If you ever find sad looking vegetables in your fridge (who doesn’t?!) you need this Slow Cooker Vegetable Soup recipe in your life!
A great way to transform sad looking veggies into a delicious, thick, velvety soup for lunch or dinner.
This Slow Cooker Vegetable Soup is a fantastic ‘dump recipe’ – one of those favourites where you can stick all the ingredients in together and let the slow cooker do the rest. Out comes delicious, hearty, healthy soup after just a few hours.
get all the ingredients prepped and put in a dump bag, then get as many portions in the freezer as you have room for, ready to cook another day when you’re short on time.
It’s also a great one for batch cooking. Freeze the portions once cooked (instructions below).
Why you’ll love this recipe
⭐️ Creamy, warming, delicious
⭐️ A brilliant way to use up vegetables pas their best
⭐️ Low cost ingredients
About Slow Cooker Vegetable Soup
Slow cookers really are worth their weight in gold aren’t they? Being able to make soup this easily in one also takes away the need for yet another device in the kitchen.
OK, you can’t make this recipe quickly like you could in a soup maker, but I prefer the convenience of prepping earlier in the day while leaving a dish to do its thing, and then be ready when you need it. Perfect for those days you know you’ll be out in the cold and want something hot and hearty to come home to!
The beauty of this soup recipe is that it’s so versatile – you can add any veggies you have lying around that need using up, which adds extra flavour and reduces waste too.
What you’ll need
- Onion
- Celery
- Carrots
- Parsnips
- Leeks
- Stock cubes – Or powder. I like Marigold brand.
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper – Season well!
- Single cream – Larger supermarkets sell a pot this size so you won’t waste any.
- Parsley – It’s worth buying fresh parsley for this recipe as it makes a big difference
It’s worth noting here that this is a great way to use up vegetables past their best. If they are a little soft or wonky, it won’t make any difference to the finished soup.
How to make it
1. Add the ingredients to the slow cooker and cook as per the recipe below. Remove a couple of ladles of vegetables and set aside.
2. Add the cream and parsley and blend until smooth. Add the reserved vegetables back into the soup and serve.
Hint: I save some vegetables unblended to give texture and make it a little more chunky, but you could blend it all if you prefer.
Substitutions
- Vegetables – Swap any vegetables or add different ones depending on what you have in your fridge to use up!
Leftovers
In the fridge You can keep this recipe in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat fully in the microwave or on the hob before serving.
In the freezer This recipe freezes well. Just wait until it’s totally cold and then put into a freezer proof container and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost thoroughly before reheating in the microwave or on the hob.
Why use a slow cooker to make soup?
Saves electricity: These devices are so energy efficient compared to ovens or hobs, using only about 1.3kWh for 8 hours cooking time. The Energy Saving Trust say they use about the same amount of electricity as a standard light bulb.
Depth of flavour: Cooking ingredients long and slow can create a delicious depth of flavour. This soup recipe is a good example of one such dish. So is my French Onion Slow Cooker Soup.
Convenience: There is just something so lifesaving about being able to put everything in and know a meal is going to be ready later, when time might be tighter. Yes it requires a bit of thinking ahead, but the rewards are great.
Less mess: I find that a quick scurry around to get everything in the slow cooker earlier in the day makes a huge difference how messy the kitchen gets if cooking is happening in real time later on. And if it’s a dump bag recipe from the freezer? You’d barely know anything had happened at all!
FAQ
No, but only because of the cream we add at the end. If you’d to make this as a vegan soup, or dairy free soup, you could just omit the cream (or use a dairy free alternative cream) and it would still be delicious.
It’s packed full of nutrition, with vitamins and all the good stuff from the vegetables, and there’s not much more to it. If you really have to, you could leave out the cream but there’s not a huge amount in the recipe.
The Morphy Richards Sear & Stew Slow Cooker is my all-time favourite because you can use it for initial browning on the hob and it’s really light. For induction hobs, I recommend the Lakeland Digital 6.5l Slow Cooker instead.
You bet! These ones are so so easy – Easy Tomato Soup, 20-minute Parsnip Soup, or Roasted Butternut Squash Soup. Enjoy!
To store this as a Dump Bag recipe just prep the vegetables and store in a bag in the freezer ready to be cooked. When you’re ready to cook, throw into the slow cooker, add the water and stock and then finish as per the recipe (don’t freeze the cream).
This is SO USEFUL if you have veggies that are about to go off in the fridge, but no time to do anything with them today. Chop and prep them for another day.
It’s also worth noting that as this recipe is vegetarian, there’s no need to defrost before slow cooking – win!
Slow Cooker Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 1 Onion Peeled and chopped
- 150 g Celery Peeled and chopped
- 300 g Carrots Peeled and chopped
- 500 g Parsnips Peeled and chopped
- 3 Leeks Peeled and chopped
- 2 Stock cubes
- 600 ml Water
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To finish:
- 150 ml Single cream
- 15 g Fresh flat leaf parsley
Instructions
- Put the slow cook ingredients into the slow cooker. Cook for 4-6 hours on HIGH or 8-10 hours on LOW.
- When the vegetables are very soft and tender, remove a couple of ladles full of the vegetables and set aside. Add the parsley and the cream to the remaining soup and blend until very smooth.
- Add the reserved vegetables back to the soup and serve.
Sam says
Easy and delicious. I blended mine completely as kids are fussy with lumps they cannot immediately identify. Was perfect for us made loads and was nicer than the expensive fresh soups from the supermarket.