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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, 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 Vegetable Soup!
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.
Best Vegetable Soup Recipe | 60-second Video
How to make the best vegetable soup:
- The 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.
Ingredients in Homemade Vegetable Soup
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, leeks, shallots,
- garlic
- celery
- fennel
- carrots
- parsnips
- potatoes
- bell pepper
- green beans
- zucchini
- corn
- tomatoes
- cabbage
- wilting greens- kale, chard, collards, etc.
And yes, you can absolutely make this Vegetable Soup Recipe in your Instant Pot. A quick, 4-minute pressure cook, manual release, then add any quick-cooking veggies like corn and fresh herbs. ( See recipe notes.)
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.
I prefer my vegetable soup clean and lean, with a little drizzle of good olive oil.
Simple and healthy. Nourishing for body and soul!
How to elevate a Vegetable soup!
Swirl any of the following over your steaming bowl of vegetable soup for elevated flavor!
- Fresh Basil Pesto (Nut-Free)
- Gremolata (a zesty Italian herb sauce)
- Arugula Almond Pesto
- How to Make Authentic Harissa Paste in Two Easy Ways!
- Authentic Zhoug Sauce Recipe
Farmers Market Vegetable Soup – a delicious way to give your body some love this week! Make a batch this Sunday for the upcoming week – perfect for lunches on the go. The soup will keep 4-5 days in the fridge!
I hope you are having a relaxing holiday weekend.
xoxo
More recipes you may like:
- 50-Must-try Farmers Market Recipes!
- 20 Warming Broth-Based Soups
- Farmers Market Veggie Enchiladas
- Farmers Market Fried Rice
- Farmers Market Pasta Salad
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)
- 1 cup diced fennel bulb (optional)
- 4 cloves garlic rough chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme ( or oregano 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)
- 2 cups diced zucchini or yellow summer squash
- 2 cups chopped green beans
- 1 ear corn, kernels cut off
- 4 cups veggie stock or broth, chicken or beef stock, or bone broth
- 2 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Garnish:
- 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley ( or basil ribbons)
- 1/2 teaspoon of lemon or vinegar ( at the end)
- pepper, cayenne, or chili flakes to taste
- a drizzle of olive oil, gremolata or grated pecorino cheese
Other soup additions: diced tomato, diced bell peppers, diced potatoes, diced cabbage, diced kale, cooked beans ( like chickpeas, white beans, etc) or cooked grain. If going the tomato route feel free to add a tablespoon of tomato paste for extra “tomatoey” richness.
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, fennel, 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 zucchini and green beans ( and optional tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes, or bell pepper) stock, water, bay leaves and salt. ( You will add the corn later).
- Bring to a simmer, cover and simmer until carrots are just tender about 10-12 minutes. 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!
Notes
Feel free to swap out other veggies, being thoughtful about the size you cut them and cooking times.
Feel free to add 1/2 cup quinoa (uncooked) or cooked beans to add heartiness.
Feel free to add a big handful of chopped greens ( spinach, chard, arugula) to the soup at the end!
Other additions and flavorings:
- Mexican chili powder, cumin, cilantro and lime.
- Indian curry powder
- Pesto or fresh basil
- Croutons
- Tortilla chips
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
Keywords: vegetable soup, vegetable soup recipe, healthy vegetable soup recipe, best vegetable soup, veggie soup, vegetable soup diet, vegetable soup with cabbage, healthy vegetable soup
This recipe taught me how to make a great soup! It’s my go to.
★★★★★
Love hearing this Ellen!
This soup is light, nutritious, and delicious. I made a double batch planning to freeze it. It was gone in 2 days!
★★★★★
So glad you enjoyed Denise! Such a great way to eat all those veggies!
A wonderful fresh soup, perfect for a cold April! My favorite part is the semi firmness of the veggies. Thank you, now back to my second bowl.
★★★★★
Thanks Mary! Glad you enjoyed it!
Wow! Best soup ever. So flavorful. Swapped out a couple veggies just based on what we had on hand. Will definitely make again.
★★★★★
Great to hear Debbie!
Made this delicious soup a few times now, and each time it gets better and better. A few different veggies thrown in, Parmesan rind, fresh or canned corn, a leek, tons of garlic, red chili flakes or jalapeño, beans or quinoa, it’s always so very very good Enough for heathy lunches and dinner throughout the week!
★★★★★
Love it- glad you are enjoying!
Our first wintery storm was brewing and I needed a good veggie packed soup. This was it! Sooo flavourful! I added two small golden beets and two small purple beets, cubed. For protein, chickpeas. For the broth, “Better Than Bouillon” Seasoned Veggie Base and Voila! Perfectly delicious, nourishing to the bone, soup!
★★★★★
Sounds lovely and nourishing Anna!
Terrific soup! I’ve made vegetable soup many times but it always seemed lacking. The addition of sherry during the initial phase and then apple cider vinegar at the end makes ALL the difference! This recipe will be in rotation at our house from now on – thanks, Sylvia!
★★★★★
Thanks Brita!
Another winner! So easy to adapt and was delicious! Used fire roasted tomatoes and tomato paste as well as many different veggies. Also added some sliced shiitake mushrooms for some umami flavor. Soooo yummy! Thanks!
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed this!
Sylvia – I love this recipe and its flexibility! I was searching for a vegetable soup recipe without tomatoes…. not so many out there! This one however was perfect. There were some things I didn’t use (fennel, onion) and I added ditalini pasta (cooked separately and added at the end). Also added the 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar (new to me!) and cayenne. I wanted to thicken it up a little so used tapioca flour (1 tbl maybe?) with soup broth to dissolve, then added it slowly at the end and got the consistency I was looking for. This really is a great recipe and one I’ll make again (and have already passed along the link to friends). Thank you for sharing it and teaching through it, too! – April
★★★★★
Thanks so much April- glad this worked for you and happy you made it your own!
I literally make some variation of this soup every week depending on what I have on hand — so delicious and filling but still feels very healthy! love!!
★★★★★
Awesome Jac- great to hear!