Veggie pot pie soup

This veggie pot pie soup is packed with vegetables, and goes beautifully with some crusty bread – it tastes indulgent, but is full of nutrition too!

Hands up if you like veggie pot pie?! (imagine my hand shooting into the air at 100mph here…).

There’s nothing better than a creamy, hearty meal that’s also chock-full of veggies. This veggie pot pie soup is a lighter version of my favourite pie, that still tastes irresistible – a creamy vegetable soup that’s just perfect for dipping crusty bread.

What is veggie pot pie?

As far as I’m concerned, a pot pie is essentially a pie with no bottom crust – just some kind of saucy filling, with some flaky pastry cooked on top. But it looks like there are all sorts of definitions (if you don’t agree with me, I’d love to hear your own definition in the comments below!), so really all you need to know is: pie has pastry.

This veggie pot pie soup very definitely does not have pastry. But fear not, you still get all the best bits – the creamy sauce, and the vibrant colourful veggies – but served in a simpler way.

Veggie pot pie soup

Removing the pastry from a pie might sound like heresy, but actually, as long as you’ve got a really tasty filling, you won’t miss it.

I can think of three reasons why you might prefer to make a veggie pot pie soup rather than the pastry-topped pie version:

1. You want to cut a few calories
2. You don’t have any pastry in the house, and you’re feeling too lazy to go out to get some
3. You feel like dunking some crusty, buttered bread into the creamy vegetable mixture instead

For me, it’s usually number 2 or 3…

Tons of vegetables

Start your creamy vegetable soup by cooking up a whole load of vegetables. The more the merrier – I used onion, garlic, broccoli, carrots, peas, sweetcorn, and green beans.

With meals like this, I always try to go for a wide range of colours and textures – it makes the soup more interesting, and a variety of colours also means you’re getting lots of different nutrients into your soup.

In order to cut down on time and effort (chopping vegetables is one of my least favourite kitchen jobs!), I used a frozen vegetable mixture as well as some fresh veg. I see no shame in using frozen veggies – they’re just as good for you as fresh, and they’re so convenient. They also help cut down on food waste, as you don’t need to buy each vegetable individually – you can just use as much as you need, then return the rest to the freezer.

Creamy vegetable soup

Once you’ve cooked off the vegetables, it’s time to make the mixture nice and creamy! Just add a big dollop of white sauce, like the one I showed you how to make the other day.

It only takes a few minutes to make the creamy sauce, and it really does take this soup from ‘healthy mixture of vegetables’ to ‘luxuriously irresistible creamy soup’.

Chunky vs smooth soup

You can serve your veggie pot pie soup as is, or blend it up to make a smooth soup if you prefer. I find using a hand blender is most convenient.

I decided to go for something in between smooth and chunky – I do like to see all the different vegetables in the soup, so I didn’t want it to be completely smooth, but blending it a little helps to make it extra thick and creamy. Do whatever you prefer.

Just be aware that if you do blend it all the way, it does end up a slightly less attractive shade of brown!

How can I adapt this veggie pot pie soup?

Of course, you can use different veggies in your soup if you want to – my recipes are designed to inspire you, not to be strict sets of rules.

Add some chopped peppers or courgette (zucchini), skip any veg that you’re not a fan of, or even throw in a handful of red lentils for extra protein. You could also try switching up the herbs and spices to give your creamy vegetable soup an entirely different feel – perhaps a pinch of curry powder?

I served my veggie soup with some crusty bread and butter, but I always think that garlic bread makes an excellent dipper for this kind of thing too, if you’re feeling extra indulgent!

Can I freeze this creamy vegetable soup?

Yep! If you have any leftovers, feel free to stick it in a tub in the freezer, so you have an easy meal for another time. You may need to add a little extra water as you reheat it.

Alternatively, I repurposed my leftover soup into a pasta sauce – I just stirred it through some pasta with a bit of grated cheese thrown in for good measure, and it was fantastic. Recommended!

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Veggie pot pie soup

This veggie pot pie soup is packed with vegetables, and goes beautifully with some crusty bread – it tastes indulgent, but is full of nutrition too!

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 25 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

Servings: 3 bowls

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 small head broccoli
• 350 g (~ 2 1/2 cups) frozen vegetable mix (mine had peas, sweetcorn, carrots and green beans)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 500 ml (~ 2 cups) vegetable stock
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• Black pepper
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 250 ml (~ 1 cup) milk
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp English mustard

Instructions

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the chopped onion and broccoli, and cook over a medium heat for a few minutes until the onion is slightly softened. Add the frozen vegetables and garlic, and cook for a further 5-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until all the vegetables are fairly well cooked.
• Add the vegetable stock, oregano, bay leaves, mustard, and a good pinch of black pepper.
• In a separate pan, make a small batch of white sauce by melting the butter and adding the flour. Mix well, and cook for a minute or so over a low heat. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring until it’s smooth each time before adding more. If you need more detailed instructions about how to make a white sauce, you can find them here.
• When the white sauce is ready, add it to the soup, and mix to combine. Simmer until the vegetables are cooked to your liking, and the soup has reached your desired consistency. Remove the bay leaves, then you can blend (or partially blend) with a hand blender if you want to. Serve hot.

Course: Soup

Author: Becca Heyes

Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/3 of the recipe.

If you love a soup that’s packed with veggies, you might also like my Tuscan bean and veggie soup: