This simple, creamy root vegetable soup uses a mix chosen for how beautifully the flavours blend together – sweet potato, carrots, celeriac, parsnip, potato, garlic and onion. Nourishing, never boring, and flexible too – in case your harvest basket is missing one or two! 😅
Confession: I don’t harvest, and I don’t live in the country
I’m calling this a harvest root vegetable soup so it sounds like I casually threw in whatever we dug up from the garden during our latest harvest. But the truth is, there was no harvesting involved, and I definitely don’t live in the country. I’m smack bang in the middle of Sydney!
I just wanted to give it a cute name – “root vegetable soup” just doesn’t quite have the same ring to it! 😅 So hopefully I got your attention and now I can convince you to try this recipe. Did it work??!
Root vegetables make great soups because each one brings a different flavour into the pot, and the higher starch content means you get a creamy soup texture without using gallons of cream. A generous serving of this one comes in at just 350 calories – win!
It’s simple to make, and versatile too – switch vegetables out of season or pricey for whatever reason.
Rare soup made with water, not stock
I also love that this soup is nourishing but not boring, and made with water rather than stock. Usually, simple soups made without stock can taste flat because it lacks savoury depth or richness to carry the flavours of the other ingredients. But here, we have a secret ingredient that compensates – curry powder!
No, it doesn’t make it taste Indian. It doesn’t even put it into wannabe-curry territory, it just adds warm earthy spice flavour that lifts the flavours so you don’t need to buy or make vegetable stock for this soup to be tasty.
In fact, most people who tried this soup didn’t even pick that there was curry powder in this, but could tell there was “spicing of some kind” (the official feedback!).
What goes in root vegetable soup
Here’s what you need to make this country harvest root vegetable soup. No harvesting required! 🤣
The harvest root vegetables
Root vegetables are vegetables that are grown underground. Here are the ones we use – as mentioned above, this is a specific combination chosen so no single vegetable flavour stands out too much, but instead compliment each other. But, it’s a flexible recipe – see notes below for comment on substituting.
Onion and garlic – essential flavour base!
Carrots – 2 medium ones, or 1 very large one
Potato and sweet potato – These add creaminess and thickness to the soup in a way that other less-starchy root vegetables cannot, while the sweet potato also adds sweetness. Substitute – Feel free to double up on either of these, they are a good substitute for each other.
Celeriac – A knobbly root vegetable with a texture like radish and flavour like celery (hence, the name, I presume!). Substitute – 3 celery sticks, swede, turnip.
Parsnip – Looks like a white carrot, with a sort of nutty, sweet, earthy flavour. It’s unlike any other vegetable actually, I can’t think of something to compare the flavour to! Substitute – swede, turnip.
Changing the root vegetables – Swap and substitute as you like, especially with the listed root vegetables. Just keep in mind that celeriac and parsnip have stronger flavours, so if you use more, the flavour will be more dominant in the soup.
Non root vegetables – It’s ok! You can use non-root vegetables in this too! However, note that using vegetables with higher water content and lower in starch (like zucchini, capsicum/bell peppers) will make the soup less thick and creamy, and the soup colour will be affected if you stray from orangey/beige toned vegetables. I take no responsibility if yours turns out an un-appetising colour!!
Everything else for the soup
And here are the other things you need for this root vegetable soup. No stock – just water! (See above section for comment on this).
Curry powder (mild, not spicy) – As explained above, this is the “secret ingredient” which makes this soup tasty even though we’ve only used water rather than vegetable stock. I just use Clives (or Keens, though I prefer Clives here) – regular grocery shop Western curry powder.
Cream – Just half a cup of cream gives this soup a nice mouthfeel without making it calorie heavy. Substitute with milk and butter – see recipe notes.
Dried thyme – Just a touch of dried herb for flavour. Substitute with fresh thyme, or dried oregano.
Butter and oil (forgot to put in photo!) – The recipe needs 3 tablespoons of fat to effectively sauté the vegetables. Using just butter gets a little too butter-heavy in flavour so this recipe calls for a combination of oil plus butter. But – fine to use all of either! 🙂
How to make Country Harvest Root Vegetable Soup
Sauté (5 minutes) > simmer (15 minutes) > blitz (1 minute) > dinner!
Sauté the onion and garlic for 2 minutes until the onion starts to soften.
Add the root vegetables, thyme and curry. Stir well for a few minutes. We’re not trying to cook the vegetables, just give the surface a gentle toasting which also brings out the flavour of the thyme and curry powder.
Simmer – Add the water, salt and pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft (check with a knife).
Cream – Add the cream and simmer for another 1 minute.
Blitz with a stick blender, or in batches in a blender (remove the lid insert and cover the hole with a folded tea towel).
