This low-calorie, fat-free, loaded vegetable soup is nutritious, delicious, and a great take-to-work weekday lunch or snack!

Loaded vegetable soup served in a bowl with a grilled cheese sandwich on the side

When I was young, my mom made this soup often! When I say often, I think it was maybe once a month. It’s one of those soups that’s super yummy and can help when you’re craving coziness or needing to refocus on those healthy habits and goals.

Low in calories, fat-free, and chocked full of fiber and nutrient-rich vegetables, loaded vegetable soup is wholesome and keeps you nourished and satisfied. It’s great on a healthy nutrition plan and pairs well with most protein sides. We like to have our with a grilled cheese or hot ham and cheese sandwich.

We love eating this vegetable soup as a light lunch, but it’s also great when you get that mid-afternoon hunger and you're looking for a light snack. The warmth of the soup and fiber will curb that hunger quickly. See below for some creative ways you can change up the recipe!

Table of Contents

What You’ll Need

Beef Broth
Onions
Carrots
Celery
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Fire Roasted Tomatoes
Tomato Juice
Seasonings (as desired & see variations below)

Ingredients for soup sorted by color and displayed nicely

Tools You’ll Need

How to Make Loaded Vegetable Soup

First, you’ll want to prep everything. Making vegetable soup is pretty quick, so having all the veggies ready to cook in advance will keep you from overcooking any of them.
Pour the broth into a stockpot on medium-high heat. Once it starts to boil, start adding the veggies. You’ll add them in this order, one by one, stirring and cooking for 3 minutes in between each addition: onions, carrots, celery, cauliflower, and broccoli. Once all the veggies have been added, cover and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.
Pour in the fire-roasted tomatoes and tomato juice. Stir and cook for 5 minutes.

vegetables added to boiling broth in a soup pot

Season the vegetable soup as desired. Ladle and serve with your favorite soup sides.

Tips and Substitutions

If you prefer thicker soups or soups with a cohesive, smooth texture, you can purée the soup once the vegetables are tender using an emulsion blender or blender.
You can change loaded vegetable soup up in many ways:
- Exchange beef broth for chicken or vegetable
- Add hot sauce
- Add crushed red pepper flakes
- Switch up or add different non-starchy vegetables (cabbage, zucchini, green beans, mushrooms, bell peppers)
- Add starchy vegetables (potatoes, corn, winter squashes, peas)
- Add leftover cooked and shredded beef or chicken
- Add fresh garlic
- Add tomato paste
To cut back on prep time, you can buy pre-cut veggies.
If your store has a sale on vegetable trays, this soup is an excellent, affordable meal to make!
If you like Bloody Marys, the blended version of this soup can be used as a mixer.

a bowl of garden vegetable soup and a sandwich

Storage

This soup can be stored in the refrigerator in an air-tight container up to 5 days. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months.

More Recipes Like This

This is a picture of a bowl of garden vegetable soup and a sandwich cut in 2 pieces. The bowl of soup is filled with red tomato juice, orange carrots, green broccoli and celery and white cauliflower. The sandwich has yellow cheese and ham between the slices of bread.

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