Love Real Food Seriously Good Vegetable Soup
by Laura Frerichs, Tastemaker in Residence - All content and recipes provided by Cookie + Kate!
You know how most vegetable soups are pretty tired and “blah”? Not this one! This hearty homemade vegetable soup is full of fresh, wholesome flavors.
I’m excited to share this vegetable soup recipe with you. It’s honestly the best I’ve ever had, and I hope you’ll agree. You just might have all the ingredients you’ll need to make this easy soup on hand already.
I can think of so many reasons to make this soup. Warm up with a big bowl of veggie soup on a cold day. Make it for someone who’s under the weather. My husband has a cold and it’s snowing outside as I type, so this soup is just what we need right now.
Prepare a batch and you’ll have a healthy side dish ready to go for the rest of the week. This soup is a great way to lighten up heavier meals, especially as we get into the holidays. Did I mention that it’s vegetarian, vegan and gluten free for all to enjoy?
Vegetable Options for Vegetable Soup
This homemade vegetable soup is versatile by design, so you can enjoy it from fall through winter. We’ll use onion, carrots and celery as a base.
We’ll also add two cups of seasonal vegetables to make this soup more hearty and interesting. Choose from veggies you have on hand, or grab your favorites at the store. Any of these will work:
Sweet potatoes or regular potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Butternut squash, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch long segments
Bell pepper, chopped
Cauliflower, cut into very small bite-sized pieces
Zucchini or yellow squash, chopped
Fresh greens: Kale, collard greens, chard, or spinach
How to Make the Best Vegetable Soup
We’ll use several simple techniques to build flavor as we cook this soup. Here’s how:
1) Start with the veggies.
We’ll sauté chopped onion, celery, carrots and seasonal vegetables in olive oil, with some salt. This softens them up and enhances their flavors. Adding salt during different stages of the cooking process builds more flavor than simply adding it all at the end.
2) Add fresh minced garlic, curry powder, and dried thyme.
Sautéing these ingredients for about 1 minute wakes up their flavors, but isn’t long enough to risk burning the garlic (burnt garlic tastes awful).
Curry powder is the secret to making this soup so delicious. We aren’t adding much. You probably won’t be able to pinpoint the flavor, but it adds some subtle intrigue and warmth to this soup. I’ve also used curry powder in my lentil soup and chickpea noodle soup as well, and it always works like a charm.
3) Add canned diced tomatoes with their juices.
We’ll cook them all together for a couple of minutes to reduce any tinny flavors. I used fire-roasted diced tomatoes for these photos, but regular diced tomatoes were just as good. I always recommend using Muir Glen brand of tomatoes because they taste the best and come in BPA-free cans.
4) Almost done—add some vegetable broth, water, and more flavorings.
Vegetable broth keeps this soup vegetarian/vegan. We’ll also add bay leaves, red pepper flakes, and a little more salt. If you’re sensitive to spice, you can reduce or omit the red pepper flakes. If you love spice like me, you might even want to double the amount at the end (add to taste). Regardless, we’ll let the soup gently simmer for 25 minutes so the flavors can meld together.
5) Add chopped fresh greens and finally, some fresh lemon juice.
Lastly, we’ll add chopped greens for health bonus points, and simmer for 5 minutes to soften them up. Before serving, we’ll brighten up the soup with a big squeeze of lemon juice (one of my other go-to soup tricks) and add another splash of olive oil for rich flavor. Taste the soup before and after these additions, and you’ll notice a big difference! Finally, season to taste with salt and pepper, as necessary.
Please let me know how this soup turns out in the comments. I love hearing from you, and your feedback encourages other readers to try the recipe.
Craving more hearty, healthy, meatless soups this season? Me, too. Here are a few more great options:
Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Pasta and Beans Soup)
Don’t miss the hearty soups in my cookbook, Love Real Food. They’re some of my favorites!
