Harvest Vegetable Soup {Vegan}
This hearty and delicious recipe for vegan Harvest Vegetable Soup is made with butternut squash and kale. The herbs and seasonings pair perfectly with the tender fall veggies. This homemade vegetable soup recipe is healthy, easy and tastes amazing. It will warm you from the inside out on a chilly autumn day.
I originally published this Vegetable Soup Recipe on September 5th 2014. I have updated the text and photos and added a video to reshare it with you today. This post contains affiliate links.
Table of contents
Why You’ll Fall In Love With This Vegetable Soup Recipe
Every fall when I go hog wild making batch after batch of soup {an affliction I call going “Soup Crazy”} I am sure to include a batch or two of this Vegan Vegetable Soup. It has been a favorite for many years and readers always tell me they love it too.
This soup is simple to prepare and all the flavors are amazing! Thanks for another great recipe!
~Laura
Every week, I made a different soup, sometimes more than once a week, if we’re being honest. I love the cozy tradition of making big batches of soup. Ladling up steaming bowls, maybe a corn muffin or savory muffin alongside. Lunchboxes for my hubby. Quarts into the freezer. The whole soup crazy nine yards.
It happened when I made this cheddar potato leek soup and when I amassed this list of healthy soups too and other many undocumented times no doubt.
Vegan Harvest Vegetable Soup Highlights
- Uses fresh seasonal veggies including butternut squash, kale and the last of the season’s tomatoes
- It is chunky and hearty but completely grain free so it is suitable for gluten-free and grain-free diets
- It is 100 plant-based so that means it is vegan-friendly
- It freezes perfectly and the leftovers are delicious!
- Packs and reheats for a great lunch at the office
- Can be customized for the veggies you happen to have on hand.
Ingredient Notes
Vegetable Broth
My favorite store-bought vegetable broth is Imagine No Chicken broth. It is by far the best vegetable broth on the market. Hands down. You can also make veggie stock from scratch.
If you are a meat eater, I you can try this with chicken broth or make your own chicken stock from scratch.
For purchased broths look for varieties that have about 500 mg of sodium per cup. For homemade stocks make sure you add a little extra salt.
Veggies
In addition to diced onions and garlic I added in celery and carrots which are classic vegetable soup veggies. I also added in cubed butternut squash (diced pumpkin could work too), fresh chopped kale and the last of the locally grown tomatoes. (Canned tomatoes work too.)
If you do not cook with butternut squash regularly, here are my tips on how to cut the squash.
Feel free to mix up the veggies in this soup. Follow our tips in Variations To Try.
Seasonings
To season this soup I use a pre-mixed blend of dried herbs called Herbes de Provence. It can be found in the dried spices in the baking aisle of large supermarkets. If you’re not familiar with this French herb blend, it is a woodsy and floral blend with lavender in it.
Once you have it in your spice drawer you’ll be able to use it in Ratatouille, Soupe au Pistou or Crispy Skin Chicken too. If you do not have it, you can substitute Italian Herb Blend instead.
I also add in a whole sprig of rosemary which can be removed at the end.
How to Make Vegan Vegetable Soup
Step 1: Saute Vegetables
Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and salt, and cook, stirring often until the onion is softened and starting to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add carrots, celery and Herbes de Provence. Cover and cook, removing lid to stir often until the vegetables are starting to brown and sizzle, 5 to 8 minutes.
Step 2: Deglaze
After the vegetables are softened and starting to brown, add in white wine. This will deglaze the pan, and remove any browned bits from the pan. These browned bits, or fond, are full of rich flavor. The wine also balances the sweetness from the squash and brings out the flavors in the soup.
Step 3: Add Broth and Simmer The Vegetable Soup
Add in the broth and increase the heat to high to bring it up to a simmer quickly. Add in hot sauce too to add a peppery backnote to the soup flavor.
Once the soup comes to a simmer, add in the butternut squash and bring it back up to a simmer. Then cook the soup until the squash is nice and tender but not falling apart. This takes about 12 minutes. Check it with a fork to see if it’s done.
Step 4: Add in Quick Cooking Vegetables at the End
At the end, stir in kale and tomatoes, and cook them only until the kale is tender. If you have another tender vegetable like zucchini or green beans (ones that soften in 4 minutes or so) this is the time to add them.
Expert Tips For The Best Vegetable Soup
This soup freezes very well. Transfer the cooled soup to 4 cup containers. Seal shut and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator if desired. Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave until simmering.
