Best Homemade Vegetable Soup
Posted Feb 05, 2020, Updated Apr 24, 2024
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This homemade vegetable soup recipe is easy to make in 30 minutes on the stovetop. It’s nutritious, flavorful, loaded with vegetables and so much more delicious than canned soup! Plus it’s freezer-friendly and makes great leftovers.
This homemade vegetable soup is a cold-weather staple that is healthy and hearty. I love serving it with a side of no knead bread, homemade biscuits, homemade french bread, or pretzel bread, and topping it with homemade croutons for a comforting winter meal.
This easy vegetable soup contains a whopping seven cups of vegetables delivering loads of nutrients, plus beans for protein and fiber. It’s vegetarian, vegan and highly customizable to fit your personal dietary needs and taste preferences.
Vegetable Soup Recipe: Ingredients & Substitutions
You can easily customize this vegetable soup recipe to fit your specific tastes and dietary needs. So let’s chat about the ingredient and possible substituions!
- Vegetable broth. Chicken broth is a good substitute.
Vegetables. Choose your favorite vegetables, just be sure to use 7 cups. Suggestions include: broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, spinach, kale, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.- fresh vs. frozen. You can use frozen or fresh vegetables in this recipe with great results. I do not recommend using canned vegetables (besides the beans and tomatoes).
- Kidney Beans. We only use one can of beans in this vegetable soup recipe because they’re not my husband’s favorite (putting it lightly). Feel free to use any variety of beans and add 1 more can if you love beans.
- Diced tomatoes. choose your favorite – we love fire-roasted.
How to make Homemade Vegetable Soup
This vegetable soup recipe is so easy to make. But we’ll walk through the steps together to ensure your soup-making success. Don’t forget to watch the video too.
Begin by sautéing the onion and garlic in olive oil until the onions are soft.
Once the onions are soft, add the hard vegetables (carrots, peppers, and celery) to the pan plus another tablespoon olive oil, cover and cook until those veggies are soft and cooked through.
Next, add the frozen vegetables and stir until they are evenly distributed throughout the vegetable soup mixture. Then add the diced tomatoes and stir to combine.
Then, add the vegetable broth (or whichever broth you choose) and add the seasonings and beans and stir until everything is combined and the ingredients are evenly distributed.
Once all the ingredients are mixed together, turn heat to high and bring mixture to a boil.
After the mixture reaches a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are cooked.
Serve
Use a ladle to serve soup into bowls, top with parmesan cheese and fresh parsley. This soup is the perfect way to warm up on a chilly day, and pairs well with these recipes:
- Top it with these homemade croutons and you will be in heaven.
- I love making this no knead bread or french bread and dipping it into this soup.
- Make a batch of these easy homemade biscuits.
- You can’t go wrong with a batch of these homemade dinner rolls served with this homemade vegetable soup.
- This pretzel bread is the perfect partner for this best vegetable soup recipe.
Store
Store this vegetable soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Homemade Vegetable Soup Recipe FAQs
This vegetable soup recipe has plenty of flavor to satisfy the taste buds! However, if you’re looking to add more here are some suggestions: fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, etc.), red pepper flakes for a little spice, white wine, lots of freshly grated parmesan cheese, etc.
Yes! Due to the high number of nutrient-rich vegetables, this easy vegetable soup is very healthy. One serving delivers 62% of the daily recommend amount of Vitamin A and 80% of the daily recommend calcium.
When it comes to vegetables, there really isn’t a huge difference in stock vs. broth, and they are commonly used interchangeably.
However, when it comes to meat broths (chicken, beef, etc.) there is a difference in how they are made. Stock is made by simmering bones from your meat for a long time, meaning it has more collagen and is a richer taste. While broth is lighter and made from simmering meat, making it great for soups.
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Easy Homemade Vegetable Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 cup onion (finely diced)
- 1 cup green pepper (diced)
- 1 cup celery (diced)
- 1 cup red pepper (diced)
- 1 cup carrots (peeled & diced (about 4 carrots))
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 14 ounces kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
- 28 ounces diced tomatoes
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 1 cup frozen green beans
To serve:
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- Parmesan cheese for topping
Instructions
- Add olive oil, onions and garlic to a large stockpot. Cook on medium-high heat until onions begin to soften (about 5 minutes)
- Add green pepper, red pepper, carrots, celery and stir to coat the vegetables with olive oil.
- Cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally or until the vegetables are soft.
- Add vegetable broth, Italian seasoning, sea salt, pepper, beans, diced tomatoes, peas, corn and green beans and stir.
- Turn heat to high and bring mixture to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until vegetables are cooked.
- Use a ladle to serve soup into bowls, top with parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.
Video
Notes
- Vegetable broth. Chicken broth is a good substitute.
- Diced tomatoes. choose your favorite – we love fire-roasted.
- Kidney Beans. We only use one can of beans in this vegetable soup recipe because they’re not my husband’s favorite (putting it lightly). Feel free to use any variety of beans and add 1 more can if you love beans.
- Vegetables. Choose your favorite vegetables, just be sure to use 7 cups. Suggestions include: broccoli, zucchini, cauliflower, spinach, kale, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc.
-
- fresh vs. frozen. You can use frozen or fresh vegetables in this recipe with great results. I do not recommend using canned vegetables (besides the beans and tomatoes).
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Excellent and so easy to follow.
So yummy and wholesome! Perfect in winter!
Easy, flavorful, healthy!
I forgot onion so I subbed onion powder, and I forgot to buy green beans but it didn’t matter, this was still delicious! Next time I make this I might make some chick pea pasta to add in before serving, but other than trying to sneak in more protein there is no reason this recipe shouldn’t be made as is. Thank you for having great dinner ideas that are healthy and tasty!
Maybe a dumb question but if I use veggies like spinach and zucchini do I need to add it at a different time than the carrots and celery? My family doesn’t like peppers so I’m trying to sub them but I would assume they would have a shorter cook time than some veggies.
Yes, zucchini and spinach cook faster than carrots and celery. I would wait until the carrots and celery are mostly cooked before adding them.
This soup was absolutely delicious, and very easy to make! I only used 1 can of diced tomatoes because I’m not a super big fan of tomatoes and it was perfect! It’s very healthy, and still better than any other soups I’ve had! Me and my family loved it, I would highly recommend this to anyone.
Thank you Katie! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
It actually takes at least 2 hours to make and let it cool down for a while before serving. Not 30 minutes as stated. However it is a healthy satisfying recipe. I made it because of all the Italian seasoning, which adds flavor to the broth, and because it is adaptable, so I used parsnips, purple carrots, potato, sweet potato and cauliflower.
Hey Ronald! I’m sorry it took you longer to make the recipe. It should not take 2 hours!
I love how a veggie soup can be just as YUMMY as a meaty soup with all those flavors.