This Vegetable Soup Recipe is ultra-nourishing and wholesome, made with fresh farmers’ market veggies. A simple, healthy soup that is easy to make and loaded up with healing nutrients- a great way to use up all those farmer’s market veggies! Vegan, gluten-free, with a video.
After a week of travel, and all the eating out and indulging that comes with it, my body was practically screaming to give it a break. I rounded up all the farmer’s market veggies in the fridge and made a simple healthy vegetable soup, and this is what we ate for a couple of days. I can’t tell you how much we needed this. Gentle nourishment, full of nutrients. Just what the doctor ordered.
Why You’ll Love This Easy Vegetable Soup Recipe!
What I love about this veggie soup recipe is how adaptable it is. Use what veggies you have on hand. Then feel free to embellish if you like -adding cabbage, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, or even whole grains. You could easily thicken with beans or quinoa. Keep it tomato-free or nightshade-free, you decide. 🙂
To finish the soup, drizzle with olive oil, or homemade pesto or gremolata, or sprinkle with a hard cheese like parmesan or pecorino and serve with croutons or crusty bread. Do what feels right for your body.
Vegetable Soup ingredients
Consider your vegetables. Some take longer to cook than others, like carrots and potatoes.Be thoughtful about when you add things to the soup and also when you are dicing your veggies. Bigger diced veggies will take longer to cook as well. Something to keep in mind. Here is a list of optional veggies- pick a few and give it try!
- Onions and garlic ( or leeks, shallots, etc.)
- Celery or Fennel ( or both!)
- Carrots or Parnsips ( or both!)
- Optional additions (pick 2-3): bell pepper, green beans, peas, zucchini, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, corn, broccoli, diced tomatoes, cabbage, wilting greens- kale, spinach, chard, collards, white beans etc.
- Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, bay leaves
- Fresh herbs: Fresh thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary or tarragon, or sub-dried thyme, or dried oregano.
- Splash of white wine- or sherry, totally optional!
- Flavorful Vegetable broth ( or sub chicken broth or stock or bone broth)
Veggie Soup Instructions
- In a large pot or dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute until deeply golden and fragrant, 5 minutes.
- Add the carrots, celery, fennel, garlic and thyme. Saute 7-8 minutes, stirring often. At this point you could splash with white wine, dry vermouth, sherry wine ( totally optional), just a couple tablespoons and cook it off.
- Add any optional vegetables. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, cover, and lower heat and simmer until carrots are just tender, about 10-12 minutes.Then stir in the fresh parsley.
- Taste. Often (especially if leaving the tomatoes out) I’ll add a tiny splash of acid- like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, be very conservative, 1/2 teaspoon, and add more to taste. Season with pepper and a pinch of cayenne or chili flakes.
- If broth tastes bland, it probably needs salt and acid. 😉
- Serve in bowls with a drizzle of good olive oil, crusty bread, or shaved parmesan or pecorino. Or try it withGremolata( Italian herb sauce) – a delicious way to finish the soup!
Expert tips!
- Use seasonal veggies! The most important thing to good-tasting vegetable soup is wholesome nourishing veggies! Organic or farmer’s market veggies have the best flavor!
- Use aromatics: onion, leeks, garlic, etc. to build layers of flavor.
- Use a flavorfulveggie broth, chicken stock, beef broth or bone broth, whatever tickles your fancy. Here I went with store-bought veggie broth, and kept it vegan.
Variations of Vegetable soup!
- Make this Vegetable Soup “tomato-y” or totally leave them out as I did in the first photo. Up to you. If you love a rich tomatobase, fresh tomatoes and a little tomato paste are a nice addition too.
- My husband loves this Vegetable Soup recipe topped with grated pecorino and sourdough croutons, orcrusty bread – also an option!
- Meatlovers could plop in little meatballs right into the simmering broth.
Serving Suggestions
- Keep it vegan and serve with a drizzle of olive and sourdough bread.
- Add pecorino or parmesan cheese for extra richenss.
- If you like heat, serve with chili flakes.
- Add Fresh Basil Pesto (Nut-Free)
- Add Gremolata (a zesty Italian herb sauce)
- Add Arugula Almond Pesto
Veggie soup Storage
Veggie soup will keep 4-5 days in the refrigerator in a sealed , airtight container or can be frozen for up to 6 months in the freezer!
