It's the chilly season, aka the perfect time for souperfans (like Anne Helen Petersen) to fire up the stove (or the crockpot) and cook up a big batch of soup. These recipes range from beginner-level easy (like Evan Kleiman's Almost Instant Mushroom Soup) to ambitious (like the classic ribollita, which takes three days to make). But most of the recipes (like the red pozole, or the carrot fennel soup, or the miso hot pot) fall somewhere in between, i.e. they're very doable, although you might need to pick up an ingredient or two.
Let the warming, liquidy goodness of some of our favorite recipes keep you warm this winter. If you're hungry for more, listen to anthropologist Deepa S. Reddy explore the wonders of rasam, a thin, soup-like Indian dish with infinite variations.
A classic minestrone is a winter favorite. Photo by Victoria Shes/Unsplash
VEGAN & VEGETARIAN SOUPS
Evan Kleiman's Minestrone
Evan's version of minestrone is based on the sweetness of the aromatics — onion, celery, carrot — meeting the deep flavor of cruciferous vegetables: cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, kale. The soup is infinitely customizable but the aromatics stay the same. Those ingredients and the olive oil are non-negotiable. Using olive oil to saute the aromatics then adding a glug to the soup as it cooks, adds texture and flavor. Use an extra virgin olive oil that smells fresh, not funky. Get the recipe
Evan Kleiman's Almost Instant Mushroom Soup
The soups at Caffe Angeli, Evan's former restaurant, were deeply flavored yet light. Why? Because they were made using water rather than broth. The vegetables and aromatics create their own light broth as the soup simmers. If you like time-saving produce that's already prepped, this soup is a cinch. Trader Joe's mirepoix (diced onion, celery and carrot) is usually fresh, as are their sliced mushrooms. In addition to eating as a soup, this recipe is an excellent multitasker. You can use it as a condiment for a delicious mushroom risotto or as base for making stroganoff. If you use less liquid, it becomes a great pasta sauce or base for lasagne. Get the recipe
Soup Joumou
For Haitians, there is one dish above all others that represents liberation: soup joumou. It's the official dish of Haiti's Independence Day which is celebrated on January 1. The soup, however, is enjoyed all month long. Cybille St. Aude-Tate, a Haitian American chef and author who's based in Philadelphia, shared her recipe for soup joumou. Scroll down for the recipe. Get the recipe
Butternut Squash and Corn Soup
Jean-Francois Meteigner, author of Cuisine Naturelle: French Cooking Redefined, shared this recipe that makes excellent use of winter's abundance of squash. Get the recipe
Omani Lentil Soup
The warming flavors of the Sultanate — black lime, coriander, cumin, cardamom and cinnamon, along with a pinch of nutmeg and clove and a final drizzle of melted ghee — make this simple lentil soup utterly distinctive and delicious. The recipe comes from Felicia Campbell's cookbook, The Food of Oman. Get the recipe
Shorbat Adas (Red Lentil Soup)
Shorbat Adas is a warming and nutritious Middle Eastern soup of red lentils and spices finished with lemon juice. Scroll down for the recipe. Get the recipe
Pumpkin Broth with Fideos
James Beard Award winner Michael Solomonov shares this vegan recipe for Pumpkin Broth with Fideos that forgoes chicken or vegetable stock in lieu of creating an intense broth from leftover pumpkin peels and a mixture of Sephardic spices. He also suggests bruléeing your onions first to deepen their savoriness and give the broth its beautiful golden color. Get the recipe
Butternut Squash Soup with Coconut Milk, Miso and Lime
This is a great staple to enjoy during butternut squash season. The white miso doesn't overpower the other ingredients but rather, gives the soup an "umami quality that makes food so satisfying," according to Deborah Madison, author of Vegetable Literacy. Get the recipe
Drowned Lettuce Soup
If you knew Vincent Schiavelli, it was probably as a character actor who showed up in everything from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Fast Times at Ridgemont High to Batman Returns and Tomorrow Never Dies. Before he passed away in 2005, he wrote the book Many Beautiful Things: Stories and Recipes from Polizzi Generosa, from whence this recipe comes. Get the recipe