Blitzed and ready to serve!
Proof of thick and creaminess:
Garnishing and serving
I know it’s really un-original but a little drizzle of cream always seems to go a long way when serving soup. I only use 1 teaspoon or so per bowl, but it tastes like I’ve used so much more – great bang for your calorie buck!
Climbing a little higher on the originality scale is the suggestion to add a small pinch of curry powder for subtle boost of curry flavour. Then sliding right back down into un-original territory – finish with a sprinkle of parsley and pepper. 🙂
Ah well. Maybe my garnishing ideas won’t win any innovation awards. But the soup itself will hit the spot, especially if it’s a grey dreary day like it is here in Sydney! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Country harvest root vegetable soup
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp (15g) unsalted butter
- 1 onion , chopped into large dice
- 3 garlic cloves , chopped
- 1 tbsp curry powder (I like Clive, but any will do, Note 1)
- 1 tsp dried thyme leaves (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 litre (6 cups) water
- 2 tsp cooking salt/kosher salt (halve for table salt)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup thickened cream (heavy cream, or regular), plus extra for garnish (Note 3)
Root vegetables (Note 4):
- 1 large potato (~300g/10oz), peeled, cut into 2.5cm/1" cubes
- 1 medium sweet potato (350g/12oz), peeled, cut into 2.5cm/1″ cubes
- 2 medium carrots , peeled, cut into 1.5cm/0.5″ pieces
- 1 small/medium parsnip (150g/5oz), peeled, cut into 1.5cm/0.5″ pieces
- 1 small celeriac (600g/1.2 lb), peeled, cut into 1.5cm/0.5″ pieces (~2 heaped cups)
Serving/garnish (optional):
- Warm crusty bread
- Parsley , finely chopped
- Pinch extra curry powder
- Pinch black pepper
Instructions
- Sauté – Put the olive oil and butter in a large heavy-based pot over medium-high heat. Once the butter is melted, cook the onion and garlic for 2 minutes until the onion is softened.
- Add root vegetables, thyme and curry powder. Cook for three minutes stirring regularly, until the outside of the vegetables starts to soften.
- Simmer 15 minutes – Turn stove up to high. Add water, salt and pepper. Stir, then once it comes to a simmer, lower heat to medium high and simmer rapidly for 15 minutes (no lid) until all the vegetables are soft (check with knife).
- Stir in cream, simmer for 1 minute.
- Blitz – Remove from heat and use a stick blender to blitz until smooth. (Note 5 for blender) Adjust to taste – water to thin, salt and pepper if needed, extra cream for more indulgent.
- Serve in bowls. Drizzle with cream, pinch of curry powder, parsley and pepper. Serve with warm crusty bread!
Recipe Notes:
- Parsnip and celeriac – if you increase these, they will dominate as they have stronger flavour than the other veg. They can also be exxy – sub with swedes or turnip.
- Potato – Any all purpose or starchy potato is fine here, I used Sebago (the dirt brushed ones in Australia).
- Non-root veg will also work but as they are typically more watery and less starchy, soup will likely be thinner and less creamy.
Nutrition Information:
More simple, nourishing-but-not-boring soups
Healthy doesn’t have to mean bland!
Life of Dozer
Wow. 700 birthday wishes for Dozer and counting in just one weekend – he’s officially more popular than any recipe I’ve ever published!!! He’ll be expecting a parade and public holiday in his honour next year….what are you doing to me? All this attention is going to his head!!!🤣
Wishing you, Dozer, a very HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY!!! 🎂🎂🎂. Judging from the photos which your mother posted, it looks like that you had a GREAT time celebrating! Sending you big hugs and kisses from the small country of ESTONIA. ❤️❤️❤️
Tere Austraaliast! Tore et ka Teie Nagi lugusi loete! Armas ja huvitav naine kelle retseptid toesti huvitavad on. Ja Dozer on vahva . . . olen teda kolmteist aastat tundnud!!! Parimat . . .
Tere Tallinnast! Nagi on meie lemmik, sest tema retseptide järgi valmivad peaaegu kõik meie road. 🙂
I feel like every day is his birthday! In fact, given he is forced to dress up on his birthday it may not even be his favourite day 😂
Nagi dearHeart > bet that is the first to-and-fro commentary IN Estonian on your posts 🙂 ! I would not have believed that you had managed to get caring readers even from my homeland in the Baltics! Shows you really are loved around the world!
love this soup, I added turnips instead of celeriac as I don’t have that here, It worked out great, and also added a big dash of red pepper flakes as I like it spicy. Thanks for the creamy soup and oh, a huge hug and kiss for Dozer the Birthday Boy.
