Vegetable Soup Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make your vegetable soup taste better? ›

Depending on your taste pallet, you can boost your soup in a variety of directions. Onion powder, garlic powder, garlic salt, Italian seasonings, Mexican seasonings (or any other cultures). Don't overcook your vegetables, either. They lose their flavor and turn to mush if cooked too long.

Italian Seasoning: a classic mixture of oregano, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, basil, and sage goes well with almost any fresh vegetables. Bay Leaf: you should only need one for this big batch of soup, a little goes a long way with bay leaves, giving your soup a great depth of flavor.

It may sound a bit strange and unusual for some, but vinegar is a common ingredient in some soup recipes, and there is a good reason for it. If you think about it, vinegar is really a flavor-enhancer (umami). That's why it is so often used in cooking, sauces, and salad dressings. The same is true with soups.

Root vegetables such as squash and potatoes add a good element of heartiness and fiber. Carrots and zucchini hold up well in broth and kale or Swiss chard add nice flavor, a splash of color and a serious dose of nutrition. Tomatoes and tomato paste give your recipe an Italian twist.

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.

Add sweet vegetables like carrots and beets. They will sweeten the broth and deepen its color. You might also add a bit of miso (or salt) and/or a squeeze of lemon juice. Sweet, salt and acid balance bitter flavors.

For clear, brothy soups, stock is your most important ingredient. If you want to make a good soup, you need to use an excellently flavored stock — otherwise, the entire pot could be tasteless.

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.

Add acidic ingredients.

Foods that have a great deal of acidity, like lemon juice, vinegar, white wine, and tomato puree, can help liven up the flavor of bland-tasting bone and other broths. "The acidity of these ingredients works to complement and enhance the broth's flavors, not mask it.

Add a splash or two of ACV when the soup is done cooking. The vinegar helps lift and highlight flavors.

What to add to soup when it's missing something? ›

Try some different spices and herbs. Dried fenugreek, celery seed, salt, basil, thyme, etc. if you can get some of them as fresh herbs, give those a try in place of dried ones. Add a dash or three of Worcestershire sauce to the pan of soup.

Dried herbs and seasonings: homemade seasoned salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning, and dried bay leaves lend flavor to the soup. Stock: I much prefer chicken stock over vegetable stock in terms of flavor, though if you want to keep this soup vegetarian, feel free to use vegetable broth or stock instead.

Add flour or cornflour

Put a tablespoon of either into a small bowl and stir in 2-3 tbsp of the soup until you have a smooth mixture. Stir this back into the soup and bring it to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes to allow the starch granules to burst to thicken, and to cook out any flour flavour.

While certain vegetables can work just fine added directly to simmering soups and stews (say, carrots and celery), other vegetables (onions, garlic, and the like) will almost always need at least a brief sweat in a fat-based liquid before adding the remaining ingredients.

Ensure you've added enough salt and black pepper. Too little salt means your soup's flavours' will remain hidden. When you know your soup is salty enough, move on to other seasonings like herbs and spices.

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.

Mushrooms, miso, tomatoes, garlic, herbs, kombu, vinegar, whatever fits the profile you're going for. One sure-fire way to boost the flavor of any soup is to compound your vegetables.