By Renee, From Raising Generation Nourished
Sweet, juicy tomatoes, garden fresh green beans, creamy potatoes, and a load of other mineral rich garden vegetables, this garden veggie soup is both nourishing and very family friendly in taste!
We are swimming in fresh garden produce from our household garden and our local farmers! We certainly enjoy much of it fresh, but for the most part when the abundance starts rolling in that means soup time in my house.
Having a good variety of fresh vegetable-based soups is one of my secrets to kids that gladly eat their veggies. Our staple fresh tomato soup, broccoli soup, chicken stew, and this garden vegetable soup are some of our family favorites – and they have become my sanity when it comes to school lunches. For more soup recipes, check out Kimi’s book, Ladled: Nourishing Soups for All Seasons, and the many soup recipes already on this blog.
Last year was my first year of having one of my girls in full-time school, and we discovered quickly that packing nourishing school lunches was much easier when the nourishing meals from home were made in a big batch to ensure leftovers for the lunchbox.
I got myself some great thermos gear and bone broth loaded soups that she was used to having at home with her sisters for lunch became her take along to school lunch most days of the week.
This is a simple vegetable soup that freezes very well and is very kid friendly in taste. When you cook down those veggies in some beautiful friendly fats amazing flavor shines through.
Take advantage of your own garden abundance or hit the farmer’s markets, local CSA’s, or community gardens this harvest season and let’s stock up some soup for the fall!
By the way! This doubles up into a large stockpot very well – toward the end of August when the garden needs to be cleared out and the farmer’s at the markets cut their prices down to move their produce I totally take advantage!
GARDEN VEGETABLE SOUP
- 1/3 cup friendly fat to cook in (butter, pastured lard or tallow, coconut oil, leftover pastured bacon grease)
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 3 medium carrots, chopped
- 3 cups cut green beans (these were from our garden but frozen organic works fine too)
- 1 small yellow summer squash, chopped
- 1 medium zucchini, chopped
- 4-5 small red potatoes, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups corn (I use frozen organic from Costco)
- 1 large tomato (This was from the garden but if it is the off season canned/jarred diced tomatoes work)
- 5 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 quarts chicken broth (Check out my recipe, and Kimi’s regular recipe, and her “almost free” chicken broth recipe).
- 1 TB fresh chopped basil or 2 tsp dried basil
- Sea salt/pepper to taste (generously season if your bone broth was unseasoned)
- Melt the friendly fat in a large soup or stockpot and toss in all of the veggies EXCEPT the tomatoes, garlic and basil. Add a big pinch of sea salt to the veg and cook over medium/medium high heat stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes or so. This low and slow saute with sea salt will bring out all the juices in the veggies and sweeten them up.
- Add the tomato and cook 5 minutes to bring out their juices.
- Add the garlic and cook for a minute.
- Add the bone broth and basil, bring to a simmer, and cook at a simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Season to your taste with sea salt and pepper. You can garnish with grated parmesan if you want. To freeze the soup, let it cool to room temp, jar it, and freeze with the lid OFF for at least 24 hours before putting the lid on. This will ensure your jar doesn’t break. You can find BPA free plastic freezer containers as well.

- ⅓ cup friendly fat to cook in (butter, pastured lard or tallow, coconut oil, leftover pastured bacon grease)
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 3 medium carrots, chopped
- 3 cups cut green beans (these were from our garden but frozen organic works fine too)
- 1 small yellow summer squash, chopped
- 1 medium zucchini, chopped
- 4-5 small red potatoes, chopped
- 1½ cups corn (I use frozen organic from Costco)
- 1 large tomato (This was from the garden but if it is the off season canned/jarred diced tomatoes work)
- 5 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1½ quarts chicken broth
- 1 TB fresh chopped basil or 2 tsp dried basil
- Sea salt/pepper to taste (generously season if your bone broth was unseasoned)
- Melt the friendly fat in a large soup or stockpot and toss in all of the veggies EXCEPT the tomatoes, garlic and basil. Add a big pinch of sea salt to the veg and cook over medium/medium high heat stirring occasionally for about 15 minutes or so. This low and slow saute with sea salt will bring out all the juices in the veggies and sweeten them up.
- Add the tomato and cook 5 minutes to bring out their juices.
- Add the garlic and cook for a minute.
- Add the bone broth and basil, bring to a simmer, and cook at a simmer for 5-10 minutes.
- Season to your taste with sea salt and pepper. You can garnish with grated parmesan if you want. To freeze the soup, let it cool to room temp, jar it, and freeze with the lid OFF for at least 24 hours before putting the lid on. This will ensure your jar doesn't break. You can find
BPA free plastic freezer containers as well.
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Thank you for the recipe! I grew up eating lots of soups and love them. I am hoping that my children will eventually learn to like them (maybe it’s an age thing: they’re 2 and 3 and like all of their foods separated), because right now, I’m not motivated to make it if I know they’re not going to touch it. But I am going to file this away and when it gets colder I would like to try it.
I hear you! Sometimes it can be helpful to serve a very small serving of soup on the side of a regular meal for introduction. (Then the parents can eat it in large bowls for lunches!) 🙂
This looks so delicious and heartwarming! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
I agree! It made my mouth start watering when I was reading it. 🙂
This looks good. I love a nice vegetable soup with the foundation of a chicken bone broth.
If you add cabbage to this it becomes very close to a traditional minestrone.
The key ingredients for that are green beans and cabbage, simmered to the melting point.
Also included in the minestrone was a parmesan cheese rind.
Then if you want add pre-cooked beans and pasta at the end.
I bet cabbage would be a delicious addition to this soup (and I’ve never been able to try it out because of my dairy issues, but I’ve heard wonderful things about the cheese rind addition too!).
I had to make this quick, so I used canned tomatoes, corn, and beans. Although, I will aim to use fresh veg next time! I also blended one can of tomatoes to thicken the consistency. Great soup, and the kids loved it too with some gruyere cheese and garlic bread.