HOW DID YOU MAKE THIS SO QUICKLY??!! Did you actually harvest?!! 😅 So glad you enjoyed it Sherian! – N x
Oh, I keep my freezer full of chopped veggies and spices. I have tons of frozen veggies for an instant dinner of soups. I love soups, quick and easy fixings with gluten free toast or rice. thaw out some veggies, get the veggie broth I made and some jasmine rice and I have a great dinner for me. Thanks for the reply and hugs to both you and Dozer.
Have decided its now cold enough to make soup (pea n ham & pumpkin are my standards with occasional chicken-usually reserved for springtime with veg). What is best to sub parsnip with its not my favourite (nor is turnip). At least i can say im in the country and we do harvest if you call picking the veg patch harvesting😄😄. Thankyou as always for yummy recipes
Another carrot, or regular potato is fine! And yes, I would say picking the veg patch certainly qualifies more as harvesting than what I do (picking the veg barrels at the supermarket 😂)
I make your pumpkin quite often so I cant wait to give this one a taste!. I have put it on my weekly meal planner for next week!. Looks delicious!.
Thanks for the reminder to pop other soup suggestions in the post!! – N x
Haha. Great soup that os so close to my winter keep well soup. I add pumpkin instead of parsnip and celerity, and use coconut milk and a shake of nutmeg.
Great idea Vera! I should add coconut milk as an option in the recipe 🙂 – N x
Love him, love him, love him!! Oh, and your recipes too, Nagi! This one sounds excellent for a 13 degree Victoria day….
Ha! Forget the recipes. Give me all the Dozer love! 🙂 – N x
Also , I don’t particularly like cream / milk so can I leave it out without affecting the taste / texture too much ?
Thanks
I would add a bit of extra butter to give it a nice finish to the mouthfeel, though you could leave it out if you want something lighter! – N x
Hello Nagi. Many thanks for answering my query.
When blitzing the soup with an immersion blender can I only blitz half of it- so as to leave some interesting texture & chunks in the soup ?
Hi Nancy! You sure can though some of the chunks won’t be neat cubes, they will be a bit softened around the edges as they cook at slightly different speeds. I would scoop out and set aside, then puree the remainder and return the reserved veg back in (this way you avoid partial blitzing of pieces). – N x
Absolutely! I often do this as anything too starchy freaks me out so I need the distraction.
Many thanks for your quick response.
You must be waking up coolish in the mornings to think of root vegetables – but, ooh, what a colour you have achieved in your soup! And what natural sweetness there must be in the taste! And I have ‘fooled’ people with that curry powder ‘trick’ also . . . it works! Dozer – you got 700 birthday wishes on your BD – I managed the same number of likes on IG praising Toto . . . (Oh, he is nice too but too small to be a real pal to you!) . . . lets get together and have a tail wag 🙂 !
Yes, we sure are these days!! Very rainy up here too 🙂 Definitely root veg weather! – N x
If you were to roast the veggies first, could you add non-root veg, so that the soup is less watery? Veg like onion & zucchini & maybe for a touch more sweetness apples?
Hi Deborah! You can add non-root veg to this in addition to everything else and it won’t make it watery because the soup is quite thick as it is. You could absolutely also roast the non-root veg first and add it in towards the end (don’t forget all the tray juices!). There’s a handy veg roasting matrix in Tonight (my 2nd cookbook) that will give you the roasting time for virtually any veg. I would add it in towards the end of the simmer time. – N x
Nagi this sounds fantastic. I’m looking forward to making it tomorrow. Thank you so much for all your wonderful recipes. .
Hope you enjoy it Anne! – N x
Thank you Anne for what qppears to be the first sensible comment on the recipe!
Why do people want to change the recipe (after Nagi has spent hours creating it to her liking) and then asking for Nagi’s comment/opinon if their changes will work? If anyone wants to see what differences their alterations make, simply make the changes and find out for yourself!
Rant over … thank you Nagi, my heroine, for your ‘yummy’ recipes.
I will definitely try this as the weather here in Queensland cools.
I’m just nervous about the celeriac.
I have a very particular dislike to cooked celery. Its OK raw but takes on a flavour which I can’t tolerate when cooked.
How much does it taste like celery?
Hi Heather! It’s very mildly like celery. But if you’re concerned, easy switch out! Use swedes, turnip, extra potato 🙂 N x
try the celeriac, I don’t like celery either but think celeriac is lovely either raw in a coleslaw type dish, or in a mash with potato. Has a lovely sweet but earthy note
Tastes very mildly like celery in my opinion, Heather. But totally different in texture, which may help.
Good point Kerry, yes, the texture is very different, more like turnip rather than cooked celery which is very very soft 🙂 N x