This creamy Irish vegetable soup is one of my favourite soup recipes. It's perfectly creamy and full of flavour. Serve with a slice of Irish soda bread slathered in butter for a delicious meal.
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This easy homemade vegetable soup is my own version of the creamy Irish soup I used to have as a child growing up in Ireland. This is a lovely filling soup and most of all it's really easy to make.
Irish farmhouse soup was traditionally made with root vegetables. It was a great way to use up any odds and ends of vegetables. Traditionally Irish vegetables that were in season were used to make it.
I'm keeping this tradition by using a mixture of carrots, parsnips, potatoes and peas for this soup, but any vegetable would work well. This is a real bowl of comfort, great for any time of the year not just St. Patrick's Day.
🛒 What You'll Need
- Vegetables - For the base, you'll need an onion, yellow onions are best, celery and carrots. I also add potatoes, parsnips and frozen garden peas.
- Stock - I use a vegetable stock cube to make the stock for this. You can also use vegetable broth.
- Herbs - You will also need fresh thyme and bay leaf for this soup. If you like you can also add a sprig of fresh parsley as a garnish, that's optional though.
- Cream - I add double cream for this as it will give you the creamiest texture.
- Other Ingredients - You will also need olive oil, garlic, black pepper and sea salt.
🔪 How To Make Irish Vegetable Soup
This is a quick visual guide please see the recipe card below for full instructions
1. Start by cooking the chopped onion, celery and carrot in a little olive oil. Cook until the onion has softened, about 20 minutes.
2. Next, add the minced garlic and cook for a minute. Then add the potatoes and parsnips and stir in the stock.
3. Add the bay leaves and thyme, season with salt and black pepper then simmer until the potatoes are cooked, this will take about 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and thyme. Take two ladles of the soup and add it to a blender or food processor, blend until smooth then return it to the rest of the soup and stir well.
4. Add the frozen peas to the soup and cook for a few minutes, then pour in the cream. Stir well until the cream is warmed through.
👩🍳 Top Tips
- It's important to simmer the vegetables for at least 20 minutes at the start. This will give your soup more flavour and properly soften the onion.
- For best results use floury potatoes. Floury potatoes will help thicken your soup and make it lovely and smooth too when you blend some of it.
- Blending part of the soup and stirring it back in will give you the perfect creamy soup so it's important to not skip this part.
🔄 Variations
- Add more vegetables - this is a very adaptable soup so you can easily add more veggies if you like. Turnip or swede would work well in this. You could also add some kale if you liked.
- Add barley - pearl barley is lovely added to this soup and it will make it more filling.
- Blend it all - I love chunky soups, and I prefer this one to be chunky but you can blend it if you like. I would use an immersion blender (stick blender) to blend the soup until smooth.
❓FAQs
No, I don't recommend freezing this soup. Like all creams with cream, you run the risk of the cream splitting when it freezes.
Yes, you can. Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container and kept in the fridge for two days. I reheat this on the hob until piping hot. It may need a little water to loosen it up after settling.
Yes, you can. For a thick and smooth soup, you can just blend the soup entirely. It may not be as creamy but it will still taste great.
☘️ More Irish Recipes
If you're looking for some traditional Irish recipes that are also vegetarian then I have you covered! For a tasty side dish try my Traditional Irish Colcannon, it's perfect with a veggie Irish stew. If you need a good bread to go with your soup then try my Irish Brown Bread, it's so easy to make and is perfect with so many soups. Finally, if you're looking for a good Irish breakfast then my Potato Farls are perfect with a couple of fried eggs.
Homemade Irish Vegetable Soup Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 stalk of celery finely chopped
- 2 medium carrots peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 medium leek outer leaves removed, cleaned then cut into slices
- 2 medium parsnips peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 clove of garlic finely minced or put through a garlic press
- 3 medium floury potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks, I used Maris Piper
- 3 or 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 litre / 4 cups of vegetable stock made with 2 vegetable stock cubes
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 100 g / ¾ cup of frozen garden peas
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 150 ml / ¾ of a cup of double cream (heavy cream)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large stock pot, large saucepan or dutch oven.Add the onion, celery, leek and carrot and cook over medium heat until the onion is soft about 20 minutes. Add the garlic then cook for another minute.
- Add the parsnips, potatoes and stock. Stir well then add the bay leaves and thyme. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce to a low simmer and cook for about 15 minutes. Or until the potatoes are cooked through.
