the what to cook soup handbook

to all the soups I've loved before...

(clockwise from top left) creamy but creamless tomato soup + cheddar biscuits, beef and three bean chili, good soup, & lemony chicken orzo soup

I love soup. You love soup. So here’s the ultimate What To Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking soup handbook! In it you’ll find all of the soup recipes I’ve ever published, what to serve with soup, my essential soup tools, and some top-notch soup secrets.

FYI, for book lovers, Amazon is having a buy 3 for the price of 2 sale right now! And my book is $10 off already, so it’s really buy 3 for the price of 1 1/2! Stock up for the holidays?! Love you!

• It’s a one-pot meal. Depending on the recipe, it can provide veggies, protein, and sometimes even a grain all in one pot.

• It’s perfect for meal prep. There’s no easier or more satisfying lunch than a microwaved bowl of soup. If you work in an office, you can pack, heat, and eat your soup in these microwavable glass bowls.

• It’s cozy. Whether you need a comforting meal or someone you love needs some love, soup’s got your back.

• It can feed a crowd. Soup recipes can almost always be doubled to feed a big group. Are you hosting a girl’s night? Make soup. Are you in charge of the main dish for a neighborhood potluck? Make soup. Do you have house guests for the holidays? MAKE SOUP!

• It’s easy. Not only can soup feed a crowd, it makes feeding a crowd very, very easy. Make a big pot, stack some paper bowls beside it, put out some fixins’, and let people go at it!

• You can prep it way ahead of time. Make it the day before, store it in the fridge right in the pot you cooked it in (with its lid on), and simply reheat it on the stove at dinner time. Or, cook it in a slow cooker and use the “keep warm” setting until it’s time to eat. Or, cook it in the afternoon and keep it over the lowest “low” your stovetop will go, with the lid on, until it’s time to eat (set an alarm so you don’t forget to turn the stove off once everyone has eaten!).

A list of every single soup recipe from the newsletter and book!

there’s a reason I named this one good soup! it’s a truly perfect bowl of soup, complete with a layer of snow (AKA freshly grated Parm)

from the newsletter and book:

chilis:

• beef and three bean chili (an absolutely fabulous chili with tender, fall-apart beef chuck in place of the more traditional ground beef)

• creamy chicken enchilada stew

• quickie veggie chili (p. 107 of the book)

• white chicken chili (p. 148 of the book)

• creamy white turkey chili

noodle soups:

• chicken curry noodle soup (p. 33 of the book)

• coconut curry ramen & veggie noodle soup (p. 50 of the book)

• thai tofu curry noodle soup

chunky soups:

• boudreaux gumbo

• chicken and rice soup

• chicken, mushroom, and farro soup

• coconut curry lentil veggie stew

• creamy cajun turkey, sausage, and wild rice soup

• good soup

• good luck soup

• good mood chicken and bean soup

• green chicken tortilla soup

• healthy (or less healthy!) corn chowder

• lemony chicken orzo soup

• one-pot chicken tikka masala stew

• summer soup (p. 168 of the book)

• winter stew

puréed soups

• butternut squash soup + ham and cheese biscuits

• chilled tomato soup (if it’s still hot and you’re still getting fresh tomatoes in your part of the world, make this one ASAP!! it’s so good!!)

• creamy but creamless tomato soup + cheddar biscuits

• creamy creamless tomato soup (p. 212 of the book) — same soup as the one above, but with a different carby side that’s SO GOOD

• healthy (or less healthy!) corn chowder (I left this one half-pureed, but if you love a puréed soup you can also fully purée it!)

• roasted red pepper and butternut squash soup

• roasted peanut carrot soup (p. 237 of the book)

• salmorejo

vegetarian soups:

• chilled tomato soup

• coconut curry lentil veggie stew

• creamy but cream-less tomato soup + cheddar biscuits

• healthy (or less healthy!) corn chowder

• quickie veggie chili (p. 107 of the book)

• roasted red pepper and butternut squash soup

• roasted peanut carrot soup (p. 237 of the book)

Some soups and stews like good soup, lemony chicken orzo soup, one-pot chicken tikka masala stew, and chicken, mushroom, and farro soup I file under the “complete meal” category. They have protein, veggies, and a grain, so need nothing else to be a perfectly filling meal.

With others — especially chili recipes like creamy white turkey chili, beef and three bean chili, and white chicken chili (p. 148) — I love a delicious cornbread (and by delicious, I mean Jiffy box cornbread) or sliced sourdough.

Bread-y items to accompany your soup:

• Cornbread (remember when Anne Byrn shared her mini cheesy corn muffins with us?!)

