Freezer-friendly meals! Just hearing those three words makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. This is one of the soup recipes that I made and froze before our baby arrived. I absolutely adore soup this time of the year, even better when it’s already made for me. It’s versatile, soul-soothing, filling, and healthy. Plus, it’s easy to make it into a complete meal without much fuss. I like to serve it with some toast/bread and/or salad for a lightening fast meal. I can’t tell you how comforting it was to have this soup waiting for us when we got home from the hospital.
By the way, thank you all for your tips on freezing meals. I picked up a few good ones (seriously, read the post + comments if you haven’t!), including labeling all the containers. I now add a piece of painter’s tape (because it’s easy to remove) onto each container and I write the name of the meal and the date that I froze it. This way I won’t ever have to wonder what the heck is hiding in the container and when it was made. Why haven’t I done this before?
Before I get to this soup recipe that I’m sharing from The Oh She Glows Cookbook, let me tell you about another revelation I had when I was making all of this soup in bulk several weeks ago. I finally taught myself how to substitute fresh tomatoes for canned diced tomatoes in my soup recipes. I try to avoid buying a lot of canned tomato products since acidic foods often leach chemicals from the lining of cans, so I figured it was time to finally bite the bullet and experiment with making my own using fresh, in-season tomatoes. I’m happy to report that this method worked well as a substitute in two of the soup recipes I tried so far. The only thing I found was that I needed to add more salt to make up for the salt that would’ve been in the canned product. Also, I only recommend using in-season, über tasty tomatoes for best results.
How I substitute fresh tomatoes for canned diced tomatoes:
1. I use about 1.8 pounds of fresh tomatoes to replace one 28-ounce can. Many sources online suggest 2 pounds, so I wouldn’t go much more than that or you are probably adding too many.
2. Using a paring knife, create an “X” slit in the bottom of each tomato. This will make the skin easier to peel off after blanching.
3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Carefully drop the tomatoes into the boiling water with a ladle. Reduce heat to medium-high and turn the timer on for about 1 minute. When you see the skins start to peel away from the tomato, remove and plunge directly into a bowl of cold ice water.
4. Once cool to touch, remove tomatoes from water and peel off the skin. Core and dice tomatoes. Reserve the juice and be sure to add all the juices into the pot along with the tomatoes (unless of course the recipe calls for drained canned tomatoes).
You now have an easy, fresh substitute for canned diced tomatoes! Yippee.
When I don’t have fresh, in-season tomatoes on hand, my go-to brand for BPA-free canned tomatoes is Ontario Natural Food Co-op – they are organic, sourced from Ontario, and use BPA-free cans. Another alternative is buying them in glass containers.
Now onto this creamy, spicy, vegetable-packed soup!
Featuring all new, protein-packed salads, hearty toppers, flavour boosters, and dressings you'll want to drink, my new cookbook will transform the way you think about salads. Oh, and be sure to flip to the back for a surprise dessert chapter!
10-Spice Vegetable Soup
Yield
10-12 cups
Soak time
2-8 hours (for cashews)
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
This is the ultimate bowl of comfort food, made with a decadent creamy broth and loaded with an array of health-boosting spices and vegetables. Be sure to soak the cashews in water the night before (or see my 30 to 60 minute quick-soak method) so they are ready when you plan to make the soup. Recipe is lightly adapted from The Oh She Glows Cookbook (page 137).
Ingredients
For the soup:
- 3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked
- 6 cups (1.5L) vegetable broth, divided
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 large garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups diced sweet onion (about 1 medium)
- 1 heaping cup peeled and chopped carrots (about 3 medium)
- 1 red bell pepper or 1 cup jarred roasted red pepper, chopped
- 1 1/2 cups peeled and chopped sweet potato, regular potato, or butternut squash
- 1 heaping cup chopped celery (about 2 stalks)
- 1 (28-ounce/796 mL) can diced tomatoes, with their juices
- 1 to 2 tablespoons Homemade 10-Spice Mix, to taste
- Fine-grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 to 3 cups baby spinach or destemmed torn kale leaves
- 1 (14-ounce/398 mL) can chickpeas or other beans, drained and rinsed
Homemade 10-Spice Mix (makes 1/2 cup):
- 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
- 1 teaspoon white pepper (optional)
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Directions
- Place cashews in a bowl and add enough water to cover. Soak the cashews overnight, or for 8 hours. For a quick-soak method, soak the cashews in boiled water for 30 to 60 minutes. Drain and rinse the cashews.
- In a blender, combine the soaked and drained cashews with 1 cup of vegetable broth and blend on the highest speed until smooth. Set aside.
- In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Season generously with Herbamare or sea salt.
- Add the carrots, bell pepper, potato, celery, and diced tomatoes with their juices, the remaining 5 cups broth, and 1 to 2 tablespoons 10-Spice Mix (to taste). Stir well to combine . Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Simmer the soup uncovered for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and black pepper. During the last 5 minutes of cooking, stir in the cashew cream, spinach (or kale), and drained beans. Add more 10-Spice Mix, to taste.
- To freeze, ladle the soup into containers (leaving 1 inch for expansion), cool completely, secure lid, and place in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.
Tip:
- If you don’t wish to make the 10-Spice Mix, feel free to use your favorite store-bought Cajun or Creole seasoning mix and add to taste.
- You will have leftover spice blend. Store it in a container and keep it handy anytime you want to spice up a dish! It's great in pasta sauces, soup, as a tofu seasoning, in a stir-fry, and more.
- When thawed, this soup's broth looks a bit grainy, but rest assured when it's heated up again it will return to its former smoothness. Regardless, it'll taste just as good!
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
The Oh She Glows Cookbook now sold in Australia!
