A simmering pot of soup brimming with chunky vegetables and warm spices is a hallmark of fall and winter cooking. Soup should be easy to make and comforting to consume. While many recipes require hours to make and a dozen or more ingredients, simple soups that take less than an hour and employ basic pantry staples have us feeling, well, thankful. For all of the following heavy hitters, if you have a pot, olive oil, a couple of vegetables, stock, and a few key herbs and spices, you’re good to go.
These 34 recipes run the gamut from creamy bisques and chunky chowders to hearty chicken- and beef-based soups you can make in your slow cooker or Instant Pot. And though their flavors vary wildly, we can guarantee that they’re all stress-free—and totally delicious. Not sure what to serve them with? Don’t forget to check out our best winter salad recipes and favorite cozy dessert ideas, too.
1. Polish Dill Pickle Soup (Zupa Ogórkowa)
“Warm, slightly creamy, and super herbaceous, Polish Dill Pickle Soup is the ideal between-season food,” says Food Editor Emily Ziemski, who recommends serving it warm along with plenty of fresh bread.
2. Mushroom Chowder With Crispy Mushroom Bacon
This vegetarian-friendly take on a classic, chunky chowder uses lion’s mane mushrooms for a texture reminiscent of the lobster or whitefish you’d find in a typical fish version.
3. Creamy Artichoke & Green Chile Soup
This soup is super creamy—but it’s also entirely vegan. How? A brilliant combination of potato and cashew cream that gives the soup a ton of body and richness.
4. Spicy Chicken (or Turkey) Noodle Soup From Erin Jeanne McDowell
Homemade noodles sound daunting, but these thick and chewy ones—which give the soup some welcome texture and bite—couldn’t be simpler. (We promise.)
5. Best French Onion Soup
French onion soup may just be the holy grail of hygge soup recipes. It’s an easy, impressive dish featuring just a few ingredients. (Don’t sleep on chef Chad Robertson’s tip to add a bit of duck fat into the bowl for an extra layer of flavor.)
6. Lasagna Soup With Ricotta-Parmesan Cream
You had us at “lasagna soup.” This deconstructed version of the classic pasta dish has fewer steps and is a one-pot wonder for the table.
7. My Grandmother's Tomato Bisque
Grandma’s cream of tomato soup recipe has three ingredients, and that’s it. It’s all about sautéing super-ripe tomatoes in butter, then mixing in cream like mad for a ripe, saucy finish.
8. Chickpea, Pumpkin, & Sage Stew
Sweater-weather favorites chickpeas, pumpkin purée, and sage make cameos in this autumnal stunner. Adapt to your own pantry by swapping chickpeas for any canned bean, or pumpkin for butternut squash.
9. Leftover Turkey Soup
During the hectic holiday season, nearly any leftovers recipe is going to be an instant favorite, but this one is simple and relies upon pantry and crisper staples. It’s a go-to right after Thanksgiving.
10. 10-Minute Egg Drop Soup
This unconventional egg-drop soup replicates the Chinese classic using Western ingredients–the brainchild of a Chinese grandmother who migrated stateside. Replacing cornstarch with cream of chicken soup and adding canned corn lends it a hearty texture. Bonus: It’s ready in 10 minutes.
11. Cream of Mushroom Soup
Four ingredients plus salt and pepper–that’s it! This Big Little Recipe employs shiitake mushrooms, creminis, and heavy cream to achieve a silky, lush texture. Sauté, then blitz in a blender. Boom.
12. Best Butternut Squash Soup
Our best butternut squash soup is the one we keep in our back pockets during the really cold months. Cream-free, its earthy flavor comes from Parmesan, walnuts, and butternut squash two ways—roasted and boiled. Drizzled with yogurt, it’s a warm blanket of a soup.
13. Jamie Oliver's Italian Bread & Cabbage Soup
Rustic Italian cabbage soup may not be in your repertoire yet, but Jamie Oliver’s version is a Genius Recipe for a reason. It’s also much heartier than it sounds, thanks to pancetta and butter-fried sage.
14. Joanne Chang's Hot & Sour Soup
A prep time of 10 minutes? Sign us up. Flour, Too cookbook author Joanne Chang smartly swaps out sliced pork for ground for a ready-in-a-flash rendition of Chinese hot and sour soup.
15. Butternut Squash & Cider Soup: 1993
Amanda Hesser loves this recipe for its simplicity and sweet, pure flavor. Ideal for the week after Thanksgiving, she writes, it’s a relief from the heft of the holiday—but still fantastic and loaded with fall flavors.
16. Mushroom Barley Soup
Add this flavor-packed mushroom and barley number to your soup bucket list. Start by cooking pancetta over low heat with chopped carrots, celery, and onions, then build the broth with layers of aromatics like porcini mushrooms and dry sherry.
17. Roasted Carrot Soup
Use up that bunch of carrots staring you down from the fridge. Broiling them transforms them into sweet, almost caramelized veggies. Add ginger, thyme, and sweet onion for a fabulous finished dish.
