Vegan Vegetable Soup
Today’s recipe is for a healthy homemade vegan vegetable soup with butternut squash and kale. It is paleo, whole30 approved and gluten-free!
I originally published this Vegan 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.
When I first published this post, my little one had just started Kindergarten and my older daughter was starting second grade. It’s hard to believe that now they’re in 5th and 7th grade! My how time flies! One thing that hasn’t changed is that this time of year, is when I go soup crazy.
Or at least that’s what I call it. I am not sure if there is an actual thing called soup crazy. You know, like stir crazy, but a cozy fall cooking version of it? This is what it looks like: Without fail at this time of year, the bounty of the harvest is rolling in, the grasses are dried up, the evenings and early mornings are chilly, and I get soup crazy.
I get all excited about being in my kitchen and cutting up stuff and simmering stuff and letting my house fill up with the smell of yumminess. Big steaming bowls, maybe a savory muffin along side. Lunchboxes for my hubby. Quarts into the freezer. The whole soup crazy nine yards.
It happened when I made this cheddar potato soup and when I amassed this list of healthy soups too and other many undocumented times no doubt.
It may have something to do with the fact that even though we’re into October, fresh vegetables are still coming in from local farms. On the weekends I go to the farmers market, and spend every single penny in my wallet and then have so much to carry that my biceps are going to burst. And then I get home and I am like, what am I going to do with all this produce?
Soup. Soup is the answer. Has been and still is, and this Vegan Vegetable Soup is still a winner!
Tips for Making Vegan Vegetable Soup
A few cooks notes about this vegan vegetable soup.
VEGAN BROTH:
If you are a meat eater, I recommend making this with chicken broth, since that has the best neutral flavor. Look for varieties that have about 500 mg of sodium per cup. Even better is making your own chicken stock from scratch. But if you do that make sure you add a little extra salt.
If you are vegan or vegetarian, look for Imagine No Chicken broth. It is by far the best vegetable broth on the market. Hands down.
SWAPPING IN OTHER VEGGIES:
If you’re wondering about the combo of ingredients, yes yes yes mix them up. By all means! Just keep a few things in mind. 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 squash 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. Get crazy with it. Soup crazy.
How to Make Vegan Vegetable Soup
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!
How to Cut a Butternut Squash for Soup
- 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.
Add Herbs and Wine to the Vegetable Mixture
I cook the Herbs de Provence with the sauteed vegetables to help bring out the flavors of the herbs. If you’re not familiar with this French herb blend, it is a woodsy and floral blend with lavender in it. I like to use it in Ratatouille or Crispy Skin Chicken too.
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.
Tip: Increase the heat to bring it up to a simmer quickly.
To Cook The Vegetable Soup
See above my notes about the broth you choose. Add that in after the wine is reduced a bit.
Add in hot sauce (Tabasco is great) 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.
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.
QUESTIONS:
Do you get soup crazy?
Do you buy more than you can carry at the farmers’ market?
Do you feel like getting back into the kitchen at this time of year?
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!
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 make this recipe please come back and leave a rating and review!
Happy Cooking!
~Katie
vegan vegetable soup
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 12 cups 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Description
Healthy homemade vegan vegetable soup recipe with all sorts of yummy harvest veggies, including butternut squash and kale. Paleo, vegan, and gluten-free.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large diced onion
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 6 cloves finely chopped garlic
- 3 carrots, diced
- 1 cup diced celery
- 1 tablespoon Herbes de Provence
- ½ 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 ½ 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.
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
Yummy, this is making the perfect lunch on this chilly VT day. Thank you Katie!
Rachel, Hey girl! Thanks so much for letting me know you liked it. You are the best for coming back by to report. Hope you are staying warm with all of this snow today!
I cannot get over how good the harvest vegetable soup looks. I would love to make something like this on a cold rainy day. On days like that I get soup crazy. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I would love to try it sometime.
hey Johnny. Thank you so much! Have a great week!
Aloha and Thank You for sharing this Katie! This soup is both beautiful and delicious. We have made it twice in one week. First time for family, second batch for a potluck. It was a fragrant favorite! Recipe is now in the “family favorites” file. Looking forward to sampling more from you!
Janelle from Hawaii
Thank you so much for coming back to let us know. It means so much to me when you do. Hope to hear from you again Janelle. And happy cooking!
I omitted the tomato, added wedding soup meatballs, and topped with Parmesan. Delicious and healthy
I love your swaps! Sounds yummy! Thank you so much for coming back to let me know that you liked it!
So delicious! I added red cabbage and carrot tops because I had some left over in my fridge. Delicious recipe! I posted it to my Instagram 🙂
Yay! I am so glad to hear you liked it. I always appreciate the social media shout outs too. That’s great!
Could I switch the butternut squash with sweet potato?
Yes! It would work just the same. I’d peel it for the best texture. Enjoy!
I just love the sweetness of butternut squash. Beautiful colors and flavors here!
★★★★★
Hi Jennifer. Winter squash is a great addition to veggie soup, isn’t it?
I loved the butternut squash especially, didn’t miss the meat at all!
★★★★★
Hey Tessa. So psyched that you came back to let me know how it went! Awesome!
Aw, the wine, herbs and tobasco, delicious! Love all that flavor!
★★★★★
Hi Megan. So glad you like this one! Have a great week!
Perfect soup for the fall weather!
★★★★★
Hi Tina. So glad you like the recipe. Have a great week!
That is SO true about soups. It makes it hard to estimate the total time to make the recipe because you’re not cutting everything up before cooking. But this one was so easy to make and that little bit of white wine made it extra delicious!
★★★★★
That’s great to hear! So glad!
So delicious, hearty and comforting!
★★★★★
Thanks so much for saying so!
This was simple, healthy and delicious! The perfect bowl of soup, loved how easy it was to make!
★★★★★
Hi Hope. I am so glad to hear you liked it! That’s so great! Thank you for coming back by and letting me know. Have a great week.
Be sure to cook this soup tomorrow for my vegan friends who will come to visit me! And I’m happy to try this dish. The soup looks very appetizing and I am sure that it is very healthy. I sometimes cook vegetable soup, but my family always says that this is not a hearty and nutritious dish, and it is not enough for them to eat just a vegetable soup for dinner. I think everyone will appreciate the soup according to this recipe :))) Thank you!
Yes for sure! This is a hearty one because of the butternut squash. It really is quite filling!
I definitely go soup crazy this time of year! Love all the veggies in this harvest veg soup and can not wait to make it this weekend!
★★★★★
Yay Meredith! Please come back and let me know how it goes!