My Plant-Based Family

Feeding My Family a Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet, On a Budget

Soups, Stews, & Chili

Simple Veggie Soup in the Instant Pot

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I want to start by telling you that this soup can be made on the stove or in the Crock Pot as well. For those of you with an Instant Pot you can cook this soup much more quickly.

This Simple Veggie Soup (in the Instant Pot) is so easy and delicious. You can add different ingredients if you prefer but this is made with basic veggie staples that we always have on hand. You know me, I like to keep it simple.

simple veggie soup

There are a few variations on this recipe. To make this soup heartier you can add Great Northern beans. It will cook more quickly if you soak the beans ahead of time. The soup is delicious with or without beans.

I added all of the ingredients to the Instant Pot in the morning and set the timer to come on 4 hours later so it would be ready in the afternoon. This will allow the beans to soak for a while if you are using them

Simple Veggie Soup in the Instant Pot

Ingredients

  • 1/2 an onion, diced
  • 2 cups broccoli, chopped
  • 1 large carrots, sliced (this equaled 1 cup of carrots for me)
  • 5 red potatoes, quartered (I didn’t peel them)
  • 3 liters of water (12 cups)
  • 1 cup dry Great Northern beans (optional)
  • bullion or dry broth mix (read the label to figure out the appropriate amount)

Do

  1. Put all of the ingredients into the Instant Pot and close the lid.
  2. Press the SOUP button, then if using the timer press the TIMER button.
  3. Use the + or – buttons to select the appropriate number of hours you’d like the Instant Pot to delay cooking. (The time will be the delayed time before the Instant Pot starts.) Remember that it takes time for the Instant Pot to heat up and cool down, especially when cooking soup so you need to take that time into consideration.
  4. Once the Soup is done the Instant Pot will keep it warm until you press CANCEL. Allow the steam to release naturally or use the quick release.

Serve

We eat this soup as is with maybe a sprinkle of salt. It’s perfect if you’ve been fighting a cold or are just in the mood for warm veggies.

Notes

If you are cooking it immediately you do not need to select the TIMER button.

If you are using dry beans they need to be soaked OR you may need to increase the cooking time, check the cooking time chart to be sure.

If you are making this in the Crock Pot just cook it all day or for about 6 hours.

If you are using beans and cooking this on the stove it will take about 90 minutes to cook soaked beans, if the beans haven’t been soaked it will take longer. I recommend you cook the beans first then add them to the soup.

The soup will take about 30 minutes without beans or with previously cooked beans.

Do you ever just make a simple soup? What are your “must” have ingredients? 

Creamy Tomato Soup: Never Eat Condensed Soup Again!

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Sometimes I create a recipe that is so good we are completely surprised. I’m a pretty good cook, but I don’t expect to be able to recreate some foods, especially with all of the food sensitivities in our house.

Unlike the big name condensed soups (you know who I’m talking about) that use tomato paste, corn syrup, wheat and plenty of chemicals, this recipe uses only real vegetables. I am in love with this vegan, gluten-free, and sodium-free Creamy Tomato Soup. I have a feeling you will probably love it too.creamy tomato soup It is perfect for spring and summer time when you can get garden fresh tomatoes AND it doesn’t require the use of a stove! I made this with the help of my Crock-Pot and my Blendtec! Easiest. Soup. Ever! If you are not in the mood for a warm soup you can also drink this cold! creamy tomato soup

Creamy Tomato Soup

Vegan and Gluten-Free

Ingredients

  • 9 tomatoes (these were vine ripened tomatoes and between Roma and Beefsteak tomatoes in size)
  • 1 large onion
  • 3 ribs of celery
  • 8 cloves of garlic
  • 3 carrots
  • 1 to 2 cups of water

Do

  1. Wash all produce well and remove and discard any leafy ends.
  2. Put all veggies in a Crock-Pot. Veggies can be cut if needed. I cut the celery, carrots and onions so they would fit better but left the tomatoes whole. My Crock-Pot was almost overflowing.
  3. Cook on low all day.
  4. Allow to cool slightly then blend in a Blendtec or high-powered blender. I let mine cool all the way. Don’t burn yourself. 🙂
  5. Add salt if needed.

Serve The soup is perfect as is or with a light dusting of salt. You could eat it with crackers, toast or a grilled Faux Cheesy Snack. I also love it cold! It’s a perfect quick snack that I can drink easily in a cup when I’m on the go and it tastes a lot like V-8.

A few months ago we bought a Blendtec and have been loving it! It has made a lot of new recipes possible like my Green Chili White Bean Dip and my Creamy Italian Salad Dressing. I recently became a Blendtec affiliate! Did you know you can get $100 Off + Free Shipping on Blendtec Factory Recertified Blenders? 

TIP! I store this soup in a pitcher so I can easily pour it into a bowl or a cup and it takes up less room in the fridge than a bowl.

Do you love Tomato Soup? Next time I’m going to make a spicy version!

