I love this easy vegetable soup recipe and make it all the time! It’s so comforting and satisfying, made with a light tomato broth and packed with lots of healthy veggies.
I’ve been making this simple vegetable soup for years. It’s light, nutritious, and genuinely makes you feel good! I make it all year round and love that the recipe is adaptable to whatever veggies are sitting in your fridge or the season.
This cozy soup comes together in just one pot, making it perfect for a fuss-free, flavorful meal. I love making a big batch and keeping it in the fridge for easy lunches or dinners throughout the week!
Key Ingredients
- Vegetables: We use a lot of veggies for this soup, but feel free to use what you have on hand. I love onion, carrot, celery, potato or sweet potato, cabbage, and peas. You can customize this vegetable soup with your favorite seasonal vegetables! In the summer, add fresh zucchini or corn. In the winter, try hearty root vegetables like parsnips or turnips. The possibilities are endless!
- Tomato paste and tomatoes: Make the base of our deliciously light broth. If you have fresh tomatoes, use them! I’ve shared how many you’ll need to substitute canned in the tips section of the recipe.
- Garlic, fennel seeds, bay leaves, and red pepper flakes: Add a lovely flavor to our soup. I love fennel with vegetables and use either ground or crushed whole fennel seeds in this soup. Pepper flakes add a hint of heat (use as much as you like for your preferred spice level).
- Broth: You can use your favorite broth in this recipe. I love this homemade vegetable broth when I have it on hand (it also makes this soup vegan and vegetarian). Use homemade bone broth (or store-bought) for a higher protein soup.
- Apple cider vinegar or lemon juice: I love adding a bit of vinegar or fresh lemon juice before serving this soup. It brightens all the flavors and makes them pop.
How to Make the Best Vegetable Soup
You’ll start by sweating onions, carrots, and celery in olive oil with some tomato paste. Then, stir in more flavor with garlic, fennel seeds, salt, and pepper.
Pour in your broth (try homemade veggie or homemade chicken broth). Then, add canned tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, and bay leaves (or add your favorite veggies).
You will allow the soup to simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Then toss in frozen peas and cook them for a few more minutes to heat through.
Before you serve, taste the soup and adjust with more salt and pepper. For a pop of flavor, add a dash of apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice.
Vegetable Soup Variations
- To add protein, stir in cooked or canned beans. Try white beans, chickpeas, lentils, and black beans. See our lentil soup or this white bean soup with vegetables for inspiration.
- To add pasta, stir in pasta 10 minutes before the veggies soup has finished cooking. I love smaller pasta shapes like orzo in soup or adding tortellini (like in this veggie tortellini soup).
- To make it creamy, add a splash of cream, milk, or unsweetened dairy-free milk at the end. You can also stir in a little bit of unsweetened yogurt or sour cream. Or blend all the ingredients like we do with this creamy vegetable soup.
- Or, add more veggies! You can add as many vegetables as you like to this soup. Feel free to toss in a handful of other vegetables, such as cauliflower, summer squash, or corn.
Easy Vegetable Soup
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This hearty vegetable soup recipe is healthy, easy to make, and tastes amazing. It’s also vegan when you use vegetable broth. Since vegetables vary by seasonality, swap or add different vegetables for the veggies listed below. Kale or spinach, for example, is an excellent substitute for cabbage.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped onion, 1 large
1 ½ cups chopped carrot, 3 to 4 carrots
1 ½ cups chopped celery, 2 to 3 stalks
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 teaspoons minced garlic, 4 cloves
3/4 teaspoon ground fennel seed
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional for heat
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes with their liquid
6 cups (1420ml) stock or broth, see our veggie broth or chicken stock
2 cups chopped potato, 2 medium
3 to 4 heaped cups chopped or shredded cabbage
2 bay leaves
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice, optional
Directions
1Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery, and tomato paste. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables have softened and the onions are translucent, 8 to 10 minutes.
2Add the garlic, fennel, black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and the red pepper flakes. Cook, while stirring, for one minute.
3Pour in the canned tomatoes and their juices and the stock/broth.
4Add the potatoes, cabbage, and bay leaves. Raise the heat to medium-high and bring the soup to a boil. Partially cover the pot with a lid, then reduce the heat to maintain a low simmer.
5Simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes and other vegetables are tender. Add the frozen peas and cook for five more minutes.
6Remove the pot from the heat and remove the bay leaves. Stir in the cider vinegar (or use lemon juice). Taste and season with more salt, pepper, or vinegar. Serve.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Homemade vegetable soup lasts in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. I love freezing individual servings of this soup. To thaw, leave it in the refrigerator overnight and gently reheat the next day.
- Fresh tomatoes: Substitute about 1 pound (5 to 6 tomatoes) for one 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. Calculations included vegetable broth.
So good and tasty! I only add some chicken leftover to make it a complete meal. Just like my mom used to make.
Thank you for sharing.
best veggie soup ever I used chicken stock was leftover from whole chicken sectioned the previuos day pratically have to make a stock ever time I section a chicken into quarters, i didnt have tomato paste so i used a bit of tomato basil soup i didn’t have potatoes so i put asparagus instead weee! is fun meal to make your own love chicken soup reminds me of grandma and soon I will be a grandma and this fun also weee!
Plan on making this soup. I don’t have fennel seeds in my pantry(one of the few I don’t have!!) Do you think this spice woukd make or brake this recipe? Or should I buy some to have on hand and use in your recipe, which I want to try? Thanks.
I love the fennel, but the soup is still quite taste without it.
It took a long time to prep all the veggies, added chickpeas & frozen green beans BUT it was Delicious! Healthy! Hearty! Using slow cooker I put chicken tenders in first. Added frozen peas last hour. I give it 5 ⭐️ , despite lengthy prep time. It was worth it!