A hearty and healthy harvest vegetable soup, featuring a variety of Fall vegetables, together with beans. A perfect way to kick off soup season.
This delicious and vegetable rich harvest vegetable soup features white beans with onions, carrots, butternut squash, oven-roasted roma tomatoes and spinach. I sautéed a bit of pancetta with the vegetables, but that’s totally optional. In the background is a bit of heat, from a red chili pepper and some cayenne, along with some other herbs.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Broth – You can make this soup with vegetable or chicken broth. I prefer the chicken for the flavour, but vegetable broth is great for a vegetarian option.
Pancetta – I love the salty note that pancetta brings to this soup. You could substitute bacon, if you prefer. You could also omit, for a vegetarian soup.
Butternut Squash – for an easy soup, look for pre-cubed butternut squash in the produce section or frozen, cubed butternut squash is fine here, as well.
Beans – I’ve used canned beans here, for a quicker soup, but if you have the time, you can cook dried white beans ahead or use canned, for a quicker soup.
Cook’s Notes
- If you happen to have some left-over chicken, it would be a perfect addition to the pot.
- Serve this with a crusty bread for a hearty and healthy lunch or dinner.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Be sure to salt sufficiently to really bring out the great flavours.
Tip Tip!
If you’d like a thicker soup, puree it a bit with an immersion blender (just a bit, so you still have some chunks of vegetables) or if you don’t have an immersion blender, remove about 2 cups, run through the blender and return to the soup.
Get the Recipe: Harvest Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 5 roma tomatoes
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup pancetta, or bacon, diced
- 1 jalepeño pepper, cored, seeded and diced
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1 1/2 cups carrots, diced
- 1 1/2 cups butternut squash, diced
- 6 cups chicken broth, or vegetable broth
- Chunk of Parmesan rind, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- Pinch cayenne pepper, optional
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 3 cups cooked white navy beans, 2 cans, rinsed, if using canned beans
- 2 cups baby spinach
- Shaved Parmesan, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° F. Cut roma tomatoes in half and place on a parchment lined baking sheet, cut side up. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes, until shriveled. Remove from oven. Allow to cool 10 minutes, then remove tomatoes to a cutting board. Peel off skin and chop roughly chop tomato flesh. Set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Add pancetta and saute until mostly cooked. Add chili pepper, onion, carrots and squash. Cook, stirring regularly, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add chicken or vegetable broth, Parmesan rind and spices. (*If using canned beans, add them now). Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer about 20-25 minutes, until the beans and vegetables are cooked. (*If using pre-cooked beans, add them now and cook until warmed.)
Notes
More Vegetable Soup Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
I just read your About page and learned some things! I didn’t know about your historic kitchen! Is it separate from the main house?… I’m trying to imagine it :)
I’m envious you’re already enjoying frosty mornings! I’m not particularly sad to see summer go :) This soup sounds just perfect for the cooler weather, so many good flavors!
Hi Sophie, No, the kitchen isn’t separate. Kind of hard to visualize, but the rest of the house was kind of tacked on to it (and above it). Someday I’ll take some pictures and post them here. It’s very cozy, especially in winter (not that I’m in a hurry for that just yet).
We are having a beautiful Fall here, which is nice after a kind of suck-y summer. Lots of soup weather!
Soup season is upon us and this looks so comforting, especially when served with crusty bread!
Thanks Laura. It was delicious and did a great job of cleaning up odds and ends of things in my fridge :)