Seriously Good Vegetable Soup
This vegetable soup recipe is seriously so good! It's easy to make, and full of healthy vegetables and fresh flavor. There's nothing "blah" about it!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on July 10, 2024
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.
Watch How to Make Vegetable Soup
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:
- Classic Minestrone Soup
- Best Lentil Soup
- Chickpea Noodle Soup
- Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Pasta and Beans Soup)
- Quinoa Vegetable Soup with Kale
- Sweet Potato, Kale and Chickpea Soup
Don’t miss the hearty soups in my cookbook, Love Real Food. They’re some of my favorites!
Seriously Good Vegetable Soup
This vegetable soup recipe is seriously so good! It’s easy to make, and full of veggies and fresh flavor. If you’re feeing under the weather or just wanting to lighten up your meals, this soup is the answer. Recipe yields 6 bowls of soup.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 medium yellow or white onion, chopped
- 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2 cups chopped seasonal vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, green beans, butternut squash, potatoes, bell pepper, zucchini or yellow squash
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided, to taste
- 6 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- ½ teaspoon curry powder
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 large can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes
- 4 cups (32 ounces) vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, reduce or omit if sensitive to spice
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 cups chopped kale or collard greens or chard (thick ribs removed), or spinach
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Warm 3 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the chopped onion, carrot, celery, seasonal vegetables and ½ teaspoon of the salt. Cook, stirring often, until the onion has softened and is turning translucent, about 6 to 8 minutes.
- Add the garlic, curry powder and thyme. Cook until fragrant while stirring frequently, about 1 minute. Pour in the diced tomatoes with their juices and cook for a few more minutes, stirring often.
- Pour in the broth and water. Add ½ teaspoon more salt, 2 bay leaves and the red pepper flakes. Season generously with freshly ground black pepper. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil, then partially cover the pot and reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer.
- Cook for 25 minutes, then remove the lid and add the chopped greens. Continue simmering for 5 minutes or more, until the greens have softened to your liking.
- Remove the pot from heat and remove the bay leaves. Stir in the lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Taste and season with more salt, pepper and/or red pepper flakes. (You might need up to ½ teaspoon more salt, depending on your vegetable broth and your personal preferences.) Divide into bowls and enjoy.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my quinoa vegetable soup and lentil soup.
Storage suggestions: This soup keeps well in the refrigerator for about 4 days. It freezes and defrosts well if you want to freeze extra portions for later!
Recommended equipment: I’m convinced that everything I cook in my Dutch oven (affiliate link) comes out extra delicious.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This was amazing! Thank you! I mixed it up and added a whole bunch of asparagus and some homemade tomato paste. Yum!
Absolutely delicious! Even though it’s been getting hot, soups are my go-to, especially for using up all my produce. This is a very simple recipe and really delicious, I’ve been eating it on and off, freezing some batches. If you eat cheese, I really recommend putting some slices in. I’ve been using parmesanand Trader Joe’s has this rosemary olive oil one that pairs with it nicely. Thanks Kate <3
I think this is a good soup for *most* times of the year! Thank you for sharing, Christina. I appreciate your review.
Hi! I am definitely going to make this soup! I have a lot of veggies to use! Can I cut the amount of olive oil that you used in half? I am on WW and 4 TBS is a lot of points. I was hoping it would be just as good with less olive oil used! What do you think? Can’t wait to make this with the veggies I have on hand!
Hi Leia! The olive oil helps with cooking and aids in overall flavor, but you can cut the quantity as needed. Just be mindful of when you are cooking your vegetables that they aren’t sticking to the pan.
Excellent soup for the slightly cool spring days here in Victoria. For vegetables I used some white potato, cauliflower, green beans and spinach for the greens. Other than cooking the onion mix a little longer and adding a bit less red pepper I followed the recipe exactly. Big hit with my wife. Thanks.
I tried to make this soup for my family. They loved it and so did I! I must admit I was a bit skeptical of all the ingredients together, it seemed “too much”, but I’m super happy I made it ’cause it’s delicious! Greetings from Spain.
This soup is fantastic and I swear it gets better day after day. I know this because I live alone and this is a LOT of soup! I did cut back on the amount of oil, used 1 tablespoon instead of 4 and it was still fantastic. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
Yes, I like this one better after it sits too. Thank you for sharing, Andi!
Hi Kate
I love your salads, tried a few. Wanted to try the soup. What if I were to replace the canned tomatoes with fresh, how to go about it. In India we mostly use fresh tomatoes. Also can you post a recipe of homemade veg broth.
