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)
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!
