Irish Style Vegetable Soup
This easy homemade Irish vegetable soup is one of the best country vegetable soup recipes I’ve ever tried. It’s simple to make, makes for a great lunch and you can feel good knowing that it’s really healthy, too.
Whenever I’m craving a taste of home, my homemade Irish farmhouse style vegetable soup is the perfect recipe for me to whip up. It’s a real bowl of comfort!
Paired with freshly made Irish brown bread or Irish soda bread, this thick and creamy classic vegetable soup is not only delicious but healthy, too. It’s the perfect food to warm your bones on a cold winter’s day.
While you may be more accustomed to eating chunky soups, Irish soup tends to be lump-free, thick, creamy and smooth. Kids generally like it better and so does bread, which readily sops up all the tasty goodness!
Why This Recipe Works
- This recipe is very simple to make, which is one of my favorite things about it.
- I’ve been known to make it quickly in the morning so that I can have it for lunch. I’ll put the rest into a large air-tight bowl and eat it for lunch the rest of the week, too.
- After many iterations of this recipe, I think it’s by far the best homemade vegetable soup recipe I’ve tried. And I’ve tried a lot of veggie soup recipes!
Ingredients
- Potatoes: Thicken the soup and create a starchy base
- Carrots, Leeks, Onion and Celery add the perfect balance of vegetable flavor
- Vegetable Stock (or vegetable broth) adds depth of flavor instead of just cooking the vegetables in plain water. You could also use chicken stock if that’s all you have on hand.
- Minced Garlic: Don’t leave this out! It adds just a little something extra that really rounds out the flavors.
Variations
- Make this soup vegan or dairy-free by omitting the butter at the beginning and using vegan butter or olive oil instead.
- Add in other root vegetables such as turnip or parsnips for a slightly different flavor profile.
Instructions
- Place butter in a large pot or Dutch oven and heat over medium heat until melted.
- Add in the leeks, potatoes and onions and fry for 2 minutes until aromatic. Drop the temperature to medium-low and allow the vegetables to sweat for 8 minutes, until the onions are translucent.
- Add in the carrots, celery and vegetable stock.
- Cook for 20 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are soft and tender.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the soap until thick and creamy. Alternatively, if you only have a food processor, Vitamix or Ninja, you can puree the soup in 2 batches—season with salt and black pepper to taste.
TIP
When dealing with hot liquid, be sure that the air vent in your blender is open to avoid a vacuum being created and hot liquid exploding everywhere. Loosely cover the air vent with a towel while the blender is on.
Storage
Store the soup in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days. Alternatively, in an airtight container for up to 6 months. Just be sure to leave enough space for the liquid to expand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Add a quarter cup of heavy cream before pureeing to make this soup extra creamy. You can also just serve it with a splash of cream on top.
If you are looking for the perfect heart warming soup, that tastes like what you’ve been served in Irish pubs, then look no further! Whether you’re just looking for a healthy lunch or something to serve for St.Patrick’s Day, I know you’ll love this Irish vegetable soup.
This soup truly tastes like my childhood in Ireland and I’m so happy that I’ve finally been able to recreate a taste of home that I’ve missed for too long.
Irish Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 onion diced
- 1 leek sliced
- 2 large potatoes peeled and diced
- 3 large carrots peeled and cut into coins
- 3 stalks celery chopped
- 32 ounces vegetable stock
- ½ teaspoons salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoons pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place the butter in a large pot and place over a medium high heat.
- Once the butter has melted, add the garlic, onion, potato, and leek. Fry for 2 minutes until aromatic, then cover and sweat for 8 minutes.
- Add the stock, carrots, celery, lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables are tender when you insert a fork.
- Season with a salt and pepper to taste
- Blitz with a food processor or a hand blender to get a thick, creamy and smooth soup.
Delish, I added a red pepper and removed a bowl of the veg before blending and then returned it. I like a thick soup, but not too thick.
Straightforward and tasty!
Verify good
This is one of my families favourite soup recipes. I make a double batch at least twice a year and freeze in one and two cup portions. I just finished making some for my 28 year old daughter because she loves to have it in her freezer. Thank you! My husband is from Ireland and his whole family still lives there. 😉
My family and I love this soup! We visited Ireland in 2023 and every restaurant had vegetable soup on their menu. It was so good that I ate it for lunch almost every day. When I came home, I searched a long time to find a recipe that truly represented the vegetable soups as they were served in Ireland (the vegetables were always chopped up finely) and this was definitely the one! I just had to add green peas; every soup I tasted had some green peas in it. Thank you for this recipe!