I’m thrilled to announce that The Oh She Glows Cookbook is now officially published in Australia by Penguin Books Australia!
You can find the cookbook at the following retailers:
Left out the pecans as I wanted a more clear soup this time, turned out very nice.
I make soups all the time, freezing them in single portions in zip lock bags, two cups per portion. I live alone but love homemade soup for lunch, if I have company I just pull out more bags, this has worked well on a wide variety of soups I have made.
Just made this soup today! Its amazing! I am sharing it with friends ans passing out the 10 spice blend in baggies encouraging them to make a batch. So good! Thanks for posting!
I did not have cashews- so I used 3/4 cups of vegetarian refried beans in the blender with a cup of broth and used that as my cream sauce. I also used frozen chopped butternut squash and frozen chopped spinach to save a bit of time chopping. Delicious!
This is the best soup I’ve ever had! I’m making it tonight for the 2nd time. My son loved it too!
Love Love your recipes! Made this soup last night, it’s amazing. So happy I found your website. Started 2015 off with a 21 day fast and decide to take it to the next level and become a vegan. Thank you for the help! Also made double dark chocolate coconut macaroon tart for my sons birthday. Heaven in a pie dish!
This soup was amazing!! I pureed the butternut squash and didn’t use peppers since I am not a fan. This was the best soup I have ever had. The cashew cream was a genius idea.
This soup is Amazing!! I can’t wait to have again for lunch tomorrow! While I tota appreciate that this can be a freezer meal I know that it won’t make it to my my freezer :) I will be purchasing your cookbook based off of this soup and your toffee chocolate chip bars.
I made this tonight. I omitted the cayenne, did use the white pepper, and I used 2 Yukon gold potatoes and 1 large yam. I also used white kidney beans instead of chickpeas, and I added a nice amount of cinnamon and a couple TBS of coconut sugar. Then I pureed everything. My 2 yr old son gobbled it up and loved it! Next time I would use raisin soak water instead of coconut sugar to balance the acidity and use less white and black pepper. But it’s a winner!
This is delicious. I used chard instead of kale.
I freeze (stew-like) soup in 16 oz containers, if I don’t have leftovers, I grab one from the freezer in the morning and have a healthy lunch. I have several different soups in the freezer for variety, but this is so good, I had it 2 days in a row. I’ll definitely make this again. Thank you!
For once my 5 yr old actually likes a homemade soup! However, I can’t send it to school as it has to be nut free. Would a bit of soy milk work in place to make it creamy?
Wow, this is fantastic!
I added my favorite-MUSHROOMS.
Thank you so much!
Made this for a dinner gathering, and it was wonderful! So flavorful. Not a typical tomato soup or minestrone. The flavors and addition of the cashews made. Thanks! It made about five large bowls. I added chicken, but otherwise stuck to the recipe.
How does this soup recipe fair with other added veggies…
Hi Angela,
I am new to your blog and first can I just say you are wonderful and I love it!!
I’m not sure if you include these but does this have a nutrition table with sodium, fat, protein etc? If not, do you know an easy way to do this so I don’t need to hassle you? :P
Thanks so much
This looks amazing! Thanks so much for this life-saver :) I didn’t notice in the recipie (if it is there and I missed it-sorry!); but I was wondering how long the soup stays good for? My wife and I work full time and go to grad school so we often try to make a week’s worth of meals on Sundays and just heat them up during the week.
Thanks everyone and again, great freaking recipie!
I absolutely love this soup! The spices just wow me with every bite and it feels so good to know so many good-for-me vegetables are going into my body in a single meal!
I didn’t follow the directions to a T due to the fact my sweet husband went grocery shopping for us, but here are my changes and here’s what worked/didn’t make a difference:
1) I didn’t have smoked paprika or paprika at all so I just mixed salt and pepper (apparently that is NOT what paprika is (thanks Blues Clues), but it still tasted good).
2) I also didn’t have cashews so I figured an avocado would make things creamy so I did that instead. It tastes good but I think I should have not added so much liquid because the soup wasn’t very creamy (but still delicious).
3) I added zucchini because I thought, why not? I love zucchini! I think I did something wrong because it just kind of tastes rubbery in the soup. So maybe don’t add zucchini ha!
I can’t wait to make this soup again and again and again! Husband absolutely loved it as well!
This soup is amazing! Toasted pumpkin seeds and sprinkled on top…perfecto! :-)
This delicious soup ended up looking and tasting exactly like it shows here. We absolutely loved the rich, creamy base and how all of the vegetables complimented the savory 10-spice blend. Additions/substitutions:
– We added a jalapeno for an added kick
– I already had cashew butter in the cupboard, so I did this instead of the soaked cashews.
– Added half of a zucchini
– We added the chick peas in with all of the vegetables, letting them cook down and become soft/creamy. I don’t think they would have been as good if we added them at the end with the spinach.
– Topped with a drizzle of sriracha and toasted slivered almonds
Hi there! Just browsing the comments here and I noticed you mention you used cashew butter in place of the soaked cashews–can you elaborate? Did you just blend the cashew butter with broth? How much butter did you use? 3/4 cup?
I don’t have a great blender so I’m nervous to attempt the cashew cream from scratch, but I do have an abundance of TJ’s cashew butter! Any tips you can share would be amazing! Thanks!
What a delicious recipe. Put it in the crock pot, set and ventured out for the day. I was really looking forward to eating this. d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s
This looks so yummy, I really want to try it but my boys have nut allergies. Any subs for the cashew? What about cream from canned coconut milk? Thank you! Love your recipes :-)
This soup is absolutely fantastic. One of my favorite soups. The spice blend is just right–it brings the heat, but isn’t too strong for someone who doesn’t handle spiciness well. The soup itself is really hearty and pretty easy to make.