Best Spices for Vegetable Soup

Homemade vegetable soup has an easy edge over canned: a University of Wisconsin Extension soup sheet points out that homemade soups can be lower in salt than canned ones if you let herbs do the flavoring.¹ The vegetables carry most of the flavor, so the seasoning is simple and pretty consistent. Both tested recipes below follow the same pattern: onion and garlic to start, one bay leaf in the pot, one dried herb (usually thyme or oregano), black pepper, and something fresh at the end, like lemon zest and cilantro.

At a glance

Seasoning	Job	In the sources below
Onion	Sweet, savory base	Mayo Clinic²
Garlic	Pungent depth	Mayo Clinic²
Bay leaf	Background herbal note; removed before serving	Both recipes; on Wisconsin’s herb list²³¹
Thyme	Savory herb for long cooking	NDSU; on Wisconsin’s herb list³¹
Oregano	Warm, pungent herb	Mayo Clinic²
Cumin	Earthy warmth	Mayo Clinic²
Black pepper	Mild heat	Both recipes²³
Fresh cilantro or parsley, lemon zest	Fresh finish	Mayo Clinic; parsley on Wisconsin’s list²¹
Basil, rosemary	Other herbs to try	Wisconsin’s herb list¹
MSG	Savory boost	Optional; none of the recipes

Two recipes side by side

	Mayo Clinic, Summer Vegetable Soup (serves 8)²	NDSU Extension, Hearty Vegetable Beef Soup (serves 4)³
Base	1 tbsp olive oil, 1 yellow onion, 3 garlic cloves	Unsalted chicken broth and water
Vegetables	Plum tomatoes, carrot, yellow bell pepper, zucchini	2 cups frozen mixed soup vegetables, 16 oz canned tomatoes
Dried herb and spice	1 tbsp fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried; 1 tsp ground cumin	1 tsp crushed thyme leaves
Bay leaf	1, discarded at the end	1, removed at the end
Liquid	4 cups no-salt-added vegetable stock	10.5 oz unsalted or reduced-sodium chicken broth plus water
Finish	1 tbsp lemon zest, 2 tbsp fresh cilantro	Narrow noodles
Salt and pepper	1/4 tsp kosher salt, 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper	1/4 tsp salt (omit with reduced-sodium broth), dash of pepper

These are the publishers’ recipes, not a house standard. NDSU’s version includes cooked beef.³

The core seasonings and what each one does

Onion and garlic

The Mayo Clinic recipe starts by cooking a chopped yellow onion and three garlic cloves in olive oil.² Garlic has a powerful, onionlike smell and a pungent taste. Fresh cloves or garlic powder both work; see garlic powder vs. garlic and onion powder vs. onion. NDSU’s recipe skips the aromatics and leans on frozen soup vegetables.³

Bay leaf: in early, out before serving

Both recipes add one bay leaf with the liquid and fish it out at the end.²³ J. Kenji López-Alt told The Splendid Table that bay brings out the meaty flavors of beef and chicken. That’s a cook’s view, not a measured effect.

Taking the leaf out matters for safety as well as taste. López-Alt compares eating one to eating a fish bone,⁴ and a Canadian surgical case report notes that bay leaves are rigid and can have sharp points and edges.⁵ See cooking with bay leaves and too much bay leaf.

Thyme or oregano: the main herb

Each recipe picks one dried herb: a teaspoon of crushed thyme in NDSU’s,³ a teaspoon of dried (or a tablespoon of fresh) oregano in Mayo Clinic’s. Oregano has a strong aroma and warm, pungent taste. Both are hearty herbs that go in early,⁶ and both recipes do just that. Mayo Clinic sautés the oregano with the tomatoes and cumin before the stock goes in.²

The University of Delaware’s extension guide takes a different approach for long-simmered soups, suggesting herbs go in during the last 45 minutes.⁷ NDSU’s soup only simmers about 25 minutes total, so its early thyme is never in the pot for long.³ See oregano vs. thyme, fresh vs. dried thyme and fresh vs. dried oregano.

Cumin

Mayo Clinic adds a teaspoon of ground cumin with the oregano,² which pulls the soup toward a warmer, earthier flavor. It’s optional; NDSU’s soup has none.³ See cumin uses and too much cumin.

Fresh herbs and lemon at the end

Mayo Clinic finishes with a tablespoon of lemon zest and two tablespoons of fresh cilantro, stirred in after the simmer.² Cilantro, parsley and basil are delicate herbs, best added at the end. Parsley or basil from the Wisconsin herb list can do the same job.¹

Herbs instead of salt

Wisconsin’s FoodWIse soup sheet lists basil, bay leaf, parsley, rosemary and thyme under “Herbs Add Flavor,” and its herb shaker of rosemary, thyme, sage, basil and marjoram is meant to replace salt.¹ Both recipes here use unsalted or low-sodium liquid and only 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and NDSU says you can skip the salt when you use reduced-sodium broth.²³ Salt at the end, after the soup has reduced.

MSG and the tomato

Tomatoes show up in both recipes, and MSG occurs naturally in many foods, like tomatoes and cheeses, which have a natural umami taste.⁸ Pure MSG is an option if you want a savory boost. FDA regards added MSG as generally recognized as safe.⁹ See cooking with MSG and MSG vs. salt.

Celery

Neither recipe here uses celery, though the Wisconsin sheet’s potato soup simmers onion and celery together.¹ Celery seeds or celery salt can stand in. If you use celery salt, cut back on the added salt.

When to add what

Seasoning	When	Source
Onion, garlic	First, in oil	Mayo Clinic²
Dried oregano or thyme, cumin	Early, with the vegetables or tomatoes	Mayo Clinic, NDSU²³
Bay leaf	With the liquid; remove at the end	Mayo Clinic, NDSU²³
Fresh herbs, lemon zest	After simmering	Mayo Clinic²
Salt	To taste, at the end	Low-sodium broth leaves room for it

“Soup Saves Money”, FoodWIse, University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension, Dunn County. dunn.extension.wisc.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
“Summer vegetable soup”, Mayo Clinic Staff, Mayo Clinic. mayoclinic.org · Publication ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸
Julie Garden-Robinson, “Add Some Vegetables to Your Diet”, NDSU Extension, reviewed 2020. ndsu.edu · Reference work ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³
David Leite with J. Kenji López-Alt, “Bay leaves are an optional ingredient”, The Splendid Table, 2014. splendidtable.org · Publication ↩
Bell and Mustard, “Bay leaf perforation of Meckel’s diverticulum”, Canadian Journal of Surgery, 1997. canjsurg.ca · Peer-reviewed ↩
Liz Bomze, “Our Guide to Fresh Herbs”, America’s Test Kitchen, 2019. americastestkitchen.com · Publication ↩
“Using Herbs and Spices”, University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, revised 2025. udel.edu · Reference work ↩
“Umami”, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026. britannica.com · Reference work ↩
“Questions and Answers on Monosodium glutamate (MSG)”, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. fda.gov · Regulator ↩

Also drawn on

Oregano, by Anoushka Pant (updated 1 Oct 2026), Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com
Flavorful Herbs, LSU AgCenter. lsuagcenter.com
Garlic (Britannica Editors, revised by Michele Metych, updated 12 Sep 2026), Encyclopaedia Britannica. britannica.com

Vegetable Soup Spices: Bay Leaf, Thyme or Oregano, and Herbs in Place of Salt