Hearty Vegetable Soup

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There are not too many dishes more versatile than a Hearty Vegetable Soup. It’s the perfect meal for so many occasions. It’s equally great for a healthy mid-week dinner, to a hearty lunch, or even pair it with some lovely crunchy bread for a fulfilling weekend meal. It is one of the most versatile meals and perfect for any occasion, hot or cold, and a great way to get your vegetables in! This is our classic, Hearty Vegetable Soup recipe that we just know you’re going to love

How to make a Hearty Vegetable Soup

Soups are such wonderful dishes. Sure, there’s recipes such as this one that give you a guide on how to make them. But the truth is, there’s no real right or wrong way to make a Soup. Especially Vegetable Soup! You can use so many different ingredients and they will always taste great. Just throw what you’ve got in the Pot and let them work their magic!

For our Vegetable Soup recipe, we’re using a combination of very classic and typical ingredients. To maximize the flavor, we begin by making a wonderful Vegetable Stock. This will form the base for the Soup that we begin to build flavors off

Start by making a wonderfully flavored Vegetable Stock

We kick off this wonderful dish by heating a large pot or Dutch Oven over medium heat along with a little bit of Olive Oil. Once hot, we add some roughly chopped Celery, Carrots, and Onions. For the Onion, try to keep it flesh-side down to expose it to the element. The goal here is to get a lovely sear and char to the vegetables, which will take about 15 minutes

Once seared, fill the Pot with water. Depending on how much Soup you want to make will be a guide for how much water to add. For our recipe we’re making a big batch of Hearty Vegetable Soup, so we’ve added around 10 cups of Water

Bring the liquid to a boil, cover and then simmer for at least 1 hour, preferably 2. This process will extract all that wonderful vegetable flavor and transfer it into the water, creating a delicious Vegetable Stock!

We love Vegetable Stock – so much so we’ve dedicated an entire recipe to it

This recipe produces its own Vegetable Stock. However, if you want to make your own Stock in advance then you can! In fact, we’ve got a dedicated recipe for you to do just that! Head over to the recipe here to go deep into what makes a great Vegetable Stock

Strain the Stock, now it’s time to make our Hearty Vegetable Soup!

Once the Vegetable Stock is done, strain it well to remove all the vegetables, as well as any bits that may be in there. Discard all the cooked vegetables, but retain the liquid and pour it back into the Pot or Dutch Oven you were using

We then add the Soup ingredients, and the slow cooking begins! For our recipe we’re using a combination of the following Vegetables: Onion, Carrot, Celery, Potato, Parsnip. Cut all the Vegetables up into small even pieces. It’s important that the Vegetables are cut evenly so your Soup will have an even consistency throughout

In addition to the Vegetables, we’re adding Barley to the dish. Barley is a great wheat-based ingredient that adds body and texture to the Soup. It’s flavor is subtle, but we’re mainly adding it for the texture it brings. Beautiful and chewy, the Barley adds a lovely bite to the dish which is perfect when paired with the Vegetables

Cover, and slowly simmer for at least 2 hours, preferably more!

The Soup making process is very similar to the Stock making process in many ways. The longer that you leave the dish to cook, the more concentrated the flavor of the Soup becomes. You want to drop the heat to as low as possible, barely a flame! Just enough to keep some heat in the dish to gradually cook the Soup

This is where a Dutch Oven is a great Pot for this dish. The Dutch Oven conducts heat so well, that even set at the absolute lowest heat, you’re getting a good, even cook on the Vegetables. What we did is after about 4 hours overheat, we turned off the heat. The residual heat that the Dutch Oven retained kept the pot hot for 4 more hours after we turned off the heat!

Now, you don’t need to cook your Hearty Vegetable Soup for as long as we did, however we can assure you that the longer it is cooked for, the better the flavor. So, if you’ve got a spare 8 hours then go for it! You’ll be rewarded with a wonderfully flavored Hearty Vegetable Soup

This is a healthy dish, packed full of goodness!