Hi Chandni! Glad to hear it. To replace one can (15 ounces) of diced tomatoes, you could use about 2 cups chopped ripe tomatoes. You’d need to double that for this recipe. In step two, when it suggests simmering the tomatoes, you might want to simmer them even longer to help break them down. I don’t have a vegetable broth recipe yet, but you could honestly use water instead—should be great!
I get most of my groceries delivered from Imperfect Foods now since I’m staying at home, which means every week I have an abundance of veggies. I was looking for a way to use them up and this was a huge success. I only had a 14 oz can of tomatoes on hand so I had to halve the recipe, but it’s still plenty since it’s just for myself. My seasonal veggies were zucchini, red bell pepper, purple potatoes, and kale. The curry powder and the lemon juice really make it stand out for me. So delicious and can’t wait to make it again with different veggies. :)
I just searched through your site tonight looking for a veggie broth recipe, too. We love so many of your recipes and had hoped you might have a homemade veggie bouillon powder recipe. If you end up with spare time, it’d love your take on one. :)
Delicious! Pretty much followed the recipe & cleaned out the veggie drawer, used fresh thyme. I only had baby spinach & threw it in at the last minute. A definite keeper. Whole family loved it. Thanks for the recipe – can’t beat a good veggie soup!
Amazing flavours! The only thing i missed is protein, may add some lentils or chickpeas next time. Otherwise: this soup is a winner!
This was very tasty and a great basic recipe to have! I used red pepper and cauliflower. I added black beans in the end to make it a little more filling. Thank you for this healthful recipe! I will be eating it the rest of the week.
I will NEVER make another vegetable soup again! This is delicious. Made 2 batches this weekend! I used whatever veg I had on hand- the best was a mix of frozen small Macedonian mix veg ( corn, peas, carrots, green beans), even some potatoes, diced cabbage…..
The curry is the secret magic ingredient, just perfect!
This soup is delicious! I had a Parmesan cheese rind that I threw in while is was simmering. The depth of flavour is amazing! This is now my go to soup
This soup was “Seriously” fabulous!Followed the recipe ingredients using butternut squash and baby spinach at the end.Ramped up the curry powder to about a 1/2 T and did not add salt (enough in broth) and used a large can of plum tomatoes which I cut in the tin and then further squished into the broth. After sautéing the vegetables and adding in the broth in a pressure cooker, I cooked the soup at pressure for 10 minutes with quick release, then stirred in the baby spinach for another minute before adding lemon and oil. Wow, it was wonderful! Very hard to use portion control!
I LOVE this soup! It has seriously been my “go to” when I want a yummy comfort soup for the past year. It is so quick and easy to make I love that you’re able to switch up vegetables. I’ve used everything including onions, butternut squash, corn, sweet potatoes, red onions, carrots, parsnips, leeks, celery, fennel, etc. And for the greens just this past weekend I used beet greens which gave it a whole other spin. I love adding avocado and melting a little cheese on top when I plate it. I feel like you can’t go wrong with this one.
I love to hear that, Ciara! Thanks so much for sharing.
Trying to eat more veggies in my life and this is a simple way to get a variety of them in one meal! Thanks for another excellent recipe Kate!
Absolutely magical! Loved it! Great for a Melbourne Winter’s day!
I am curious about the curry powder. I have a Jamaican curry powder on hand, but I know there is also a Thai or Asian inspired curry. Which one do you use?
Hi! You could try it with the curry powder you had on hand. The one I used was more traditional to Indian curry flavor. I hope this helps! Let me know if you try it with a different version.
I made it yesterday and we ate it today. It was wonderful! The only changes I made was the Jamaican Curry, chicken broth instead of vegetable broth, and I added ground beef. I think the curry and thyme were amazing! Thank you so much!
Thanks for reporting back, Penny! I’m happy you were able to enjoy it.
I’ve made this soup twice now. This time I used kale, sweet potatoes, green beans and zucchini in the base. I also left out the olive oil and sauteed onions in a little of the stock. Still amazing. First time I used spinach, red bell pepper, zucchini, and yellow squash. I love the versatility of this recipe! Also added two cans of chickpeas both times. I put in more cups of veggies than it requests but I like my soup really hearty.