18. 3-Ingredient Potato Leek Soup
A riff on fancy vichyssoise, this three-ingredient potato leek soup is decidedly easier—but just as good. (Do be sure to clean those leeks very carefully!)
19. Apple & Fennel Soup
Apple and fennel, together, are a gift that keeps giving. We like tart apples such as Honeycrisp, Gravenstein, or Granny Smith here. Blitz with chicken stock, honey, lemon, watercress, and fennel, garnish with a fistful of fresh herbs, and love your life.
20. Marcella Hazan's White Bean Soup With Garlic & Parsley
This Genius Recipe from actual culinary genius Marcella Hazan is ready in a mere 10 minutes. Weekday-friendly as can be, it’s a garlicky white bean soup best served over thick grilled slices of bread.
21. Souped-Up Tomato Soup
This straightforward, peperonata-inspired tomato soup calls for red bell peppers, a dollop of crème fraîche and a handful of fresh basil. It was born to be paired with a mouth-watering grilled cheese sandwich.
22. Crispy Cheesy Broccoli Soup
Jaw-droppingly simple for an ooey-gooey comfort food classic, this crispy cheese broccoli soup requires just four ingredients and salt. It condenses the typical, complicated ingredient list in favor of the savory basics—onions, tons of broccoli, cheddar cheese, and oil.
23. Winter Squash Soup With (Less) Red Chile & Mint
A full two pounds of winter squash comprise the base of this make-ahead soup. A riff on Deborah Madison’s winter squash soup, this version uses a little less chile than hers. We love the unexpected combo of cinnamon stick, coriander seeds, and mint.
24. Savory Wild Mushroom Soup
One of our one-pot wonders, this savory wild mushroom soup is soothing on a chilly day thanks to its woodsy, earthy notes. Topped with seasonal nuts, grated cheese, and a sprinkling of fresh parsley, it’s also light enough to serve as a first course.
25. Vegetable Soup With Roasted Tomato Pistou
This two-part, freezer-friendly recipe takes advantage of seasonal summer vegetables like cherry tomatoes and green beans, so you can make a big batch and enjoy warm-weather flavor year-round.
26. Pasta & Bean Soup With Kale, Revisited
Merrill Stubbs concocted a soup for pasta-bean soup enthusiasts who want to get their greens, too. Six full cups of kale conjoin with (unexpected) pinto beans for a wonderfully robust bowl.
27. Rick Bayless' Chicken Tortilla Soup With Shredded Chard
Smoky and delightful, this Rick Bayless tortilla soup—one of his many variations on the dish since the ‘80s—is one of our Genius Recipes. Dried pasilla chiles keep it mild, while two cups of Mexican Chihuahua cheese (you can sub in Monterey Jack) keep it hearty.
28. Pappa al Pomodoro (Tuscan Bread Soup with a Sage Oil Drizzle)
Be a good environmentalist and use up that stale bread rather than tossing it. This Tuscan recipe relies upon canned tomatoes, fresh basil, and not much more. Rustic and comforting, it gets a slight upgrade thanks to fried sage leaves.
29. Tuscan Onion Soup (Carabaccia)
Perhaps the Tuscan antecedent of French onion soup, this recipe involves sautéed onions, sage, plenty of Parmesan, and a fried egg. We’d be lying if we said we didn’t reach for it after a long night.
30. Cornish Game Hen Soup With Garlic, Ginger & Fried Shallots
Anyone who hates making a separate pot of rice for a soup, listen up: Eric Kim stuffs a Cornish game hen with rice for this riff on samgyetang, the Korean soup fortified with ginger and ginseng with which he grew up. Garnished with fried shallots and cilantro, his variation is an absolute marvel.
31. Nigel Slater's Miso Soup With Beef & Kale
Miso soup—with half a pound of sirloin steak? If anyone can pull it off, it’s Nigel Slater, and boy, does he. Ready in a flash, this bowl boasts kale, powdered bouillon, and white miso, too.
32. Slow-Cooker Chicken Soup With Ginger & Fennel
Set it and forget it: Rebecca Firkser’s recipe is an ode to ginger, fennel, and chicken broth, all cooked together—in a slow cooker. With a mercifully brief 10-minute prep time, it’s a wonderful addition to your weeknight dinner rotation.
33. Instant Pot Vegetable Beef Soup
Another Eric Kim hit—dubbed the one-pot wonder by our editors—this vegetable soup straddles the line between chili and stew. Toss your favorite vegetables in the Instant Pot, garnish with nutty Parmesan, serve with crusty bread, and you’ve got dinner for four in 40 minutes.
34. Weeknight Chili
Chili is so marvelously Game Day-friendly, and this bean-and-beef number almost demands to be made in advance. Have pals over, let them garnish as they like with cilantro, grated cheese, hot sauce, and scallions, and enjoy how few dishes you have to do at the end of the night.
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Written by: Kelsey Shoemaker
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