Easy Winter Soup Three Ways

A wholesome vegetable soup made three delicious ways

This recipe uses the same base recipe but is finished in three variations, giving you a variety of meals from one pot of soup. Two of the ideas are blended to give a smooth consistency, whilst the third has been left unblended for a chunkier soup. The chunky version goes really well with the homemade croutons and seasoned seeds. The other two toppings can be used for a smoother soup. One has spiced crispy chickpeas with chopped red chilli for a gentle kick. The third idea is with a swirl of pesto and cream, finished with toasted pine nuts – this has a fragrant and rich flavour.

Make ahead of the week

Make a batch of this soup at the weekend so you have a few lunches or dinners at hand for the busier days. Once you have this made you can make a myriad of recipes by simply topping with different ingredients. You can even make this into a stew by keeping it unblended and chunky. Add a few beans – I like butterbeans. Then with a splash of hot sauce and some crusty bread, you have yourself a bowl of comfort.

Storing your soup

Either keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week or freeze a couple of portions if you’re not going to use it up. Keep stale bread or crusts in your freezer too so you can make these giant croutons anytime!

MORE RECIPE IDEAS

You can find more tasty food ideas on my blog Cook Shoot and Share. Or for another tofu dish check out this Sweet & Sour Tofu Bowl. You can also take check out my Instagram too where you can keep up to date with recipes I make.

Print Recipe

Soup Three Ways

A wholesome spiced butternut squash soup that can be enjoyed as it is or adapted into a new soup with any of these three topping ideas here.

Course: Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: British

Keyword: Quick Meal, Soup, Vegan Soup

Servings: 4 People

Author: Emma Harrel

Ingredients

Soup Base

• 1 tsp Olive Oil 
• 1 Large Onion roughly chopped
• 2 Carrots peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces
• 2 Sticks of Celery chopped into ½ thumb pieces
• 2 Cloves of Garlic – Sliced
• 1 Small Leek sliced
• 1 ½ tsp Cumin Seeds
• 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
• ½ a bunch of Thyme leaves chopped
• 1 kg Butternut Squash peeled, deseeded and cubed
• 1 litre Vegetable Stock
• 100g Fresh Spinach
• Juice of 1 Lemon

Toppings Suggestions

Homemade Croutons & Seasoned Seeds

• 2-3 Slices of Bread any crusty bread such Tiger bread, Sourdough etc
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 tsp Fennel Seeds
• Sea Salt & Pepper
• 1 tsp Soy Sauce
• 6 tbsp Mixed Seeds

Toasted Pine Nuts & Pesto Topping

• 1 tbsp Pesto
• 1 tbsp Pine Nuts
• 1 tbsp Dairy Free Cream

Spiced Chickpeas & Chilli Topping

• 1 Red Chilli de-seeded and finely chopped
• 1 x 400g Can of Chickpeas drained
• 2 tsp Smoked Paprika
• Salt & Pepper 
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil

Instructions

For the Soup Base

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Fry the onions, carrot and celery until soft. Add the leeks and garlic. Fry for a few minutes until the leek is soft.
• Add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds and thyme. Stir for a minute then add the squash and stock and bring to the boil before simmering for 45 minutes. 
• Once the squash is tender and starting to break up, stir through the spinach and lemon juice. Ladle out ¼ of the soup into a separate pan. Blend the remaining ¾ until smooth. 
• Serve with your choice of three topping ideas below – the croutons go really well with the chunky soup.

Homemade Croutons & Seasoned Seeds Topping

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C. Tear up a couple of slices of bread into roughly 2cm pieces, spread across a baking sheet and coat the bread in the olive oil, pinch of sea salt, freshly ground pepper and the fennel seeds. 
• Place in the oven for 10 minutes shaking half way through until the bread is golden brown and crisp. 
• Place the croutons in a bowl and set aside. Lower the oven temperature to 160C then shake the seeds on the baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes or until the seeds start to pop
• These toppings work really well with your chunky soup. Ladle the soup into a bowl, then scatter the toasted seeds and homemade croutons on top.

Toasted Pine Nuts & Pesto Topping

• Gently dry-fry your pine nuts to toast them. Serve your warm soup into bowls then swirl through your pesto and cream and finish with the pine nuts.

Spiced Chickpeas & Chilli Topping

• Pre-heat the oven to 180C and shake everything together except the chilli in a large baking tray. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes giving the tray a little shake to turn the chickpeas half way through cooking. Once they’re crispy, serve your soup with a generous helping of chickpeas scattered across the top and a large pinch of fresh chilli (depending how much you like spice!).