Garlic Soup with Potatoes and Broccoli
Martha Rose Shulman who contributes to The New York Times and wrote The Very Best of Recipes for Health, likes this garlic soup for its ease and versatility. Get the recipe
Minestra di Scarole e Fagioli (Escarole and White Bean Soup)
Escarole can be bitter. If you want to reduce that bitterness, plunge it into water that you've brought to a boil then removed from the heat. Let it sit for a couple of minutes, then drain and refresh with cold water. Add it to the wilted onion and continue with the recipe. The texture, once cooked, is tender and still has a nice chew to it. If you're looking for something heartier, add diced potatoes and/or sausage. This recipe was adapted by Evan Kleiman and Viana La Place from Cucina Rustica. Get the recipe
Evan Kleiman's Vegan Matzo Balls
When Good Food fans wanted to know how to make vegan matzo balls, host Evan Kleiman went looking. They're hard to do well because most of what makes matzo balls good are the eggs and the schmaltz (chicken fat). But she found a Washington Post recipe that uses potatoes and modified it to make legitimately great plant-based matzo balls. (We've also got a great recipe for a Mexican matzo ball soup from Patti Jinich.) Get the recipe
Carrot Fennel Soup
Anne Smith, the owner and director of The New School of Cooking, combines winter produce with winter citrus for a divine recipe. Get the recipe
Sweet Pea Soup
Chef Eric Ripert says frozen peas work well for this, as the peas are harvested and frozen at their peak, before they mature and become starchy. He always keeps a bag in the freezer, which allows him to make this soup, which involves a bit of crème fraîche, year-round. Serve warm on cold days and cold on warm days. Scroll down for the recipe. Get the recipe
White bean and kale soup is a Tuscan classic. Photo via Shutterstock
WINTER SOUPS
John Pleshette's White Bean and Kale Soup
Actor and writer John Pleshette, known for The Truman Show, Knots Landing and Rocky II, says he usually makes this soup with homemade stock, either beef or chicken. But in this case, he wanted the flavors to come solely from the smoked ham hock and the cooked garlic. If you saute the kale just before serving, it remains crisp and forest green. Substitute spinach, chard or cabbage, if you prefer. Get the recipe
Sopa Milpa (Squash Flower and Vegetable Soup)
This recipe comes from Lesley Téllez, founder of Eat Mexico and the author of the 2015 book Eat Mexico: Recipes from Mexico City's Streets, Markets & Fondas. This recipe came to her from her friend Eric Valle who lives in San Pedro Atocpan on the outskirts of Mexico City. It's delicious on its own, served with warm tortillas on the side or you can glam it up by serving it with a simple roast chicken. You'll find epazote at Mexican markets and squash blossoms at farmers markets. Get the recipe
Winter Squash & Apple Soup
For this soup, you can use any winter squash variety except spaghetti squash, says recipe Evan Kleiman. Think butternut, Tahitian, Moroccan, kabocha, etc. The same is true for apples. Choose your favorite. You can also change the soup's personality by adding ginger and cilantro or sprinkling in curry powder or using leeks instead of onions. For a holiday meal, add a dash of nutmeg or cinnamon. Get the recipe
Ribollita (Tuscan Vegetable and Bread Soup)
Ribollita is a perfect example of how Tuscany cuisine breathes new life into leftovers. Ribollita literally means "reboiled." While minestrone is made the first day and eaten as is, classic ribollita takes three days to prepare. On the second day, the leftover soup is layered with thin slices of bread and baked with thin slices of red onion on top. On the third day, the leftovers are reboiled. Most recipes are based on regional produce but the crucial ingredient is cavolo nero, a winter cabbage whose leaves range in color from dark green to almost black. If you can't find it, substitute kale, chard, or use only Savoy cabbage. You can thank Judy Witts Francini, an Italy-based cooking teacher and food writer, for the recipe. Get the recipe
