Hearty vegetable soups (broth + veggies + other ingredients, left chunky) are for more than the cold of winter, since they can showcase some of our favorite spring and summer veggies! Best of all, you don't need a recipe to make a flavorful hearty soup, as long as you follow a few basic steps.
The Basic Steps for a Hearty Vegetable Soup
- Cook the aromatic ingredients in a little fat.
- Add the broth and ingredients that require the longest cooking times. Season the soup throughout cooking time.
- Add the remaining ingredients in sequence.
- Simmer the soup, skimming as necessary, until all the ingredients are tender.
- Add any final flavoring adjustments and serve, or cool the soup according to the preceding instructions, transfer to a storage container, and store in the refrigerator or freezer.
- Reheat the soup and serve in heated bowls with garnishes as desired.
Ingredient Options
You can choose a wide array of ingredients to include in your own improvised vegetable soups. If you want to add precooked ingredients, remember that they only need to simmer in the soup long enough to get hot. Use the following as a guideline to determine when to add these ingredients.
Meats, Poultry, and Fish
Cuts of meat that are more mature and less tender or poultry should be added to the soup early in the cooking process so that it will flavor the broth properly and finish cooking at the same time as the other ingredients.
Add fish or shellfish to hearty broths close to the end of cooking time to prevent them from becoming overcooked. Add cubed or shredded cooked meats, poultry, or fish meant as a garnish during the final 10 minutes of cooking time, just long enough to heat them.
Grains and Pasta
Allow grains and pasta a little more time than would be necessary to cook them in boiling salted water. These ingredients also will give some body to the soup.
Legumes
Lentils and black-eyed peas are added to the soup along with the stock so that they will cook fully. Other beans should be cooked separately and added during the final 10 or 15 minutes of cooking time, just long enough to fully heat them. Add drained and rinsed canned beans at the same time as you would cooked dry beans.
Dense or Starchy Vegetables
Turnips, carrots, potatoes, winter squash, rutabagas, beets, parsnips, and potatoes cut into small dice typically require 30 to 45 minutes to fully cook through.
Green Vegetables
Peas, green beans, and leafy vegetables such as spinach or kale are added during the final 15 to 20 minutes of simmering time for the soup. Some chefs prefer to blanch these vegetables to help set the colors before adding them to a soup.
Tomatoes
In some cases, tomatoes may be added at the beginning of cooking time, along with the aromatic ingredients, to act as a broth flavoring. A tomato garnish may be added during the final 5 or 10 minutes of simmering time.
Herbs and Spices
Dried herbs and most spices are added to the aromatic vegetables to release flavor into the broth throughout cooking time. Fresh or dried herbs and spices also may be added in the form of a sachet or bouquet during the final 15 to 20 minutes of simmering time, or as a final addition of fresh herbs just before service, for the freshest flavor.
Aromatic Options
The first step when you prepare hearty vegetables soups is to build a flavorful base out of a variety of aromatics. The ingredients you choose as the aromatic base will influence the entire soup. Members of the onion family, including leeks, shallots, garlic, and onions, are universally appreciated.
Combinations of vegetables, like mirepoix (onions, carrots, and celery), the Cajun Trinity (onions, peppers, and celery), or Asian-influenced mixtures, are usually cooked gently in a bit of oil or fat. Mushrooms, both fresh and dried, scallions, ginger, galangal, and other intensely flavored ingredients typically are cooked in fat as the first step in soup making. Not only does the fat help to cook the aromatics, it also helps to distribute flavor throughout the soup.
The degree to which the aromatics are cooked has a strong influence on a soup’s final flavor and color. Some recipes ask you to cook the aromatics until they are just limp and translucent; professionals refer to this as “sweating” the vegetables because the vegetables actually start to release some of their own moisture. If you cover the pot, it helps to cook the aromatics a little more quickly; this technique is known as “smothering.” Other recipes may instruct you to cook the aromatics until they develop a golden color or even become a rich golden brown.
If your recipe calls for spices, you may be instructed to add them to the aromatics and cook. This step helps to open up the flavor of the spice. Since the flavor in most spices is carried by fat better than it is by water, we recommend you add most of the spice at the start of cooking time. Dried herbs also are added at this point, although fresh herbs are best added near the end of cooking time.
The broth is added to the pot once the aromatic base is prepared, along with the remaining ingredients. You may add everything all at once, but very often these soups contain a selection of vegetables. The sequence you follow when you add the ingredients depends upon their individual cooking times. Some vegetables are very dense, starchy, or fibrous. Those vegetables are added near the start of cooking time. Tender or quick-cooking vegetables, like peas or corn, are added in the final minutes of cooking time. Make sure you taste the soup occasionally as it simmers so you can make small adjustments to the seasonings as you go.
Hearty vegetable soups like minestrone are best when each vegetable is cooked until it is tender, but can still hold its shape. When you introduce long-cooking ingredients like dried beans or pasta, you may find it helpful to cook them separately. Doing so maintains a lighter, brothier texture in the soup.
Soups are very forgiving. The only important caution is this: Soups left to simmer for hours and hours lose nutrients, texture, and colors. Taste the soup carefully once all of the ingredients are properly cooked. You may find that you need a bit more salt and pepper, or you may want to add ingredients like lemon or lime juice, citrus zest, chopped fresh herbs, or a dash of wine.
Finishing and Garnishing Options
Many vegetable soups are made from a combination of ingredients. Some garnishing and finishing options include a dash of lime or lemon juice or a splash of vinegar, an addition of freshly chopped herbs, grated cheese, a drizzle of oil, or dice or shredded meat, fish, or poultry.
Beans, pastas, and rice (cooked directly in the soup or cooked separately and added at the last minute) are also common. Croutons are used to garnish a variety of different soups.
Now that you have all the information you need to freestyle your own hearty vegetable soup, you don’t need a recipe! But for some inspiration, here are a few of our favorites: