1 Looks for soup recipies where veggies are the star -- you won't miss meat.
2 toss some veggies like carrots, potatos and onions in olive oil and tomato paste and roast them. they will develop a rich carmeization that you can puree into soups for depth, or boil to make your own broth
3 experiment with dried mushrooms. after you hydrate them, save the water and use in your soup base.

Anonymous wrote:This might sound weird, but I use salsa verde mixed with veg stock as a base for tortilla or other Mexican flavor profile soups and it is SO good and flavorful- black beans, corn, bell peppers, onions, a squeeze of lime before serving

cilantro and sour cream on top if you do dairy

This might sound weird, but I use salsa verde mixed with veg stock as a base for tortilla or other Mexican flavor profile soups and it is SO good and flavorful- black beans, corn, bell peppers, onions, a squeeze of lime before serving

Anonymous wrote:OP, if you want a richer feel dissolve a little cornstarch in water and stir that in. It's what gives some Asian soups like hot and sour and egg drop soups their more robust feel, and keeps it healthy.

Or if you add pasta, save pasta water. It adds more consistency to the broth. You can also blend cannelini beans in a liquid, then add to broth. Or blend cooked potatoes. For flavor, I wonder if some combination of vegetable broth, nutritional yeast (?), onion, thyme, and maybe a dash of worchestershire might do it. Also, maybe some guiness might make it interesting.

Agree with cheese rinds, Worcestershire, mushrooms. I also add soy sauce-a bit--to bean and lentil soups and it's a nice deepener.

Also, Cookie and Kate's veg soup recipes are very good. She often blends some to thicken them, which is easy with an immersion blender.

https://cookieandkate.com/category/food-recipes/soups-and-stews/

Also, don't sleep on vinegar of all kinds--sherry, rice. Especially at the end it brightens the flavor like lemon.

when I add Parmesan rinds, it always tastes soapy. what am I doing wrong?

Beans esp white varieties
Olive oil
Parm or parm rinds
Whole garlic cloves
Cauliflower
Potato…

Many of these add richness and mouthfeel especially if blended

I like blended vegetable soups where you sautéed a little onion or scallion in olive oil, cook veggies like squash and carrots and maybe some potatoes down in veggie stock, and then use an immersion blender to purée. You can stir in coconut milk for some creaminess. You couLd always grate a little cheese over it at the table for more richness.

Spanish smoked paprika and liquid smoke to replace bacon type favors, a spoonful of miso or vinegar can also deepen flavor

Carmelized onions can help a lot. Melissa Clark has a fantastic veg lentil soup that uses them plus sherry vinager.

Take some butter, brown it with minced garlic, then saute some chopped shitake mushrooms in it. Season with soy sauce and worcestershire sauce until you get a nice full flavored umami sauce. You can the make your soup from this or pulse it in the food processor if you don't want mushroom pieces in your soup. The paste will dissolve in the soup, but give you the flavor.

I have a spice grinder from Trader Joe’s that’s called South African Smoke. I add a bit of that to dishes and it tastes like you have bacon in there.