Thanks for this recipe! It reminds me exactly of the soup I had in Ireland — I put Aromat in and it tastes even better!
While on our recent trip to Ireland, we tried and loved the different but very similar versions of Irish vegetable soup, so much that we had to try this recipe. It’s exactly what we were hoping for…delicious and so easy to make! Thank you for sharing your recipe, it’s a keeper.
Excellent soup! Making another batch again. So good on a old Alaska night!
This was very easy and very healthy. It was a little plain…not bland, just simple flavors. We added sage, rosemary, and thyme to give it some oomph. I also needed to double the butter because the veggies were sticking in the first step. Might add some white wine next time. Thanks for sharing!
Coming from an Irish person – do some really well whipped up mash potatoes, and serve the farmhouse vegetable soup over top – you have an amazing dinner
I made this soup this morning. It’s very easy to make and tasty. I opted to use the heavy cream at the end, and threw a few garlic & cheese croutons on top. I also left a small amount of it only partially pureed, just to give it a little texture. The recipe is a keeper and definitely versatile.
This is my favorite Irish dish and this soup is just as I remember it. I never dreamed that I would be able to find the recipe. Thank you so much. It is so yummy.
Looks like a very nice soup…no shade intended but absolutely not an Irish soup. Irish traditional vegetable soup is chunky, unblended, and full of barley…more like a broth.
Irish – born, raised and living in Ireland
I am Irish born and raised and never had a vegetable soup in my life with barley! Maybe it’s a provincial thing
When I visited Ireland I had this type of soup at every restaurant I went to over the 3 weeks, never once had a chunky soup. I became obsessed with creamy vegetable soup! Have been trying to find a recipe that comes close to the amazing soups I had there and hoping this is the one!!
I agree. I just spent two weeks in Ireland and had vegetable soup almost every day (in various parts of the country) because I fell in love with creamy, smooth vegetable soup. I made this recipe a few days ago and it was delicious. Making it again today. So nice to have a taste of Ireland, here in the states.
I also loved this type of soup when traveling in Ireland. Making this recipe tonight in hopes of replicating it,
Thank you for this recipe! I’m making it for a friend who is on hospice. What kind of potatoes do you use?
I have been craving puréed vegetable soup ever since we came back from traveling to Ireland a few months ago, and I’m so excited to try this recipe this weekend!
Jenny, The only wholesome Irish food that compares with this soup is Irish Stew. Both are wonderful on a cold winters day. Many thanks for the recipe. I made enough for 8 people, everyone said it was beautiful.
So glad you enjoyed it! And yes, stew is my other absolute favorite, too!
Can this be frozen?
I don’t see why not! Just leave enough space for it to expand
This is so good. Reminded me of the soup from the wonderful pub lunches I used to have in Ireland. It goes good with a toastie too!
I’m so happy you liked it!
Hi Jenna,
I hope this isn’t a silly/dumb question, but since I am unfamiliar with leeks, do you mean one singular piece off a bunch? Or one whole bunch? If it’s even called a bunch… I just know when I have seen it in the grocery store There are usually several pieces, sold as “one”. I really can’t wait to try this (and your brown bread) I fell in love when I visited Ireland! The beauty, the people, the music-and this mysterious vegetable soup with brown bread I had everywhere I went! Thank you so much for answering a silly question!
Hi Shayne! Just one singular piece, not the whole bunch :-)
The bottom white to light green part is what you use, not including the rough leaves or root.
Thank you for sharing. I made this today and it was so delicious I made it in the crock pot on high for about 4 hours adding the potatoes with an hour to go. Enjoyed with some McCambridge brown bread my family thoroughly enjoyed.
So glad you enjoyed it, Anna! Now you have me craving some McCambridges, too!
Dear Jenna,
This is the BEST vegetable soup recipe that I’ve tried…and with the rave reviews I received from the family, including the mother-in-law…I will be making it many more times…thank you! Pattie xx
Thank you SO much, Pattie! It was a labor of love finally getting it right after years of trying to replicate my favorite Irish soup. I’m so happy that your whole family enjoyed it :-)
I am anxious to try this as it sounds like the pub soup we enjoyed in Ireland. One question: How much is one serving? One cup? One half cup? Thanks
About 2 cups worth
I made this today! It was soooooo good. Reminded me of the veg soup I used to have frequently in Ireland when I spent a semester abroad at the University of Limerick!!
That makes me SO happy, Adriana! I’ve been missing a few things from home so I’m so happy others will be able to enjoy the taste of Ireland wherever they are now :-)
I live in Australia it’s winter now I’m making this soup thurs for 5 people on our card eve wish me luck
let me know how it goes!