This mixed vegetable soup is about to be your new go-to soup recipe. The vegetables are spiced and roasted for a more intense flavour!
As one of my most loved and most popular recipes, I had to include this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’!
Roasted Vegetable Soup
So, I guess the killer question is ‘why roast the vegetables?’
By roasting the vegetables you gain flavour that boiling just can’t offer. The vegetables caramelize and turn slightly sweet when roasted. You also get gorgeous bits of char which add a nice smoky twang to the soup. The other reason is that it deepens the flavours of the spices too. Lastly, vegetables are packed with a lot of water. By roasting them you squeeze out a lot of moisture and intensify the flavour.
Alright, hopefully I’ve convinced why boiling veggies < roasting veggies when making soup. Let’s talk about the vegetables themselves.
What are the best vegetables to put in soup?
Honestly? In the right context there aren’t many vegetables that aren’t great in soups. But, context is key. As we’re roasting the vegetables, you’re really looking for vegetables that a) benefit from roasting and b) taste great when blended together. With that in mind, here all the usual suspects for me:
- Sweet Potato
- Red Pepper
- Parsnip
- Carrot
- Onion
- Garlic
I’ve made various different mixed vegetable soups and deem this combo to be the best! You can make small subs (butternut squash for sweet potato, different coloured peppers/onions) but anything too far astray will start to alter the flavour considerably.
Vegetable Soup Seasoning
Now, I have made this exact same soup with no spices and it does taste great, but the spices do really take it from a 9 to a 10. I actually steer away from using herbs in this soup – I find them sometimes to be distracting. Here I just use spices to deepen the flavour but allow the flavour of the veggies themselves to shine. Here’s what I use:
- Cumin
- Ground Coriander
- Turmeric
- Salt & Pepper
Cumin, ground coriander and turmeric are all great with roasting root veg, which is what makes up the bulk of this soup.
Roasting Vegetables
Roasting the vegetables is pretty straight forward, you’ll just need the largest sheet pan you’ve got!
For convenience I like to roast all my veg at the same time. You’ll see in the photos below that the root veggies are diced into small chunks. This is to ensure they cook at an even rate similar to the onions and peppers, which are diced much larger.
Making sure the vegetables are 100% cooked through isn’t a priority here, it’s more to get a good caramelization and light char on the veg (for maximum flavour). The veggies will be boiled until completely cooked through after this.
The last thing to mention is that the garlic cloves should be left in their skins. This will protect the garlic from burning and ensure it turns sweet and sticky.
Making Roasted Vegetable Soup
Right, veggies roasted, time for soup. For this soup I use vegetable stock, just to keep in theme. BUT, you can totally use chicken stock too if you wish.
Tip for making Roasted Vegetable Soup
- Pan – My number 1 tip is to splash a little boiling water on the pan you roasted the veggies on and scrape off all that gorgeous flavour to add to the soup!
- Boil – Most of the work is done, but I do recommend boiling the veggies in stock for 10-15mins, just to completely cook them through and marry the flavours together.
- Stock – I recommend only using enough stock to just cover the vegetables in the first instance, then adjust later if you need. Much easier to thin out a soup than it is to thicken.
Thick Creamy Vegetable Soup
From there, just grab a hand blender and blitz it up until the vegetables are completely smooth. This will result in a thick and creamy soup, which ironically contains absolutely zero cream. I promise you won’t need it! Remember to just gradually add in the stock as needed to thin out as you blitz up the the soup.
Can you freeze this soup?
Absolutely! Soups are perfect for making ahead of time, and actually help to develop the flavours in doing so. To freeze, just completely cool then store in airtight containers. To reheat, either thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat on the stove, or you can also reheat in the microwave.
And there we have it! My vegetable soup knowledge has officially leaked 🤣
But for now let’s tuck into the full vegetable soup recipe shall we?!
How to make Roasted Vegetable Soup (Full Recipe & Video)
Roasted Vegetable Soup
Equipment:
- 30cm x 45cm (12” x 18”) Baking Tray (preferably dark or turmeric may discolour)
- Plastic Spatula (to scrape off flavour from tray)
- Large Pot with Lid
- Ladle
- Hand Blender
- Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
Ingredients (check list):
Veg
- 6 cups / 1.5litres Vegetable Stock, or as needed
- 1 large Sweet Potato, peeled and diced into small chunks (1 large unpeeled sweet potato is ~1lb/500g)
- 4 small/medium Carrots, diced into small chunks (approx 9oz/250g)
- 2 medium Parsnips, diced into small chunks (approx 5oz/150g)
- 2 medium Red Peppers, cored and diced into large chunks (approx 12oz/350g before cored)
- 2 small/medium White Onions, peeled and quartered (approx 9oz/250g before peeled)
- 4 cloves of Garlic, kept in skins
- 3 tbsp Olive Oil
Seasoning
- 3/4 tsp Salt, plus more to taste
- 3/4 tsp Cumin
- 1/2 tsp Ground Coriander
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper, plus more to taste
Instructions:
- Pre heat oven to 200C/390F.
