This Vegetable Noodle Soup includes dried herbs, bite-size pasta, and tender vegetables and gets its creaminess from non-dairy milk and a bit of flour. It's SO creamy and delicious (almost like a chowder!) you won't believe there's no cream in this soup. It's a comforting and easy vegan soup the whole family will love!
Dietary info: vegan with options for WFPB, gluten-free and nut-free.
About the Recipe
This Creamy Vegetable Noodle Soup is from the cookbook by Jenn Sebestyen, The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook. Jenn is also the author of the popular vegan blog Veggie Inspired.
Jenn does an amazing job of developing dishes that not only appeal to kids' taste buds, but also offer opportunities for kids of all ages to join in on meal prep.
The book begins with helpful tips for incorporating more meatless meals into your family's diet. Jenn also covers essential tips, like how to stock your pantry so that you're prepared for plant-based cooking, plus useful kitchen tools you'll need to make the recipes.
Jump to:
The recipe I'm sharing with you today is on page 33, sandwiched between (no pun intended!) two other glorious soup recipes - Tuscan White Bean Soup and Miso Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms and Ramen Noodles. <---- Yum! Shiitakes AND miso? That one has my name all over it.
Ingredient Notes
- veggies - you'll need onion, carrots, celery, and red bell pepper. Feel free to experiment! Mushrooms, spinach, kale, and zucchini would all be great.
- pasta - any small, bite-size pasta is perfect; I used cavatelli.
- plant milk - I used unsweetened soy milk which added to the creaminess and increased the amount of protein.
- flour - regular all-purpose or for a whole-grain option use white whole-wheat flour. Jenn recommends brown rice flour for a gluten-free option.
How to Make Creamy Vegetable Noodle Soup
I selected this recipe to share with you because a) it's December and cold outside! and b) who doesn't love a creamy vegetable soup?
I also love the versatility of this recipe. Anyone will enjoy it as written, and if you're not cooking for kids, you can always add some heat from crushed red pepper, black pepper, or hot sauce.
To make this soup you'll need a cutting board, a knife, and a large soup pot. The process is very easy and only takes about 35 minutes.
- Prep and dice the vegetables.
- Preheat the soup pot and add the oil.
- Sauté the onion until translucent. Add the celery and bell pepper, and sauté for another 5 minutes or so.
- Add the dried herbs, salt, and flour, whisking to incorporate. Whisk in ½ cup of milk, scraping up all the bits of flour.
- Next add the remaining milk, broth, and nutritional yeast, and bring to a boil.
- Add the pasta, reduce to a simmer, and cook until the pasta is tender, about 10 minutes.
See how simple that is? I just love easy soup recipes like this one. The herbs and veggies provide so much flavor, and the flour/milk combo makes it irresistibly creamy.
You can probably tell from the photos how thick this soup is, right? It's like a chowder, but with a fraction of the fat!
Substitutions
- gluten-free - you can easily make this soup gluten-free by using your favorite gluten-free pasta and replacing the all-purpose flour with brown rice flour.
- nut-free - Jenn's recipe lists "almond milk or milk of choice," which means you can also make this recipe nut-free. I used unsweetened soy milk in mine, and it turned out great!
- oil-free/WFPB - The recipe includes two tablespoons of oil for sautéing the vegetables and herbs, but if you follow an oil-free diet, you can certainly replace the oil with a bit of broth.
I hope you enjoy this Creamy Vegetable Noodle Soup as much as we do! If you try it please do come back and leave a comment below with your feedback and a star rating.
And be sure to grab a copy of The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook. It truly is full of great recipes for every day of the week, whether you're cooking for a family or just for yourself!
More creamy vegan soups:
📖 Recipe
Creamy Vegetable Noodle Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil - See Notes for oil-free option.
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 ribs celery, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried dill
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt, or to taste
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour (I used white whole-wheat for a whole-grain option) - For a gluten-free option, use brown rice flour.
- 2 cups unsweetened and unflavored non-dairy milk, divided - I used soy milk.