There amount of good stuff in this dish is just amazing. The Broth is made using fresh vegetables, so is packed full of nutrients. Vegetables are, of course, super healthy for you as well. For a dish that is so good for you it’s surprising just how tasty it is. It’s one of those great dishes that makes you feel good when you eat it. Yet, the amount of flavor this dish packs you’ll think that it’s a treat dish!

There are a few ways you can change up this Hearty Vegetable Soup for different flavors and textures

As is, this is a phenomenal Soup and one of our all-time favorites. There are a few slight changes that you can make to this recipe for different flavors and textures. The two main alternatives we have are the following:

1. Creamy Vegetable Soup
2. Beef and Vegetable Soup
   
   

1. Whip out the Blender to make a wonderful, creamy version of this Soup

If you prefer your soups with a bit more body and creaminess to them, then this is all you need to do. Simply follow the recipe as outlined in this article, but after the vegetables have been in the broth cooking for 2 hours, pour the entire Soup into the Blender

Blitz the Soup up to form a creamy, velvety texture and then add it back into the Pot. You can reduce it a little more to make it the consistency you’re looking for. Furthermore, for a little bit of added decadence and luxury, why not add about ½ a cup of Heavy Cream. Cook the Cream down in the blitzed Vegetable Soup for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally for the ultimate Creamy Vegetable Soup

2. Add Beef for some meaty flavor and wonderful texture

This Hearty Vegetable Soup is 100% Vegan. However, if you want a meatier flavor in the Soup there are a slight few adjustments to make. First, instead of making the Broth out of Vegetable Stock, use Beef Bones. Roast Beef Bones in the oven at 400F for about 25 minutes, then submerge them in the Pot with Water. Simmer for about 3 hours to create a wonderful and simple Beef Broth

Remove the Bones, strip any meat off and add it back to the Pot. Then, just follow the recipe as outlined below and you’ll have a tasty Beef and Vegetable Soup. Perfect for a cold night!

Hearty Vegetable Soup Recipe

Ingredients

For the Vegetable Broth

• 1 Carrot, cut in half
• 1 Onion, halved
• 2 Celery Stalks
• 10 cups of Water
  
  

Ingredients for the Soup

• 1 Potato, cut into small cubes
• 1 Parsnip, cut into small cubes
• 1 Onion, finely diced
• 1 Leek, finely diced
• 4 Garlic Cloves, finely diced
• 1 Carrot, cut into small pieces
• 2 Celery Stalks, cut into small pieces
• 200g / 7 oz. Barley
• 4 Sprigs of Thyme
• Salt
  
  

Instructions

1. Make a Vegetable Broth by combining the Carrot, Onion, Celery Stalks, and Water into a large Pot or Dutch Oven. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 2 hours. After 2 hours, strain. Retain the liquid and discard the Vegetables
2. Add the Vegetable Stock back into the Pot and then add the Potato, Parsnip, Onion, Leek, Garlic, Carrot, Celery Stalks, Barley, and Thyme. Bring the liquid to a Boil then reduce the heat to as low as possible
3. Season generously with Salt (1 tbsp. to start), Cover, and simmer for a minimum of 2 hours. The longer the Soup cooks, the more concentrated the flavor becomes. You can cook this for up to 8 hours for a more concentrated flavor
4. When ready to serve, remove the Thyme stalks from the Soup. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary. Serve into individual Bowls
   
   

The simplest dishes are often the best, and this Hearty Vegetable Soup couldn’t be simpler, or better! It’s a ridiculously healthy dish that tastes phenomenal. We’re sure you’re going to love it!

For more wonderful Soup dishes head over to our Soup page here. Here are a few of our favorites that we’d recommend you try out:

• Creamy Tomato Soup
• Celery Soup
• Potato and Leek Soup with Roasted Garlic
• Cauliflower Cheddar Soup
  
  

Happy Cooking!