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Quick and Easy Creamy Vegetable Soup

How to make quick and easy creamy vegetable soup with only one pot in under 35 minutes. Jump to the Creamy Vegetable Soup Recipe

A Bowl of Creamy Vegetable Soup Recipe

How to Make Our Favorite Creamy Vegetable Soup

We have been making this soup for years. It’s simple to make, healthy, and comforting. Throw lots of vegetables into a big pot, add stock and herbs, and then simmer until done. Blend with a little cream or coconut milk, and you are done. If you are looking for a brothy vegetable soup, try our Easy Homemade Vegetable Soup (it’s made with lots of veggies and a light tomato broth).

Creamy Vegetable Soup

This soup comes together quickly. It’s also light on the prep. (By the way, this vegetable soup is easy to adapt. Make it gluten-free, vegetarian, or vegan. I’ve shared how below.)

The real trick to making this soup is cutting all the vegetables a similar size. We start by cooking onions, carrots, and celery in a big pot until softened. Then we add potatoes, garlic, stock, and herbs.

Adding the Vegetables
Add thyme and bay leaves

After simmering for 15 minutes, the vegetables will be soft. Remove the herbs (I cannot even count how many times I’ve forgotten a bay leaf!). Then blend the soup until smooth. At this point, we like to add a splash of cream or half-and-half. You can skip it or use a dairy-free option like coconut milk.

If you love this creamy soup, take a look at our broccoli cheddar soup. We use a similar method to make it!

Substitutions for Gluten-Free, Vegetarian, and Vegan Diets

This recipe is easy to adapt. Here’s how to change the recipe for specific diets:

  • Gluten-free Vegetable Soup: Some store-bought stocks contain gluten. Look for stock or broth that mentions it is gluten-free on the packaging. You could also consider using homemade stock.
  • Vegetarian and Vegan Vegetable Soup: Replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock. For the best flavor, we recommend one that’s heavy on mushrooms. Instead of the cream, use coconut milk. You could also add some drained and rinsed white beans to the soup while it simmers. Once blended, they will add to the soup’s creamy texture.

Make Ahead Tips

Refrigerate the soup for up to 3 days. Or, freeze up to 3 months. The soup will become very thick after freezing. When reheating, add more stock or water to thin it out until your desired consistency.

More Easy Soup Recipes

  • Easy Sausage and Potato Soup — You will love this easy potato soup recipe with Italian sausage, potatoes, garlic, and kale.
  • Simple Ham and Cabbage Soup — This soup with cabbage and ham is hearty, healthy, easy to make, and tastes fantastic.
  • Three Ingredient Tomato Soup — You wouldn’t think that three ingredients — butter, onion, and tomato — can come together to make such a velvety and delicious tomato soup, but let me tell you. They can.
  • Creamy Homemade Potato Soup — You will love this easy soup with potatoes, veggies, garlic, and a luscious creamy broth.
  • Lentil Soup with Lemon and Turmeric — Meet my go-to lentil soup recipe! I make this soup with lentils, carrots, turmeric, and fresh lemon whenever I’m in need of some healthy comfort food.
  • Lemony Chicken Vegetable Soup — This lemon chicken and vegetable soup checks all the boxes. It’s hearty, healthy, satisfying, and tastes incredible.
  • Roasted Butternut Squash Soup — Butternut squash is roasted on top of garlic cloves and fresh thyme then blended with stock into a silky smooth butternut squash soup.

Recipe updated, originally posted December 2011. Since posting this in 2011, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne

Quick and Easy Creamy Vegetable Soup

  • PREP
  • COOK
  • TOTAL

This creamy vegetable soup can be refrigerated up to 3 days and kept in the freezer for up to 3 months. For a vegetarian or vegan version of this soup, replace chicken stock with vegetable stock. For the best flavor, we recommend one that’s heavy on mushrooms. Instead of the cream, use coconut milk.

Makes 4 to 5 Servings

Watch Us Make the Recipe

You Will Need

1 large onion

1 pound carrots, peeled (4 to 5 medium)

4 celery sticks

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 pound thin-skinned potatoes (3 medium or 6 small potatoes)

3 garlic cloves, peeled and halved

3 cups chicken or vegetable stock, see how to make chicken stock

2 bay leaves

3 sprigs fresh thyme (substitute 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme)

1/4 cup half-and-half, cream, or coconut milk

Directions

  • Prepare Soup
  • Chop the onion, carrots, and celery into 1/2-inch chunks. Chop the potatoes into 1/2-inch chunks, but set aside from other vegetables.

    Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Toss the onion, carrots, and the celery around in the oil. Sprinkle with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and add the red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables sweat, soften, and smell sweet; 5 to 10 minutes.

    Stir in the potatoes, garlic, bay leaves, and thyme. Cook for 5 minutes. (Add more oil if the pot seems dry).

    Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until you can easily pierce the potatoes with a fork; about 15 minutes.

    • To Finish
    • Remove the soup from the heat. Take out the bay leaves and thyme sprigs and discard. Use an immersion blender, stand blender, or food mill to puree the soup until smooth.

      Stir in the half-and-half. Taste for seasoning and adjust with more salt and pepper if necessary.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

  • Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values. We did include 1/4 cup of half and half in the calculations and assumed 4 servings. We omitted salt from the calculations since you will need to add to your tastes.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste

Nutrition Per Serving: Calories 234 / Protein 6 g / Carbohydrate 41 g / Dietary Fiber 7 g / Total Sugars 8 g / Total Fat 6 g / Saturated Fat 2 g / Cholesterol 6 mg
AUTHOR: Adam and Joanne Gallagher
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130 comments… Leave a Comment
  • JustCallMeBetty March 15, 2023, 12:41 pm

    Just the thing for a still very much winter day! Love the bit of heat from the chili flakes. I added a red pepper, a bit of garam masala and squeezed a bit of fresh lime juice into the bowl 😊

    Reply
  • Dorothy Eagan January 30, 2023, 3:47 pm

    This is such a great soup! I had a blended vegetable soup in Ireland and came home wanting to duplicate it. I found your recipe and it is wonderful! The best part is you can use any vegetables on hand to make a beautiful and healthy soup. I also added sweet potatoes, spinach, cauliflower, fresh rosemary and white beans. Absolute perfection and good healthy eating. Thank you so much!

    Reply
    • Joanne January 31, 2023, 1:25 pm

      Hi Dorothy, we are thrilled that you have our soup recipe a try! Thanks for coming back and letting us know how much you enjoyed it.

      Reply
  • Kristin Tait December 7, 2022, 3:21 pm

    I made this soup today and subbed the potatoes for sweet potatoes and used coconut milk. Oh my goodness is it ever delicious. Thank you for the wonderful recipe, it will be on repeat in my house now.

    Reply
  • JayH December 4, 2022, 10:33 pm

    Used many leftover veg plus broccoli stalks. I added a 1/4 cup of sugar to take away from their bitter. Thank you for the tip of adding Parm cheese and chilli flakes! This is my lunch all week.

    Reply
    • JayH December 4, 2022, 10:36 pm

      Oh, I used zucchini instead of potatoes, too. And a lot of cauliflower (which I don’t like raw, but I like it in this soup!)

      Reply
  • Caroline-Jayne Malpas January 4, 2022, 2:28 pm

    This soup was an absolute life saver for me, due to the fact of my daughter-in-law turning up on Christmas Day and telling me she had turned vegetarian. The main meal was covered but I needed a quick and delicious soup recipe. This ticked all the boxes and everyone ended up having it as a starter. Made it tonight for the third time since Christmas. It’s one of my families firm favourites now. Thank you!

    Reply
  • Natalie A. December 30, 2021, 6:13 pm

    This is an incredibly delicious soup. I added beets and parsnip. I think most root veggies would work. I also used oat milk instead of cram. Blended beautifully and is really good. Thank you for this great recipe.

    Reply
  • TerryF October 29, 2021, 2:32 pm

    What a delicious soup! Easy and quick to make with ingredients most of us always have in our kitchen. Thank you!

    Reply
  • HOLLY October 22, 2021, 9:59 pm

    OMG soooo good! Just learning about making soups and this was a great start. I used beets and sweet potatoes in place of potatoes and it didn’t miss a beat. Not sure I needed half and half but it didn’t hurt! Thanks for this wonderful recipe 🙂

    Reply

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