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, optional
- 1 cup dry ditalini pasta or similar small pasta shape (gluten-free or whole-wheat, if desired)
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the carrots, celery, and bell pepper and sauté 4 to 5 minutes until starting to soften.
- Add the parsley, basil, thyme, dill, salt, and flour and stir to combine, scraping up any bits of flour on the bottom of the pot. Slowly pour in ½ cup (120 ml) of milk while whisking continuously, again scraping up any bits of flour on the bottom; a flat whisk is convenient here, but a balloon whisk will work as well. Whisk until the flour is completely incorporated.
- Add the remainder of the milk, vegetable broth, and nutritional yeast, if using. Whisk to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the pasta, and then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the pasta is cooked through, stirring often to prevent the pasta from sticking.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.
Notes
Estimated Nutrition (per serving)
Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary depending on the exact amounts and specific products and ingredients used. We calculate this information using the online calculator cronometer.com.
This post was originally published in December 2019 and has been updated with new photos and content.
April
I do not usually like soups but this was amazing. I substituted gf flour and noodles and this was so easy to make as well. So satisfying and delicious! Thank you for the recipe!!
Dog
my god did this turn out well. super rich and delicious!
I added mushrooms and another onion. I didn't have parsley or nutritional yeast but I didn't miss it.
I love this recipe. thank you!
Alex K
SO tasty and easy to make. I loved how creamy and flavorful it turned out.
brooke
Made as directed, it is delicious and satisfying with a piece of bakery crusty french bread. I don't like basil, but all of the spices combine to make a smooth rich flavorful soup. Then I made it again, added potatoes and it had the texture of a pot pie filling, so I made a crust and a topper crust, fed it to meat eaters and they loved it. They couldn't believe it was vegan. Thank you for this recipe.
Sheri
This soup was exactly what I was looking for. It seems like everything I make lately was tasting the same. This was deliciously different! I must admit I was a little leery of the the ingredients (I doubled the recipe) and 12 cups of liquid seemed like so much! But, not to worry....It came out wonderful when it was done. It got thicker as it cooled. The spices are pretty strong, so make sure you like everything you put in. I only put in half the thyme, because its not our favorite. Also, I omitted the oil and just used broth. You will never miss it! Yummy stuff!!
Katie
The taste is incredible! Will be making frequently.
Mel Brooks
Looking through your blog this morning and I ran across this soup. I made it a couple of months ago and it was SO YUMMY! It came together quickly and I was so grateful to have such a soul-filling soup. Thanks again for all the time you spend testing these recipes and sharing them with us!
Lori
That's so kind of you, Mel. It's my pleasure! 😀 And I'm so glad you enjoyed the soup. Thanks for being here!
Erica Sanders
This is a delicious recipe! I ended up using Cashew milk cause it's what I had. Very good and easy, will definitely be giving this recipe out.
Jennifer H
This soup is so delicious. The herb blend is so savory and warming. Another recipe from Lori that tops my list of favorite recipes. Doubling the recipe worked great, though next time I might reduce the broth a bit if doubling.
Genevieve
I've made this twice in one week! It is absolutely delicious! I added sliced mushrooms (because I love mushrooms in just about everything) and for the milk, I added Bolthouse Farms unsweetened Plant Protein Milk. It adds 20 grams of protein! If you have meat eaters in your family, like me, you could totally add shredded chicken to this to make them happy. Thank you so much for this recipe! I can't recommend it enough! I've sent it to several friends already and they loved it!
Lori
Oh, good! Thanks so much for passing it along to friends. Jenn really created a winner with this one!
I'm thrilled you enjoyed it so much, and I couldn't agree more about the mushrooms! I'll definitely add some to my next batch, as well. Thanks, Genevieve!
Karin
Not vegan yet. What is the role of yeast iin this recipe, please.
Lori
Hi Karin,
You can omit the nutritional yeast if you like. It adds a bit of umami flavor but isn't critical.
Jenn
Thank you for your wonderful review, Lori! Beautiful photos!
Lori
Thanks, Jenn! And congratulations again on a wonderful job. Looking forward to making so many more of the recipes!
susan
On this very cold day, that looks so inviting and warming! Beautiful photo.
Lori
Thank you, Susan!