Vegan creamy celeriac soup

The poor old celeriac - it's too often overlooked because it's gnarled, nobbly appearance scares most of us hurrying down the vegetable aisle. But when cooked right, celeriac is actually incredibly tasty, with a celery-like flavour and delicious, slightly nutty undertones. Plus it packs some impressive health benefits, including significant amounts of potassium which helps to regulate blood pressure, plus vitamin K and phosphorus, both important for bone health, and all with only about a third of the calories of potatoes (by the way, celeriac can also be mashed as a much lower calorie and more interestingly flavoured substitute for mashed potatoes).

Cooked in this soup recipe, it gives us a beautifully subtle celery-like flavour, and when blended, the celeriac helps to create an incredibly rich and creamy texture, so you'd never guess it's actually very low in calories, with only 89 calories per portion (before the bread!) It's a proper comfort-food style soup that'll cheer anyone up on a rainy day - we seem to be getting lots of those at the moment so this creamy celeriac soup should definitely come in handy.

If you like this celeriac soup then you’ll love this vegan celeriac risotto recipe - it’s easy to make but makes a really impressive dinner!

Vegan Creamy Celeriac Soup Recipe

Ingredients (makes 6 portions):

• 1 Tbsp rapeseed oil

• 1 white onion, peeled and roughly diced

• 1 leek, washed and sliced

• 1 medium potato, peeled and roughly chopped

• 1 medium celeriac, peeled and roughly chopped

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1L vegetable stock

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Fresh parsley and olive oil to garnish

Method:

In a large pan, heat the rapeseed oil on a medium heat and add the onion, leek, potato, celeriac, and garlic, and fry gently for around 10 minutes until the vegetables start to soften. 

Add the vegetable stock, bring the soup up to a boil, and simmer for a further 20 minutes until the celeriac and potatoes are tender. 

Use a stick blender or tip the soup into a blender in batches and blitz until smooth. Add the salt and pepper to taste before serving up. Then garnish with some fresh parsley leaves and a little drizzle of olive oil. Goes brilliantly mopped up with fresh crusty bread... heaven! 

Nutrition (per serving + 2 slices whole wheat bread):

• Protein: 8.9g (Women: 17.8% / Men: 16.2%)

• Iron: 2.1mg (Women: 14.2% / Men: 24.1%)

• Calories: 227 (Women: 11.4% / Men: 9.1%)

• Sugars: 5.4g (Women: 6.0% / Men: 4.5%)

• Total Fats: 5.0g (Women: 7.1% / Men: 5.3%)

• Saturated Fat: 0.7g (Women: 3.5% / Men: 2.3%)

• Salt: 0.8g (Women: 13.3% / Men: 13.3%)

• Fibre: 5.6g (Women: 18.7% / Men: 18.7%)

See the Nutrition Info page for more details on % of Dietary Reference Values for men and women.

Soul-Warming Tuscan Bean Soup

Sometimes the best things in life are just really simple. That's what I love about good Italian cuisine - it's most often very straightforward food, with a few simple ingredients, but cooked with real passion. And when you're cooking with just a few ingredients it's even more important to make sure they're top quality. This dish (as with most vegan dishes) is incredibly cheap, so you can afford to buy the best, and let each ingredient shine through. Oh, and as well as being delicious, this hearty, soul-warming soup is extremely low in saturated fat but high in protein, fibre, B-vitamins, and antioxidants. This recipe makes six portions so freeze some for a rainy day. 

Vegan Tuscan Bean Soup

Ingredients (serves 6):

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus extra to serve)

• 1 medium-sized white onion, diced

• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced

• 3 medium carrots, peeled and diced

• 3 stalks celery, diced

• 1 medium courgette (zucchini), diced

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves

• 1 400g can cannellini beans

• 1 litre vegetable stock

• 1 400g can chopped tomatoes

• 2 large handfuls fresh spinach leaves, roughly chopped

• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

In a large pot, heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat and gently fry the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, courgette, and herbs, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.

Add the stock and tinned tomatoes (with the juice) and bring to the boil. Add the beans and simmer for 10-15 minutes, then add the spinach leaves and cook for a further few minutes until wilted. 

Best served with warm, crusty bread to mop up the juices. 

Nutrition (per serving with 1 slice bread):

• Protein: 10.2g (Women: 20.4% / Men: 18.5%)

• Iron: 3.2mg (Women: 21.6% / Men: 36.8%)

• Calories: 217 (Women: 10.9% / Men: 8.7%)

• Sugars: 7.3g (Women: 8.1% / Men: 6.1%)

• Total fats: 6.2g (Women: 8.9% / Men: 6.5%)

• Saturated fats: 0.9g (Women: 4.5% / Men: 3.0%)

• Salt: 0.9g (Women: 15.0% / Men: 15.0%)

• Fibre: 7.7g (Women: 26.7% / Men: 25.7%)

See the Nutrition Info page for more details on % of Dietary Reference Values for men and women.

