Best Soup Recipes

When LoveToKnow Best wanted to create a list of the best soup recipes, Carla Snyder and Meredith Deeds, the authors of 300 Sensational Soups, seemed like the perfect cooks for the job. With more than 50 years of combined experience in the food world, this prolific cookbook-writing duo specializes in fresh, fun recipes. Carla and Meredith offered some of the best soup recipes from the new book, along with helpful tips for creating delicious soups.

Carla Snyder and Meredith Deeds, authors of 300 Sensational Soups

1.

 A good homemade beef stock is the key to a robust and delicious French Onion Soup. Although we often use store-bought low-sodium chicken stock, there really isn’t a store-bought beef stock that can even come close to homemade. Also, taking the time to properly brown and caramelize the onions is critical. It has to be done over medium-low heat. Often the home cook will want to hurry the process and the result will be onions that lack depth of flavor.

2.

 Toasting and soaking the chiles is important. The soaking water pulls the bitterness out of the dried chiles and consequently, out of your soup. The addition of lime juice to the soup will give balance to the other rich ingredients like cheese, avocado and sour cream, not to mention the crispy tortilla strips.

3.

 One of our favorites is the basic Potato and Leek Soup, because of its comforting simplicity. One of the great qualities about the potato is its neutrality. It would feel at home in just about any pot of soup. In our book, 300 Sensational Soups, we paired it with lots of other interesting flavors like: Rosemary Roasted Potato and Parsnip Soup, Potato and Celery Root Soup with Blue Cheese Croutons, Zucchini Vichyssoise with Tarragon Pesto and of course, no chowder would be complete without potatoes.

4.

 The best chicken soups start with a rich chicken stock. We like to use chicken thighs instead of breasts because they are so much more flavorful and rich. Everybody loves Old Fashioned Chicken and Noodle Soup, but we also like unexpected combinations, such as Chicken Soup with Roasted Vegetables, Chicken Andouille Soup, or Barley Soup with Chicken and Fennel.

5.

 The best tomato soup doesn’t come in a can. Tomato soup is best when tomatoes are in season. We like to roast our tomatoes to concentrate the flavor. Additions that we love to tomato soup include basil, cream and, of course, our favorite Grilled Cheese Croutons.

6.

 The nice thing about bean soups is that canned beans will often work well, and when soup needs to be on the table quickly, there’s nothing better. Some of our favorite bean soups are Spicy Black Bean Soup, White Bean Soup with Pancetta and Sage and Lentil Soup with Spring Greens.

7.

 Short-rib Soup is one of our favorites because it’s so rich and comforting.

8.

 We have an entire chapter full of chilled soups for summer, but if we had to choose just one, we would say the Almond Gazpacho because its snowy white color contrasted with the bright green of the green grape and extra virgin olive oil garnish make a stunning presentation, and the subtle flavors of almond, sherry vinegar and a hint of garlic make it delicious to eat as well.

9.

 Almost any soup is wonderful for a party. We especially like to take our chilled soups or even our pureed vegetable soups and serve them in shot glasses. The presentation is fun and they are easy for our guests to manage standing up.

10.

 Dessert soups make any meal special - that’s why we have so many in our book. Peach Melba Soup with Raspberry Swirl and Almond Biscotti is sure to make your guests swoon.

In addition to sharing their picks for the best soup recipes, Meredith and Carla also offered some helpful tips for making the most of your soups:

• For the best soups, begin with homemade stocks and broths. Save uncooked poultry bones in your freezer until you have about six pounds, then make a big pot of stock with the bones and fresh onions, carrots and celery. Freeze the stock for easy storage.
• Have canned soup broth or stock ready in your pantry. Always have canned stock on hand for last minute soups and stews. It won’t be as good as homemade, but it will still taste really good.
• Always have onions, carrots, potatoes and celery as fresh ingredients along with canned tomatoes, canned beans and frozen vegetables for quick soups on the go.
• Plan to make soup from leftovers. Soups are a good way to use up leftover ingredients that would otherwise go to waste, such as a single lonely zucchini left in the crisper drawer, leftover rice from Chinese take-out, half a red bell pepper or a chicken leg. It’s amazing how well leftover bits and pieces taste when mixed together with a little stock and fresh or dried herbs.
• Cut back on the fat. Chowders and bisques can be laden with fat and heavy cream. To moderate the calories, add a little mashed potato and half of the cream called for in the recipe. The potato thickens the soup and gives the impression of creaminess and even with half the fat will, it will still make a great tasting soup.
• Make slow cooked soups on the weekend. Soups with dried beans or slow cooked meats such as oxtail and short ribs take a few hours cooking. Store those soups in single portion bags and freeze to use on busy weeknights with little time to cook.
• Freeze leftover soup in freezer bags for easy storage. Lay the bags flat on a sheet pan in your freezer. The thinner surface area means that the bags will thaw more quickly which means dinner is on the table sooner rather than later.
• Roasting vegetables first results in soups with bigger flavor. Roasting onions, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, etc., browns and dries out the vegetables, increasing flavor. Add the roasted vegetables to the soup and continue with the recipe.
• Try add-ins such as homemade croutons, salsas, herbal butters and fresh herbs. Creative add-ins give soup heightened flavor, texture and interest. Nothing says you care more than a homemade soup with homemade noodles or croutons.
• Soup makes an easy and welcome dish when entertaining. Serve chilled soup such as Yellow Tomato Gazpacho with Cilantro Oil the next time you have a cocktail party. For a fun conversation starter, raid the local thrift shop for kitschy vintage shot glasses in which to serve the soup shots.

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