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Hearty Lentil & Barley Stew

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Baby it’s cold outside! Don’t worry, this Hearty Lentil & Barely Stew will warm you right up.

Lentil Barley Stew

This stew contains gluten but you can use rice or quinoa in its place for a gluten-free option. The potatoes, carrots and celery along with the lentils and barley will provide plenty of fuel for shoveling snow or chasing your kids.

Hearty Lentil & Barley Stew

Ingredients

  • 3 cups water
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • 1/2 onion, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp Dry Veggie Broth Mix
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 2 small potatoes (with skin on), chopped
  • 1/4 cup dry (uncooked) barley
  • 3/4 cup cooked lentils (or 2/3 uncooked)

Do

  1. Add all of the ingredients to a pot and cook over medium heat.
  2. Cook until barley is soft, maybe up to 45 minutes. Add more water water if necessary.

Serve

This is delicious with crusty bread and a side salad.

What is your favorite winter stew?

Green Chili, Cilantro, & Lime Soup

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Oh, how I wish you could taste this delicious soup. It has a very complex taste but is incredibly easy to make, and also inexpensive. Does it get much better than that?

This Green Chili, Cilantro, and Lime Soup is more of a "grown up" soup but don't be surprised if your kids love it too!
This Green Chili, Cilantro, and Lime Soup is more of a "grown up" soup but don't be surprised if your kids love it too!

I use my Dry Broth Mix here but you could use whatever you normally use for veggie broth. You may have to add some nutritional yeast, salt, garlic, onion, and other spices to give it the same zing. I love how easy it is to add my Dry Broth Mix instead measuring out a bunch of different spices.

This Green Chili, Cilantro, and Lime Soup is more of a "grown up" soup but don't be surprised if your kids love it too!

Green Chili, Cilantro & Lime Soup

Ingredients

  • 12 cups water
  • 2 cups uncooked brown rice (I used long grain)
  • 2 (4 oz) cans diced green chilis
  • 1/2 cup Dry Broth Mix
  • 1/2 Tbsp sea salt
  • 1/2 a diced onion (optional)
  • 1 cup corn (optional, fire roasted corn would be amazing)
  • 3 cups cooked black beans (or 2 cans of drained and rinsed beans)
  • juice and zest from 1 lime
  • 1 handful of cilantro

Do

  1. Add water to a large pot or dutch oven and bring to a boil.
  2. Add the rice, chilis, broth mix, salt, and onion to the water and cook for 45 minutes on medium heat until rice is done.
  3. Add beans, corn, lime juice and zest along with cilantro. Continue to cook at a simmer for 15 minutes.
  4. Ladle into bowls to cool for a few minutes before serving
This Green Chili, Cilantro, and Lime Soup is more of a "grown up" soup but don't be surprised if your kids love it too!

Serve

This soup needs no accompaniment! If you like green chilis, cilantro, and lime you will like this soup. My kids (2 and 4 years old) didn’t like it much, it’s more of a “grown up” soup. I think teens would enjoy it though. If you try it let me know what your kids think.

Yield: 4 servings

Green Chili, Cilantro and Lime Soup

If you like green chilis, cilantro, and lime you will like this soup. It's not spicy but packs a big flavor punch!

Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 4 cups veggie broth, divided
  • 1 cup uncooked brown rice (I used long grain)
  • 1 (4 oz) cans diced green chilis
  • 1 Teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/2 cup a diced onion (optional)
  • 1 cup frozen corn (optional, fire roasted corn would be amazing)
  • 1 can black beans (drained and rinsed beans)
  • juice and zest from 1 lime
  • 1 handful of cilantro

Instructions

  1. Add water to a large pot or dutch oven and bring to a boil.
  2. Add the rice, chilis, broth mix, salt, and onion to the water and cook for 45 minutes on medium heat until rice is done.
  3. Add beans, corn, lime juice and zest along with cilantro. Continue to cook at a simmer for 15 minutes.
  4. Ladle into bowls to cool for a few minutes before serving

Notes

Convert this to an Instant Pot recipe by cooking the brown rice with veggie broth and chilies for 22 minutes. Once done, allow pressure to release, then add the rest of the ingredients and heat until everything is warm.

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Category: Recipes

I’ve made a 1/2 batch and a 1/4 batch of this and both were delicious; I’ve doubled the amount each time I’ve made it. 🙂 If you have leftovers you will need to add extra water the next day because the rice continues to soak up the water.

Have you tried this soup yet? If you can’t get enough of these flavors, try my Green Chili White Bean Dip!

Chickpea Noodle Soup

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Chickpea Noodle Soup brings back memories from my childhood of my grandma making me chicken noodle soup from a can. I loved it.

Chickpea noodle soup Plant-Based Gluten-Free

Now that I’m grown up I want to create the same memories with my kids. Except, now we avoid chicken. What’s a mom to do?

Well replace the chicken with chickpeas of course. Not only are chickpeas a perfect stand in I think you’ll agree that this soup is better than it’s inspiration.

