Making a healthy vegetable soup is a great way to not only have a delicious meal but pack in a load of nutrients too. We have some inspiration down below, but when you’re creating your own soup at home, be adventurous. Have a look at some of the ingredients you already have on hand and adapt them to create your very own recipe.
Our top tip when making a healthy soup at home is to ensure you have a good balance of food groups, including things such as proteins, carbohydrates and most importantly – vegetables.
Most vegetables are naturally low in fat and are packed full of vitamins and minerals. They’re also low in calories and have no cholesterol, which makes them an important part of your daily diet.1
Here are some of our current favourite healthy vegetable soup recipes:
Split Pea Soup
This healthy vegan recipe is packed full of goodness. It has no added oil, which makes it fat-free and low calorie, and top of that, it’s also rich with herbs, making it incredibly hearty and delicious. Better yet, all the ingredients can be thrown into a slow cooker, so it’s really easy to pull together.2
What you need to make it:
- 2 cups green split peas (uncooked)
- 8 cups vegetable broth (or water)
- 2 vegetable stock cubes
- 2 potatoes (chopped into cubes)
- 2 carrots (sliced)
- 1 onion (diced finely)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon sage
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 3 bay leaves
How to make it:
- Start by adding your split peas, vegetable broth and stock cubes in your slow cooker. Break up the stock cubes using a spoon, to disperse the flavour.
- Once all mixed together, add your potatoes, carrots, chopped onion and garlic.
- After this is added, follow with your herbs. Add mustard, cumin, sage, thyme and bay leaves before stirring well to combine. Feel free to add some salt and pepper.
- Cover the soup, and set your slow cooker to low. Leave for at least 4 hours, or until the green split peas are soft.
Versatile Vegetable Soup
As mentioned previously, making homemade soup gives you the opportunity to be creative. This versatile recipe can be adapted to use whatever you have in the fridge. Use the following guide as a starting point, and then mix and match depending on what you have available.3
What you need to make it:
- 200g of chopped raw vegetables. (We like using onions, carrots and mushrooms – but add whatever you like.)
- 300g potatoes
- 1 tbsp oil
- 700ml vegetable stock
How to make it:
- Add your raw vegetables to a pan with the potatoes. Cook with the oil until they start to soften.
- Once soft, pour over the vegetable stock and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and tender.
- Blend all the ingredients together until smooth, and then season with salt and pepper to taste.
Three Bean Spring Minestrone
This Three Bean soup contains 3 of your 5-a-day and is packed full of nutrients. It’s perfect for a healthy lunch, and a hearty dinner, and will only take around 30 minutes to prepare. This recipe can also be switched up based on what you have to hand – feel free to get creative with the beans you use and season it to taste.4
What you need to make it:
- 2tbsp oil
- 1 shallot or onion (finely chopped)
- 1 fennel bulb (thinly sliced)
- 2 garlic cloves (minced)
- 400g cannellini beants
- 400g borlotti beans
- 100g green beans
- 150g frozen peas
- 30g hard cheese (vegan alternatives can be used)
- 700ml vegetable stock
- 1 lemon (zested)
How to make it:
- Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the shallot, fennel and garlic. Add a pinch of salt and cook until softened.
- Drain the beans, and keep hold of half the water from one of the cans. Add the beans to the pan with the vegetables, followed by the stock and green beans. Simmer for 15 minutes until the green beans are soft.
- Add the peas and couple for a couple more minutes, before adding the lemon zest. Stir in the grated cheese and serve.
Last updated: 4 May 2020
Sources
1 https://www.choosemyplate.gov/eathealthy/vegetables/vegetables-nutrients-health
2 https://www.thespruceeats.com/crock-pot-vegetarian-split-pea-soup-3378444
3 https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/versatile-veg-soup
4 https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/three-bean-spring-minestrone