- Remove the bay leaves and the thyme. Transfer two ladles of the soup to a blender, blend until smooth then return it to the soup ad stir well.
- Check the seasoning then add the frozen peas. Cook for a few minutes then stir in the cream and cook for another couple of minutes until the soup is piping hot.
- Serve immediately with bread and a fresh parsley garnish if you like.
Notes
- Storage - Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container and kept in the fridge. They should be used within two days. Due to the cream, I don't recommend freezing this soup.
- Nutritional Information - all nutritional information shared is an estimate based on third-party calculations. If calorie count and/or nutritional values are important to you, we recommend putting the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary depending on which brands were used. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household. The nutritional information for. this recipe does not include pasta or cheese.
- Weights and measurements - For US readers, I use Cuisipro measuring cups and spoons, and a Pyrex measuring jug for liquids. These are the industry standard. Cup/spoon volumes can differ from brand to brand, for accuracy, I recommend weighing all ingredients if possible for the best results.
Nutrition
This recipe was first published Dec 2018. Updated March 2023 with new images and nutritional information.
Karen L
Blinkin lovely
Michelle Alston
Thanks so much Karen 🙂
Cathy
I tried this recipe as a perhaps it will be nice. This was delicious! Thanks so much for sharing. Im off now to print it out and add to our family regulars
Michelle Alston
Hi Cathy, I'm so glad you liked it 🙂
Fiona
Really lovely recipe. This will be a permanent family favourite for us.
Michelle Alston
Thank you so much Fiona, I'm so happy to hear that 🙂
Tif
How much molasses and soy sauce do you put in and at what point?
Michelle Alston
Hi Tif, I'm not sure you have the right recipe as those ingredients are not in this recipe.
Connie
Best soup EVER! Wonderful recipe, this will be on heavy rotation in our house this winter.
Michelle Alston
Hi Connie, thank you so much! I'm so glad you liked it 🙂
Timothy Green
An excellent soup recipe and thank you for sharing it with all of us. I haven't tried it yet. But, I will ask my wife to make it real soon.
Rachel
This was amazing! Kids wanted it again for breakfast today.
Patricia Young
I ABSOLUTELY love this recipe and everyone I've made it for loves it. It is the perfect balance of being thick and hearty, but not completely puréed and you still have the texture & visual of the vegetables. I am now vegan and this recipe is 98% vegan. To make it hearty and creamy I either add an extra creamy dairy free alternative at the end, or I purée a bit more than the recipe calls for to thicken it. You created a perfect soup recipe.
Michelle Alston
Thank you so much Patricia! I'm really so happy to hear that you love it. I love your swaps to make it vegan too.
Gina
Absolutely delicious! Will be making again and again.. perfect for chilly winter days/nights.
Michelle Alston
That's so great to hear, thank you so much Gina 🙂
Gina
Delicious!!
Michelle Alston
Thanks so much Gina 🙂
Carol
The finished product of this soup should not be frozen because of the cream but I have made soups as they are before adding cream, freeze at this point. When you want to use the soup -defrost and add cream just before you serve it. It is so nice to have on hand for those cold winter days and you might not feel like going out for vegetables, and also nice to use up the bounty you might have in fall.
Michelle Alston
This is such a great tip, thank you so much Carol.
Cecile
It was absolutely easy to make and so delicious. All my family loved it.
Michelle Alston
Thanks so much Cecile, I'm so glad you all loved it 🙂
Flick
As an Irish person I can say this soup is absolutely gorgeous. I will never make another recipe again! I had with fresh bakery bread, loads of butter and it was heavenly. 10/10 thank you!
Michelle Alston
Hi Flick, thank you so much! I'm so glad you liked it 🙂
Annette Chambers s
Delicious
Michelle Alston
Thanks so much 🙂
Savita
The soup is so amazing, and also the recipe was so easy to follow.
stephanie
I love that you used parsnips in this. I feel like it's such an overlooked vegetable. So tasty!
Jess
It is rainy here today and I was looking for the perfect soup to make for this rainy day. Found it! Thanks for sharing!
Dana Sandonato
This is SO incredibly cozy and flavorful! This was my first time having it and definitely won't be my last. Best veggie soup!
Shadi Hasanzadenemati
Oh wow, this looks so delicious. My family is going to devour it!
Michelle Alston
Thanks so much, Shadi, I hope your family enjoys it 🙂