Vegetable Soup Recipe | Easy Campfire Meal

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Homemade Vegetable Soup

This vegetable soup recipe easy campfire meal is the ultimate healthy, quick and satisfying soup — so look no further!  Vegetable soup can get a bad rap as being boring or lack luster, but this soup has tons of flavor, intricate layering and is fully satiating.  This soup has a smoky flavor from cooking it over the outdoor fire, but you can make this recipe inside on the stovetop and it will still turn out delicious.

I’ve been having a hankering for a fresh tomato soup loaded with garden vegetables, fresh herbs, cooked quinoa and cooked over a wood-fire for a while now and I finally fulfilled my desires.  This vegetable soup will hit the spot and make you feel warm and comforted during any season.  

As you can see from the photos, I happened to cook this recipe outside over the wood-fire in my big cast iron dutch oven.  I love cooking this way – it makes me feel connected to the food in a special way. Since this soup is a garden delight, it seems fitting to be cooking it outside where the ingredients come from.  It is also special when a simple soup like this one can really sing in flavor from just a few fresh natural ingredients from the garden. 

If you are looking for healthy soup recipes, easy soup recipes, vegetarian soup recipes or a recipe for vegetable soup that you can be made to feel fun andl rewarding, definitely give this one a try!  My carnivore husband even thought this chunky vegetable soup recipe was absolutely delicious!

Vegetable Soup with Quinoa

Vegetable soup ingredients:

• 6-8 large tomatoes 
• 2 large zucchini
• 4 red bell pepper
• 2 or 3 shallots
• 1 head garlic
• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme
• 1 cup fresh basil 
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus approximately two tablespoons more for sautéing onions & garlic
• 2 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar/balsamic glaze
• 1Tbsp salt
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• Optional: add other veggies that you may have access to for example, yellow squash, chayote, pumpkin or green beans. 

Instructions:

1. Prep the veggies (tomatoes, zucchini, red bell pepper) by cutting them up in to 1-2 inch pieces. 
2. Prepare your soup pot by placing it over your heating source on medium heat and pour 2-3 tbsps of olive oil and allow to come up to temperature.
3. Slice the shallots and add them to the pot when the oil is hot – which will be apparent when the oil has become fragrant and is smoking just slightly.
4. Remove the outer layer from the garlic cloves and crush in a garlic crusher or mince with a knife.  Add the garlic to the pot.
5. Add to the soup pot: tomatoes, zucchini, red bell pepper and any more you have decided to add.
6. Remove the fresh thyme leaves from the hard fibrous stems and drop them in the pot (about 1 Tbsp).
7. Place the cover on top and allow the ingredients to sweat and start releasing moisture.  Check and stir occasionally to make sure the liquids are releasing and that nothing is burning or stuck to the bottom.
8. When the soup gets to a mild boil, add the vinegar or balsamic glaze.
9. Continue to monitor the liquid level and take note of how much liquid is in the pot at the start before it starts to evaporate and note how much it reduces.  You may want to replace whatever liquid is lost with water or broth(bouillon mixed with water).  I ended up adding 4-5 cups of water back (my cooking conditions were unique – cooking outside, over a fire on a cold windy day).  In the end, add as much water to it as you need to create the consistency that you desire.  This could range from a stew like consistency to a broth with vegetables.
10. When the vegetable are cooked through, remove the soup from the heating source.
11. Use a hand held immersion blender to blend any big chunks and to blend about half of the vegetables.  Alternatively, if you do not have a handheld stick blender, remove a portion of the soup and any big chunks that are larger than bite size and transfer them to a blender to blend until smooth. Then replace the blended portion. 
12. On the stove top, cook 1 cup of quinoa with 2 cups of water.  Bring to boil then lower heat and cover for approximately 15 minutes.
13. Add the cooked quinoa, olive oil, salt, pepper, juice of 1/2 lemon, chopped basil to the soup pot.
14. Optional to add a splash of maple syrup for a added layer of sweetness.  
15. Optional to add a pinch of red pepper flakes for a level of spice. 
16. Enjoy the best vegetable soup recipe!

