5 Soup Recipes to Try This Cold Season

Wintertime is the perfect time for making soups. Both the colder temperature outside, but also the increase in cold and flu season makes soup the perfect food to provide comfort. The hot broth helps soothe any irritation of the throat and nasal passages caused by colder temperatures but also provides comfort if there is any sneezing or runny nose. Add these five soups to your meal rotation this winter.

Chicken Noodle Soup

This classic soup can be made with just a few ingredients and is hearty and delicious. It is naturally dairy-free and can be easily modified to vegan by not adding chicken and opting for egg-free noodles.

Ingredients:

• 1 TBL butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 3 whole carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 TSP dried sage
• 1 TSP dried rosemary
• 4 cups of Broth – bone or regular, chicken or veggie
• Chopped Cooked Chicken
• Egg Noodles

Sauté the onion and celery in the butter in the pan until softened. Add the garlic and cook until aromatic. Add the chopped carrots, herbs and broth and bring to a boil. Salt and pepper to taste. Once the carrots have softened, add in the chopped chicken and heat until warm. Once thoroughly warmed through, add in half a bag of egg noodles and cook for 10 minutes until the noodles are softened. Add water if needed. Once heated through, your soup is ready to eat!

If you don’t have broth on hand, make ready-made broth with bullion cubes.

Sweet Potato-Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 TBL Olive Oil
• 1 large Onion, chopped
• 1 TBL fresh Ginger, chopped
• 2  large Sweet Potatoes, cubed
• Garlic
• Black Beans, 10 oz
• 3 cups of Veggie or Chicken Stock
• Lime
• 1 TSP Cumin
• Salt – to taste
• 2 TSP Paprika
• 14 oz Diced Tomatoes (Any type, or a handful of fresh)
• 15 oz Black Beans (dried and soaked or canned)

Heat oil in a dutch oven and add chopped onions, stirring until caramelized. Add in the garlic and ginger and cook until aromatic. Add in the paprika and cumin, stirring frequently for a minute. Then add in 2 cups of stock, the black beans, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes, and stir. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low to simmer until the sweet potatoes are soft. Check on the potatoes and add in stock as needed. The soup is ready when the sweet potatoes are soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once you have served the soup into individual bowls, squeeze a lime slice over to add zest to the soup.

Remember, if using dried black beans, soak them overnight prior to using them in the soup, or they will soak up all your liquid and not be cooked in time to eat.

3 Ingredient Cauliflower Soup

This one will surprise you. Kathleen Ashmore shared it on her blog, and it intrigued me. It is creamier than one would expect in a dairy-free soup and might get the cauliflower adverse to try it.

Ingredients:

• 3 TBSP olive oil
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 1 head of cauliflower (about 1 ½ pounds), chopped
• Kosher Salt
• 5 ½ cups of water or low-sodium veggie stock
• Fresh Cracked black pepper

Heat the olive oil and add the sliced onion, stirring frequently to avoid browning. Add the cauliflower, one teaspoon salt, and ½ cup of vegetable stock and heat on medium for about 15 minutes. Add the remaining stock or water and simmer for 20 minutes.

Puree the soup in a blender, or utilize a blender stick. Cook the creamy substance for another 20 minutes to thicken.

The originator of the recipe recommends serving with olive oil drizzles on top, cracked black pepper and garnished with roasted almonds.

French Onion Soup

If you haven’t tried making this soup at home before, it can take some work, but it is delicious. While onion may not be your favorite vegetable before this soup, it might just change after.

Ingredients

• 5 TBL olive oil
•  1 TBL butter
•  8 cups of thinly sliced onions
• 2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ tsp pepper
• ¼ tsp salt
• 32 ounces beef broth
• ½ cup red wine
• 24 slices of French bread (thickly cut)

¾ cup shredded Gruyere cheese

Heat oil and butter in a dutch oven and stir in onions, cooking until soft reduce heat to medium until onions are golden brown.  Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in the wine, and bring it to a boil. Once the liquid is reduced by half, add in the salt, pepper, and broth and return to boil. Once returned to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and stir occasionally for about one hour.

While the soup is preparing, toast French bread slices.

Once the soup is ready, add soup to an oven-safe bowl, then top with French bread and some cheese and place in broiler until cheese is brown and melted.

Talk about a heavenly vegetable.

Spicy Lentil and Veggie Soup

This one requires some morning prep work for dinner but is an easy soup that doesn’t require monitoring all day.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of green beans, halved
• 2 cups of cauliflower, chopped
• 1 cup of dried lentil
• 1 cup of baby carrots, halved
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 can of diced tomatoes with pepper

Combine the ingredients, minus the tomatoes, and cook covered on low until the lentils and vegetables are tender about 6- 8 hours. Once the veggies are tender, pull out the bay leaves, and add the diced tomatoes and salt to the pepper to taste. Viola – dinner is served.

There are many more soups that could be added to this list, but these are some favorites using ingredients that are readily available in the winter months. What are your favorite soup recipes?