The absolute most delicious and flavorful healthy vegan vegetable soup out there! This vegan soup has a rich tomato broth and hearty rice texture to fill you up. It is oil-free and incredibly healthy and good for you.
Originally posted 1-26-2018. Updated with clearer instructions and content.
HEALTHY VEGETABLE SOUP
Meet my new favorite soup! I’ve made this healthy vegetable soup with rice several times already before posting it and I’m here to tell you, this is the best vegetable soup I’ve had. I have found many vegetable soups to be too watery or have a really bland broth, do you know what I mean? The broth part of a soup tends to be my favorite part because it imparts so much flavor (if done well). I really want to slurp up flavor, not boring bland liquid. Every single bite of this soup is absolutely a party for your taste buds.
So, I didn’t want just plain broth as my soup base. I amped it with serious tomato flavor and another unexpected ingredient in vegetable soup…rice. It makes it more hearty and filling. This soup has the perfect balance of broth and ingredients…not too watery/brothy and not too chunky. Just what you want from a vegetable soup…to be able to enjoy slurping the delicious broth but also getting some yummy veggies in every bite. Seriously, my favorite vegetable soup to date.
INGREDIENTS
For this vegetable soup, you’ll need 8 easy ingredients:
- tomato sauce
- low-sodium vegetable broth
- Italian seasoning: I use my homemade blend.
- chili powder
- mixed veggies (corn, peas, green beans, carrots)
- garlic
- onion
- cooked brown rice
HOW TO MAKE HEALTHY VEGETABLE SOUP
Step 1: Add the onion, garlic and 1/4 cup water and a pinch of salt to a large pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes until softened and all the water is gone. Lower the heat to low and stir constantly for a couple of minutes to caramelize the onions a bit.
FULL OF FLAVOR
This Tomato Rice Vegetable Soup is undeniably full of flavor, a warmth that screams comfort and the perfect acidity from the tomato sauce. To make the flavor even richer, I added chili powder, oh my, so warming. I also added just enough cayenne to give it subtle spiciness to make it even more exciting. The perfect amount to feel in your throat, but not so much that you are reaching for water or it is overpowering everything. But since many people don’t like cayenne or may be feeding to kids, I made it an optional ingredient. Although, if it’s just for you, I’d highly suggest adding it because it makes it so delicious!
Seriously, my favorite vegetable soup to date. I hope you all love it as much as we do!
MORE VEGAN SOUP RECIPES TO TRY
- Lazy Day Vegan Tomato Bisque
- Vegan Cauliflower Curry Soup
- Vegan Red Lentil Spinach Soup
- Lazy Red Lentil Curry Soup
- Smoky Sweet Potato Black-eyed Pea Soup
- Low-fat Smoky Broccoli Potato Soup
- Healthy Potato Carrot Tomato Soup
- Easy Vegan Ramen Noodle Soup
- Sweet Potato Broccoli Cheese Soup
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Healthy Vegetable Soup (With Rice)
Ingredients
- 1/2 packed cup (80g) finely diced red onion
- 5 x-large cloves garlic, minced OR 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
- 5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 3 cups (720g) tomato sauce/puree (this is just pureed tomatoes into liquid)
- 2 tablespoons (6g) Italian seasoning (see NOTES)
- 1 tablespoon (8g) standard American Chili powder
- 5 cups (575g) frozen mixed veggies (I bought bags containing a mix of corn, peas, green beans and carrots)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional: see Note)
- 1 1/2 cups (240g) cooked brown rice (I buy the frozen rice packets for easy quick rice in 4 minutes)
- I use this scale
NOTE
- For the cayenne pepper, a 1/4 teaspoon gives a subtle but perfectly, delicious kick of heat. It is just enough to really enhance the overall soup and feel it in your throat, without it overpowering the soup. It is optional, so you can leave it out or reduce to 1/8 teaspoon for sensitivity or for kids.
Instructions
- Have all of your ingredients measured and ready to go, as this soup comes together very fast.
- Add the onion, garlic (if using the garlic cloves) and 1/4 cup water and a pinch of salt to a large pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes until softened and all the water is gone. Once the water is gone, lower the heat to low and stir constantly for a couple of minutes to caramelize the onions a bit. Be careful not to burn them.
- Add all of the remaining ingredients (except the cooked rice), including the garlic powder (if using in place of the garlic cloves) and cayenne (if using) and stir well. Turn the heat to high and bring to a high boil. Once boiling, lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes. The veggies should be perfectly tender, but still have a slight bite to them. Remove from the heat and stir in the cooked rice. My flavor was spot on but if your tomato sauce did not have added salt, you may need another pinch.
- If you want it spicier, add more pepper or cayenne. The 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne was the perfect level of heat for me so it wasn't overpowering. The soup should have a nice amount of broth to it still but will definitely thicken up well as it sits a bit (from the rice) so don't be tempted to add extra veggies. I found it to be the perfect mix of veggies and broth so both could be enjoyed. Not too soupy and not too chunky. Serve with bread.
Notes
Nutrition
Delicious, easy and very filling!
I made this tonight and it was wonderful! I adore tomato based vegetable soups that use frozen veggies and this one didn’t disappoint. I made it as written except I used kasha instead if rice and included lima beans with the mixed veggies. The spice level was perfect and I can’t wait to make it again!!
So very happy to hear this Mireille, thanks so much!