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By Katie Workman
on Feb 06, 2024
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There is only one thing to do during the short days and cold nights of winter — make soup. Make lots and lots of soup. Creamy soups, chunky soups, spicy soups, soothing soups. Dip a toe into a new cuisine by way of soup. Play with those condiments in the door of the fridge, with soup as your mode of transport.
And make big pots of these soups. Why anyone would make a small pot of soup, even if you don’t have many mouths to feed, is beyond me. Eat it all week long. Freeze it. Bring it to work. Bring it to a friend, a neighbor, or your pottery teacher.
And if you’re in the sharing mode (and who isn’t when it comes to soup?), you should check out the Souper Bowl (yes, that’s right) of Caring initiative, where generous people use soup as a vehicle to raise money and awareness for their local hunger assistance charities. Good deeds and soup combined — a very winning combination.
Here are some of my all-time favorite soups. And think about pairing any of these soups with some garlic bread, beer bread, biscuits, Irish soda bread, or cornbread.
Explore an arsenal of delicious soup recipes to keep you warm on those chilly nights.
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18 Great Soup Recipes
5 from 6 votes
Slow Cooker Red Lentil, Fennel, and Chicken Soup
The very definition of a stick to your ribs soup, with a lift from the fennel, amazing thickness from the red lentils, and crazy good flavor from the chicken. Plus — slow cooker! As in, hot and waiting for you when you get home! Sold.
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5 from 8 votes
Avgolemono Soup
Avgolemono is the lemony chicken soup of Greece. This take on the classic is fairly well populated with both chicken and orzo, satisfyingly chunky, with a nice citrusy undercurrent.
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5 from 4 votes
Creamy Tomato Soup
A small amount of cream turns a pot of simple tomato soup into a creamy, lush, pretty-pink tomato soup experience. This recipe uses only canned tomatoes, which means you can make it any time of year and not have to wait for that magical perfect tomato time at the end of the summer. Please, please, make yourself a grilled cheese to go with!
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5 from 2 votes
Spicy Thai Chicken and Rice Noodle Soup
Another chicken soup, but totally different. Ginger, cilantro, coconut milk, fish sauce — a vibrant combination of ingredients, and a deliciously restorative soup. All in all, comfort food, but on the lighter side.
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5 from 2 votes
Asparagus Soup
This creamy asparagus soup is a terrific way to showcase one of the most lovable vegetables of spring in a slurpable way.
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5 from 6 votes
Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup
This divine soup is scented with chili, cumin, and coriander and topped with all kinds of deliciousness, like avocado and tortilla crisps. This is one of my favorite soups of all time.
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5 from 3 votes
Simple Vegetable Soup
A vegetable soup recipe is the single most brilliant way to use up what you have in your fridge.
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5 from 1 vote
Salmon Chowder
Chunky and creamy, rich and light all at the same time, this salmon chowder is a bowl of flavorful happiness any time of the year.
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5 from 6 votes
Chicken Corn Chowder
Another chowder, this time with nice chunks of chicken and potatoes. This can definitely be a main course soup; it's jammed with the good stuff.
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5 from 5 votes
Provençal Fish Stew
A bowl of this is like a tiny little trip to the Mediterranean. It’s unbelievably easy, but absolutely company-worthy. Make the easy roasted pepper sauce, or rouille, to give it a sunny finishing touch.
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5 from 2 votes
Cauliflower Cheese Soup
Creamy and rich, this vegetarian cauliflower soup is so easy to make and as comforting as a cashmere sweater.
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5 from 3 votes
Vegan Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
A five-ingredient vegan butternut squash and apple soup with brilliant color, depth, and a bit of sweetness. Perfect for holidays and fall dinners.
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4.67 from 6 votes
Mushroom Barley Soup
A hearty cold-weather soup for mushroom lovers. Rich and satisfying (and also vegan)! This is one of my family’s favorites, and I try to keep a couple of quarts in the freezer all winter long.
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5 from 4 votes
Minestrone
This thick vegetable soup is chock-a-block with good stuff, and with some crusty bread, it's hard to think of a more satisfying simple meal. Minestrone is an Italian soup designed to make the most of seasonal and local produce, so you should feel free to switch things up!
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5 from 7 votes
Chicken and Rice Soup
Chicken noodle soup tends to hog the spotlight, but this chicken soup cousin deserves more attention! Fragrant and comforting, warm and healing, this is the soup to make on a cold night or when someone needs a pick-me-up.
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5 from 9 votes
Moroccan Carrot and Cauliflower Soup
A root vegetable soup with carrots and cauliflower gets a Moroccan-spiced twist. You are not going to believe how good your kitchen will smell while this is simmering (thanks to a blend of cumin, ground ginger, cayenne, and coriander) and it lives up to its enticing aroma.
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4.91 from 11 votes
Vegetarian Split Pea Soup
This is comfort food at its homiest. The texture is soothing, the flavor is mellow, and it’s so easy to make. Keep a pot of this simmering on the stove on those busy weeknights when people are coming and going at different times! Pair it withsuper easy garlic bread. And if you skip the Parmesan at the end, it’s actually a vegan soup.
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5 from 4 votes
Broccoli Cheddar Soup
This is the type of broccoli soup you want to drag a breadstick through, creamy and rich and cheesy.
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