Soup

Our 11 Best Soup Recipes of All Time, Ranked

The soups we can't stop making.

January 30, 2023
Photo by Rocky Luten

The days may (allegedly) be getting longer, but winter is still undeniably here. While the sun’s annual foray into playing hard to get comes to a close, it’s best to use our remaining time indoors to celebrate winter’s most iconic dish: soup. Here are our 11 most popular soup recipes of all time, from French onion to butternut squash, and beyond.

11. Marcella Hazan's Rice & Smothered Cabbage Soup

A soup that proves an under-appreciated truth: cabbage is a bottomless reservoir of flavor. Top with parmesan for an additional umami kick.

10. Tomato Soup With a Whole Head of Garlic

Garlic improves this already-perfected soup without muddling any of its classic flavors. Bonus: You don’t need to peel the entire head of garlic to get to all that allium goodness—simply cut in half across the middle to save time.

9. Vegetable Beef Soup Like Great-Grandma Vera Mae's

This recipe is childhood in soup form. A spoonful of beef, potato, and carrot—all covered in the rich, dark broth—brings me straight back to my mother’s kitchen table.

8. Marcella Hazan's White Bean Soup with Garlic and Parsley

This soup is eaten in two stages. First, enjoy perfectly tender white beans bathing in parsley and garlic. Second, mop up the remaining broth with whatever bread you can find.

7. Leftover Turkey Soup

Print this out and leave it somewhere in your kitchen. Your future fully exhausted post-Thanksgiving self will thank you.

6. Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Sherry

Classic butternut squash with an added kick from the sherry. We don’t need to sell something that’s already perfect.

5. Best French Onion Soup

Two facts: First, every dinner party is made better with French onion soup. Second, this is our most popular french onion soup.

4. Joanne Chang's Hot and Sour Soup

This recipe makes a few convenient changes to traditional hot and sour soup, namely using ground instead of sliced pork and replacing cornstarch with eggs. Even with these swaps, this dish maintains all of its classic flavor.

3. Lentil and Sausage Soup for a Cold Winter's Night

Perfect for chilly weather, this recipe relies on pantry items like lentils, frozen spinach, wine, and garlic, meaning you might be able to make this soup without braving the elements on a trip to the grocery store.

2. Roasted Carrot Soup

Despite only using seven ingredients, this soup produces an entire world of carrot flavor. Serve it up with homemade sourdough if you're so inclined, or reach for any crusty bread you've got on hand.

1. Genius Cauliflower Soup From Paul Bertolli

This recipe highlights how cauliflower cauliflower's ability to play the main character of any dish. It’s deeply flavorful, plus it's our most popular soup of all time (and it uses water in place of stock)


Let us know your favorite soup recipe in the comments below!

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Paul Hagopian

Written by: Paul Hagopian

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11 Comments

Bevi September 8, 2024
AJ's soup is part of our fall/winter rotation and I have made it at least a dozen times every year since its publication. It's also a recipe I make for our neighbors and friends who are in need of a meal. Thank you AntoniaJames! I substitute kielbasa, but always add the greens.
 
Robin W. February 10, 2023
FOOD52 Super Fan here and I feel that the Genius Cauliflower Soup is the Best soup recipe of all time! The simplicity and technique are truly genius! I have made this recipe so many times because it’s healthy and so versatile. Soups are comforting and and my family’s love language. I look forward to trying these other recipes and showing the love. Thank you FOOD52 for inspiring!
 
sofiacole February 10, 2023
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Kerry D. February 5, 2023
Love this list! I have made the French Onion Soup many times but that Hot and Sour Soup is an absolute favorite. I read this list just to make sure it was included. I will be sure to try the other recipes!
 
MeganKirkham February 5, 2023
Great collection! Thanks!
 
kitchensquatter February 5, 2023
Best soups 'of all time'? Can't stop making them? Why the hyperbole and superlatives?
Did you really look back and check soups made 600 years ago? Just share the recipes and be done. We made a Mulligatawny soup yesterday that was fine, delicious - filling. But we don't rank our soups.. and ten is barely enough, given the incredible variety of soups extant. Thanks for the post.
 
Jenny W. February 5, 2023
Who peed in your cornflakes this morning?
 
Erin February 5, 2023
They are ranking the top rated soups ON FOOD52, not in the history of the world. Seriously, lighten up. Some people actually like to have a short list of great recipes instead of endless searching.
 
kitchensquatter February 6, 2023
No one. I don't eat cereal for breakfast. My POINT being, under promise and over-deliver. How about 'Here's 11 soups we really like - please try them!' Vs. 'Best Soups Ever! Can't stop making them!'. That sounds like hype and people without discipline, which is clearly NOT the FOOD52 way. I stand by our mulligatawny done with chicken thighs, lots of coconut, pineapple, curry, assorted veggies. There are hundreds of thousands of soups known world-wide.. Why would you want to limit it to 11? Legal counsel suggests I back off. Ha. I LOVE your blog posts. Just dial it back a bit. Thank you for reading and feedback.. DK
 
CAROLE February 12, 2023
You sound like people without common sense or a sense of humor, which is clearly NOT the FOOD52 way. I stand by Jennie W. - on the count of three -- pisssss
 
kitchensquatter February 12, 2023
I have a wonderful and well flexed sense of humor; laugh at myself often. I don't understand Food52 making such claims and statements that defy credulity. 'Best of all time'? Food52 has been extant for 15 years, tops. A tiny blip on the culinary timeline. 'Can't stop making these soups?' What does that even mean? Like the authors get up at 3 A.M. and start making soup cause they are so compelled? Dial it back and just state favorites in normal terms, not hype. I enjoy the soups listed here and have made most of them. A horse walks into a bar... ..Bartender looks up and says, 'Why the long face?' ha ha ha..