This soup is very forgiving. You can reheat it in the microwave for about 3 minutes per serving on high power. Make sure to stir it half way through heating it. You can also reheat large amounts in a saucepan on the stovetop over medium heat. Stir often and let it come to a gentle simmer. This soup will be thicker after it is initially cooked so you may want to add a little additional vegetable broth to thin it out when reheating it.
You can use diced pre-cut butternut squash. Note that if it is cut into large chunks it will take a little longer to soften in the simmering broth so just make sure it is fork tender before adding the kale.
You can use 1/2 cup broth plus 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice instead of the wine to deglaze the soup pot.
If you haven’t cut up a butternut squash before, it’s not as intimidating as you may think. You can wear gloves if you have sensitive skin. The squash is so high in Vitamin A that it actually will make the skin rough from exfoliating it so much!
First cut the ends off. Then cut the neck from the bulb so it is easier to handle. As you remove the skin, it will become slippery, so having it in two smaller pieces makes it easier to hold.
Peel the squash with a high-quality peeler. Then cut the bulb end in half and scoop out the seeds.
Cut the bulb end into cubes. Then cut the neck end into slabs and then into cubes.
Time Saving Tip: Chop Vegetables as You Cook
- No doubt making vegetable soup requires a lot of chopping of the vegetables, but that’s actually not a bad thing. One of the cool things about making soup is you can cut as you cook. Unlike a stir-fry where you need to have everything cut and measured before you turn on the stove, soup is much more forgiving and relaxed. It’s part of the charm of making soup!
- I like to start off my chopping my onions and garlic, and about halfway through cutting, I get my big heavy soup pot onto the stove and start heating it up.
- Then while the onions are softening, that’s when I start in on cutting the carrots and celery. And so on. It’s a good use of timing and actually quite relaxing!
Variations To Try
- Cook the onion and garlic as directed, where you can mix it up is in step two and three.
- Add large diced, hard, and longer-cooking vegetables like sweet potato, squash, potato or root vegetables like turnips and celery root in step two.
- Add more tender, small diced, shorter cooking vegetables in step three.
- Taste as you go.
- I think adding zucchini in step three to this would be an obvious choice or even chopped green beans.
- Instead of kale try another green such as Swiss Chard, Cabbage or Spinach.
- Feel free to add in frozen veggies at the end. Sweet peas, corn and green beans are great in soups!
- Add in cooked grain such as barley, brown rice or pasta. Stir it in after the kale is softened.
- At the end, stir in canned beans such as white beans, kidney beans or chickpeas for protein.
More Vegetarian Soup Recipes:
- 4-Ingredient Kale Cheddar Soup, this recipe has a magical creamy texture thanks to the potatoes cooked into the soup. They help the cheddar cheese melt in beautifully!
- This Vegetarian Lentil Soup is my new obsession! I cannot get enough of it!
- Our creamy Zucchini Soup with dill and yogurt can be served hot or chilled.
- Cheddar Chipotle Sweet Potato Soup, I served this to a group of friends recently, and got many requests for the recipe. It’s a big hit every time!
- Instant Pot Cream of Cauliflower Soup Here’s a great instant pot beggginer recipe to try if you’re new to the IP. It’s hard to mess it up.
- Minestrone Soup– Do not miss this one. (It’s vegan too!) It’s another one of those recipes that’s worthy of making everyone a little soup crazy.
- Thai Pumpkin Soup is ready in only 15 minutes believe it or not!
- Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup an unforgettable combination with coconut and pureed peanuts!
Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!
Happy Cooking! ~Katie
PrintHarvest Vegetable Soup {Vegan}
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 cups 1x
Description
Healthy homemade Harvest Vegetable Soup recipe with all sorts of yummy fall veggies, including butternut squash and kale. This vegan soup is naturally free from gluten, grains and dairy.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large diced onion
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 cloves finely chopped garlic
- 3 carrots, diced
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 6 cups Imagine No-Chicken Broth or reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 10 dashes Tabasco sauce, or to taste
- 1 4-inch sprig rosemary
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled and cubed (about 1 1/2 pounds or 4 1/2 cups)
- 4 cups finely chopped kale leaves (no stems)
- 1 large tomato, diced (about 1 large) peeled and seeded if desired
Instructions
- Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and salt, and cook, stirring often until the onion is softened and starting to brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add carrots, celery and Herbes de Provence. Cover and cook, removing lid to stir often until the vegetables are starting to brown and sizzle, 5 to 8 minutes.
- Add wine, increase heat to high, and cook, stirring until the wine is almost completely evaporated, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add broth, Tabasco sauce and rosemary and bring to a boil. Add squash, and return to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low or to maintain a simmer, and cook until the squash is tender, but not falling apart, about 12 minutes.
