Thirteen vegan soups, ordered by how much of a meal they are.
The first seven have lentils, beans or chickpeas in them, so they are dinner on their own. The last six are lighter and smoother and want bread alongside.
Four are ours. Where a recipe finishes with something dairy we have said so, and it is always a garnish you can leave off.
1. Chickpea Curry Soup
Twenty-five grams of protein a serving, which is the most of any soup here, and it comes from two cans of chickpeas.
Ginger, curry powder, tomato and coconut milk. Thirty minutes, serves four, 390 calories a bowl.
Get the recipe from Vegan Huggs.
2. Moroccan Carrot Red Lentil Soup
Cumin, turmeric, coriander, paprika and a little cinnamon, which is the combination that makes it taste Moroccan rather than just orange.
Sixteen grams of protein a serving. Forty-two minutes and it makes six.
Get the recipe from A Cedar Spoon.
3. Lemon Lentil Soup
Fire-roasted tomatoes, eight cloves of garlic and lemon at the end, which is what lifts it out of the usual brown-soup territory.
Fourteen grams of protein, serves eight, 257 calories. It lists shaved Parmesan as an optional garnish, so skip that or use a little nutritional yeast.
Get the recipe from Chew Out Loud.
4. Easy Red Lentil Soup
Ours, and the one we make most in winter. Red lentils collapse as they cook, so it thickens itself without anything added.
No oil, no cream, and it is better reheated the next day.
5. Creamy Lentil and Chickpea Soup
Both legumes in one pot with two tablespoons of cumin, which sounds like too much and is not.
Thirty-five minutes for two. Sour cream goes on at the end in the original, so use a spoonful of blended cashews or plain plant yogurt.
Get the recipe from Chef’s Pencil.
6. Butternut Squash Bean Soup
Also ours. Squash for the sweetness and white beans for the weight, so it is not the thin squash soup you were expecting.
The beans also mean you can blend half and leave the rest, which is the texture we prefer.
7. Instant Pot Quinoa Vegetable Soup
Quinoa cooks straight in the broth, so it thickens the soup and feeds you at the same time. Turmeric, coriander, roasted cumin and paprika.
Thirty minutes in an Instant Pot, serves four at 242 calories. Seven grams of protein.
Get the recipe from Spice Up The Curry.
8. Creamy Kale Potato Soup
Ours. Potato blended into the broth is what makes it creamy, and there is no cream in it at all.
The kale goes in near the end so it keeps its color instead of turning grey.
9. Old-Fashioned Vegan Potato Soup
Fifteen minutes, because it starts with four cans of whole potatoes rather than peeling anything.
Chickpea flour thickens it and nutritional yeast does the savory work. Serves six. This is the one for a night when you have nothing and no patience.
Get the recipe from Strength and Sunshine.
10. Easy Sweet Potato Soup
Two pounds of sweet potato with cumin and a cup of coconut milk stirred through at the end.
Thirty-five minutes and it makes six bowls at 230 calories. Smooth, sweet and very orange.
Get the recipe from A Virtual Vegan.
11. Cozy Parsnip and Squash Soup
Ours too, and written oil-free. Parsnip is the ingredient people forget, and it is sweeter and more peppery than carrot.
Roast both first if you have the time. It changes the soup completely.
12. Curried Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin with a whole head of cauliflower, five carrots, eight cloves of garlic and three tablespoons of curry powder.
Over two hours, which is by far the longest here, and it makes eight servings at 212 calories. A Sunday soup that feeds you into the week.
Get the recipe from The Forked Spoon.
13. Tomato and Mushroom Soup
Tomato soup with mushrooms in it, which turns a thin starter into something with a bit of chew.
The lightest thing on this list. Bread is not optional with this one.
Get the recipe from The Kitchen Is My Playground.
14. Vegan Mung Bean Stew
Mung beans and buckwheat in one pot with corn, peas, carrot and celery root. 55 minutes, serves 4.
The mung beans are soaked rather than boiled ahead, and the buckwheat goes in dry and finishes at the same time.
15. Ginger Turmeric Nettle Stew with Buckwheat
Nettle with onion, carrot, zucchini and buckwheat, sharpened with ginger, turmeric and lemon. 40 minutes, serves 3.
Nettle stops stinging the moment it meets hot water. Spinach stands in if it is out of season, though it tastes milder.
16. Healthy Chickpea Eggplant Stew
Four cups of cooked chickpeas against eggplant, sweet potato, tomato and carrot. 40 minutes, serves 4.
A cup of chickpeas a serving makes this the heaviest thing on the list, and the one that needs nothing alongside it.
How to make any soup creamy without cream
Blend part of it and stir it back in. Potato, white beans, red lentils and cauliflower all do this, and the soup thickens with its own body rather than someone else’s.
A stick blender and three seconds is usually all it takes.
And, always, seek health consciously.
