How long can you freeze vegetable soup? Easy recipe!

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I love easy soup recipes for busy days. Especially when I can just pull some soup out of the freezer the night before! But how long can you freeze vegetable soup before it starts going bad? I’m diving deep to share everything you should know, plus an easy vegetable soup recipe. Other delicious soup and stew recipes are creamy vegetable soup and easy homemade beef stew.

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My family loves soup and I enjoy making it. It’s the sort of easy thing you can pull together with just a little bit of time and a few ingredients. It’s also a great way to use up delicious homemade broth and leftover vegetables!

How long can you freeze vegetable soup?

You can freeze vegetable soup for 6 months to 1 year, depending on the temperature of your freezer. You’ll have the best results if you have a deep freezer or sub-zero freezer; you can freeze vegetable soup for even longer without losing nutrition. How long your homemade soup lasts in the freezer will depend on how you package your soup for long term storage in the freezer. I’m sharing tips to make it last a long time!

How to store your vegetable soup

Freezing soup isn’t complicated. Be sure that your vegetable soup is completely cooled down to room temperature before you store it away in your fridge or freezer. I prefer to store my soups and stews in airtight containers like plastic food grade quart containers with a tight fitting lid, or similar glass containers. 

If you need to save your freezer space, you can pour your vegetable soup into good quality quart or gallon freezer bags and lay it down flat. That way you can stack your frozen soup. Be sure that your plastic bag is labeled as a freezer-safe container, though. Bargain bags will sometimes burst and leak.

It’s a good idea to keep a box in your freezer to store flat items such as these. That way your freezer containers won’t slip out when you open your freezer door!

Tips to Make Your Vegetable Soup Last a Long Time in the Freezer

• Be sure that your broth-based soups are completely cooled down before putting your soup in the freezer. If it’s still hot, the temperature difference will make your container bulge outward at first (hot air expands). Then as it freezes, it will contract big time and shrink, possibly causing your container to break.
• Fill up your container of choice, but leave enough head room for expansion. Liquids expand when they’re frozen.
• For individual servings, pour leftover soup into silicone souper cubes and freeze them. Once frozen, store in freezer-safe bags and label appropriately.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Customizable – You can customize this recipe to use the fresh vegetables and seasonings that you have on hand. You can also add a twist by adding in some of your favorite pasta noodles. I almost never make the same pot of soup twice. Just be sure to use enough of your favorite seasonings.

Nutritious – Vegetable soup is a very nutritious comfort food. Not only will you get the gut benefits of the broth, but the vegetables are highly nutritious, too.

Easy – Soup is one of the easiest meals to throw together. You can make this in a crock pot or instant pot if you’ll be out of the house for the day, and still come home to a delicious meal. Just have a good homemade bread boule or biscuits nearby and it’s a complete meal!

Ingredients

This simple recipe will make about 4 quarts of vegetable soup. Enough for a large family and have some left over. If you need a big batch of soup, simply double the recipe.

Broth – The more delicious your vegetable broth is, the more delicious your soup will be. You’ll need 4 quarts. Making vegetable broth is the simplest thing to do, too.

Butter – You’ll need 2 tablespoons of butter. Use real butter not only for the flavor, but also because it’s a healthy, traditional fat.

Carrots – Slice and dice 4 carrots. Be sure to cut the carrots in half lengthwise first. I slice larger carrots again to quarter them if they’re really big. That way they’ll get tender and cook faster.

Celery – Slice and dice 2 stalks of celery. If you don’t have any celery, you can use 2 stalks of diced lovage which tastes like celery. Celery seed also works in a pinch.

Onion – You’ll need an onion for flavor. If you don’t have any onions, onion powder will work.

Garlic – I love the flavor of garlic and add 2 to 3 cloves of minced garlic. You can omit the garlic if you don’t like the flavor or if it doesn’t agree with you, though. Garlic powder also works.

Saffron – This is optional, but I also add a few threads of golden saffron to my vegetable soup. It gives a great flavor and color to the soup.