- Add kale and tomatoes and stir until the kale is wilted into the soup. Cook until the kale is tender, 4 to 5 minutes longer. Remove rosemary sprig before serving.
Notes
Variations To Try
- Cook the onion and garlic as directed, where you can mix it up is in step two and three.
- Add large diced, hard, and longer-cooking vegetables like sweet potato, squash, potato or root vegetables like turnips and celery root in step two.
- Add more tender, small diced, shorter cooking vegetables in step three. Green beans, zucchini and summer squash and frozen veggies are best added toward the end of cooking time.
- Instead of kale try another green such as Swiss Chard, Cabbage or Spinach.
- Stir in cooked grains or pasta at the end before serving.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 cups
- Calories: 228
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 814 mg
- Fat: 9
- Saturated Fat: 1 g
- Carbohydrates: 27 g
- Fiber: 6 g
- Protein: 5 g
This soup was so delicious! I am such a soup person, and this is the best soup I have ever made! I actually then passed it on to many of my friends! Thanks for sharing!
Erin, I am blushing. I am so honored to hear that, and I am so glad that you took the time to come back and let us know how it worked out. Happy cooking!
This soup was absolutely delicious…with my own touch…served with crusty garlic bread…everyone loved it!will definitely be making this again 🙂
Hey Jen, So so so glad to hear it. We’ve had it several times this fall too. Thank you so much for reporting back.
6 cloves is a lot, so that makes sense to me Angela. I don’t really recall that being the case when we had it. But I think going down would be no problem. That said, one thing to make sure is that when the onions and garlic are cooked(in the end of step one), before the liquid goes in they need to start browning a bit. Looking for that caramelization will help knock the garlic back quite a bit. Thank you so much for coming back by to give your feedback. I really appreciate it.
I just tried this recipe. It was quite good but VERY garlicky. I think I will reduce the garlic by half next time.. it’s making all my tupperware smell like garlic.
I could literally eat soup everyday. This looks like a great recipe. I may add some shredded chicken to give it a protein boost.
I agree, and I think chicken would be great Janet.
This makes me look forward to fall. I just wanted to let you know that I have a food photo submission site (Simply Creative Recipes) and I am linking to this post if you don’t mind. You are welcome to submit your recipes to my site if you’d like.
Thanks so much Alyssa.
This looks really good! Found your blog by accident but now I am so glad I did. (Love Vermont, BTW.) I have an overabundant garden this season and wanted to add some yellow squash and zucchini as well as an acorn squash. Do you think that will all work with this recipe?
Absolutely! This soup would be great with all sorts of vegetables. They would be best if you added them in after the butternut squash has cooked for a few minutes though.
Hi Katie,
I usually roast the whole butternut squash in the oven and then peel and cube it. However, it seems like this recipe calls for raw butternut squash. What is the best way of peeling raw butternut squash?
If this soup tastes half as good as it looks, I’m gonna love it 🙂
Hi Gidde, I use a good sharp vegetable peeler to take the peel off the butternut squash. You can do that part while it is whole. It can be a little slippery, so hang on tight! Also note, you’ll want to wash your hands right after wards, it has so much vitamin A in it, the squash will actually start to exfoliate your hands a bit.Then cut it in half and scoop out the seeds like you would when you roast it.
Oh my, Katie! I just want to grab that spoon and take a bite! So beautiful and delicious I’m sure! Beautiful girls you got there too! Great post!
It’s been rainy and cold here all day so I could totally go for a bowl of this soup right now! Looks amazing.
The weather certainly is starting to shift. At least that means we can eat soup!
I am a 200% sop person, Katie. Your harvest veggie soup looks delish!
Thank you Angie. Glad you like it.
Looks so Yummy!!!
Thank you Thea. Have a great day.
This soup is perfect for the transitioning weather here in Australia.. it looks hearty and delicious. I have to recreate the recipe!
Thank you Thalia. So glad to hear it.
I love that soup bowl and the bright orange butternut squash in this dish! Pinning!
Thank you so much my dear!
I have made this soup..it was delicious and I have shared with friends. Everybody had commented the soup was delicious..in this harvest season…the colors look so beautiful..
Love reading your blog thank you..
This looks so good! Just started reading your blog and I can tell I am going to love it! Our taste are very similar. Thanks!
Hello Bonnie! Thank you so much and I am really glad you are here. Let me know if you are ever looking for something in particular or need suggestions.