- Space out veg on a large baking tray and combine with 3 tbsp olive oil, 3/4 tsp salt and cumin, 1/2 tsp ground coriander and turmeric and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Important that the root veg are diced small so they cook at an even rate to the peppers/onion/garlic.
- Place in the oven for 25-30mins or until lightly charred and fork tender. Take the tray out after 15mins and flip the veg, hiding anything that seems to be charring particularly fast.
- Squeeze garlic out of skins and add everything into a large pot. Add a splash of boiling water to the tray and use a plastic spatula to scrape off the flavour stuck to the tray, then add that in too.
- Add 5cups/1.25litres veg stock and simmer with the lid on for 15mins, just to fully soften the veg and marry the flavours together.
- Use a hand blender to blitz everything, pouring in more stock to thin it out to your desired consistency. Taste test for seasoning and adjust accordingly then serve up and enjoy!
Quick 1 min demo!
Notes:
Your Private Notes:
Nutrition:
For good use of leftover vegetables check out my Easy Cheesy Vegetable Pasta Bake!
If you’re after more similar recipes check out these beauties:
Hearty Soup Recipes
- Roasted Tomato Soup
- Roasted Carrot Soup
- Spring Onion Soup
- Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
- Tomato Tortellini Soup
If you loved this Vegetable Soup Recipe then be sure to pin it for later! Already made them or got a question? Give me a shout in the comments below and pick up your free ecookbook along the way!
41 Comments
Cary
October 28, 2024 at 12:58 amMade this to go with some crusty sourdough and baked Brie. I was looking for a good fall soup without cream or butter to be a nice veggie-filled complement. It’s tasty just as written, and next time I might experiment with a bit more garlic, a dash of apple cider vinegar, some curry powder and/ or smoked paprika to taste. Maybe topped with some croutons? This is definitely going into rotation this fall at our house – thanks!
Chris Collins
October 28, 2024 at 10:43 amThanks so much for the review, Cary!! 🙂 C.
VG
September 24, 2024 at 6:34 pmjust made this and it was delicious! I used sweet potato, brown onion, red and orange bell peppers and peeled courgette. just what I had leftover in the fridge that needed using up! I had a small box of leftover roasted veggies that also included eggplant, corn and leeks and I threw that in with the rest at the boiling stage. I also added rosemary and thyme to the seasonings when roasting in the oven. so I used up leftovers and got an amazing soup from it! so nice – thank you!
Chris Collins
September 27, 2024 at 1:15 pmSo pleased it went down well!! 🙂 C.
Carin Marais
April 9, 2024 at 1:41 pmI love this recipe. It is so delicious and easy to make. We had loadshedding and had no electricity so I could not roast the vegetables in the oven, but the rainy cold weather begged for soup, so I improvised. I fried the vegetables in a skillet on gas. It was delicious. My husband doesn’t eat onions so I fried it separately and just added it after mashing the vegetables. I also added some leftover chicken. My oh my, it was delicious, the texture of the onion rings and chicken elevated the soup to a next level.
Chris Collins
April 9, 2024 at 2:02 pmSo pleased to hear this went down well, Carin! Thanks so much for the review 🙂 C.
Tennessee Randall
March 11, 2024 at 7:20 pmMy go to recipe for soup! So much flavour and it always turns out beautifully! Even my dad who is an avid meat eater clears the bowl!
Kelly
December 11, 2023 at 1:24 amThinking about making this recipe this week, and I was wondering what your thoughts would be on adding Cannellini beans for added protein and fiber. I usually do this in place of heavy creams in creamy soups, however since this doesn’t show any, do you think it would be too thick/much?
Chris Collins
December 12, 2023 at 2:21 pmThey’d definitely thicken the soup a fair bit, but you can always thin it out with more stock as needed. Hope it goes down well 🙂 C.
MB
October 9, 2023 at 7:06 pmI wasn’t impressed with this soup. I’m not sure the cumin was a good spice here. I also felt the parsnip was too strong. But since I made it I wasn’t going to waste it. I added cream to the soup and in my bowl, a splash of red wine vinegar to wake it up.
Chris Collins
October 10, 2023 at 5:57 pmSorry to hear this wasn’t quite to your liking! I’m sure with a few adjustments in the future you’ll be able to make it your own 🙂 C.
Tabatha
May 18, 2023 at 3:46 amWow, the best soup I’ve ever made, so delicious, I added pumpkin and it gave it texture. Thank you for sharing
Chris Collins
May 18, 2023 at 10:32 amSo great to hear, Tabatha! Love the idea of pumpkin. Thanks for the review 🙂 C.
Susan
April 7, 2023 at 4:26 pmThis soup is amazing! Loved it.
Chris Collins
April 9, 2023 at 6:17 pmThanks for the review, Susan! C.
Stefanie
February 24, 2023 at 6:02 pmMade it as an entree for Christmas, my mom went nuts over it (she is a huge soup lover)! Soo simple but VERY delicious!
Chris Collins
February 26, 2023 at 10:50 amAh that’s so great to hear, Stefanie! Great to hear it went down well. C.
Jenny
February 18, 2023 at 5:43 amThis soup was amazing! Loved how you could taste the flavour of the roasted veges. My family loved it. Definitely adding to my recipe collection. THANKYOU SO MUCH
Chris Collins
February 19, 2023 at 2:32 pmAh that’s so great to hear, Jenny! Thanks so much for stopping back for a review 🙂 C.
Tennessee Randall
December 30, 2022 at 6:16 pmDidn’t have carrots or peppers so used more sweet potatoes and parsnips, kept everything else the same and it turned out amazing! The soup was really thick and creamy, perfect consistency and didn’t need to add any thickener! Will definitely make again
Chris Collins
December 31, 2022 at 1:17 amGreat to hear this worked out well! Thanks so much for the review! C.
Holly
December 7, 2022 at 3:06 amHi! We really enjoyed the flavor of this soup, although we had difficulty getting it to the correct consistency (it was still a bit lumpy and all of the veggies weren’t fully puréed even after using the hand mixer). Any tips to make this better for the next time? Thank you!
Chris Collins
December 7, 2022 at 3:40 pmHey Holly! It sounds like the veg may not have been soft enough, in which case I’d recommend just simmering until they’re super soft before blending. C.
Vivian
November 5, 2022 at 2:52 amSo nice to find a well spiced recipe, it tastes really great!
Chris Collins
November 5, 2022 at 12:24 pmThanks for the review, Vivian 🙂 C.
Marie Courtney
August 23, 2022 at 2:01 pmWonderful recipe. The spices just take it to the next level. Got my second pot in two weeks in the oven now. Thanks for sharing.
Chris Collins
August 23, 2022 at 5:59 pmSo glad to hear this went down well, Marie! Thanks for popping back for a review 🙂 C.
Lyla Spiegler
July 31, 2022 at 8:42 pmVery good post. I certainly love this site. Thanks!
Chris Collins
August 1, 2022 at 10:08 amThanks, Lyla! 🙂
Lee
October 26, 2020 at 3:47 pmRecently turned vegetarian and have been looking for simple but tasty recipes, OMG this soup is lovely, so good I’ve made it twice and taken some for my mum, thankyou
Chris Collins
October 26, 2020 at 8:24 pmThat’s awesome to hear! So glad it went down well. Thanks so much for popping back for a review 🙂
Aimee Mars
March 23, 2020 at 12:30 amOkay, parsnips have always been a vegetable I’ve struggled with, but this soup looks and sounds AMAZING!! I have to try it and think this could be the recipe that changes my mind.
Chris Collins
March 23, 2020 at 10:33 amI definitely think it will be too 🙂
Pamela
March 23, 2020 at 12:23 amThis is such a great gardeners soup to make! May I suggest doubling the recipe to freeze a batch for later on? YUM!
Chris Collins
March 23, 2020 at 10:32 amAbsolutely! SO good for batch cooking!
Cathleen @ A Taste of Madness
March 22, 2020 at 10:34 pmOh wow, I love the colour of this soup!! Definitely will be making this soon for when I want a comfort meal!!
Chris Collins
March 23, 2020 at 10:32 amEnjoy!!
Sapana
March 22, 2020 at 10:32 pmI love how flavorful this soup is — especially after roasting all the vegetables. So simple and delicious.
Chris Collins
March 23, 2020 at 10:32 amSure is! Thanks Sapana 🙂
SHANIKA
March 22, 2020 at 10:22 pmI love a good soup recipe and this roasted veggie soup looks so creamy and such a healthy option, including the addition of turmeric.
Chris Collins
March 23, 2020 at 10:32 amThank you! Turmeric is a game changer in this!