How to Make a Bowl of Homemade Vegan Soup

Minestrone Soup (The Simple Veganista)

A bowl of homemade soup is just what the doctor ordered. And once you know how to make your own soup, you’ll likely never go back. There’s kind of a set formula, then once you know it, you can just use up whatever is left over in the fridge, or find seasonal bargains at farmers’ markets and farm shops.

If you make a lot of homemade soup, it’s worth investing in a good stick blender, to save the faff of washing blenders all the time. It’s UK law that whoever sells it to you, has to take your old appliance back for recycling.

Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets (many foods are unsafe near animal friends). Bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) and citrus/tomato/rhubarb scraps, as acids could harm compost creatures. It’s okay to put them in food waste bins (made into biogas).

For tinned foods, fully remove lids (put inside) or pop ring-pulls back over holes (and pinch tops closed) before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.

Creamy veg soup (Recipes by LingLing)

Basic soup recipe

• First, fry onion and garlic in in a little oil, and season (salt, pepper, herbs, spices).
• Then add base flavour ingredients (tomato, leeks, onion etc).
• Then add some good veggie stock for liquid and flavour.
• When everything is cooked, use a hand blender to mush it altogether.
• Season to taste, and you have homemade soup!

Let leftover soup cool to room temperature, and store in a sealed container in the fridge for a couple of days. Cool completely before freezing leftovers (thaw before reheating in a pan, stirring often to keep the creamy texture).

A few simple soup recipes to start you off

Tomato Basil Soup (The Simple Veganista) is the summer classic. Simmered with onion and garlic, the sweet basil gives this an Italian feel.

Vegetable cabbage soup (The Simple Veganista) is not just tasty and filling, but also very low-fat, so you can eat this away to your heart’s content (check medication before eating lots of leafy greens).

This potato leek soup (The Simple Veganista) is made with tender potatoes and mild leeks, for a creamy classic. Also contains simple herbs for some extra taste.

Look in stores for Mr Organic Leek and Potato Soup. It’s both vegan and organic. 

Curried Parsnip Soup (The Veg Space) is made with roasted garlic for extra flavour, and you can add as few or many spices as you like, depending on your preference.

Vegan Cream of Cauliflower Soup

Creamy Cauliflower Soup (Ela Vegan) roasts the cauliflower (with oil and salt) then combines with beans, good veggie stock, garlic, spices, plant milk and soaked cashews (to replace cream  or just add vegan cream if it’s simpler).

Most people who get ‘gas’ from eating cauliflower, is simply due to not eating enough regular fibre, so your body goes into shock! Try gradually introducing small amounts, and you should be fine.

A quick look online found that Tesco cauliflowers were grown in Belgium, ASDA (to be fair) was selling British cauliflowers.

But Sainsburys’ cauliflowers were grown in ‘France, Netherlands, Spain or UK) so take your pick. These have 1-star reviews, including ‘looks like it’s about to die’ and ‘if it were any smaller, they’d be paying me’.

How to Make Your Own Cup-a-Soups

This vegan leek potato cup-a-soup (The Veg Space) is the ideal alternative to those palm-oil laden packs in stores. Cup a soup is nice and warming for winter days, and better for you than endless cups of coffee!

This recipe uses whole potatoes and stewed leeks, with good veggie stock and vegan cream, for a yummy drink treat in cold weather.

Start with a sturdy, heatproof jar or mug with a tight lid. Glass jars like Mason jars work well because they handle boiling water, and are easy to clean. Make sure your chosen container holds at least 400ml and seals well to stop leaks if you’re packing your soup for work or school.

Wash the container before you use it, then let it dry fully.

Vegan Cream of Chicken Soup Recipe

Vegan Cream of Chicken Soup (A Pinch of Parsley) is the ultimate comfort food recipe, with childhood memories but none of the ‘not being friendly to chickens’. It’s ready in 15 minutes, and you can freeze leftovers, to heat later on.

This recipe is kind of a plant-based take on the old Campbells’ condensed cream of chicken soup. And the good news is that you only need one saucepan and a few easy-to-find ingredients. Use vegan chicken powder to turn it into ‘chicken stock’.

Silicone souper cubes (sold in Lakeland)

Souper Cubes are an American invention, a great invention. At present we don’t appear to have anything similar in England. They are sold in Lakeland (so get these while you can, as the trade tariff fiasco is affecting imports).

In short, these are made from silicone (made with sand, a kind of eco-alternative to plastic that is food-safe, lasts for years and is easy to recycle). Looking like giant ice-cube trays, you basically make a batch of soup (or bread or anything else), then pour leftovers into the trays.

Then when you want some soup, you just pop out a cube to thaw in the fridge, or heat up (to the correct temperature and don’t re-freeze, for food safety). They are great to avoid food waste.

If you live alone or as a couple, you can then make normal soup recipes (that often serve 4 to 6), and have your own homemade soup on tap, which will save you money, and give more variety than tinned soups.

The sturdy lids prevent spills and frost, and the flexible containers push out cubes easily (no more banging plastic containers on the counter, to get your soup or sauce out. You can also use them for homemade pasta sauce, curry, vegan pesto or broth. Silicone also resists stains and odours.

Souper Cubes are also easy to stack and dishwasher-safe. They were created ‘in her head’ by a busy mother, then designed by her husband, who thankfully is an engineer!

If you like making soup, invest in a stick blender, it’s a lot less faff than using blenders that you constantly have to wash out. It’s UK law that stores selling electronic goods have to recycle the old ones for you. So take along that dusty old blender in the kitchen cupboard, and swap it for a sleek modern hand-blender, to use with your Souper Cubes.