Fix a bad vegetable soup

Question

I threw a whole bunch of vegetables in the crock-pot with water and realized I had forgot to buy meat for it. I cooked it anyways and it is extremely bland. Any ideas on what I can do to fix it now? I don't want all this to go to waste...

I basically just threw a bunch of random vegetables that I picked up from the farmers market in there: 3 squash, 2 zucchini, an onion, kale, a handful of green beans, 4 servings pearl barley (I had half a bag laying around I needed to use up), 2 handfuls black beans, half a head of cabbage. I put some salt & pepper, about 6 teaspoons of chicken bouillon, garlic powder. It's a big crock-pot and I filled it to the brim with water (besides all the veggies).

Any suggestions would be great...

Answer 1

With such a random collection of ingredients, I'm hesitant to suggest anything lest it conflict with one of the flavors. With that in mind, add extra ingredients a little at a time to make sure it doesn't go overboard or taste jarring with something already in there.

Suggestions to improve the flavor:

• Celery salt or celery seed (preferably ground). Fresh celery is normally part of the mirepoix in veg soup, but it's probably not a good idea to add to a cooked soup, so we're adding the next best thing. It is amazing the difference celery can make.
• White wine vinegar (for acidity and a richer flavor, and pairing with the cabbage and onions)
• Dry vermouth or white wine. Some flavor compounds are more soluble in alcohol than water, so this can help bring to the front additional flavors that are already present but undetectable.
• A jigger of sherry or cooking sherry (the latter has salt, so add it before salting the soup). This is a common suggestion when serving canned soups to guests, to make the soup taste fancier.
• Rosemary, thyme, and parsley flakes/stems (adds aromatic and herbal flavors)
• Worcestershire sauce (use carefully, it's potent stuff) -- this adds umami and spiciness
• Paprika and a pinch or two of cayenne -- adds warmth and back heat, and smokiness
• Dijon mustard (use sparingly). Adds front heat and a little richness to the soup
• A little more salt and pepper
• Parmesan or parmesan rind (for the rind, plan on simmering for a long time to extract flavor). Self-explanatory here.
• Balsamic vinegar -- adds sweetness, acid, body, and umami. Use caution, it may conflict with the cabbage here.

Answer 2

Remove most of the water (you can keep it aside and use it to make vegetable stock).

Put the rest in a blender, add grated Parmigiano and a little bit of butter (or a tad of fresh cream). Season with freshly ground pepper and/or some chili (very good to balance the sweetness of the squash), and garnish with parsley.

Serve with croutons.

Answer 3

I cook a lot of vegan soups for my wife and I've come to some tips after too many watery soups.

1. Fry the onions. Heat up the soup pot and throw a bunch of onions in the bottom and fry them until they brown. This adds an umami flavor to the soup. For rescuing a soup like this, chop them very fine, fry and simmer them in the soup for a while.
2. Use a can of dark beer as your first cup of water. This also increases the umami flavor as it cooks down. With the chicken stock, I'd use a lager if you need to add more liquid to the soup, then simmer for a while to let the flavors blend.
3. Add a can of tomato paste or diced tomatoes as part of your broth. A long simmer with tomatoes adds the acidity, adds body to the broth and more of that crucial umami flavor. Tomato paste has a tendency to give a 'beefier' flavor, so omit for chicken. Consider instead diced tomatoes or a roux.
4. Oxo (or other) vegetable broth cubes. For a large pot of soup, add 3 or 4. This is a bit of a cheat around creating a mirepoix blend (homemade veg broth is better) but it could rescue your veg soup.

I've also had luck with thickening the soup with a roux, mix up your flour and water, pour it into the pan and stir while the flour browns. Stir it into your soup and use some spices, Rosemary, thyme, parsley, pepper, paprika, Worchestershire Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce (I'd suggest something with flavor like Tiger Sauce) to liven up the soup.

Because you've got the more delicate veggies like the kale and the zucchini already in the water, I'd focus on thickening the broth or increasing the flavor of the broth.

Answer 4

If it's a big pot, you probably just need more salt, and some more bouillon. My key is about a tablespoon of bouillon for two litres (quarts) of soup. Depends on the brand and the soup, of course.

If the vegetables still have some texture left and you can still cook it for another half-hour or so, you can add some celery roots and stalks and some parsley to give flavour.

Answer 5

This is probably a little late, but assuming you still have some of this soup sitting around, let me tell you my suggestion.

