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 with Gremolata ( 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 flavorful veggie 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 tomato base, 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, or crusty 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!
I hope you are having a relaxing holiday weekend.
xoxo
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
- 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
- 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 with Gremolata ( 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 with Gremolata ( 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
yummy!!! Really not hard to make at all. You can even cheat by buying some of the veggies pre chopped. I added Bok Choy since I had some and it fit right in. Thank you so much for all your recipes.
Perfect Emma!
I liked the flexibility of this recipe. I made it twice so far, once with the fennel and the second time without it. I used different vegetables each time.I did not use the wine. The second time I added the suggested greens and it added color and nutrition. Thanks for including cooking tips. I did not know about the need for acid in soups. I added some lemon juice the second time and the soup had more flavor.
Thanks Linda- glad this working for you! Thanks for sharing your adaptions. It is amazing how a few drops of lemon or vinegar can brighten a soup!
A wonderful recipe – we both enjoyed it.
Hi Kathy! Thanks so much and happy you enjoyed it!
Wonderful soup! I made it without the fennel (which I forgot to buy!) and added tomatoes, tomato paste, kale, red potatoes and some split farro that I cooked ahead. I will definitely make it again. Thank you, Sylvia!
Love the farro addition!
Excellent soup! Made with everything from our garden, including homemade chicken broth from our chickens. The addition of a tiny amount of lemon at the end really transformed it. Perfect for that garden or CSA over-abundance!
Glad you enjoyed this Mary!
What a wonderful and wholesome soup! I was just starting to worry about how to use up my co-op vegetables. This is a delicious result! I am a huge fan of your recipes. Thank you!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this Shelley!
Hi, How many liters does this make?
Just under 2. 🙂
Yes, this soup is really good. I make soup every week and am always looking for good new vegetable soup recipes. This one fit the bill. Very flavorful. I often use fennel seed in my broth based soups, but I haven’t included the diced fennel before. It gave it a nice flavor. I also used the white wine deglaze, and added a can of diced tomatoes with Italian herbs with the broth. Since I upped the veggies a little I added another cup of water and a teaspoon of Better Than Bouillion with a 48 oz. carton of low sodium veggie broth, and through a parmesan rind in while it simmered. I had two ears of corn so used them both and added chopped baby kale with corn. Served topped with nutritional yeast.
This will go into my regular rotation. Thank you!
Sylvia
Thank you for your wonderful recipes. I have tried several thinking. Mmm cam this be good? Haven’t been disappointed. This soup I thought would be bland, but no it is both warming and refreshing. My entertainment this New Years weekend is making several of your recipes and delivering them to friends. You have inspired me to have fun in my kitchen again
I made this before and it was so good but I didn’t put beans in it last time. When would you add the cookie beans to this recipe ? Thanks
I would add when you add the broth.
Thanks!
BOMBBBBB we are obsessed with this soup – how long would you say you can store it for? I want to eat it every day forever it’s so good!
YAY!!! 4-5 days in the fridge!
You have been a great inspiration for me as well. Clean healthy ingredients and packed with flavour.
Thanks Sylvia
What a joy it has been to discover the tastes from your kitchen!
I have cooking and showing friends your delicious creations- when they ask, I link your page to spread the joy of cooking with you!! You are such an inspiration🙌🏻
Hearty and healthy and oh so delicious!
Thank you for sharing your gift with us! We love you!
Awwww 🥰 Thanks Leah. Appreciate this.
Your website is my go to! Love it. For an Instant Pot veg soup when you just want to use whatever you have (bc you are avoiding shopping) is it safe to say about 9 cups of veg to 6 cups of liquid? Or is there a general rule of thumb you can share?
That seems about right to me based on the recipe!
I made this tonight with diced tomatoes and thinly sliced Brussels sprouts. Made some adjustments with kosher salt and apple cider vinegar and it turned out fantastic! My next soup will be the Laksa. Thanks for these recipes and your assistance, very good.
THanks Russ!
Delicious! Love the texture and the synergy if the vegetables to create an amazing taste. Really healthy and comfort food used it with gremolata and was absolutely awesome. thank you Sylvia I will be kaking this again.
Thanks Victor, so happy you liked it!
Great tasty soup. Made on a cold rainy day and it was a hit for the dinner starter and for lunches. Thanks
Perfect James, thank you!!!
Absolutely wonderful!! Thank you so much for this…I’ve just made another pot in my instapot-perfect once again! This is my new staple. 🙂
Tastes so delicious and fresh. A gentle taste but with an added bit of punch with chilli flakes and the sweet corn giving it a crunch and sweetness. So healthy and nourishing. Thank you Sylvia
Hi Sylvia,
I have made the farmers market vegie soup 3 times now
It is so tasty and wonderful the corn adds so much flavour our family can not get enough of this soup!
this week will try the Vegetarian enchiladas.
Enjoy receiving your receipes. Thank you
Made this last night and added chopped kale and potatoes, and also made the gremolata. It was wonderful, so healthy and tasty. I added dry vermouth, and I think I might add a little more next time. ALSO, I made the zucchini cornbread and it was so good! We actually crumbled it and ate it IN our soup. We do this with regular cornbread in our turkey chili all the time. You must try it!
I will! thanks for sharing Lisa and glad you enjoyed!
Sooo good!
Yay! Glad you liked it!
Absolutely delicious. We loved it. I added potatoes and beans and some bok choy I had to use up. Adding red pepper flakes gave it a lovely heat.
This came out absolutely perfect. Just what I was looking for.