{"id":6206,"date":"2026-06-26T17:46:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/?p=6206"},"modified":"2026-06-26T17:46:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T17:46:28","slug":"hearty-vegetable-soup-with-homemade-croutons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/hearty-vegetable-soup-with-homemade-croutons\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearty Vegetable Soup with Homemade Croutons"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Hearty Vegetable Soup with Homemade Croutons<\/h1>\n<h2>Ingredients<\/h2>\n<h3>For the Soup<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>2 tbsp olive oil<\/li>\n<li>1 medium onion, finely chopped<\/li>\n<li>2 leeks, sliced<\/li>\n<li>2 celery stalks, diced<\/li>\n<li>1 carrot, diced<\/li>\n<li>1 red bell pepper, diced<\/li>\n<li>1 zucchini, diced<\/li>\n<li>2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced<\/li>\n<li>2 garlic cloves, minced<\/li>\n<li>1 small chili pepper, finely chopped (optional)<\/li>\n<li>1 tsp dried thyme<\/li>\n<li>6 cups (1.5 liters) vegetable broth<\/li>\n<li>Salt and black pepper, to taste<\/li>\n<li>2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>For the Homemade Croutons<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>4 slices day-old bread, cut into cubes<\/li>\n<li>2 tbsp olive oil<\/li>\n<li>1 tsp garlic powder<\/li>\n<li>\u00bd tsp dried oregano<\/li>\n<li>Salt and black pepper, to taste<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Instructions<\/h2>\n<h3>Make the Soup<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.<\/li>\n<li>Add the onion and leeks and cook for 3\u20134 minutes until softened.<\/li>\n<li>Stir in the celery, carrot, bell pepper, zucchini, potatoes, garlic, and chili. Cook for another 5 minutes.<\/li>\n<li>Sprinkle in the thyme and season with salt and pepper.<\/li>\n<li>Pour in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil.<\/li>\n<li>Reduce the heat and simmer for 20\u201325 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.<\/li>\n<li>Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.<\/li>\n<li>Garnish with fresh parsley before serving.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Make the Homemade Croutons<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Preheat the oven to <strong>375\u00b0F (190\u00b0C)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Toss the bread cubes with olive oil, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper.<\/li>\n<li>Spread them on a baking sheet in a single layer.<\/li>\n<li>Bake for <strong>10\u201315 minutes<\/strong>, stirring halfway through, until golden and crispy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>To Serve<\/h2>\n<p>Ladle the hot vegetable soup into bowls and top generously with the crispy homemade croutons.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Prep Time:<\/strong> 20 minutes<br \/>\n<strong>Cook Time:<\/strong> 25 minutes<br \/>\n<strong>Total Time:<\/strong> 45 minutes<br \/>\n<strong>Servings:<\/strong> 4\u20136<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hearty Vegetable Soup with Homemade Croutons Ingredients For the Soup 2 tbsp olive oil 1 medium onion, finely chopped 2&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recipe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6206"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6208,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6206\/revisions\/6208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}