Wow, Wow, Wow… This Soup Recipe Is Far Better Than My Technique Of Making It. My Recipe Was Little Different. But Your Method Is Delicious. Thanks
Delicious I’ve made it several times now in big batches my wifes got a lot of health problems this soup gives her a boost extra chilli and curry powder we love it 5 star
This is amazing a massive hit at my house :), really lovely veggie soup x
An easy, adaptable and delicious soup. I made it, using things I had in excess from my weekly vegetable farm share: mainly broccoli leaves and green beans. I could not have thought of a better way to combine these vegetables and use up what I had in excess in my fridge. The soup turned out great, and tasted even better the the next day, with a fresh squeeze of lemon.
I’m happy to hear that you loved it with what you had on hand, Terri! Thank you for taking the time to comment.
This is the best vegetable soup I’ve ever had!!! I want to make a batch every week or two and eat it throughout the week. I’ve tried so many vegetable soup and minestrone soup recipes and never wanted to make them more than once. Thank you so much for this one–the search is over. I had a bunch of random veggies from the farmers market and this was perfect. I used: 6 fresh tomatoes (peeled and chopped), half a small cabbage, a large onion, two huge carrots, several celery ribs and 1 large potato. Basically I followed your recipe but with fresh tomatoes and used potato and cabbage for the two cups of veggies.
This is my favorite soup. The most flavorful soup I have tasted. I make it at least once a month and always freeze some to enjoy until the next time. Also telling everyone about it. Thanks love your recipes.
I am making this soup for the third time and it is amazing. The only thing I changed was I left out the kale and sweet potatoes. I added red potatoes and used mixed frozen vegetables. The reason this soup is so good is your basic recipe and spices. I love to cook and like things that freeze well. My husband actually asks for this soup now and I can pull it out of the freezer and it takes like it was just made.
Your recipes are awesome, thank you!
I love that this one is such a hit and that you seem to always keep it on hand! Thank you for sharing, Patricia.
A lovely soup! My soup may have been a touch different to the original here. I used 4 medium tomatoes and on top of the carrot celery base I added some squash. All in all it came out well! The curry powder fills out the flavour gaps I think. This one is going in the book. Thank you for sharing
Which is better, to eat a mix of vegetables raw, or put them in a mixer and make a soup e.g Carrots, corn, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower etc.
Many thanks
This is the very best veggie soup ever! The recipe gives you lots of ingredient choices and the spices make the soup tasty. Can’t praise it enough.
I love this recipe! I’m a vegetarian so I added a can of cannellini beans for protien. My husband suggested some worcestershire sauce so I added a tablespoon and it came out amazing. I topped it off with a sprinkle of vegetable seasoning that I get at our farmer’s market. This is going into the lunch prep rotation.
I made this soup as a transition from a 10 day juice cleanse. It tastes like heaven in a bowl. Love the curry and the heat from the red pepper!! Thank you for another amazing recipe. We will be making it again!
The recipe asks for 4 cups of vegetable broth. Do you have a recipe for vegetable broth? All store bought broths here have flavour enhancers which I am sensitive to, so I’d like to make my own. But with all these vegetables in the soup, is it really needed?
Hi Lisa, I don’t have one just yet sorry! I haven’t tried many either that I have loved it. You may be able to use water and adjust your salt a little if you can’t find just what you want.
Thankl you Kate! I made this soup on the weekend and it is indeed seriously good!! A taste sensation in fact. It did not disappoint. Except I doubled the curry amount for more warmth and curry flavour and left out the chilli flakes. I went with a combo of all the suggested vegies.
Had to estimate the volume of veg because I don’t understand US cups, but soup went very well anyway! :)
Wow! Absolutely delicious! I made this following your recipe exactly. My husband usually needs to eat a bite of bread with every spoonful of soup, but while we ate this, he did not even touch the bread that was in front of him. I said “is it because the bread is bad, or because the soup is good?” He said “because the soup is good!”. We will make this every week from now on! We are trying to eat more vegetables so thank you for helping us! We also love your veggie lasagne and black bean enchiladas on here. You are a wonderful cook.
Fantastic! Thank you for sharing, Martha.
This is seriously the best soup I have ever made.
I have made this soup probably over a dozen times with different vegetables and its always so good!
I was wondering though, if I wanted to make this without tomatoes, is there anything you would suggest to add to give it some more flavor?
Hi RK, The tomatoes as a base really help to provide a great flavor base here.
Awesome soup!!
Made this soup during our september colorado snow storm. Awesome flavor. I added sweet potatoes spinach mushrooms and some orzo during the long simmer. Thank you
Snow right now is crazy to think about! But, this soup would be the perfect warming recipe. Thank you for your review!