Hearty lentil, mushroom, spinach and tarragon soup

This is one of my favourite soups and the perfect kind of food to be eating at this time of year - warming, hearty, and immensely nutritious! Tarragon is great addition; with its warming fennel-like flavours, it adds another delicious dimension to the flavour of the soup. This is a low calorie recipe that still packs loads of protein and iron. Plus it's just too quick and easy not to cook it!

Ingredients (makes 4 portions):

• 1 Tbsp rapeseed oil

• One large white onion, diced

• 3 large cloves garlic, crushed

• 350g closed-cup / chestnut mushrooms, sliced

• 260g fresh spinach

• 2 x 400g tins green / puy lentils

• 1 litre veg stock (vegan bouillon ideally)

• 1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh tarragon

• 1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Method:

Heat the oil in a large cooking pot, then sauté the onion for 5 minutes, until beginning to soften, then add the garlic and continue to fry for a further 2 minutes. Next, add add the mushrooms and lentils, and cook until the mushrooms begin to brown. Meanwhile, wash the spinach in a colander. I like to take a few snips through the spinach with a pair of scissors as this prevents it from clumping together too much. Add the stock to the pan (try half of it at first, and add more if you like your soup more 'brothy') and chuck the spinach in and stir through until wilted. Next add the herbs (use half the tarragon at first as it can be overpowering if too much added). And that's it - so simple and easy. Rip off some chunks of crusty wholemeal bread to dunk, and your set to go!

Nutrition (per serving with 2 slices wholemeal bread):

• Protein: 23.2g (Women: 46.4% / Men: 42.1%)

• Iron: 8.2mg (Women: 55.4% / Men: 72.6%)

• Calories: 368 (Women: 18.4% / Men: 14.7%)

• Sugar: 8.9g (Women: 9.9% / Men: 7.4%)

• Total Fats: 6.3g (Women: 9.0% / Men: 6.6%)

• Saturated Fat: 0.8g (Women: 4.0% / Men: 2.7%)

• Salt: 1.6g (Women: 26.7% / Men: 26.7%)

• Fibre: 17.5g (Women: 58.3% / Men: 58.3%)

See the Nutrition Info page for more details on % of Dietary Reference Values for men and women.

Broccoli and Lentil Soup with Crunchy Haystack Fries

This soup is a real winner: filling, hearty, delicious, and the addition of these crunchy haystack sweet potato fries takes this great soup to the next level. It's incredibly healthy too - packing vitamins A, C, K, folate, calcium, iron, potassium, and of course... protein. Perfect fodder for this freezing weather, when the only thing that can warm your bones is a piping hot bowl of nutritious soup.

Vegan Broccoli & Lentil Soup with Crunchy Haystack Fries

Ingredients (serves 6):

• 2 Tbsp olive oil, plus 1 Tbsp for the haystack fries

• 1 white onion, diced

• 1 large leek, chopped

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 2 sticks celery, chopped

• 1 courgette, chopped

• 1 large head of broccoli, broken into spears

• 1 400g can green lentils

• 1-2 Litres of vegan stock

• Handful fresh parsley, finely chopped

• 1 sweet potato

• Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

Start by making your sweet potato haystack fries. Preheat the oven to 200C (390F), then wash your sweet potato but don't peel. Spin it through a spiralizer, then toss with 1 Tbsp of the oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Spread on a baking tray so as much air as possible can flow between them, and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove and toss them around halfway through cooking. When they are browned, turn the oven off and leave them in there while it cools down to finish drying them out for extra crunch. 

Meanwhile, to make the soup, heat the remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large pan, and fry the onion for 5 minutes. Then add the leek (tip - cut in half lengthways, then chop up both halves before washing in a colander, to ensure you wash any grit out from within the layers). Add the garlic, celery, and courgette, and continue to fry for 10 minutes. Then add the broccoli and lentils, and top up with stock to a consistency that you like (I like my soups quite thick so only added 1 litre). Simmer for 10 minutes until the broccoli is tender, then remove from the heat and blitz with a handheld stick blender until all large chunks are gone but some leaving some texture. Or if you like your soups really smooth you can put in a blender. Top with the haystack fries and serve steaming hot. 

Nutrition (per serving with 2 slices wholemeal bread):

• Protein: 13.6g (Women: 27.2% / Men: 24.7%)

• Iron: 4.0mg (Women: 27.0% / Men: 35.4%)

• Calories: 318 (Women: 15.9% / Men: 12.7%)

• Sugars: 7.8g (Women: 8.7% / Men: 6.5%)

• Total Fats: 8.4g (Women: 12.0% / Men: 8.8%)

• Saturated Fat: 1.2g (Women: 6.0% / Men: 4.0%)

• Salt: 1.3g (Women: 21.7% / Men: 21.7%)

• Fibre: 9.8g (Women: 32.7% / Men: 32.7%)

See the Nutrition Info page for more details on % of Dietary Reference Values for men and women.