French Vegetable Soup! We are in total comfort soup mode, and this wholesome dish is brimming with nourishing veggies and a delicious savory broth.

Satisfying, hearty, and flavorful, this healthy, oil-free French Vegetable Soup (Soupe au Pistou) brings all those Southern France flavors together in a light and vibrantly fresh way. The pistou is a bright basil sauce that is reminiscent of a pesto that is stirred into individual servings for burst of zesty, bold deliciousness. Loaded with garden vegetables, it’s light, yet filling.  It’s sure to become a family favorite.

Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.

Hi there, Ameera here!

French Vegetable Soup (Soupe au Pistou) is a delightfully fresh and vibrant soup that is filled with garden vegetables and accented with a delicious dollop of basilly goodness. We absolutely adored this soup.

Tips for Success:

• Spices/Herbs: We recommend adding the spices/herbs as listed, then ramping up any favorite spices at the end if desired.  A classic French Vegetable Soup traditionally has only bay leaves and thyme as the main seasonings; however, once pulling out olive oil, we found that we needed to add other spices to ramp up the flavor.
• Vegetables: You can mix and match your favorite vegetables in this soup.
• Peas and Beans: Adding the peas and beans at the end allows them to hang onto their integreity and not melt into the soup.
• Pistou: A traditional French pistou is a Provencal sauce made from garlic, fresh basil and olive oil. Modern versions include adding grated Parmesan cheese. Our WFPB version is obviously oil-free, we added nutritional yeast and blanched almonds to mimic Parmesan cheese.  This soup tastes great without the pistou; however, the pistou adds such amazing dimension and a beautiful burst of flavor to this soup.  We highly recommend making it. Please note that the pistou will appear grainy which is perfectly fine. It’s supposed to have texture.  Also, if using a large food processor, a single batch of pistou could fall beneath the blades.  We doubled the pistou recipe because we loved it so much.  It added great depth of flavor and the doubled amount worked very well in our large food processor.  We also had family members who really adored extra garlic. Feel free to add an extra clove of garlic. The beauty of the pistou is that you can taste it to get it just right.  It may appear slightly salty, feel free to scale back if needed; however, the saltiness totally melts into the soup.
• Baking Soda: Baking soda is often used as a neutralizer for dishes that contain a lot of acidity, typically from tomatoes.  We use it in this dish to remove some of the tomato acidity (from the petite diced tomatoes) without losing the tomatoey flavor. When you add it, the mixture will bubble up, then settle down as it neutralizes the acidity.
• Beans: You can use your favorite white bean in this dish.  We used both navy beans and cannellini beans in different kitchen tests, both work great!
• Fresh Basil: We used a .5 oz. package of fresh basil typically found in the herb section of the grocery store.  It roughly comes out to about ½ cup of packed basil leaves.  We do not recommend using dried basil for the pistou.  We doubled the pistou because it was crazy delicious in the soup and we were fighting over it.
• Yukon Gold Potatoes: You can use your favorite potato in this soup.  We used Yukon Golds simply because the skins are very thin and do not require peeling.  Other types of potatoes may require peeling off the skin, i.e. Russets, etc.

Leftovers and Freezing:

Leftovers will generally keep for 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator.  Store in a covered container.  Reheating can be done on the stovetop, or in the microwave.

This soup freezes well but is best served immediately after making.  If frozen, for best results, thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.

The pistou can be frozen in small air-tight containers or placed into ice-cube trays and frozen, then individual wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen again.

Pantry Products Used:

• Vegetable Stock: We use Pacific Organic Low Sodium Vegetable Stock. We love this brand because it is Whole Food Plant Based compliant, as it does not contain MSG, has no oil, and does not contain any highly-processed ingredients.
• Tamari: We used San J Tamari Soy Sauce, Gluten Free, Reduced Sodium. You can substitute the tamari with reduced sodium soy sauce, Braggs Liquid Aminos, or Braggs Coconut Liquid Aminos.
• Frozen Peas: We used Birds Eye Baby Sweet Peas.  Feel free to use your favorite frozen peas.  We do not recommend canned peas as they are too soft.
• Dried Thyme Crushed Leaves: We use Penzeys French Thyme.  It has amazing flavor.  If you can’t find dried crushed thyme leaves, you can use ground thyme, but use half the amount.
• Miso: We used Miso Master Organic Mellow White Premium Lite Miso, Certified Gluten Free.  Miso really lends itself to balancing flavors when you don’t use oil.  You can also use chickpea miso for a soy free version.

Kitchen Products Used:

• Ceramic/Enamel Lined Dutch oven or similarly sized large stock pot
• Food Processor (for the pistou)

We certainly hope you give this deliciousness a try.

If you try this flavorful soup, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us!  We would love to hear from you.

French Vegetable Soup

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• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 20 Minutes
• Cook Time: 30-40 Minutes
• Total Time: 50 Minutes
• Yield: 6 Servings 1x
• Category: Soup
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: French
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

Satisfying, hearty, and delicious, this oil-free French Vegetable Soup (Soupe au Pistou) brings light, savory, and vibrantly flavors.

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Ingredients

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Base Ingredients:

• ½ cup yellow onions, fine dice
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 celery ribs. diced
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 1 medium zucchini, diced
• 1 cup green beans
• 4 cups water
• 2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth *
• 3 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 2 teaspoons white miso *
• 1 Tablespoon reduced-sodium tamari *
• 1 – [ 14 oz. can ] petitie diced tomatoes
• 3 cups Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1-inch cubes *
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda *

Spice/Herb Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 Tablespoons dried minced onions
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried crushed thyme leaves *
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 ½ teaspoons dried parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ to 1 1/8 teaspoons sea salt (+/-) *
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Other Ingredients:

• 1 – [ 15 oz. can ] cannellini , drained and rinsed *
• 1 cup frozen baby peas *

Pistou Ingredients:

• .5 oz. package fresh basil *
• 1 garlic clove (+ more)
• 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 2 Tablespoons slivered almonds
• 1 Tablespoon water
• pinch sea salt (+/-) *

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Instructions

1. Place the Spice/Herb Ingredients in a small bowl, mix well, set aside.
2. In a large ceramic/enamel lined Dutch oven/pot or similarly large stockpot/skillet, add the finely diced onions, celery, carrots, and zucchini. Sauté over medium-high heat for 7 to 8 minutes until the onions are tender.  (If needed to prevent sticking, add a splash of vegetable broth or water).
3. Add the minced garlic and sauté for one minute, then add the vegetable broth and water, heat to boiling, then immediately lower to a simmer. Then add in all the remaining Base Ingredients and the Spice/Herb Mix.  Stir to incorporate, then simmer until the potatoes and carrots are perfectly tender, approximately 20 to 30 minutes.  Once the potatoes are carrots are tender, stir in the beans and peas.  Simmer for several minutes until heated through.
4. In the meantime, while the soup is cooking, place the blanched almonds into a small bowl and cover with boiling water for 15 minutes. Then drain off the water and place the soaked almonds and all the remaining Pistou Ingredients into a food processor and pulse off and on, scraping the sides occasionally until the mixture forms a slightly chunky paste.
5. Remove and discard the bay leaves, then serve the soup with a dollop of pistou on top.

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Notes

*Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used. 

*Sea Salt:  Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

*Servings:  6 (makes approximately 12 cups)

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