Ridiculously flavorful and satisfying. I put everything in there except the kitchen sink (too crunchy). No butternut squash … really, zucchini and yellow squash was squashy enough. But I did add broccoli and red cabbage. I used all vegetable broth with zero water. We had some fresh thyme and basil in the yard … YUM. Hope that wasn’t too rogue of a variation. Evenings are turning chilly, time for something that’s this nutritious!
I”m glad you loved it, Dave! Thank you for taking the time to share.
Delicious. I used Imagine Vegetable Broth, which is Vegan. It is very flavorful. Followed exactly as written. Added fresh herbs from the garden. Rosemary, basil and thyme. Made a double batch to freeze.
Absolutely love your veggie soup. I’ve never been successful with soup before but this soup tastes great every time I make it. I’ve even been a little adventurous by adding bean, lentils or chickpeas. It’s a really great recipe to build soup-making confidence.
My new favorite vegetable soup! My husband made it and changed it a bit – he omitted the lemon juice, used cabbage instead of greens, and used 1 packet of concentrated vegetable broth. We will definitely make it again!
My aunt recently got sick. So I decided to make her a healthy soup period this soup was the best. I made it in my instapot and it took approximately 18 minutes. Thank you so much
This is a favorite of mine too, and like a lot of others in the comments I mix it up. I like to add some lentils to make it extra filling, and sometimes I add pasta or even tortellini if I’m feeling extravagant!
I like to add Baked/cannellini beans if for no other reason than its a good source of protein. The baked beans I rinse to negate the baked bean flavour because I think it distorts the flavour of the soup. I also think nothing is off limits. I just made a soup containing carrot peels and was delicious. Now I’m going to add potato peels because that is where the nutrients are said to be. My broth always comes from a cut-up boiled chicken carcass with the residue meat making a Chicken pot pie. Nothing is wasted !!. Just a fetish not a financial necessity – fortunately!!
How to make soup more filling ?? no a bread roll which is the simple go to…..Try dumplings.(Dough balls ??) ..added at end.. Delicious !!!
This was the first time I’ve ever made vegetable soup and I don’t think I’ll ever be using another recipe again! It was hearty and warms the body and soul. I just used sweet potatoes and zucchini. After reading the comments I made a trip to the store just to get curry powder, and I am so glad that I did – it was the star of this soup. I was a bit enthusiastic with the curry powder and the red pepper flakes and it still tasted fantastic. It was the perfect soup for a nice transition into fall.
Delicious. I used chicken stock rather than vegetable because it’s what I had on hand. No sage unfortunately so used a sprinkle of all purpose seasoning (I’m in New Zealand and it’s a blend of herbs and spices). Also had no greens on hand so added a cup of frozen peas, corn and baby beans. Also added some pasta and had what was very close to a minestrone, but followed the cooking instructions pretty rigorously. Definitely make again.
Hi! Im trying to incorporate more veggies in my life, but can’t stand the texture of cooked tomatoes. Is there a substitute I could use instead? Tomato paste, blending the tomatoes, tomato sauce? I love all veggies, and was thinking about adding okra (sliced) and brussel sprouts (cut into 4s). Do you think that would work for this recipe? I also wanted to add green cabbage and spinach.
Hi Sarah, You could try crushed tomatoes? Although that will impact flavor and texture. Let me know what you try!
Hey, so I order my groceries for delivery, and they didn’t have okra. I used tomato paste with basil garlic and oregano instead of the tomatoes. I sauteed the celery, onions, and carrots. Then added the curry powder, salt and pepper, then the garlic, then tomato paste. Let it cook for a bit, then added the broth. Then potatoes till I could stick a fork in them, but they weren’t done. Then I added the herbs. Then i added brussel sprouts. Then broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, zucchini, squash, asparagus, green beans, and corn. Then the last 5 minutes, like you said, I added the green cabbage, spinach, and kale and i diced up a fresh jalapeno (deseeded and rinsed thoroughly). Let it cook till the cabbage was nice and flimsy. I tasted the broth and it was too spicy (although i love spicy, too much in a soup is no bueno), so i added a bit more water to cut it with a dash more salt, pepper and curry. It tasted yummy, so i added the fresh squeezed lemon juice and a bit more olive oil as suggested, and it was magnificent. I gave some to my guy neighbors to try, and they LOVED it! They said if I make it again, they will happily eat more. That was the first time I made it. That curry powder was seriously a good addition. Definitely made it more earthy and fragrant! Thank you!!
I used two sweet potatoes and half a red pepper as my seasonal veggies. Another easy and yummy recipe from CookieandKate!