Stephen Colbert’s Childhood "Kindergarten Soup" Is Pure Nostalgia in a Bowl

Despite the name, you won’t find Play-Doh, pretend food, or alphabet magnets in this recipe! Kindergarten Soup is a hearty, edible beef and vegetable soup from The Late Show host Stephen Colbert. But it really is a soup he made as a kindergartner!

At Colbert's elementary school in Charleston, South Carolina, the lunchroom cook had the children help her with simple tasks, like shelling peas and snapping the ends off green beans. Then, the cook would have the kids draw pictures and write out the names of the ingredients.

Young Colbert brought his paper home, and his mother found the illustrations of okra, corn, tomatoes, and “meat” so charming. Not only did she frame it, she began making the soup for Colbert and his siblings, often enough that it became a cherished family dish. 

The Endearing Story Behind "Kindergarten Soup"

Stephen Colbert and his wife, Evie, published their cookbook, Does This Taste Funny, in 2024. In an episode of The Late Show that fall, Colbert shared that 2020's pandemic lockdown was to thank for sparking the book idea.

Like the rest of us, Colbert was at home with his family, and restaurants were closed. It was the perfect excuse to look through and cook up old family recipes. In a video on Facebook, Evie Colbert surprised her husband with one of the recipes that she unearthed. Written in crayon on brown construction paper and displayed in an old frame, it was Kindergarten Soup!

Four years later, they published it, picture and all, in their cookbook.

What’s in Kindergarten Soup?

It’s amazing how many ingredients are packed into this recipe. The mysterious “meat” from Colbert’s kindergarten drawing is cubed chuck roast, a tough cut that becomes perfectly tender in the simmering soup. It’s seared in oil to create flavorful browned bits, then the rest of the ingredients are added in stages: peas, onions, okra, celery, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, beef stock, and butter beans. The only seasoning needed is a pinch of salt and pepper.

Once simmered, the result is a beefy, filling soup with lots of color from the vegetables. It really looks like the kind of soup you’d find in a school lunchroom 50 years ago. When I had the first spoonful, it took me back; it’s probably been a few decades since I’ve had vegetable beef soup! The flavor is rich and meaty, like that of beef barley soup or a good beef stew.

The recipe makes a big batch, roughly 11 cups of soup. Luckily, Colbert shares in the cookbook that the soup freezes well, so you can have it on hand for future meals.

How I Made Colbert’s Kindergarten Soup

Fresh okra wasn’t available at my grocery store in Massachusetts, so I used frozen. Since freezing softens vegetables, I added the okra near the end, at the same time as the peas, so that it wouldn’t get too mushy. I also used canned butter beans.

The soup thickens up quickly, even more so as it stands. Have extra beef broth on hand to add if it needs more liquid during or after cooking.

I loved learning how much this elementary school lunchlady doted on the students and gave them the chance to learn how to cook. And how Colbert’s mother so sweetly preserved his recipe and turned it into a beloved family dish.

Try making this recipe with the kids in your life; let them peel the carrots, shell the peas, and pour the diced tomatoes into the pot; they’ll take so much pride in being part of such a delicious dish.

You can find the recipe for Kindergarten Soup in Does This Taste Funny?, which I checked out at my local library. To follow along with Colbert as he cooks, check out his appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show.