Easy Beef Broth Vegetable Soup

By
Danilo Alfaro
Danlio Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Updated on 01/20/24
Tested by
Young Sun Huh
Young Sun Huh
Tested by Young Sun Huh
Young Sun is a freelance recipe developer, tester, and food stylist with over 15 years of experience in the food industry.
Learn about The Spruce Eats' Editorial Process
Easy and hearty vegetable soup

The Spruce Eats

Prep: 25 mins
Cook: 40 mins
Total: 65 mins
Servings: 4 to 6 servings
Yield: 2 quarts

All you need when cold weather hits is a bowl of steaming soup packed with tender vegetables and flavored with a base of rich beef broth or stock. Our hearty recipe has lots of texture from the vegetables and is easily adaptable to whatever fresh or frozen produce you have at hand. Swap or add whatever bits and pieces of other vegetables you have in your fridge or make it chicken based for a different flavor. Use vegetable stock for a vegan and vegetarian dish.

Soup Is Your Meal Prep Savior

Soups are a budget-friendly approach to healthy nutrition. Because they're high in fiber, thanks to all the vegetables, they will keep you full for longer. They also freeze well, so integrating a batch of soup into your weekly meal prep is a great idea. Then you can portion and freeze personal servings and microwave a bowl of soup when needed.

Personalize Your Bowl with Toppings

And lastly, soups are easily personalized outside of the pot: Once served, you can add toppings and sides to make it suit your cravings. A dollop of sour cream, a heaping spoonful of grated cheese, hot sauce, some crushed tortilla chips, a handful of chopped herbs, or toasted seeds are just a few of the extra ingredients you could add.

Enjoy a comforting bowl of vegetable soup with a slice of crusty bread to make an easy and healthy meal.

"I appreciate the amount and variety of healthy vegetables in this soup. The recipe is so easy to customize, and you can substitute with different vegetables or whatever you have in your fridge. I added some tortellini to the soup and topped it with a generous grating of Parmigiano." —Young Sun Huh

Easy Beef Broth Vegetable Soup Tester Image
A Note From Our Recipe Tester

Ingredients

  • 3 medium carrots, washed and peeled

  • 3 large celery stalks, washed 

  • 1 medium onion, peeled

  • 1 medium turnip

  • 4 Roma tomatoes

  • 1 medium leek

  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

  • 1 clove garlic, minced

  • 1/2 cup dry white wine

  • 1 quart beef broth, or beef stock

  • 1 bay leaf

  • 1 handful frozen cut green beans

  • 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

  • Kosher salt, to taste

  • Freshly ground white pepper, to taste

Steps to Make It

Chop the Vegetables

  1. Gather the ingredients.

    Ingredients for easy and hearty vegetable soup

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  2. Cut the carrots, celery, onion, turnip, and tomatoes into about 1/2-inch dice. 

    Cut tomatoes, onions, turnip, carrots, and celery

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  3. Trim the stem and green part from the leek and discard. Slice the white part lengthwise and rinse out any dirt.

    Trimmed leek on a cutting board

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  4. Chop the leek thinly.

    Chopped leek on a cutting board

    The Spruce Eats

Make the Soup

  1. In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.

    Oil in pot

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  2. Add the garlic, carrots, leek, onion, and celery and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until the onion is slightly translucent, continuously stirring.

    Celery and carrots in a pot

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  3. Add the turnip and tomatoes and cook for another minute while still stirring.

    Stirring vegetables in a pot

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  4. Add the wine and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, or until liquid is reduced by about half.

    Veggies in a pot

    The Spruce Eats

  5. Add the beef broth and the bay leaf. Bring the soup to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the vegetables are just tender.

    Bay leaf on top of vegetable soup

    The Spruce Eats

  6. Add the frozen green beans and the fresh thyme and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the green beans are heated through but still firm. Test the seasoning and add kosher salt and white pepper to taste. Check that the turnips are soft but still firm.

    Vegetable soup with green beans

    The Spruce Eats

  7. Serve hot.

    Easy and hearty vegetable soup

    The Spruce Eats

Personalize the Soup

It wouldn't take much to doctor up this soup to make it even heartier:

  • Add leftover cooked potatoes or rice to thicken it. Or you could simmer the vegetables with uncooked cubed potatoes. They'll take about the same amount of cooking time as the turnips.
  • Add some cooked beans, including canned. Red kidney beans, white navy beans, or Great Northern beans would work especially well.
  • Add dried pasta or noodles to transform this soup into a lovely vegetable noodle soup. Check the package instructions for cooking time to reach al dente, and add the pasta that many minutes before the end of the soup's cooking time.
  • Serve the soup with a spoonful of pistou for an instant flavor boost.

How to Store and Freeze

  • The soup will keep for up to 5 days. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
  • To freeze, add the soup to a freezer-safe airtight container, leaving at least an inch of space at the top. Store for up to 3 months, defrosting in the fridge before reheating in the microwave or on the stovetop.

How Can I Thicken the Soup?

If you are keen on soups that are thicker in consistency and want a similar experience with this soup, there are a few things you could do:

  • Blend 1/3 of the soup once it's cooked. Carefully transfer the liquid and vegetables to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Return the liquid to the pot and stir.
  • Add 1 can of mashed beans or 1 1/2 cups of mashed potatoes to give the soup more body.
  • Make a slurry with a 1:1 ratio of cornstarch to water. Use 1 tablespoon of water to dissolve 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and add the slurry back into the soup to cook and thicken.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
114 Calories
5g Fat
11g Carbs
4g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4 to 6
Amount per serving
Calories 114
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 5g 7%
Saturated Fat 1g 4%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 697mg 30%
Total Carbohydrate 11g 4%
Dietary Fiber 3g 11%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 4g
Vitamin C 16mg 80%
Calcium 61mg 5%
Iron 1mg 6%
Potassium 482mg 10%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)