Winter vegetable soup with crispy bacon recipe

Our winter vegetable soup is really quick and simple to making thanks to a bag of ready-chopped frozen veggies. 

Perfect for a warming lunch or a light dinner this winter vegetable soup recipe will make sure you're getting plenty of vitamins and minerals to keep coughs and colds at bay. It's a good budget option - one of our best cheap family meals. It includes family favourites like peas and carrots and the addition of the crispy, salty bacon gives it a decadent finish without having to spend too much. This recipe takes just over an hour to make but most of that time is roasting the vegetables, so it's not too taxing at all. 

Ingredients

• 1kg packet frozen winter vegetable mix
• 8 rashers streaky bacon
• 100g ready-shredded cabbage
• 900ml boiling water
• 2 ham or vegetable stock cubes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. To start your vegetable soup set the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7.
2. Tip the vegetables into a roasting tin and cook them for about 45 minutes until they are tender.
3. Chop the bacon rashers and dry-fry them until crispy. Microwave or steam the cabbage.
4. Pour the boiling water into the roasting tin and add the stock cubes. Use a stick blender to whizz the vegetables for a few seconds to purée some of them, but leaving some chunky bits. Stir to make sure the stock cubes have dissolved completely and season to taste.
5. Spoon the soup into bowls and top with cabbage and bacon.

Top tip for making winter vegetable soup with crispy bacon

If you don't have a stick blender you can use a potato masher to crush some of the roasted vegetables.