Parsley – Adding a tablespoon of dried parsley will add a lot of great flavor to your soup.

Sage – Add a tablespoon of dried sage to get a warm flavor.

Sea salt – You may need to season your vegetable soup with some extra sea salt unless you’re using a store version of vegetable broth that’s already been salted. I like the flavor and texture of fine grain Redmond real salt.

Pepper – Use freshly ground black pepper, to taste.

Coriander – I love the flavor of ground coriander in my soups. It’s a delicious and warm, slightly nutty spice. You can also use cilantro leaves.

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Tools You May Need

• Large pot with lid – I prefer to use an enameled cast iron Dutch oven because it holds in the heat so well. But use what you have.
• Wooden spoon
• Cutting board
• Sharp knife

How to Make Classic Vegetable Soup

It’s not hard to make classic vegetable soup. You just dice the hard vegetables you’re using and sauté them in butter. Then add the vegetable broth, season to taste, and let it cook for as long as you need to soften the vegetables further.

This recipe is enough for a large pot of vegetable soup. Perfect for a quick weeknight meal or when you’ll be out of the house and need to get something ready quickly upon returning home.

Wash, slice, and dice your carrots, celery, and onion. If you like more or less of a certain aromatic vegetable, use the amounts you prefer.

In a large pot over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of butter and your diced vegetables. Stir the vegetables around so the butter coats them, and cook until the onions are translucent and the carrots and celery are more tender.

Also, season the vegetables with salt and pepper, to taste. I usually add a big pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper at this stage. Don’t worry, more seasoning will come later. I just like for the vegetables to be flavorful, too.

Add 2 to 3 cloves of garlic to a garlic press or finely mince the garlic. Then add it to your pot. Stir and cook for just a minute or two until the garlic is fragrant.

I also like to add a few threads of golden saffron to my soups. I don’t worry about turning it into a powder first, just simply drop them into the pot with the vegetables.

Add 4 quarts of vegetable broth to your pot. This can be either homemade or from the grocery store.

I used a grease separator to add the vegetable broth because I had a large pot of vegetable stock going at the same time that I was making this soup. And I needed some way to strain out large pieces of vegetables.

Add the extra seasonings like parsley, sage, and coriander to your pot, and bring it to a boil over medium heat. Once it reaches a boil, turn the temperature down, cover, and let it simmer for 30 minutes or until the carrots and celery are tender enough to break apart with your spoon.

Taste the soup along the way and add extra salt, pepper, and coriander, as necessary.

Don’t over-cook the soup though. You want the vegetables to still have some body and not turn to mush.

To dress up this soup, I added a biscuit and some shredded cheese on top. It tasted delicious!

You can also serve it with crusty bread like French bread or a bread boule. Even dinner rolls are good. If you can believe it, this soup is even better the next day.

You can also serve this soup as a first coarse if you’re having a last-minute dinner party and need your main coarse to stretch further.

Remember: How long can you freeze vegetable soup? Package and freeze it just right and it’ll last a really long time.

Vegetable Soup Recipe Variations

Broth

If you don’t have homemade vegetable broth, you can use a good store bought version. Chicken broth, turkey stock, and bone broth are also delicious and healthy alternatives. I have a post on how to make your own chicken bone broth if you want to learn more. 

Vegetables

Customize your vegetable soup with whatever vegetables you have on hand. You can put leftovers to use in your soup in order to use it up! Lentil soups are delicious. You can also add green beans, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, black beans, or white beans.

Seasonings

Use your favorite seasonings in your vegetable soup. If you don’t have something I list in my recipe, it’ll still turn out delicious. Use what you have. It’s nearly impossible to mess up vegetable soup as long as you have enough salt and pepper. Some other options include adding red pepper flakes and bay leaves. 

More Vegetable Recipes from the Farm

• Creamy Vegetable Soup Recipe (Potato and Leek Soup)
• Easy and Cheesy Zucchini Casserole
• Southern Black Eyed Peas and Collard Greens Recipe