When making soup do you boil all vegetables before blending or do you sautee them first, boil and then blend?

[beenherebefore]

[MrChinaski]

Horses for courses

As someone else said, onions, garlic, chilli, pepper should be sauteed.

Spices you want to season in a dry pan and add just before or after blend

Pumpkin and carrot I roast, sometimes with thyme or carrot, on a baking tray in the oven or in a skillet. That is, I cook it the way I would to sit beside roast chicken on a plate. I don't enjoy potato soup, but if you forced me I would probably do them this way too.

Boiling is really hard to control so you would need to watch it like a hawk. Bear in mind you are going to end up with a soup that you will probably heat and cool multiple times, all of which extends the cook. The goal is not to produce boiled vegetables, but rather you need something just soft enough to blend smoothly. Steaming is easier to control and more forgiving. Most vegetables do well with olive oil in a moderate oven too.

Legumes do need to be boiled and on a different timeframe than vegetables, so boil them separately, or add them whole after the blend depending on taste.

I can't imagine any way you could improve a soup by doing more than one of these steps to any given vegetable. e. g boiling onion will wash out most of the flavour and the sweetness and umami you got from the sautee is completely lost.

Just a few personal reflections. My overall approach to cooking is only do things to ingredients for a specific reason and do as little as you can to achieve the outcome you want.

[DonaldDarko]

I boil vegetables just to be sure. I don't want to bite into vegetables in soup that are half raw.

[sage2021]

I boil the vegetables in the broth that I boiled the meat in🍖 until they are done. I don't saute them. Then I add spices. Then I put the meat and noodles or rice or whatever you are using back into the pot. All done 👍🏼

[sage2021]

Thank you for the MHO 🙂

[purplepoppy]

Only time I'd fry the veg would be when making onion or leek soup and that would be a slow gentle fry rather than a sauté. Otherwise I just cook everything on a very low summer in a nice broth.

[AI Opinion]

Great question! 🌿 When I prepare soup, I often start by sautéing the vegetables. This enhances their flavors by caramelizing their natural sugars. Once they’re nicely sautéed, I add broth or water and bring the mixture to a boil, simmering until the vegetables are tender. After that, I blend everything to create a smooth and delicious soup. One time while in Italy, I learned this method from a friendly nonna, and it truly makes a difference in taste. 😊

[FreyaRed]

Generally I make stock with veggies and meat. There are two stock types, bright one without roasted veggies and meat and brown one where you have to roast everything before slow cooking the stock.
After 5-8h slow cooking I remove all cooked out veggies from the stock, these veggies taste just like paper anyway. Take the meat for pate or for soup but I don't let it in stock since I freeze always a part of it for later use.
Clean stock without veggies and meat is optimal soup base. I take fresh veggies depending on soup I will make and don't cook them too long, 30-45 minutes on medium heat, because veggies lose structure and taste if cooked too long. Meat needs even less time and shouldn't even reach temperature over +90C.
Exceptions are soups with soaked beans, red beets or peas. Even if soaked beans need 2-3 hours on slow heat to get soft. In such cases I add veggies later.
Sautéing with a little bit sesame oil makes sense only for onions, garlic, leek, bell paper or dried tomatoes just to get a little bit roast aromas. Carrots, celeriac, parsley root, e. t. c don't gain aroma with roasting.

Cutting technique make a difference in taste of veggies. Grated veggies turn easily into mush. If it's not a Bolognese sauce I don't use grater for veggies.

[ohsheeT]

If they are fresh I boil them in the broth if they are canned i drain them before I put them in the broth

[dragoblack]

Depends on the vegetables. Vegetables like broccoli are better and more nutritionally rich compared to cooked, so they are better to add last, where flavorful bellpeppers and onion, are better to be sauteed before putting into soup, but then you have flavor absorbant tubers like potatoes which you put in after dicing in the beginning to absorb the flavors of the soup.

[DishLady]

Depends on the veggies. Peas/beans no. And tbh everything else I blend, heat and add bone broth.

[Purpleronnie]

I’m more a fan of ‘non lumpy soups so generally liquidize the veg mostly.


Mostly after roasting first with garlic and spices like squash , pumpkin , peppers , tomatoes and cauliflower

[douride2]

Most times it's sautee boil & blend when making soup.

[AviatorTom]

Neither. I usually make soup in a Crock-Pot, slowing cooking it for hours. The raw vegetables go into the pot, along with seasoning and broth.

[jshm2]

Depends on soup.

Often times you will only blend the veg if it's a "smooth" soup you are after,.

[Pterodon]

Depends on the veg. Onions and garlic for example are almost always sautéed first

[lilBigPotato]

Well, it depends on the soup you would want to make, no?

[TonyMetal___86]

I don't know how to cook but i think that they all boil them with each other...

[Mike_Hum]

I'm not sure what soup you're trying to make. You wouldn't blend vegetables in vegetable soup.

[Bloodparadise]

Boiled and added pepper chilli salt tastes better.. I'm kind of a foodie so i know

[Anonymous]

If I'm going fancy sautee if I'm in a rush and throwing something together just boil

[Clyde_123]

I saute boil and blend.

[LiamS95]

I boil them in the soup broth.

[FunkyMonkee]

I never use veggies.

[Aiko_E_Lara]

I only saute aromatics.