Tony DiSalvo's Spicy Sausage, Tuscan Kale and Butternut Squash Soup
This classic and hearty recipe comes to us from chef Tony DiSalvo. Get the recipe
Cold outside? Warm up with a bowl of pozole. Photo via Shutterstock
POZOLE
Red Pozole with Traditional Garnishes
Now that it's finally cold and rainy, it's the ideal time to indulge in a bowl of delicious pozole. There are numerous variations, both in flavor and spelling. This recipe comes from Pati Jinich of Pati's Mexican Table. Get the recipe
Green Posole
Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken gave us this recipe for green pozole, which gets its verde color from plenty of tomatillos and jalapeños. Scroll down for the recipe. Get the recipe
Turkey Posole
You don't have to relegate Turkey Posole to a post-Thanksgiving meal. Private chef and author Gaby Dalkin of What's Gaby Cooking has a recipe that you'll be able to enjoy year-round. Don't have turkey? Use chicken instead. Posole is a comfort food that reminds Gaby of growing up in Arizona. She says it's "like a fun spin on tortilla soup and a big bowl of everything [she] wants." Get the recipe
There are plenty of ways to dress up a traditional matzo ball soup. Photo via Shutterstock
CHICKEN & TURKEY SOUPS
Mexican Matzo Ball Soup (Bolas de Matzá con Hongos y Chiles)
The Mexican saying "La mejor comida Mexicana es la que se come en la calle y en la casa" means "the best Mexican food is the food we eat on the street and at home." Pati Jinich says her Jewish-Mexican roots informed the recipes in her cookbook, Mexican Today: New and Rediscovered Recipes for Contemporary Kitchens. She adds mushrooms and jalapeños to traditional matzo ball soup to give it a Mexican twist. Get the recipe
Chicken Soup with Fennel, Chickpeas, and Chard
This simple but luscious soup comes to us from Sam Mogannam, owner of San Francisco's popular Bi-Rite Market. It has all the basic elements of minestrone: broth, beans, and veggies. He favors erbette chard, if you can find it, for its sweet and nutty quality as well as its silky texture when cooked. Serve with grilled or toasted crusty bread, rubbed with the cut side of a halved garlic clove, and drizzle with olive oil. Look for more hearty dishes in his book Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food. Get the recipe
Chinese Egg Drop Soup
Marion Burros, the author of many books including Keep It Simple and Cooking for Comfort, shared this recipe with us back in 2003. Get the recipe
Clear Black Chicken Soup with Ginseng and Licorice
This is a wintertime favorite of chef Jean-Marie Josselin. Licorice was one of his favorite treats, as a child. While black chicken was a novelty for him when he first tried it, the meat is quite tasty. If you can't find black chicken, regular chicken will work just as well. Get the recipe
Thomas Keller's Thai Turkey Soup
Even Thomas Keller has to think about Thanksgiving leftovers. What does he do with uneaten turkey? He glams it up with galangal, kaffir lime leaves, tamarind pulp, Thai basil and fish sauce. Get the recipe
Turkey Tortilla Soup
Jennifer Armentrout of the now defunct magazine Fine Cooking combines tomato paste, chili powder, corn, beans and a few more things to make this study soup. Get the recipe
Beef noodle soup became popular in Taiwan after 1949, when a surge of Chinese refugees came to the island with the nationalist government during the Chinese Civil War. Photo by Yen Wei and Ryan Chen
NOODLE SOUPS
Beef Noodle Soup
Adapted by Clarissa Wei, author of, Made in Taiwan: Recipes and Stories from the Island Nation, the recipe calls for a pure beef bone broth base. However, the variations are endless because everyone makes their own version. The key is procuring a really high-quality cut of beef and making a flavorful broth. Everything else is just an accessory. Scroll down for the recipe. Get the recipe
Asian Veggie Noodle Soup
Hearty brown rice noodles and fresh crunchy veggies make this soup a nice main dish or an accompaniment to a larger meal. Chef CC Consalvo shared this recipe, which comes from her e-cookbook Sauces, Soups & Sides. Get the recipe
Hanoi-Style Beef Pho (Pho Bac)
