Your New Go-To Vegetable Soup Recipe
In the cooler months, if we’ve got a huge batch of homemade vegetable soup in the fridge, we’re pretty much guaranteed to feel better about life. Eating a bowl for lunch most days, or serving it as a simple, healthy dinner when the day gets away from us—just pair this vegetarian vegetable soup with some good bread or toast and you’re good to go—is a way to ensure that we’re getting our veggies. And that’s a really good thing this time of year when it’s both more important than ever to eat well and also far too easy to eat nothing but comforting carbs or heavy, meaty stews and miss out on the essential nutrients that we get from vegetables. To make sure we’re getting all of the same healthy vitamins and minerals we get without even thinking about it in summer—all those salads, tomato-y things and fresh berries make it easy!—we make a big batch of this savory, soothing, easy vegetable soup at least once every couple of weeks.
What Can I Add to My Vegetable Soup for Tons of Flavor?
Healthy and delicious, this easy homemade vegetable soup is all about the soothing simplicity of classic flavors. That doesn’t mean it’s bland! There are a few different ways that we build the hearty, savory flavors of this tomato vegetable soup:
- Olive oil
- Celery and onion. We read once a long time ago that if you want to make the best soup ever, you always should start with a generous amount of sautéed onion and celery. So! That’s exactly what we’ve done. Give them at least the full five minutes on the heat at the beginning—that’s your first layer of flavor and it’s essential for making a really flavorful vegetable soup.
- Vegetables! Of course. We use green beans and zucchini—a classic Italian vegetable soup comob. However, once you get the hang of this soup, you can feel free to play around with the veggies and try swapping in other favorites.
- Herbs and spices: garlic, thyme, smoked paprika, basil
- Stock—vegetable stock, or chicken stock if you don’t need the soup to be vegetarian.
- Canned tomatoes x2: a can of whole tomatoes and a can of tomato sauce. Remember, tomatoes are a source of umami, and umami = big big vegetable soup flavor!
- Salt. Of course! Salt the finished soup to taste, and if you choose to garnish the soup with Parmigiano cheese—something we highly recommend—that’s even more salty goodness.
How Do You Make Vegetable Soup From Scratch?
Homemade vegetable soup is really an easy thing to accomplish, and once you’ve got the idea of how to build a great soup from scratch, you’ll be dreaming up your own vegetable soup recipes in no time. And that’s great! Use our recipe as a vegetable soup recipe template, a jumping off point. You’ve got all winter to experiment with your favorite veggies to include in your vegetable soup! Here’s how to make the best vegetable soup ever—we’ll walk you through the process, then you can get into the kitchen and make it your own!
- Sauté onions and celery until fragrant and translucent. Take your time—remember, this is where your real flavor begins.
- Add the garlic, zucchini and green beans and give them a little sauté, too. This step will deepen their flavor a bit before the soup gets all liquidy. A layer of flavor.
- Pour in everything else and bring the pot of soup to a boil.
- Turn it to a low simmer and cover the pot. Simmer for about half an hour, until the vegetables are super tender and it looks like vegetable soup you’d like to eat!
- Eat! We like to serve it topped with lots of freshly grated Parmigiano and fresh basil.
Can I Freeze Vegetable Soup?
Yep! Vegetable soup is ideal for freezing. You may even want to double this recipe and plan to freeze some for later. It’s so nice to have on hand for quick, warming, nutritious lunches and light dinners. Cool the soup and then store it in freezer safe containers for up to three months. It’s also a great one for meal trains—people get tired of an endless train of heavy food, and something light but comforting is often welcome.
Tools You’ll Need:
More Vegetarian Soup Recipes To Try
Warming, densely nutritious and so satisfying, these healthy soup recipes keep us honest all season long. Give them a try!
Homemade Vegetable Soup, On Repeat
We really do make this vegetable soup over and over again, from the first fallen leaf and well into spring. If you make it, let us know how you like it! Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! Happy eating!