I do this sort of thing on purpose. We will get a lot of produce out of our garden, and make a soup similar to what you are describing. We will intentionally leave it bland. The reasoning is that after several days of a particular kind of soup, we'll get tired of it. So we leave it bland, and dress it up when we dish it out. We will have some cooked ground beef, and add it right before we re-heat it. Or add some spiciness to it, or strain and puree it into a veggie dip.

This sort of bland soup is traditional in France (Soup du jour) - where they will have such a pot of soup sitting on the back burner, and add "random ingredient #5" to it as it comes available.

Answer 6

Don't underestimate the value of V-8 juice to add flavor. My last batch i used the spicy V8, with a touch of red pepper...it really added a welcome bite to the soup.

Answer 7

I made some vegetable beef soup that was bland, bland, bland. When I refrigerated it, I had to use 2 bowls as I didn't have one big enough, so I am reheating them in 2 pots right now. I added some fresh basil and rosemary to one of the pots and some beef stock to the other pot. I then added some parmesan, about 1/2 - 2/3 cup to each pot and they both taste delicious. I have a slight preference for the one with the herbs. Thanks for the advice!

Answer 8

You could also try adding some asian-style stock goodies to the soup:

• Dashi-style stock (made from kombu and/or kezurikatsuo)
• Shiitake dashi (dried mushrooms)
• Fresh ginger and garlic
• Soy sauce or hoisin (common in Vietnamese soups)
• The juice of half a fresh lemon or full lime
• Fresh, sliced hot peppers, fresh sliced green onion, bean sprouts
• Hot sauce

And if the soup is complete mush, add a few of the above and blend it with a stick blender.

Answer 9

I have just come up with something to enhance the flavour of a vegetable soup that I've made, as it came out a little bland: spicy tomato ketchup (specifically Levi Roots Reggae Reggae Tomato Ketchup).

The soup was made with a broth mix ( yellow & green split peas, marrow fat peas, split lentils, pearl barley) it also had sautéed onions, carrots, potatoes, celery, mushrooms, green pepper. After soaking the broth mix overnight for 12 hrs, then draining & sieving. I cooked to soften an onion, added all the other ingredients to soften (apart from the broth mix) then added about 3-4 litres vegetable stock, added the broth mix, seasoned lightly with salt but plenty of ground black pepper and cooked to a boil then simmered for about an hour. It tasted a little bland my first serving so I decided to go on the hunt for spices! My good wife came up with the AMAZING IDEA! of using LEVI ROOTS - REGGAE REGGAE TOMATO KETCHUP. What an inspired decision it was; it now tastes MAGNIFICENT!! Give it a try I'm sure you won't be disappointed. So here's a big thanks to both my Wife & Levi Roots.

Answer 10

I know that this is an old post but of course, people will continue to find it on the Web and be interested in possible solutions, so I thought I'd add a couple that I have used:

Sesame oil (especially toasted version): This works great to doctor up a bowl of bland soup, just a little bit is needed. Actually any nut oil is good, but the sesame is strong and you only need a tiny bit. It's also healthy.

Garlic: I started keeping a jar of crushed garlic in my refrigerator for these kinds of uses. Again, you can add just a bit to your individual bowl this way. Otherwise, add a lot of garlic to the pot. You can roast or sautee it first. When I make soup stock I usually use at least two entire heads of garlic. As long as you don't smoosh the cloves together (which creates a chemical mash-up that produces the harshest flavor variant), it will produce a wonderful effect.

Roasted Bones: I wasn't sure if the person was attempting to stay vegetarian with the soup but it doesn't say so. In my experience with making broths, which is extensive, I have found that the absolutely best and most important ingredient is bones which have been cooked or roasted (i.e., from your roast chicken or whatever). Raw bones are commonly used but you are wasting the maximum flavor potential in them if you don't roast them first. And you ideally want rather a lot of them. So to doctor a soup, you could buy a pack of soup bones at the market, roast them, and throw them in there. Ham hocks etc. are well known solutions as well but I've found them so variable in flavor and saltiness etc. that they are a bit tricky to use, in my opinion. Note that you can mix bones too, such as from a chicken and beef ribs; just don't include fish bones with other bones.

Answer 11

My unfailing solution for bland soup is to add a tablespoon of Greek style natural yoghourt to each bowl just before serving. This lifts any soup to another dimension and is healthy. Top that with freshly chopped chives for presentation.

Answer 12

I like to add these combinations to my soups individually to the bowl to add some extra flavor:

• Chili oil
• Lime and Coriander with some fried/crunchy noodles
• White vinegar and green chili paste