Creamy Vegetable Noodle Soup

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 dairy 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:

• About the Recipe
• Ingredient Notes
• How to Make Creamy Vegetable Noodle Soup
• Substitutions
• Serving Suggestions
• Storing
• You might like:
• Recipe
• 💬 Comments

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

To make the vegetable noodle soup you'll need:

• the veggies - 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 - you can use regular all-purpose flour or for a whole-grain option I like 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 a spicy kick with crushed red pepper, black pepper, or hot sauce. 

To make the 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 start to finish!

1. Prep and dice the vegetables. 
2. Preheat the soup pot and add the oil.
3. Sauté the onion until translucent. Add the celery and bell pepper, and sauté for another 5 minutes or so.
4. Add the dried herbs, salt, and flour, whisking to incorporate. Whisk in ½ cup of milk, scraping up all the bits of flour.
5. Next add the remaining milk, broth, and nutritional yeast, and bring to a boil. 
6. 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, 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. Many readers have prepared the soup this way and reported back with rave reviews!

Serving Suggestions

This creamy vegetable noodle soup is delicious on its own, but it can be even more satisfying when paired with a side salad and a warm slice of toasted bread. Here are a few more ideas:

• Bump up your veggie intake with a side of creamy vegan kale salad.
• Add protein and make this vegetable noodle soup even more filling with cooked chickpeas, pinto beans, or white beans. Plant-based chicken strips and soy curls are also great!
• Garnish the soup with fresh herbs, such as chopped parsley, basil, or dill for a burst of freshness and color.
• Cheese tastes great with it, too! Grate some vegan Parmesan on top, like the one from Violife, or go the homemade route with my vegan Parmesan. Creamy cheeses like vegan feta and queso fresco are also delicious.

Storing

The recipe makes a generous amount, so unless you're cooking for a crowd, look forward to plenty of leftovers. Store the soup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

I haven't tried freezing the soup yet. Sometimes the texture of pasta changes after freezing, but if you're okay with that, freezing the leftovers is just fine.

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Whether enjoyed as a light lunch or a comforting dinner, this creamy vegetable noodle soup is always delightful and bound to become a new family favorite.

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! 

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