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This is the soup to make on the day the vegetable drawer needs emptying. It is deliberately a clear broth rather than a blended one — the pieces stay recognisable, which some children prefer and others do not, and either way it takes ten minutes of actual work.
Add things in order of how long they take
The single reason homemade vegetable soup goes wrong is everything going in at once. Carrots need twenty minutes; courgettes need five; peas need two. Put them in together and either the carrots are hard or the courgettes have dissolved.
Three waves works for almost any combination:
- The base — onion, celery, leek. Softened slowly at the start, this is where the flavour comes from.
- The hard ones — carrot, potato, swede, parsnip. These go in with the stock and take 15 to 20 minutes.
- The quick ones — courgette, green beans, peas, sweetcorn, spinach. Last 5 minutes only.
The stock is doing most of the work
A clear soup has nowhere to hide. With only vegetables and liquid in the pot, a weak stock gives you vegetable-flavoured water. Use a good stock, taste before serving, and be readier with the salt than you would be in a stew.
A parmesan rind dropped in with the stock and fished out at the end adds a savouriness that is hard to place and makes the soup taste like it simmered far longer than it did.
Making it a meal
As written this is a light lunch. To make it dinner, add a drained tin of cannellini or butter beans with the quick vegetables, or a handful of small pasta for the last 8 minutes — check the packet, and add a splash more stock because pasta drinks it.
Storage
Keeps three to four days refrigerated and freezes for two to three months, per standard guidance for soups. If you have added pasta, freeze it before the pasta goes in — it turns to paste on defrosting.
Where to go next
- Hidden-veg tomato soup — the blended one, for texture objectors
- Butternut squash soup
- Family beef stew
