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Kitchen Sink Vegetable Soup

KitchenSink Vegetable Soup is the perfect way to use up the last bits of vegetablesand planned-over ingredients in your refrigerator.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings: 6
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Soup
Cuisine: American
Calories: 225
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 medium carrots sliced
  • 2 celery stalks sliced
  • 1 medium potato peeled and diced
  • 1 cup green beans cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 cup corn
  • 1 cup diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup shredded cabbage
  • ½ cup peas
  • 6 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • ½ teaspoon dried parsley
  • ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Optional additions:
  • 1 cup cooked pulled pork chopped
  • ½ cup cooked rice
  • ½ cup cooked pasta
  • 1 cup cooked beans
  • A handful of fresh spinach or kale

Method
 

  1. Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat.
  2. Add the onion, carrots, and celery. Cook for 4–5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften.
  3. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.
  4. Add the potatoes, green beans, corn, tomatoes, cabbage, peas, broth, Italian seasoning, parsley, salt, and pepper.
  5. Bring the soup to a gentle boil.
  6. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about 20–25 minutes, or until the potatoes and carrots are tender.
  7. If you're adding cooked pulled pork, rice, pasta, or beans, stir them in during the last 5–10 minutes, just long enough to heat everything through.
  8. Add spinach or other tender greens during the final 2–3 minutes of cooking.
  9. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
  10. Ladle into bowls and serve warm.

Notes

🧺 Kitchen Confidence
This Week's Skill: Learning to Cook Without Measuring Everything
Soup is one of the best places to practice cooking by instinct.
Once you've made a few pots of vegetable soup, you'll realize you don't need exactly one cup of carrots or precisely half a cup of peas. You can adjust the amounts according to what you have.
The important thing is understanding the basics:
Start with aromatics. Add vegetables according to how long they need to cook. Add cooked ingredients near the end. Taste before serving.
That's it.
And if your soup is a little thicker than you expected, add more broth. If it's too thin, let it simmer uncovered for a few minutes.
There is a lot of room for confidence in a soup pot.