Ihope you are having a relaxing holiday weekend.
xoxo
Sylvia
More Favorite Soup recipes!
- Harvest Vegetable Soup
- Homemade Vegetable Stock
- Simple Cabbage Soup
- Lentil Soup
- Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
- Best Homemade Tomato Soup
Vegetable Soup Recipe Video
Vegetable Soup Recipe
★★★★★5 from 30 reviews
- Author: Sylvia Fountaine | Feasting at Home
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 cups 1x
- Category: soup, vegan, vegetarian
- Method: Stove top or Instant Pot
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This nourishing vegetable soup recipe is easy to make and loaded with wholesome nutrients- a great way to use up all those farmer’s market veggies! Great for Sunday meal prep. Make on the stovetop or instant pot.
Ingredients
UnitsScale
- 1–2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion diced ( or a large leek)
- 2 cups diced carrot (2 medium carrots)
- 2 cups diced celery (2 stalks)
- 4 cloves garlic, rough chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme ( or sub, oregano , rosemary, sage, or tarragon- or sub 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme, or dry Italian seasoning or Herbs de Provence )
- 2 tablespoons white wine, vermouth, sherry cooking wine- all optional (feel free to leave out)
- 5 cups veggies of choice (chopped small): zucchini, fennel bulb, summer squash, green beans, peas, cauliflower, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, bell pepper, cabbage, kale, etc.
- 4 cups veggie stock or broth, chicken or beef stock, or bone broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- pinch cayenne
Garnish:
Instructions
- In a large pot or dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute until deeply golden and fragrant, 5 minutes.
- Add carrots, celery, and garlic and thyme. Saute 7-8 minutes, stirring often. At this point you could splash with white wine, dry vermouth, sherry wine ( all totally optional) just a couple tablespoons and cook it off.
- Add your longer-cooking veggies, water, broth, salt, pepper, and bay leaves.
- Bring to a simmer, cover, and simmer until carrots are just tender, about 10-12 minutes. Add any quick-cooking veggies (spinach, kale, corn). Cook 3-4 more minutes, then stir in the fresh parsley.
- Taste. Often (especially if leaving the tomatoes out) I’ll add a tiny splash of acid- like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, be very conservative, 1/2 teaspoon, and add more to taste. Season with pepper and a pinch of cayenne or chili flakes.
- If broth tastes bland, it probably needs salt and acid 😉
- Serve in bowls with a drizzle of good olive oil, crusty bread, or shaved parmesan or pecorino. Or try it withGremolata( Italian herb sauce) – a delicious way to finish the soup!
Notes
Soup will keep up to 4 days in the refrigerator and freezes well.
Feel free to add cooked beans (white beans or chickpeas are nice) to add protein and a big handful of chopped greens ( spinach, chard, arugula) to the soup at the end!
INSTANT POT Instructions:
- Using the saute function, heat oil and add onion and saute until deeply golden and fragrant, 4-5 minutes.
- Add carrots, celery, fennel, garlic and thyme. Stir 2 minutes. At this point you could splash with white wine, dry vermouth, sherry wine ( all totally optional) just a couple tablespoons and cook it off for a minute.
- Add zucchini and green beans ( and optional tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, or bell pepper) stock, water, bay leaves and salt. ( You will add the corn at the end).
- Pressure cook on high for 4 minutes. Manually release and set back to “saute”. Add corn. Cook 3-4 more minutes, then stir in the fresh parsley. Taste. Often (especially if leaving the tomatoes out) I’ll add a tiny splash of acid- like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, be very conservative, 1/2 teaspoon, and add more to taste. Season with pepper and a pinch of cayenne or chili flakes. If broth tastes bland, it probably needs salt and acid 😉
- Serve with a drizzle of good olive oil, crusty bread, or shaved parmesan or pecorino. Or try it withGremolata( Italian herb sauce) – a delicious way to finish the soup!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cups- with veggie broth
- Calories: 192
- Sugar: 13.4 g
- Sodium: 838 mg
- Fat: 8.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 29 g
- Fiber: 6.7 g
- Protein: 4.6 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
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