• Biscuits — like my cheddar biscuits or my gruyere and black pepper biscuits

• Cheesy salty honey toasts (p. 212 in the book)

• A very good loaf of bread (to heat it, wrap it in foil and bake it at 300 to 350°F for 10 or 15 minutes) with really good butter

• Crunched up tortilla chips or Fritos right on top of the bowl (so good in chili)

ham + fig grilled cheeses

If my soup is on the lighter side — a brothy veggie soup or one of the puréed veggie soups above — I’ll add a more hearty sandwich.

Sandwiches to serve with veggie soups:

• ham + fig grilled cheeses — make ‘em with or without the figs

• any of the melty sandwiches on page 83 in the book (chicken apple brie, toasty roasty, prosciutto pesto caprese, ham & jam, ham & pickles — all would be excellent)

• giant ham & cheese croissant (p. 187)

• king’s hawaiian sliders (another great version is on page 139 of the book)

When I want something green:

If a soup has no greens involved, I almost always add a bunch of chopped kale. It’s so, so good in soup — it doesn’t get slimy, and it soaks up the broth in a delightful way.

But if it doesn’t make sense to add kale, I’ll typically serve a simple salad with dinner too. I’m talking a very simple salad, like mixed greens and store-bought balsamic dressing or arugula dressed with EVOO, lemon juice, and a pinch of kosher salt.

And when I’m making chili I always have a fixins’ bar with…

• Sour cream or Greek yogurt, shredded cheese, fritos or tortilla chips, hot sauces, sliced scallions, pickled or fresh jalapeños, etc.

• A big ass soup pot. I like a Le Creuset 9 quart but they are pricy! The Lodge 7.5 quart has excellent reviews, and is a much better price point.

• I am obsessed with this Earlywood wooden spatula. I don’t love a wooden spoon for cooking — I find that it isn’t effective for scraping the bottom of the pot, which is an important soup step!

• I am also very into with this wooden ladle for serving soup. Prior to getting my paws on this one I’d only ever had kind of ugly stainless steel ones that don’t feel particularly cozy or look pretty in my Le Creuset pot. This wooden one really sets the mood!

• An affordable cashmere sweater in a dark color cuz splatters. I am partial to this one in brown (it’s the season’s darling, chocolate brown; I am a medium gal and I like a large). Also love the one I’m wearing in the pic above in black (I wear a medium).

• Don’t let “great” be the enemy of “good.” When a soup recipe calls for you to sauté the onions, garlic, etc. before adding the stock, that is because the direct heat of the hot pan on the onions and garlic etc. brings out their flavor in a way that simply boiling them does not. However!!! If you are in a huge rush, YOU CAN SKIP THE SAUTÉEING STEP! Just dump all of the ingredients in the pot, bring to a boil, and simmer. Add 10 minutes to the simmer time. The soup will not taste exactly the same, but it will still be wonderful. The one caveat here is ground meat: you need to cook it first — can’t just dump a block of ground meat in a pot.

• You don’t have to warm the oil first. Every soup recipe that involves sautéing before adding the stock will tell you to “warm the oil, then add the onions, garlic, carrots, etc.” But the problem is, sometimes your cutting board gets so full of onions, garlic, carrots, etc. that you run out of space. GUESS WHAT. You can just throw everything into the cold pot as you chop it. Chop the onion, throw it in. Chop the carrots, throw them in. Chop the mushrooms, throw them in. Once you’ve prepped all of your veggies, THEN add the oil, right on top, turn on the heat, and start sautéing! No harm done by reversing this to make your chopping life a little cleaner and easier!

• Buy store-bought mirepoix. Aka onion, carrots, and celery, all chopped up and ready for your soup. Don’t stress over using the correct amounts listed in a recipe — just use a couple cups of mirepoix and it’ll all work out. Trader Joe’s sells a fresh mirepoix, and many standard grocery stores sell frozen mirepoix.

• Pretty much every soup can be made in a slow cooker!

  • You can either sauté the sautéd ingredients first, or just skip it as per my first tip here.

  • Use 20% less liquid. AKA, 8 cups of stock instead of 10 cups of stock.

  • Throw it in the slow cooker for 6 hours on low.

  • If there’s a step where you stir in cream or greens or something at the very end, add those, then cook for 30 more minutes with the lid off to allow the soup to thicken up a bit.

• Or pressure cooker!

  • Same rules as above, but:

    • Cook recipes where the meat is already cooked for 10 minutes on high pressure with a natural release

    • Cook recipes with raw chicken for 15 minutes on high pressure with a natural release

    • Cook recipes with raw beef or pork shoulder for 30 minutes on high pressure with a natural release

• Use a measuring cup to serve soup! If you don’t have (or don’t want to dirty) a ladle, just use a measuring cup! Very effective!

Phew! That was a big ole soup knowledge drop. Do you have any soup intel to share with everyone? Fave recipes, fave tips, fave soup pot, tell us everything!

xoxo, Caro and Molly