5 from 15 votes

Vegetable Soup Recipe

By Sam MerrittPublished Jan 02, 2025

36 Comments

Servings: 8 servings (1 Â¼ cups per serving)

1 hr

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This is the most flavorful vegetable soup recipe you’ll try! It’s a 100% vegetarian (and vegan, actually!) soup, but I promise you won’t miss the meat. Ready in 1 hour and freezer-friendly! Recipe includes a how-to video!

Bowl of vegetable soup made with carrots, potatoes, and more.

The (Actual) Best Vegetable Soup Recipe

If I’m being honest, I never really thought I’d be here sharing a vegetable soup recipe. Growing up (and beyond!), this was one of my least favorite meals. With a few tweaks and some crab meat I’d enjoy it as Maryland crab soup, but otherwise the flavor just fell flat and was always wanting… something.

But I’ve been wanting to up our veggie intake recently and is there an easier way to do it than by tossing a plethora of vegetables into a pot and serving it alongside some warm, buttered sourdough bread?

With some trial and error and plenty of determination, I finally developed a recipe that’s savory and satisfying, and simple to make with a technique and blend of veggies that gives it a truly amazing depth of flavor. We’ve been eating it on repeat this winter!

Overhead view of bowls of vegetable soup with crackers.

What’s to Love:

Easy to make, since we’re using a combination of fresh and frozen vegetables. You will have some chopping to do though, so keep that in mind!
LOTS of flavor! My husband, a hardcore carnivore who frequently likes to remind me that he’s not a rabbit, actually enjoys my vegetable soup. As in he goes back for seconds and asks when I’ll be making it again.
Customizable. The blend of veggies I shared here today worked best for me and my family (we LOVE the sweet potato in it!), but you can of course mix and match. You can stick to whatever veggies are in season or simply use a combination of your favorites.
Freezes well, so it makes a great meal-prep or make-ahead option. It’s also nice to keep individual servings in the freezer for when someone is feeling under the weather!

Ingredients

Look at all those veggies! Before we get started, let’s talk about a few of the key ingredients you’ll need to make this soup.

Veggies. Including carrots, celery, onion, green beans, corn, and lima beans. You can customize these to your liking–I include a few more ideas in the FAQ section below.
Potatoes. I like to use a combination of gold and sweet potatoes. I do not peel my gold potatoes, but I do recommend peeling the sweet potatoes (their skin is tougher). Russet potatoes will also work instead of the gold potatoes, but those will need peeled as well.
Vegetable broth. I really like Kettle & Fire brand right now (I have no affiliation!), but you can use your favorite brand. Or if you’d prefer to use beef or chicken broth (or instant pot chicken stock!), feel free! If someone in the house is sick, I’ll usually use a bone broth, which adds even more flavor.
Fire roasted tomatoes. One of my favorite soup ingredients, I use fire roasted tomatoes in quite a few of my soup recipes, like my chili and taco soup. They have more flavor than traditional canned diced tomatoes, but you can of course use the regular kind if that’s all you have on hand.
Spices & herbs. Just a few! You’ll need some dried basil, black pepper, bay leaves, and thyme. If you don’t have any fresh thyme on hand, you can use a ½ teaspoon of dried thyme.

SAM’S TIP: Do not use a cast iron pot (unless it is enameled) or aluminum, as the tomatoes in the soup can react with it and make your soup taste metallic.

This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full vegetable soup recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!

How to Make Vegetable Soup

Four photos showing vegetables being sauteed in a pot before adding broth and simmering.

Saute the onion, carrots, and celery in oil until softened, then add the garlic. Cook the garlic for a few seconds, stirring frequently. Keep the garlic moving so it doesn’t burn (that’ll make it bitter and can ruin your soup!).
Add the potatoes and cook for a few minutes. This step won’t significantly soften or really cook the potatoes much, but it will infuse flavor into them.
Stir in the tomato paste and spices and stir frequently as they cook and caramelize. Caramelizing the tomato paste (cooking it til it’s a deep red color) and adding the spices at this stage rather than after the broth helps infuse so much flavor into the veggies and the soup as a whole.
Add the remaining ingredients, then let the soup simmer until all of the veggies are fork-tender, about 30 minutes or so. Make sure to remove your bay leaves and thyme and check for additional seasoning before enjoying.

And let me stress… don’t skip the simmering! This soup needs a good 30 minutes to fully develop the flavor!

SAM’S TIP: Some broths are saltier than others, so I recommend you always taste-test your soup before serving. If yours tastes flat, it just needs more salt, I promise!

Ladle scooping a serving from a pot of soup made with vegetables.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best vegetables to put in vegetable soup?

The kind you like to eat! Or you can use whatever is in season. Obviously what you add will change the flavor (and sometimes texture) of the soup, but this recipe is pretty versatile. I shared my favorite combination of veggies today, but some other great options include shredded/chopped cabbage, frozen or fresh peas, diced parsnips, zucchini, and turnips.

Do I have to add the sweet potato?

You don’t have to, though I do recommend trying the soup as written at least once. If you want to omit the sweet potatoes, you can add an equal amount of your favorite veggie (or additional gold potatoes) instead.

How do I make my soup thicker?

This soup is not meant to be thick and hearty (like a corn chowder or potato soup), but if you’d like to thicken it up a bit, you can use this guide on how to thicken soup.

What should I serve with this soup?

Vegetable soup can be served as the main course or as a side dish. We usually enjoy it as a whole meal, always with a carb-y side like crusty artisan bread, biscuits (or drop biscuits if I’m feeling lazy), saltine crackers or sourdough crackers! It also pairs nicely with grilled cheese, my homemade pizza rolls (recipe coming soon!) or garlic knots.