Vegetable Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make your vegetable soup taste better? ›

A squeeze of citrus, a dollop of yogurt or a drizzle of cream, a dusting of cheese or a good chile powder, a sprinkling of some herbs or croutons — all can take a perfectly fine soup into the realm of the delectable. Even a spiral of good olive oil to finish and some coarse sea salt can do wonders.

To season it, we recommend starting with our Vegetable Soup Mix. It contains celery salt, parsley flakes, garlic powder, sea salt, summer savory, marjoram, thyme, black pepper, turmeric and sage, which are all excellent with root vegetables, so you can incorporate things like carrots or potatoes into the soup.

You can use ordinary olive oil to saute the vegetables in the beginning, and you can finish your soup with a drizzle of nice, extra virgin olive oil that has a complementary flavor to the main ingredients. Taste the soup and the oil to make sure they are compatible, since you don't want one to overwhelm the other.

You could add red pepper chili flakes, cayenne, Herbs de Provence or curry powder for more flavors. The caramelized onions add a lot of depth to the soup but you could also add in tomato paste or even miso or soy sauce.

The basic principles of soup-er soups and stew-pendous stews

All soups and stews must have three major components in order to be tasty: an undercurrent liquid, aromatics, and volumizing ingredients.

You can also go with more heat and spices. "Ground paprika, turmeric, nutmeg, ground ginger, and other powdered spices add a touch of color and spiciness to broths," she says. As a general rule, use fresh herbs at or near the end of cooking and dried herbs and spices early on.

Roast or caramelize your vegetables before adding them to your soup to bring out their natural sweetness. Add ingredients like mushrooms, tomatoes, soy sauce, miso, or seaweed to enhance the flavor of your soup. Use fresh herbs like parsley, cilantro, basil or thyme to add fresh flavor to your soup.

To Store: Leftover homemade vegetable soup will last a good 3 to 4 days in the fridge. To Freeze: The liquid in the soup will expand when frozen to leave an inch headspace between the lid and the soup before placing it in the freezer. I prefer to use airtight containers or heavy-duty freezer bags.

All cooking oils have what is called a "smoke point," the temperature at which the oil starts to break down and smoke. And where there's smoke, there will soon be fire. This is why extra virgin olive oil, which has a low smoke point of 350°F to 410°F, shouldn't be used for high heat cooking, especially frying.

How much olive oil to add to soup? ›

You don't need much. Just a tablespoon of oil perfumes the hot soup and adds a special richness to each bite. The floating oil looks so fancy as you bring the soup to the table, too!

If your broth tastes thin and bland, you may want to cook and let it evaporate for longer. That helps concentrate its flavors and gives you a better-tasting soup broth. Be sure to remove the lid to let the steam escape.

Add Flour Or Cornstarch

You can thicken soup by adding flour, cornstarch, or another starchy substitute. For the best results, never add flour or cornstarch directly to your soup. If you do, it will clump up on top. Instead, ladle a small amount of broth into a separate bowl and let it cool.

A stock is a very flavorful liquid that is made by gently cooking bones and other ingredients such as vegetables in a liquid.

If a soup is tasting bland in the bowl, consider adding acid rather than salt. A squeeze of lemon or lime, or a dash of yogurt or sour cream can add brightness to the bowl.

Bring everything to a boil, reduce the heat, and let simmer for at least 30 minutes. The longer the stock cooks, the more flavorful your soup will be.

Soy(a) sauce, fish sauce or Worcestershire sauce add great flavour to soups in moderation- they add salt and umami without making it changing the style of soup. Mushrooms, especially dried add an earthy flavour. Green onions or parsley added just before you eat adds bright flavour and is really nice.

This resulting gelatin will give your stew a creamier consistency. Not only that, but any liquid that remains in slow-cooked dishes is likely to be soaked up by any starchy ingredients, creating more nuanced, developed flavors.