This Cozy Autumn Fall Vegetable Soup is made with fresh seasonal vegetables and greens, hearty white beans and a deliciously zesty broth. I made this in my Instant pot but it can be easily made on the stove top.
Packed with veggies, this soup is healthy, delicious, and the perfect thing to have around when hunger strikes. You can use whatever veggies you have hanging around in your fridge. My personal favorite uses a combination of tomatoes and chicken broth to add tons of flavor. I use Italian seasoning to kick up the flavor and then I added carrots, celery, onion, garlic, cabbage, daikon radish, delicata squash, rutabaga, and parsnips. I also love adding Brussel Sprouts, zucchini, cauliflower, and broccoli. Bottom line…use your favorite veggies!
For a boost of protein, I used white cannelloni beans but chickpea, lentils, or even spicy Italian sausage would be fabulous if you enjoy meat.
POSSIBLE RECIPE VARIATIONS:
This recipe is quite flexible, so feel free to experiment with whatever ingredient variations sound good! For example, you could…
- Make it spicy: While sautéing the onions, garlic, carrots, and celery add some red pepper flakes. You could also add some diced jalapeños.
- Try new veggies: This soup can be made with any vegetables you like or have on hand. Just pay attention to cooking time. Quick cooking veggies should be added later so they don’t get too soft.
- Add protein: To make this soup more filling, consider adding some protein. Consider using chickpeas, lentils, or my fave, cannelloni beans to keep it vegetarian. You could also add chicken breast, ground turkey, Italian sausage, or shrimp. You could even add both! Just note you may need some extra broth.
- More tomato flavor: For more tomato flavor, you have a couple of options. First, you can add some tomato paste. That adds a rich tomato flavor. Another option is adding blended canned tomatoes.
- Add different seasonings: To keep things simple, I opted to just use some Italian seasoning in this soup. If you prefer more kick, you can swap in any of your favorite spices or spice blends. Fresh herbs are also great.
- Make it with homemade bone broth: I love using homemade bone broth so if you have it, by all means, use it!
What other vegetables can I add to this soup?
Like I mentioned above, there are tons of options for adding vegetables to this soup and the sky is the limit. Some favorites include butternut squash, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, and bell peppers. I like to cook with what is in season. Late spring and early summer I I like to add veggies like zucchini, summer squash, asparagus, sugar snap peas, broccoli, or cauliflower.
How to make vegetable soup more filling?
I like to add protein to this soup to make it more filling. Most often I use white beans but my husband loves this with spicy Italian Sausage. You could also use lentils, chickpeas instead of white beans, or edamame. Try adding a lean protein like rotisserie chicken, ground turkey, or turkey sausage. Another option is to make some pasta, rice, couscous, or quinoa which I love to do during marathon training . For all of these options, you may need to add some additional broth to the soup.
Speaking of marathon training, I debated for a couple months about running a marathon this fall. My heart really wants to run one but my mind and body is telling me differently. Shortly after returning from North Carolina, I came down with a bad cold. It was so bad I swear I had COVID. Actually part of me think I had a false negative test because it was definitley different than any cold I have had in the past.
In any case, I was down for about a week. Unfortunately my cough lingered and after another 16 mile run that went ok considering I am not quite feeling myself, I decided it wasn’t a good idea to push myself. I made a promise after running my first Rome Marathon with Bronchitis I would NEVER run another race sick. I honestly thought I did permanent damage to myself after that marathon.
Watching Shalane run all the world majors has been so inspiring but it also makes me sad since now I want to run a marathon even more this fall. Oh well….there will be more races to run next year! The older I get the smarter I get…at least that is what I am trying to tell myself.
In the mean time, I’ll be eating more nourishing soups to keep me healthy until I run 26.2 again. Lets get cooking shall we! You are going to love the soup!
SAVORY FALL VEGETABLE SOUP
INGREDIENTS:
- Olive oil or coconut oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 3 carrots, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 cups cabbage, chopped
- 1 daikon radish, chopped
- 1 medium rutabaga
- 4 parsnips
- Fresh kale
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth (more if needed)
- 28 oz canned fire roasted diced tomatoes (with juice)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- optional protein ~ white beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc
DIRECTIONS:
- Coat Instant Pot with Generous amount of olive oil or coconut oil and Press Sauté button. (alternatively use your stove top and large dutch oven).
- Add the onion, celery, carrots, and garlic. Cook for 4-5 minutes until the onion begins to become translucent.
- Add all other veggies except the greens. Also add Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Stir and cook for a few more minutes.
- Turn sauté button off.
- Add the chicken broth, canned tomatoes, and tomato paste. Set Instant Pot to Pressure cook on high for 20 minutes.
- Release pressure carefully. Add greens and optional beans. Stir again.
- Garnish with fresh herbs and or freshly grated parmesan cheese.
- ENJOY
Are you running this fall? OR did you run a marathon?
Do you you have a favorite fall marathon destination?
Have you been following Shalane’s running journey?
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