I used gluten-free noodle but you could use any kind of noodle you want. I’ve remade this using a variety of pasta shapes and sizes.

Chickpea noodle soup Plant-Based Gluten-Free

Macaroni is perfect for little 2 year old fingers, while long noodles work for adults.

Chickpea Noodle Soup

5.0 from 1 reviews
Chickpea Noodle Soup
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Soup
Serves: 2-3 servings
Ingredients
  • ½ diced onion
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 2 celery, chopped
  • 4 cups water OR veggie Broth
  • 2-3 Tbsp Veggie Broth Mix OR you can use bullion
  • 1½ cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 can)
  • 1 c gluten-free noodles
  • 2 tsp dried parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. In a medium-sized pot add chopped veggies and cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally. I like to let them soften a bit before adding water.
  2. Add 4 cups of water and dry broth mix or veggie broth along with the chickpeas. Allow to simmer until veggie are almost done.
  3. Pour in noodles adding more water if necessary. Cook noodles until done.
  4. Stir in dried parsley along with salt and pepper if needed.

I paired this soup with a big salad but it would be amazing with a loaf of crusty bread or some gluten-free crackers. My husband and I really liked this along with my youngest son. This isn’t the best choice for those who don’t like chickpeas but any white bean could be easily substituted in this recipe.

My dry broth mix uses nutritional yeast; if you use something else you may want to add a little nutritional yeast to your soup.

This is an easy dish for those families that only have one or two plant-based eaters. Meat could be cooked separately then added to appease the meat eaters. If you went that route I would cube cooked chicken to roughly the same size as the chickpeas; over time they may not even miss it.

This recipe can easily be doubled and tastes great the next day.

Chickpea noodle soup Plant-Based Gluten-Free

Veggie Broth Mix

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Do you buy Veggie Broth? I used to but no longer. Introducing my Veggie Broth Mix. This stuff has made cooking soooo much easier for me.

Dry Veggie Broth Mix

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One year ago when we first went plant-based I hated giving up the rich flavor I got from my chicken bullion. I switched to the veggie version and was quite happy with that until I learned it contained MSG. Bleck!

Dry Veggie Broth Mix

Then I switched to a veggie bullion I found at my local Sprout’s but it didn’t provide the same rich flavor I had grown to love. When making soups I’d add plenty of veggie’s but it wasn’t the same, adding nutritional yeast definitely helped the flavor but sometimes I want broth without making a whole pot of soup. My freezer does not have enough space for broth storage.

This veggie broth doesn’t have a lot of veggies but it does have a rich flavor that would be a great addition to sauces, soups, or anywhere you would normally use broth.

UPDATE: I’ve been making this Veggie Broth Mix for over 5 years! We still love it! There are a couple of ways to make it that will have an impact on measurements.

Dry Veggie Broth Mix

Shake, Stir or Food Processor

If you make this by shaking it in a jar, stirring it together or running it through a food processor you will need to use 1 Tablespoon of the mix for EACH cup of water. So if I recipe calls for 6 cups of water, you will use 6 Tablespoons of dry broth mix.

High Powered Blender or Spice Grinder

Some people prefer to make this in their Vitamix, Blendtec or spice grinder. It works really well but the contents get pulverized. Since it is broken down even more you’ll want to use 1 teaspoon of the veggie broth mix for each cup of water. You can always add a little more if needed. It’s hard to say exactly how much you’ll need because each appliance will create a different product.

This Veggie Broth Mix doesn’t have enough salt for me so I usually add more to the finished recipe. I try to keep my recipes low sodium for my readers on a low salt diet.

Veggie Broth Mix

Try this Veggie Broth Mix once and you will be hooked! Keep it on hand and you’ll have the makings of a delicious meal anytime.

Veggie Broth Mix

Dry Veggie Broth Mix
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 Tablespoons onion powder
  • 1 Tablespoons garlic powder
  • 1 Tablespoons sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon tumeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon parsley flakes
  • 1 cup nutritional yeast

Instructions

  1. Mix all ingredients together, adjusting for your taste preferences. (If you hate one of these spices simply omit it.)
  2. Store in an air tight container.

Notes

Use this broth mix by adding 1 Tablespoon of the Veggie Broth Mix for each cup of hot water. For example if you are cooking with 4 cups of water, you would use 4 Tablespoons of Veggie Broth Mix.

Did you make this recipe?

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© Holly Yzquierdo

Use this broth mix by adding 1 Tbsp for each cup of hot water. I like to add extra salt to the finished product. This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cups of dry veggie broth mix when using the food processor or string it together. That’s 24 cups of broth. I haven’t added up the cost but I think it is a much better value that all of the veggie broth I’d been buying.

Broccoli Potato Soup

Use this veggie broth in any recipe. Some of my favorites include Chickpea Noodle Soup, Minestrone Soup, Potato and Kale Soup but it is also incredible mixed in warm noodles, rice or watch it take your favorite casseroles to the next level. For more ideas check out my Recipe Page!

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