How to Make Vegetable Soup at Home From Scratch

Vegetable soup is a brothy dish made with vegetable stock or chicken stock, cooked veggies, and savory seasoning. Some vegetables work better than others in vegetable soup, but the combination you use comes down to personal preference. You can make homemade vegetable soup in a slow cooker, stockpot, or Dutch oven.

Homemade vegetable soup can feature frozen, canned, or fresh vegetables. To add protein while keeping the soup vegan or vegetarian, you can incorporate a grain like quinoa or beans, such as chickpeas or white beans. Veggie soup is generally gluten-free, but it’s worth carefully selecting your ingredients, as stocks, seasoning mixes, sauces, and crackers can all contain gluten.

To store vegetable soup, first, allow it to cook completely and transfer it to an airtight container (leave room for the soup to expand as it freezes) or a freezer-safe bag (store the bag or bags flat). Alternatively, you can pour the soup into ice cube trays and later transfer the frozen cubes to a freezer-safe bag; reheat the cubes as needed.

You can use whatever vegetables you already have in your refrigerator or pantry for an easy vegetable soup. But here are some ideas for what other veggies you can add to your homemade vegetable soup:

1. 1. Bell peppers: Red, orange, and yellow bell peppers add sweetness to a vegetable soup, while green bell peppers add an earthy flavor.
2. 2. Butternut squash: Raw butternut squash will cook well with the other ingredients, absorb the broth’s flavor, and thicken the soup. The soup will still be broth-forward but with an added viscosity from the squash.
3. 3. Carrots: Carrots make a good main ingredient in a vegetable soup recipe. Dice up the carrots until they are similar in size to any other hard vegetables you’re using.
4. 4. Corn: You can choose among fresh, frozen, or canned corn. (You should rinse and drain canned or frozen corn first of any excess moisture.) A sweet corn can offset the savory flavor of other vegetables, like onions. To make the vegetable soup creamier, use canned creamed corn, but adjust the seasoning in the soup as necessary to compensate for the sweetness it will add.
5. 5. Green beans: Fresh, frozen, or canned green beans work; although, keep in mind fresh green beans will require a longer cooking time.
6. 6. Onions: Aromatics like yellow onions, white onions, scallions, or shallots can serve as a good base for the vegetable soup because they contribute a lot of savory flavors.
7. 7. Peas: Peas add a sweet and earthy flavor. Fresh peas are not easy to find but can be delicious in vegetable soup; frozen peas will achieve a similar effect.
8. 8. Potatoes: Add diced potatoes for a variety of textures. Let the potatoes simmer in the soup until they become fork-tender. You can try russet potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes, or red potatoes. Take care not to overcook sweet potatoes, or they will fall apart. The carbohydrates in potatoes add heft to a soup and can make your meal more satisfying.
9. 9. Tomatoes: You can drain canned tomatoes before you add them to your vegetable soup or include the liquid if you want to alter the taste of your soup base. Tomato paste is a good option for concentrated tomato flavor if you don’t have canned tomatoes.
10. 10. Zucchini: Since zucchini is a soft vegetable, add it later in the cooking process so it doesn’t disintegrate into the soup. Zucchini takes on other flavors well, so it will complement the other veggies you include while still contributing texture.