Pho aficionados argue that pho bac, the Hanoi-style of pho, is the purest form out there. Compared to the Saigon-style bowls that are typically dressed with Sriracha, hoisin sauce and all manner of condiments, pho from North Vietnam is a spartan soup. The sole focus is the flavor of the broth, bolstered by dried shrimp, scallops or anchovies for extra umami. Andrea Nguyen's recipe, which she's been refining for years and published in The Pho Cookbook, calls for a pig trotter for viscosity and a Fuji apple for a hint of sweetness. Top with the usual cooked and raw beef, slivers of green onions and cilantro. Get the recipe
Craig Fear says that chowders are consumed throughout the summer in New England with lighter versions including a Portuguese recipe. Photo by Lynne Graves
CHOWDAS & FISH SOUPS
Portuguese Clam Chowder
Were tomato-based Portuguese soups and stews the precursor to Manhattan clam chowder? Maybe. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, tomatoes started showing up in chowder recipes in Rhode Island and Connecticut, where Portuguese immigrant communities were established. Craig Fear, author of New England Soups of the Sea, says this version is more piquant, richer, smokier, and spicier than a typical Manhattan clam chowder. Get the recipe
La Chaudrée (Fish Chowder)
Anne Willan, who runs the legendary La Varenne cooking school in France and wrote The Country Cooking of France, follows the advice in 1932 cookbook La Cuisine du Poitou. It advises, "To any recipe, add a thread of lemon juice towards the end of cooking, another while eating. Serve in a deep dish, heated and as thick as possible. Before pouring in the chaudrée, garnish the bottom with little pieces of good fresh butter." Just follow this advice! Get the recipe
Seafood Chowder
Adapted from Annabelle's Keg and Chowder House in Ketchikan, Alaska, this recipe comes to us from Russ Parsons, former editor of the LA Times Food section. While original American clam chowders were thickened with ship's biscuits and used salt pork, today's clam chowders inevitably feature clams, cream and potatoes. Get the recipe
Thai Inspired Coconut Soup with Black Cod
Ginger, makrut lime leaves, curry powder, garlic and cilantro give the soup its flavor. Fish sauce adds tang. Coconut milk smoothes everything out and provides richness. Get the recipe
Fish Soup
Austin-based chef, author, hunter, and fisherman Jesse Griffiths, author of Afield: A Chef's Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish, learned to love fish soup because he kept catching little whiting while fishing for flounder. He had come a long way to catch some fish and he didn't want to leave without turning his catch into a meal, so soup it was. This recipe became his signature dish. Get the recipe
Thai-Spiced Watermelon Soup with Crab Meat
This light, spicy soup is delicious hot or chilled. The sauteed aromatics turn the broth a rich red-orange, more reminiscent of tomato than watermelon. See if your guests can guess the main ingredient. Get the recipe
A miso nabe (hot pot) is a great way to warm up. Photo via Shutterstock
MISO SOUPS
Miso Soup with Broccoli and Wakame Seaweed
Dashi is the primary ingredient in so much of Japanese cuisine. The word means stock and the most common version is made from water, kombu seaweed and katsuobushi or bonito flakes. This miso soup recipe from Sonoko Sakai builds on her dashi recipe by adding miso paste, broccoli, seaweed and scallions. Get the recipe
Kyoto-Style Saikyo Miso Hot Pot
Every culture has its own version of comfort food. In winter, many Japanese people will gather around a donabe, an earthenware hot pot. What makes donabe cooking so special? Japanese cooking instructor Naoko Takei Moore, of Toiro Kitchen & Supply, fell for the creamy broth and elegant flavor of this Saikyo-style miso nabe (hot pot) at the headquarters of its originator, Honda Miso Honten. Saikyo miso has a mild, sweet flavor that makes it a versatile ingredient for both savory dishes and desserts. The secret to this particular recipe is a splash of rice vinegar, which adds a refreshing accent to the sweet saikyo miso flavor. Get the recipe
Miso Soup with Tofu or Clams
Ivy Manning, the author of The Adaptable Feast, likes this recipe because tofu is a good source of protein. Get the recipe