This Easy Homemade Vegetable Soup is loaded with vegetables makes a comforting, delicious, healthy and hearty soup recipe!
Homemade Vegetable Soup
This vegetable soup recipe has been one of my family’s favorites for as long as I can remember! Filled with vegetables, it is naturally low in fat and calories making it a hearty, yet healthy soup recipe. I love that you can customize the vegetables to your personal preferences and even make it as a beef vegetable soup if you prefer.
Vegetable soup is so easy to make at home and tastes so much better than a canned soup ever could in my opinion! My Grandmother and Mother both made this soup as I was growing up and it is one that is on regular rotation at my house too. Since it is so versatile, I love to make it as a simple vegetarian version and then at other times I’ll make it with beef or turkey for additional protein.
What Vegetables to Include in Vegetable Soup
For the vegetables, the options are limitless! I generally use many of the same vegetables in this soup that my Grandmother and Mother did, but I also love to just use whatever vegetables I have on hand. My favorite vegetables to include are:
- onion
- corn
- carrots
- celery
- okra
- tomatoes
- green beans
- lima beans
- potatoes
Can You Use Frozen Vegetables in Vegetable Soup?
During the winter, I love to use frozen vegetables that I keep stocked in our freezer such as green beans, corn, okra, or even a bag of mixed vegetables. Throughout the warmer months, I love to use fresh vegetables from our garden or the produce stand. Additional vegetables that are delicious in this vegetable soup are English peas, spinach, kale, mushrooms, or cauliflower.
How to Make Vegetable Soup
For this recipe, I’ve included the slow cooker instructions in the recipe card. However, you can also quickly and easily make this soup recipe on the stovetop. I’ve included those instructions below for you as well.
Stovetop Instructions
You can also easily make this soup on the stovetop and without a slow cooker!
- Brown the beef or turkey (if using) in a dutch oven or heavy bottomed soup pot set over medium heat. Drain away any drippings from the browned beef and discard the drippings.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients for the soup and return the pot to the stovetop.
- Reduce the heat to low heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings as needed.
How to Make Ahead and Freeze Vegetable Soup
Can You Make this Ahead?
To make this soup ahead, cook the soup as directed and allow the soup to cool completely. Then, place into the refrigerator in an airtight container and store for up to 5 days.
How to Freeze this Soup
Allow the soup to cool. Place into freezer-safe container and store for up to 3 months.
To reheat, allow to thaw in the refrigerator overnight and reheat the soup over medium-low heat on the stovetop until heated throughout, about 15 minutes.
What to Serve with this Soup
While this soup makes a hearty meal on its own, you can also serve with the following
Here’s my Slow Cooker Vegetable Soup recipe. I think you are going to love it!
Slow Cooker Vegetable Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef, optional
- ½ medium onion, diced
- 2 cups fresh or frozen mixed vegetables , or 2 (15-ounce) cans mixed vegetables, drained
- 2 cups fresh or frozen Lima beans, or 1 (15-ounce) can Lima beans, drained
- 2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels, or 1 (15-ounce) can niblet corn, drained
- 2 cups carrots sliced , or 1 (15-ounce) can carrots, drained
- 4 pounds peeled and diced whole tomatoes, or 4 (15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
- 1 (15-ounce) can tomatoes and okra
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Cook ground beef, if using, and onions until browned. Drain away the drippings from the browned beef and discard the drippings. Add the beef and onions to the slow cooker along with all other ingredients.
- Cook in the slow cooker for 4 hours on low.
- Taste and adjust seasonings as needed
Notes
For a vegetarian version of this soup, simply omit the ground beef. Make-Ahead:
Allow vegetable soup to cool. Place into the refrigerator in an airtight container and store for up to 5 days. Freezer Friendly:
Allow vegetable soup to cool. Place into freezer-safe container and store for up to 3 months. To reheat, allow to thaw in the refrigerator overnight and reheat over medium-low heat on the stovetop until heated throughout, about 15 minutes.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
From the Add a Pinch recipe archives. Originally published 2012.
Could you use beef broth instead of water
Absolutely!
Love this!! Instead of the 1 cup of water I used a strainer and collected all the juice from the cans. I used 1 cup of the drained juices, & 1 1/2 cups of water. I served jiffy cornbread on the side with a dollop of sour cream on top. I will be making this again and adding to my family cookbook 🙂
Sounds delicious, Ashley!
Do u drained the diced can tomatos ?
Fantastic recipe, thank you for sharing.
What is the serving size, 1 cup?
Amazing flavored soup! The vegtables remained crisp. I could not find tomato w/ okra so I added a whole bag of frozen okras… just for fun. I also used some fresh rosemary and thyme. topped it with some ritz crackers and parmasean cheese and it fed us for about 3 days w/ some jalapeno cheddar corn bread. Thanks for sharing. This one will graduate from my “favorites” bar to a physical print out indeed.
I added hearty beef stew seasoning to the mix after tripling the ingredients. “It was so good I could slap my mama.”
Can you use potatoes? How much and do you think it would change the cooking times?
I absolutely love this soup and I’m getting ready to make it again. It does need some seasoning. What do you recommend?
I’m so glad you enjoy it. We like to keep it simple and just use freshly ground black pepper and salt as the seasoning in this soup. If you’d like it spicy, you could always add a bit of Sriracha sauce or a pinch of cayenne pepper. Hope those ideas help!
Thanks for adding the alternative stockpot meto, since no longer having a slow cooker ( I know, I miss it) I have to make soups in my stock pot until I can afford a new one so it’s great to find slow cooker recipes that can work on the stove.
I hope you enjoy it. It is absolutely one of our favorites!