Make this easy vegetable soup recipe with whatever veggies you have on hand! Nourishing and light, it's perfect for warming up on cold nights.
This vegetable soup recipe is cozy, healing, and warming. It’s just the thing for cold nights, days when you’re craving a healthy reset, or any time you’re feeling a bit under the weather.
I first started making it years ago, when I was bouncing back from a cold and had a ton of random veggies in the fridge. Using the ingredients I had in my pantry—vegetable broth, diced tomatoes, dried herbs, and vinegar—I transformed this jumble of vegetables into an amazing soup! Since then, I’ve made it again and again, with a different mix of veggies every time. No matter what produce I have on hand, this easy vegetable soup always comes out delicious.
Vegetable Soup Recipe Variations
I call for a lot of vegetables in this soup, but use whatever you have on hand and/or skip what you don’t have. Here are a few easy ways to change it up:
- Use all carrot or all sweet potato instead of both, or add butternut squash instead.
- Toss in a few sliced cremini mushrooms when you add the carrot.
- Swap bell pepper for the cherry tomatoes, zucchini, or green beans.
- Use another leafy green, like spinach or chard, in place of the kale.
- Garnish bowls with chopped fresh parsley or basil, a scoop of pesto, or sprinkle of Parmesan cheese!
The veggies aren’t the only flexible part of this recipe! Feel free to vary the other ingredients as well. Here are a few ideas:
- Add a tablespoon of dried Italian seasoning in place of the oregano.
- Skip the vinegar, and add a big squeeze of lemon juice in its place.
- Omit the chickpeas, or replace them with white beans or cooked French green lentils.
Let me know what variations you try!
Serving Suggestions
Enjoy the soup on its own, or pair it with a salad and crusty bread for a heartier meal. It also goes nicely with a grilled cheese sandwich.
How to Store Vegetable Soup
I like to make a big pot of this vegetable soup and eat it the next day and the day after that. It keeps well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days—the flavor improves as it sits in the fridge!
For longer storage, freeze the soup for up to 3 months.
More Easy Soup Recipes
If you love this easy veggie soup, try one of these vegetarian soup recipes next:
- Best Lentil Soup
- Cabbage Soup
- Tortellini Soup
- Minestrone Soup
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Tomato Soup
- Broccoli Cheddar Soup
- Or any of these 35 Best Soup Recipes!
Vegetable Soup
Equipment
- Le Creuset Dutch Oven (I use my Staub Dutch oven for soup)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, more to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 medium carrot, diced
- 1 small sweet potato, diced
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano, or 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme or rosemary
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped green beans
- 1 zucchini, diced
- 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1½ cups chopped kale
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, salt, and several grinds of pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes. Add the carrot and sweet potato, stir and cook 2 more minutes.
- Add the canned tomatoes, garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Stir in the broth and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.
- Stir in the cherry tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, chickpeas, and cover and cook 10 to 15 more minutes, until the green beans are tender.
- Stir in the vinegar and the kale and cook for 5 minutes, until the kale is wilted. Season to taste and serve.
Delishous recipes
The only adjustment I made to this recipe was to saute the onions as indicated, then put everything except the kale and vinegar in a slow cooker for 7 hours while I was at work. I added the kale and vinegar and allowed it to cook for as long as it took for the oven to heat up and bake my baguette (25-30 minutes). It was absolutely perfect and a wonderful, wholesome meal to come home to.
I’m so glad you loved the soup!
So fresh and delicious. It is perfect for flu/cold season with the heat from the red pepper flakes – I thought it might need more than the recipe stated but it was perfect. Thank you for sharing.
Easy to adjust to whatever vegetables you have. Great, spicy cold remedy.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
This came out delicious. I made a few adjustments. I sauteed the onion in olive oil until caramelized , added the garlic, carrots, sweet potato and celery (instead of green beans) , cooked for 10 minutes, then de-glazed the pan with a heavy splash of dry white wine. ( I did not have any white wine vinegar). Cooked until white wine evaporated, then added remaining ingredients and cooked for 20 minutes.
I then added lima beans (did not have chick peas), spinach (did not have kale) and zucchini. and cooked another 20 minutes. Sprinkled with fresh parm and served. Delicious with a grilled cheese and bacon.
Saw this recipe in a magazine in the waiting room at my doctor office a few months ago, took a picture of it, and finally made it today (since it’s 22 degrees outside). It came out SO GOOD, wow! I had to do a few substitutions (spinach instead of kale, red wine vinegar instead of white wine vinegar, diced tomatoes rather than fire-roasted, black-eyed peas instead of chickpeas), and I added some diced celery to it (love the little “crunch” that it adds to it!). DELICIOUS! I highly recommend this recipe to warm you up on a cold winter day (we live in Michigan).
Hi Betsy, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Love this recipe! Second time making it, this round I used fresh herbs, and it made a big difference on flavor. I also tossed in a parmesan wedge (highly recommend!) Swapped the chickpeas for navy beans,(personal preference). Delicious and worth repeating!
Omg, this was the BEST vegetable soup. We’re not really big soup lovers but this was hardy and so full of flavor. Thank you!
Delicious!!! Wonderfully tasty and healthy!
I saw this recipe in the November 2025 Costco magazine. It’s now early December and I have made twice (doubled recipe) already… it’s that good. Soup has great flavor and variety of veggies — the chickpeas are genius in the soup!
So delicious! I make this recipe all the time and it’s my very favorite recipe for vegetable soup.
Hi Kristy, I’m so happy to hear you’ve enjoyed it!
I came here from the Costco magazine. Did not purchase my veggies there due to not needing that amount for a trial run. This turned out delicious and so colorful! I will be making this again soon since I have a large bag of kale and it’s one of my least favorite vegetables – though it has no bitterness in this
Hi Sheila, I’m so glad you loved the soup!