Back to Basics Vegetable Soup

This vegetable soup is back to basics in seasonings and ingredients. It’s simple to make and delicious to eat.

Hello, my friends.

Today I’m sharing a plain and basic vegetable soup recipe with you, much like the one your grandmother may have made.

We’re talking super authentic here because I actually created the recipe from my husband’s grandmother’s vegetable soup. She’s been making this soup for more years than I’ve been alive. And probably her mother and her grandmother before her.

When I asked her to share her recipe with me, she told me (almost embarrassed) that there really was no recipe to speak of. Instead she explained the process to me that went something like this:

Brown some meat with some diced onions. Add carrots and potatoes and cover them with water. Cook them until they are soft. Add salt and pepper until it tastes right. You get the idea.

Well I knew that wouldn’t work for most of us recipe followers out there so I eagerly wrote down the steps she told me. Then later I measured everything out so I could create an actual recipe. And that, my friends, is what I’m going to share with you today.

I have a true passion for preserving these classic recipes. Recipes that are simple and basic with timeless flavors that have love woven all through them.

I want you to imagine eating this soup around a table in an old fashioned farm home out in the country. Around the table are hungry cattle ranchers that just came in from a morning working out on the ranch: moving pipe, feeding cows and working hard.

Beef was a luxury for these ranch people since that was the way they made their cash. So often this soup would be made with wild meat (like deer or elk that they hunted) instead of ground beef.

Make it like Grandma does

Sometimes we all need to be thrown back into the kitchen of our grandmothers. To think about what they would have done. Most of them followed the old adage:

Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without.

Remember that when you’re making this soup. If you make it like your grandmother did, it will never taste exactly the same twice. This recipe will get you started and then as you get more confident, you can start to throw in some variations. Here are some examples:

• Substitute ground turkey or other ground meat for the ground beef. 
• Use canned green beans and/or corn instead of frozen. Drain them and add them at the end of the cooking time.
• If you have home canned tomatoes, use about 1 quart in place of the two cans of diced tomatoes.
• Use leftover cooked potatoes in place of the raw ones by dicing them and adding them at the end when you add the tomatoes and corn.
• Add other seasonings to change up the flavor. Use beef broth instead of water or this chicken bouillon substitute for all or part of the salt.
• Substitute ditalini, macaroni, or other small pasta for the potatoes and cook until tender.
• If someone else shows up to dinner, add a bit more veggies, more water, and then season it to taste.

That’s what Brandon’s grandmother does when we drop in for a visit to her little farm house out in the country. Nothing fancy. But everyone loves it. She serves her vegetable soup with slices of bread and butter and crackers for crumbling on top. And of course there are always cookies from the cookie jar for dessert.

The last time I made the soup, my younger son commented,

This is good mom. The only thing that would make it better would be eating it on the farm.

And he’s right, you know. As you look out the windows of the old farm house, there are no humans in sight. Just the view of the glorious mountains, the cows and horse, and the big fields. Life really is simpler there. And it’s hard to beat that.

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Back to Basics Vegetable Soup

This vegetable soup is back to basics in seasonings and ingredients. It's simple to make and delicious to eat.

Course Soup

Cuisine American

Keyword Soup

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 8 servings

Author Heather @ thecookstreat.com

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 medium yellow onion peeled and diced
• 4 cups peeled, diced potatoes about 4 medium
• 2 cups peeled, diced carrots about 6 large
• 2 cups frozen green beans in 1-inch pieces, see note
• 10 cups water
• 4 ½ to 5 teaspoons salt more to taste
• ½ teaspoon black pepper more to taste
• 2 cups frozen corn
• 2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes

Instructions

1. In large soup pot or dutch oven, add ground beef and diced onions over medium heat and cook until beef is brown and onions are translucent.

2. When beef is brown, add potatoes, carrots, green beans, water, salt and pepper and cook over medium-high heat until boiling. Cover and turn down heat to medium, cooking until vegetables are fork tender, about 15-20 minutes.

3. Add corn and diced tomatoes and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. taste and add additional salt and pepper, if needed. Serve warm with saltine crackers or bread and butter.

Recipe Notes

1. The easiest way I’ve found is to just snap the frozen green beans into pieces with your fingers.

2. Here are some variations your grandmother would have used:

• Substitute ground turkey or other ground meat for the ground beef. 
• Use canned green beans and/or corn instead of frozen. Drain them and add them at the end of the cooking time.
• If you have home canned tomatoes, use about 1 quart in place of the two cans of diced tomatoes.
• Use leftover cooked potatoes in place of the raw ones by dicing them and adding them at the end when you add the tomatoes and corn.
• Add other seasonings to change up the flavor. Use beef broth instead of water or this chicken bouillon substitute for all or part of the salt.
• Substitute ditalini, macaroni, or other small pasta for the potatoes and cook until tender.
• If someone else shows up to dinner, add a bit more veggies, more water, and then season it to taste.

Recipe Source: Heather @ The Cook’s Treat, adapted from Brandon’s Grandma Dorlene

All images and text ©The Cook’s Treat

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