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Granny's Vegetable Soup

G By Our Grannies' Kitchen Updated Jun 2026 4.8 (104 ratings)
Granny's Vegetable Soup
Granny's Vegetable Soup
4.8 / 5
6 servings

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Ingredients

Tick each one off as you go.

  • ⅓ stick (40 g) butter
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 leeks, washed & sliced
  • 3 carrots, chopped
  • 2 sticks celery, sliced
  • 1 parsnip, chopped
  • 2 medium potatoes, diced
  • 5 cups (1200 ml) vegetable or chicken stock
  • 1 bay leaf · salt & pepper
  • Cream & parsley, to serve

Method

  1. Sweat. Melt the butter in a big pot over low heat. Add all the vegetables, stir to coat, season, cover, and sweat gently 10 minutes, stirring once or twice. Don't rush this.
  2. Simmer. Pour in the hot stock, add the bay leaf, and simmer 20–25 minutes until everything is completely tender.
  3. Blend — or don't. Fish out the bay leaf. Blend silky, half-blend for texture, or leave chunky. All three are correct.
  4. Finish. Taste and season well — soup eats more seasoning than you think. Swirl of cream, scatter of parsley, buttered brown bread.
Granny's tip

Use the rinds, stalks and tops: parsley stalks in the pot, leek greens in the stock. Flavor hides in the bits people throw away.

Tips for a better bowl

Sweat, don't skip

Ten minutes in butter before the stock — that's where all the depth comes from.

Potato is the thickener

No flour, no cream needed — the diced potato breaks down and gives the soup its body.

Season at the end

Stock reduces as it simmers. Salt properly only after blending, and taste twice.

Questions, answered

Can I use different vegetables?

That's the whole point — this is a whatever's-in-the-rack soup. Keep the onion, potato and roughly 1 kg of veg total; swap in turnip, squash, cauliflower or peas. Only avoid beets (they take over), and go easy on strong brassicas.

Why sweat the vegetables first?

Ten minutes in butter over low heat draws out their sweetness before the stock goes in. Skipping it is the difference between rich soup and boiled-vegetable water.

Does it freeze well?

Very well — 3 months in tubs. Freeze before adding cream; add the swirl when reheating.

From Granny's Pantry

The know-how behind this recipe:

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