you are in the world, mustard greens might not be easy to find in a store, but they are available in farmers’ markets or small farm stores.

Ingredients needed to make this mustard green soup recipe

• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 big celery rib, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
• 1 small daikon radish (optional), finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
• a few slices of Prosciutto di Parma (I used about 5, but you can add more or less)
• 1 big bunch of mustard greens (ribs and leaves), finely chopped
• 1 small to medium sweet potato, cut into small to medium cubes
• About 2QT chicken or vegetable stock (homemade or store-bought, plant paradox compliant)
• a few shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano for serving
• lemon juice and lemon wedges
• salt and pepper to taste

More recently, I created a recipe for homemade bouillon cubes, and now I add them to everything, but they work particularly well with soups. They are easy to make and a great meal prep hack to help you cook more flavorful and nutritious food with less effort. Add one or two cubes to this soup to add more flavor.

How to make mustard green soup

I started with an Italian soffrito, sauteeing finely cubed celery sticks, carrots, daikon radish, and yellow onion to make the soup. When fragrant and translucent, I added some cubed sweet potato (small size), garlic, and chopped Prosciutto di Parma and continued to cook on medium heat until the prosciutto started to crisp up.

Added the mustard greens and cook for ten more minutes. Added the stock, brought it to a boil, and that’s it. Add salt, black pepper, and lemon juice to taste. Serve with shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano and more lemon.

This soup tastes a little peppery from the mustard greens, but it’s infused with umami flavors from the Prosciutto di Parma and the Parmigiano shavings.

How to make chicken stock

If you can’t find clean, good store-bought chicken stock, it is actually very easy to make one at home.

You need chicken bones, like chicken wings or a chicken carcass, and a lot of vegetable scraps: onions, carrots, parsley, celery ribs, celery root, parsnips, turmeric and ginger, mushrooms, garlic cloves, bay leaves, peppercorns, salt, and pepper. Boil together for 40 minutes or so, strain, and you have a stock. You can also make it in a pressure cooker (it takes about 20 minutes).

Alternatively, you can use vegetable stock. If you are in a rush, the lectin-free vegetable broth from GundryMD is a quick fix. Just mix the powder with water, and you have an instant, rich, and delicious vegetable stock.

Gundry MD Lectin-Free Vegetable Broth

This vegetable broth is more than just a filling and delicious snack you can enjoy at any time of day. With only 30 calories per serving, this tasty, savory boneless broth is a quick and easy way to support a healthy immune system right from home. Save up to $50.00 off when buying Gundry MD Lectin-Free Vegetable Broth in my Ambassador Store.

More mustard greens recipes

• Easy, Warming Soup with Cauliflower and Mustard Greens (Vegan, suitable for babies)
• My Lectin-Free Take on Saag Paneer

*This post contains affiliated links, which means I get a small commission if you choose to purchase something via one of my links, at no extra cost to you.

Print Recipe

Italian-Style Mustard Green and Sweet Potato Soup

(7 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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By Claudia Curici – Serves: 4

Prep Time: 20 minutes – Cooking Time: 40 minutes

Peppery mustard greens, sweet potato, Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano make this Italian-style mustard green soup a healthy and delicious addition to your weekly menu.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 big celery rib, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
• 1 small daikon radish (optional), finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
• a few slices of Prosciutto di Parma (I used about 5, but you can add more or less)
• 1 big bunch of mustard greens (ribs and leaves), finely chopped
• 1 small to medium sweet potato, cut into small to medium cubes
• About 2QT chicken or vegetable stock (homemade or store-bought, plant paradox compliant)
• a few shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano for serving
• lemon juice and lemon wedges
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1

In a soup pot, add a generous quantity of extra virgin olive oil and heat on medium.

2

Add the finely chopped onions, carrots, celery, daikon if using and sauté for about 10 minutes or until the vegetables soften and become fragrant.

3

Add the garlic and the prosciutto and cook for few more minutes.

4

Add the cubed sweet potatoes, stir well and cook for about 5 more minutes, stirring regularly.

5

Add the chopped mustard greens, stir well and cook for few more minutes until all the greens are wilted.

6

Add the chicken stock to the pot, bring to a boil, and simmer until the potatoes are cooked.

7

Season with salt and pepper and lemon juice. Serve with shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano.