Autumn is when we start craving hearty and cozy meals that warm our hearts and bodies. We love outdoor gatherings on sunny autumn days, and this vegetable soup is a perfect comfort food to celebrate the harvest and enjoy a warming meal outdoors and indoors.
This hearty soup can be cooked over the campfire in a large soup pot big enough for all harvest participants, in an instant pot, or as a regular soup for family gatherings or a Thanksgiving dinner.
Served with home-baked wheat sandwich bread or slices of rye bread, it will warm you on a cold autumn or winter day and fill you with gratitude for nature's gifts. And comforting Danish cinnamon rolls will serve as a perfect dessert for a cozy fall meal.
With this affordable recipe, you'll be able to serve your whole family a warming and delicious meal.
Ingredients
- Fresh vegetables: tomatoes, yellow onion, 2-3 cloves of garlic, celery sticks, carrots, zucchini. You can use canned tomatoes if you're out of fresh tomatoes and no store is within reach. Zucchini can be replaced with vegetable marrows, which we do frequently. You can also add cabbage to the assortment of vegetables. If you don't mind a slightly sweeter taste, butternut squash is also an excellent choice for this recipe.
- Small pasta: filini, risi, farfalline, alphabet pasta (an excellent option for kids!), or similar. This dish is all about vegetables, so the pasta shouldn't be large enough to overpower them.
- Boiled lentils: To reduce cooking time, pre-boil lentils the previous day so they're ready to use. Both red and white lentils can be used, but the red ones enhance the soup's color bouquet. We used small white beans for this recipe.
- Canned beans
- Veggie broth: Quality broth is the key to every soup. You can use homemade stock or broth if you happen to have one. We rarely do, but we always pay close attention to the ingredients of store-bought broth. Look for those with fewer (or no) artificial additives and flavor enhancers. Veggie broth can be substituted with chicken stock.
- Tomato paste: Opt for tomato paste with less sugar added. Tomato paste can be substituted with ketchup, but it is not recommended since it also contains vinegar and corn syrup, which is unnecessary for this recipe.
- Olive oil for frying: Extra virgin olive oil is our regular choice.
- Hard cheese: think Parmigiano-Reggiano or Parmesan cheese. It is used as a final touch and can be shredded or thinly sliced. Hard cheese adds another dimension to the taste of this dish and is highly recommended.
- Chopped fresh parsley: the juicy green color adds contrast and freshness to the dish. Another alternative is fresh rosemary, which also suits this recipe very well.
- Bay leaf (optional): bay leaf adds subtle yet beautiful flavor nuances.
- Salt and black pepper
Directions
1. Peel onions, carrots, garlic, and zucchini. Finely chop the onion, mince the garlic, and cut the carrots, zucchini, and celery sticks into small cubes/slices.
2. (Optional) Blach tomatoes. Pour hot boiled water into a large bowl and prepare another with ice-cold water. Using a sharp knife, score each tomato with an "X," OR use a fork to penetrate it in several places. Place the tomatoes in the hot water bowl for 1 minute until the skin starts to come off. Then, transfer to the bowl with ice water to cool down. Once cooled, the skin can be removed easily, starting from the scored place. This step is optional because you can also blend the tomatoes with the skin using an immersion blender to avoid large chunks of tomato skin floating in the soup.
3. Cut tomatoes into smaller cubes/slices.
4. Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot and fry the onion and garlic on medium heat until the onion becomes translucent.
5. Add celery, carrots, and zucchini and continue frying for 3-5 minutes.
6. Add the lentils, beans, tomatoes, broth, tomato paste and bring to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Depending on the broth used, you might not need much salt and only consider adding ground black pepper.
7. Add pasta and boil until al dente on medium-high heat (depending on the type of pasta, it will take around 8-10 minutes).
9. Switch off the heat. Serve with sprinkled hard cheese, sour cream (optional), and chopped parsley on top.
Recipe Variations
- For an even cozier iteration, add regular or sweet potatoes and/or red bell peppers
- Instead of frying in a pan, vegetables can be baked on a sheet pan in the oven.
- If you're short on time, try making this soup in a pressure cooker to achieve an extra creamy texture. We frequently use a pressure cooker for soups and meat sauces to save time and ensure all the ingredients are extra soft. Note that zucchini can dissolve very quickly, and you might want to add cooked pasta at the end so it isn't overcooked. When cooking in a pressure cooker, always ensure enough water in the pot, as it tends to evaporate quicker than in a regular stockpot.
- Roasted pumpkin seeds will add more texture and interest to the served soup.
Frequently Asked Questions
If stored in an airtight container, this soup can be refrigerated for up to 4-5 days, sometimes slightly longer. If you're cooking in advance and intend to refrigerate the soup, we suggest adding pasta only upon serving.
Freshly baked crusty bread is always a great choice. Other options include bread sticks, crackers, or lavash chips.
You definitely can! Pork, beef, or turkey would be great additions to this recipe if you want a carnivore-style version.
Homemade Fall Harvest Vegetable Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 tomatoes
- 2 onions
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 celery stick
- 2 large carrots
- 1 medium-sized zucchini
- 1 tablespoon tomato sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup small pasta filini, risi, farfalline, or alphabet pasta
- 10 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 oz hard cheese Parmesan or similar
- fresh parsley for serving
- 1 cup boiled lentils
- 10 oz canned beans
Instructions
- Peel onions, carrots, garlic, and zucchini. Finely chop the onion, mince the garlic, and cut the carrots, zucchini, and celery sticks into small cubes/slices.
- (Optional) Blach tomatoes. Pour hot boiled water into a large bowl and prepare another with ice-cold water. Using a sharp knife, score each tomato with an "X," OR use a fork to penetrate it in several places. Place the tomatoes in the hot water bowl for 1 minute until the skin starts to come off. Then, transfer to the bowl with ice water to cool down. Once cooled, the skin can be removed easily, starting from the scored place. Alternatively, blend the tomatoes with the skin using an immersion blender.
- Cut tomatoes into smaller cubes/slices.
- Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot and fry the onion and garlic on medium heat until translucent.
- Add celery, carrots, and zucchini. Continue frying for 3-5 minutes.
- Add the lentils, beans, tomatoes, broth, tomato paste andbring to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add pasta and boil until al dente on medium-high heat (around 8-10 minutes).
- Switch off the heat. Serve with sprinkled hard cheese, sour cream (optional), and chopped parsley on top.
Notes
- Depending on the broth's saltiness, you might want to skip adding salt to the soup.
- Serve with fresh crusty bread, crackers, or lavash chips.
- Sprinkle with roasted pumpkin seeds and/or croutons, and add sour cream as an optional topping.
- This recipe is well-suited for cooking over the campfire.
- Fresh tomatoes can be substituted with canned tomatoes.
Nutrition Value
Share your comments, rate, or ask a question!