Healthy Vegetable Soup

Simple Vegetarian Soup

Notes for vegetable soup recipe:

-Blending a portion of the soup allows this to be a creamy vegetable soup while still getting nice satisfying chunks to bite and a crunch from the quinoa.  If you desire a more thick vegetable soup, be sure to add less water or you could blend a larger portion of vegetables to thicken it up.  If you are looking for more of a vegetable broth soup, add more water and vegetable bouillon (Better Than Bouillon brand) and blend less of the vegetables. 

-Optional additions: if you would like to make a spicy vegetable soup – add red pepper flakes.  The amount will be determined on how spicy you like it.  My recommendation would be to start small and work the heat level up incrementally since there is no going back.  Start with 1/4 tsp and potentially up to 1 tsp.

-This is a great soup for any soup that you would like to make that has a tomato and vegetable base such as a vegan lentil soup – tomato and lentil soup. Just add lentils instead of the quinoa. Another popular spin on this recipe is a carrot and lentil soup.

-If you don’t love quinoa, replace it with rice, lentils or make a vegetable barley soup instead. 

-The recipe above calls for 4 (or 5 depending on the size) red bell peppers.  If you would like more of a red pepper soup where the pepper flavor is punctuated over the tomato, use around 6-8 red bell peppers and reduce the amount of tomatoes. 

-I encourage you to add whatever vegetables that you have access to whether it is something you have in the garden to something local at a farm stand or nearby health food store.  Some good additions may be yellow squash, chayote or green beans. You could also turn this soup in to a roast pumpkin soup by adding large cubes of roasted pumpkin.

-The loads of fresh basil stirred in at the end gives this soup an italian vegetable soup feel and if you want to switch out the basil for something else you could use fresh oregano, sage or rosemary. 

Tomato Vegetable Soup

FAQ:

-Can I use this recipe to make a vegan minestrone ?

Yes, the base of this soup works great for almost any tomato-based vegetable soup and in particular, minestrone.  You may swap out the quinoa for pasta. 

-Im looking for an easy homemade vegetable soup – is this a time-friendly homemade soup?

Yes, this is an incredibly easy soup to make from scratch and is great for any night of the week.  It is easy to make a large batch of and use for meals later – which is always great when time restricted.

-Can I make this into an instant pot vegetable soup ?

Yes! You can totally do this in an instant pot.  You will follow the directions above but instead of cooking it on the stove or fire you will choose high pressure and cook for 6 minutes. 

-Can I use any type of vinegar? 

Certainly. I decided on the seasoned rice vinegar because it is seasoned with sugar and salt – I like the flavor it adds – but you can use any kind.  Another recommendation would be balsamic or a balsamic glaze or reduction.   Something with subtle sweetness adds a nice touch. 

Thanks for checking out this easy vegetable soup,  If you liked this one you may love some of my other favorite recipes such as butternut squash soup, caldo de pollo arroz (with rice!) or birria ramen.

This is a great recipe to try if you’re a fan fresh garden produce, herbs and quinoa. Please rate or comment below and if you made any additions or alterations and want to let me in on your ideas on this recipe – I would love to hear about it!  If you would like to share or pin on Pinterest I am always thankful.  Check out my food journey on Pinterest at Molé in the Wall.

I hope you do try this homemade vegetable soup recipe and thoroughly enjoy it as much as we have.  I’m pretty sure vegetables may become one of your new favorite meals! 

Hearty Vegetable Soup Related Recipes:

• Vegetable beef soup
• Old fashioned chicken vegetable soup
• Vegetable soup instant pot
• Easy vegetable beef soup
• Vegetarian vegetable soup
• Vegetable minestrone soup
• Vegetable broth soup
• Vegetable soup for weight loss
• Slow cooker vegetable soup or crockpot vegetable soup
• 10 Vegetable soup recipe
• Vegetable soup recipe instant pot recipe

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Thanks for checking out my vegetable soup recipe easy campfire meal!

Chunky Vegetable Soup