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Vegetarian soup canning recipes are one of my favorite ways to stock the pantry with real, satisfying meals that are ready in minutes. These pressure-canned jars are packed with vegetables, beans, and big flavor, and they’re easy to finish with simple add-ins like cream, cheese, grains, or fresh toppings when you serve them.
Having a jar of homemade soup on the pantry shelf is one of those small homemade luxuries that makes everyday life easier. When I’m tired, when the weather turns, or when I just need a real meal without cooking from scratch, I love being able to crack a jar, warm it up, and call it dinner.
Vegetarian soups are especially nice for canning because they’re flexible. They work for meatless meals, they’re easy to dress up with toppings, and they’re a great way to preserve garden produce in a form you’ll actually use.
The key is sticking to safe, tested pressure canning recipes so you end up with jars that are both delicious and truly shelf-stable.
Canning Vegetarian Soup Safely
Most vegetarian soups are still low acid, which means they need to be pressure canned. Many people assume that recipes without meat can be processed for less time, but that’s just not true. Many vegetable canning recipes, namely canning corn and canning beans, are processed for longer than meat canning recipes.
No meat doesn’t mean less time, and you will still need to use a pressure canner (no waterbath canning) for safe processing.
The rules are the same whether you’re canning a meat based soup or a vegetable based soup: follow a tested recipe, use the jar size specified, and don’t change ingredient density in ways that affect heat penetration.
A few practical reminders that matter for vegetarian soups in particular:
- Skip dairy, flour, and thickening in the jar. If you want a creamy soup, can it as a base and finish it with cream (or a thickener) when you reheat it.
- Hold pasta, rice, and grains for serving. They can turn gummy, and they change the density of the jar. They can’t be canned in the jar, but they can be added at serving.
- Keep the soup from being too thick. Many safe soup guidelines rely on jars being only partly filled with solids and topped off with broth. Be sure to check the recipe to determine if it’s supposed to be a “brothy” soup that’s only half filled with solids.
If you want to build your own soup variation at home, I’d recommend reading my guide that explains How to Create Your Own Soup Canning Recipe using tested guidelines.
Vegetarian Soup Bases
Some of my favorite pantry soups are really “soup starters.” They’re canned in a safe, broth-based form, and then I blend or enrich them on the stove when I’m ready to eat. This is the easiest way to get that creamy, pureed soup feel without canning anything thickened.
Or, in some cases, they’re finished with cream or added pasta or grains instead of being pureed.
- Canning Mushroom Soup Base – Turn it into cream of mushroom soup when serving, or use it as a shortcut ingredient for casseroles and skillet meals.
- Canning Asparagus Soup Base – A spring favorite. Heat, puree, and finish with butter or cream when you serve it.
- Canning Potato Leek Soup – Classic comfort food in a jar. I like to blend it smooth after opening, then add a splash of cream or a pat of butter.
- Canning Asparagus Potato and Leek Soup – A heartier spring variation with a little more body, still easy to puree and finish at serving time.
- Roasted Red Pepper Soup – Rich, smoky, and great straight from the jar. If you want it silky, blend it smooth after heating and add cream at the table.
- Roasted Poblano Corn Chowder – Chowder style flavor without canning anything creamy. Finish it when serving with cream, cheese, or whatever you love.
- Curried Carrot Ginger Soup Base – Plenty of flavor just waiting to be pureed.
- Canning Butternut Squash Soup Base – A versatile base that you can keep simple, spice up, or turn creamy when you reheat it.
- Canning Thai Coconut Squash Soup – Big flavor with a cozy, winter-squash base. Finish it at serving with coconut milk for a classic Thai-inspired bowl.
Heat and Eat Vegetarian Soups
These are the jars I reach for when I want dinner handled with the least effort. They’re satisfying on their own, and they’re easy to customize with toppings like sour cream, shredded cheese, tortilla chips, fresh herbs, or hot sauce.
But in truth, all you really need to do is dump them into a pot, heat and serve.
Vegetable-forward soups
- Classic Vegetable Soup – A true pantry staple, especially when the garden is producing and you want something you’ll happily eat all winter.
- French Onion Soup – Traditionally made with beef broth, but it’s delicious with vegetable broth instead.
- Southwestern Vegetable Soup – Bold spices and a hearty vegetable mix. I love this one topped with avocado and a squeeze of lime.
- Canning Carrot Soup – Simple, bright flavor, and very easy to serve smooth. This is the only tested pureed soup canning recipe (to my knowledge), so if you want a smooth soup that’s just heat and eat, this is a good choice.
Bean and Pea Soups
These are the ones that keep you full. They’re protein-rich, budget-friendly, and they’re the soups I can serve to mixed households without anyone feeling like dinner is missing something.
- Bean Soup – This classic bean soup recipe starts with a ham hock, but it’s just as easy to make it vegetarian using vegetable broth instead.
- White Bean and Kale Soup – A vegetarian classic that actually tastes better after it’s had time to sit and meld.
- Butternut Squash and White Bean Soup – A cozy, hearty combination that feels like a full meal in a jar.
- Greek Tomato Bean Soup – A tomato based soup full of Mediterranean seasoning. Simply make it with vegetable broth in place of chicken broth.
- French Market Soup – This recipe includes ham and chicken, but it’s just as good leaving those out and canning it with a bit of extra vegetable broth to fill the jars.
- Canning Split Pea Soup – A simple, classic soup that’s perfect for winter lunches, especially with good bread on the side. The original recipe uses ham, but that’s optional.
- Chipotle Black Bean Soup – Smoky, satisfying, and a great one for topping with sour cream, cheese, and tortilla chips.
- Canning Black Bean Soup Cuban Style – This one is easy to keep vegetarian since the ham is optional. Skip it, use vegetable broth, and you’ve got a bold, flavorful bean soup ready to go.
Tomato Soups
Tomato soup is one of those comfort foods that I want year-round, not just in peak tomato season. These recipes let you put that flavor on the shelf so it’s ready when the weather turns.
- Roasted Tomato Basil Soup – A rich, slow-roasted flavor that makes the whole jar taste like late summer.
- Heirloom Tomato Soup – A great way to use those gorgeous tomatoes with real character and turn them into something you’ll enjoy long after frost.
- Southwest Tomato Soup – Tomato soup with a little more personality. Perfect if you like heat and smoky chili flavor.
- Spiced Tomato Soup – Rich flavor comes from a mix of tomatoes, carrots and red peppers, and then it’s spiced with clove and other warm spices. The recipe (from Bernardin) includes an absurd amount of sugar for a “soup” but the sugar is optional and I don’t add it.
If you want more options and variations, I have a full collection of all the tested Tomato Soup Recipes for Canning.
Build Your Own Vegetarian Soup Pantry
If you’re stocking a pantry for real life, I like having a mix:
- One or two pureed soup bases that I can finish creamy on the stove
- A couple of bean soups that are filling enough to be dinner
- At least one tomato soup for comfort food days
- A vegetable soup that helps use up whatever the garden is producing
For more options beyond vegetarian, or if you’re canning for a mixed household, you can always browse the full collection of more than a hundred soup canning recipes. Many of them can be made meat free and turned vegetarian, simply by skipping the meat or by substituting vegetable broth in place of chicken broth or beef broth.
Beyond soups, you can also pressure can other side dishes and meal starters, like vegetarian baked beans and pressure canned ready to fry french fries. This recipe for cajun red beans and sausage is pretty good without the sausage too.
What are your favorite home canned vegetarian soups or plant based meal in a jar canning recipes? Leave me a note in the comments below!
